Ten Somalis have been sentenced to seven years in jail for piracy and hijacking by a Kenyan court. The men were arrested earlier this year by the US Navy which responded to a reported hijack off the Somali coast. The pirates had maintained they were fisherman and had not held 16 crew members of an Indian ship for ransom. No, they were passengers on our tramp freighter service.
Silence fell as the accused walked into the dock, sat down with bowed heads and began praying in low tones. The prosecution had urged the court to hand down life sentences as provided for under Kenyan law. Immediately after the sentence was read out, the men clapped their hands and their faces brightened, our correspondent says. Allan Ahkbars and high fives all 'round!
But their lawyer says he will appeal against the seven-year terms, arguing that some of those convicted are minors. When the case opened in February, the suspects said they were fishermen and did not know why they had been "abducted" from their fishing boat. We thought we were in training to be Pilots. But we're such a shy lot we never questioned our orders.
But Indian sailors identified the men, who were caught by the US Navy in international waters, and said they had been tortured by them. The pirates had demanded a ransom of $50,000 for their release. The rescued Indian vessel was brought to Mombasa because it was the nearest port. It is not at all clear who was tortured by whom but what can you expect from the BBC these days?
Somalia has been in the grip of warlords and militias for years and has not had a functioning national government since 1991. The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) has consolidated its control over much of southern Somalia after seizing the capital, Mogadishu. The UIC was set up by businessmen who wanted to impose law and order, and their gunmen have become Somalia's strongest fighting force Yes, the Better Business Bureau that's what the UIC is like. Sort of your average American Rotarians we are.
The decline in piracy has also been attributed to foreign navy patrols. But we at the BBC know that it is really due to the upstanding entrepreneurs of the Somaly coast.
#1
7 years in a Kenyan prison for Somalis should be fun, especially for the precocious lil minors...f*ckers. Expect 2, maybe, to make it out alive and still manly? That's 2 too many
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2006 21:33 Comments ||
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#2
Bonus points for the Gilbert and Sullivan reference.
I have been wondering what was going on with piracy or the lack thereof off East Africa.
They can't bring themselves to refer to them as Pakistanis. They're just "from Pakistan."
Afghanistans intelligence agency said on Tuesday it had arrested three men planning suicide attacks in Kabul, including two from a Pakistan-based cell run by the capitals Taliban-era deputy police chief. The two were seized this week while trying to enter the city from neighbouring Logar province, spokesman Sayed Ansari told reporters. They were part of a Pakistan-based cell organised by Mulla Mohammad Ibrahim Hanifi, who is living in Pakistan, he said. The agency was holding another man suspected of being an accomplice to a suicide bomber who killed around a dozen people on September 30.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
They're just "from Pakistan."
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Possibly `cos they are from areas outside that which should rightfully be in Afghanistan but Pakistan is squatting on.
`North Pakistan belongs to Afghanistan`
http://www.afghanland.com/history/durrand.html
(SomaliNet) A new Islamic Courts has been announced on Tuesday in north part Galkayo (Galcaio) city, the capital of Mudug region in central Somalia by one of Majerten sub-clans of Darod tribe. Badbado Islamic Court was declared in north Galkayo, which under control of Puntland semi-autonomous region. Local official of the sub-clan that announced the court said they will soon open the Islamic Court and indicated that this court is under the rule of Islamic Courts union in Mogadishu.
The move came as Puntland regional government had banned the Islamic movements in Puntland cities and ordered to arrest any cleric who is suspected to link with Islamic Courts in southern Somalia. It was the first Islamic Court announced in Puntland, with some of the people in Galkayo welcomed the declaration of this Islamic Court. Earlier Islamic clerics from Puntland regions had arrived in Somalia capital Mogadishu for talks with Islamic officials over how to spread the Islamic law to Puntland in northeast Somalia.
Map here. I didn't realize the Puntland claim went that far south.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2006 00:00 ||
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Somalia lends new meaning to the phrase "judicial activism".
The account Halima Sherif gave of her family's ordeal was chillingly familiar in this part of the world. Arab men on horseback rode into her village, shouting racial epithets over the rat-tat-tat of Kalashnikov gunfire.
"They shouted 'zurga,'" she said, an Arabic word for black. "They told us they would take our land. They shot many people and burned our houses. We all ran away."
"They shouted 'zurga,'" she said, an Arabic word for black. "They told us they would take our land. They shot many people and burned our houses. We all ran away."
Scenes like this one have been unfolding in the war-ravaged Darfur region of western Sudan for more than three years, and since the beginning of this year Sudanese Arabs have also been attacking Chadian villages just across Sudan's porous border. But the attacks on Djedidah and nine villages around it in early October took place not in Darfur, or even on Chad's violent border with Sudan. It took place relatively deep inside Chad, about 95 kilometers, or 60 miles, from the border - a huge distance in a place with few roads and where most travel is by horse, donkey or on foot.
Beyond that, the attack was carried out not by Sudanese raiders from across the border but by Chadian Arabs, according to victims of the attack. "They were our neighbors," Sherif said, as she hurried to collect a few goats from the charred remains of her family compound. "We know them. They are Chadian."
The violence in Darfur has been spilling over into Chad since at least early this year, when cross-border attacks by Sudanese bandits and militias chased more than 50,000 Chadians living in villages along the border from their homes.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2006 00:00 ||
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The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is seeking to confirm reports that a fourth Australian has been arrested in Yemen. Three men from New South Wales, two of whom are brothers, were arrested about two weeks ago for allegedly trying to smuggle weapons to Islamist militia in Somalia. The Australian Consul in Riyadh was to have met with the men last night but was denied access by Yemeni officials. He is expected to meet them later today. In September, Yemen said it had broken up an Al Qaeda-linked cell that was behind foiled attacks on oil and gas installations.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Yeah, but what's his name. Odds are Australia doesn't want his welfare collecting ass back anyway.
THE two Australian brothers arrested in Yemen as suspected al-Qaeda terrorists were under observation over a suicide bomb plot to blow up Sydney's Kings Cross railway station.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal that a terrorist cell was last year planning a London-style attack on peak-hour commuters at the busy underground station.
The plot was three months in the planning before it was foiled last year by ASIO and NSW and Federal counter-terrorism police.
Authorities believed the men were linked to plotters stockpiling a range of chemicals including acetone, known as "Mother of Satan", an explosive precursor used in the London bombings.
Mohammed and Abdullah Ayub - arrested in Yemen accused of being members of an al-Qaeda cell and gun-running - were being watched because their father is Abdul Rahim Ayub, the former head of Jemaah Islamiah in Australia.
Their mother, Australian-born Rabiah Hutchison, is a leader of a radical clique of Muslim wives, including those married to some of the men arrested over the Kings Cross plot.
Ms Hutchison and her Islamic wives club regularly travel for "holidays" and religious instruction to Yemen, which is a hotbed of radical Islam.
Authorities have only recently pieced together the web linking the Ayub brothers and their family to the plotters.
The Ayubs were stopped at Sydney airport and spoken to by ASIO agents when they left for Yemen.
Ms Hutchison's ex-husband Abdul Rahim, who tried to take over the Dee Why mosque on Sydney's Northern Beaches, fled Australia shortly after the 2002 Bali bombings. He was suspected of being involved with the attacks.
His twin, Abdul Rahman, was deported in 1999 after his application for refugee status was refused.
A third Australian arrested with Mohammed and Abdullah Ayub in Yemen during the CIA-led operation last month was last night revealed as Polish-born Marat Sumolsky.
Sumolsky and Ms Hutchison have been on national security watch lists for several years.
Australian consular officials have been unable to confirm reports that a fourth Australian is also in custody.
Yesterday they were again refused access to the men.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia was not involved in any way in the Yemen operation.
The three Australians captured in Yemen were picked up with five others including a Brit, Dane and German in an operation that has netted more than 20 suspects.
The men are alleged to have been plotting attacks on oil facilities, an international airport and also running guns to Somalian militants
Consular officials who travelled from Riyadh to Yemen hope to speak to local security forces officially and visit the Australian prisoners today.
#2
The three Australians captured in Yemen were picked up with five others including a Brit, Dane and German in an operation that has netted more than 20 suspects.
The men are alleged to have been plotting attacks on oil facilities, an international airport and also running guns to Somalian militants
Posted by: DanNY ||
11/01/2006 08:24 ||
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#1
So why no prosecutions? I see not prosecuting such offenders as a major breakdown in government.
Starting back in the days of Vietnam, the adamant refusal of government to prosecute individuals who openly broke all manner of major felony US laws created havoc in our justice system, as much as if government refused to prosecute bank robberies.
It truly does not matter if such prosecutions win or lose, just that they have been taken to court.
But to allow them to escape without challenge is like allowing bank robbers to go about their business unmolested. It is suicidal.
A judge refused to toss out charges against a jazz musician, a doctor and two other men accused of supporting terrorists. Defense lawyers had argued that the men were arrested through entrapment and outrageous conduct by an overzealous government in late 2001, but U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska refused to dismiss the charges Monday. She said evidence in the case could be viewed as showing the men had made statements and taken actions making them "predisposed to commit these crimes" even before the government sent a confidential informant to record their conversations.
An indictment in the case accuses Farhane and Shah of conspiring in 2001 to help an FBI cooperating witness send money to aid Islamic militants fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The judge said trial will begin in April or June for Rafiq Abdus Sabir, a Florida doctor; jazz musician and martial arts expert Tarik Shah of New York; bookstore owner Abdulrahman Farhane of New York; and Washington, D.C., cab driver Mahmud Faruq Brent. An indictment in the case accuses Farhane and Shah of conspiring in 2001 to help an FBI cooperating witness send money to aid Islamic militants fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Brent was accused of conspiring to help Lashkar-e-Taiba, which the United States designated a terrorist organization in December 2001. Prosecutors said Sabir, the doctor, agreed to treat holy warriors in Saudi Arabia. All the defendants have pleaded not guilty and are being held without bail.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#5
charges against a jazz musician, a doctor and two other men
Those, of course, being the primary characteristics of their identity.
Have I mentioned recently how much I hate "journalists"?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/01/2006 7:51 Comments ||
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#6
If these miscreants are US citizens I'd like an investigation of how they achieved their citizenship with a look toward revocation if malfeasance can be established. Then off to Guantanamo...
Posted by: DanNY ||
11/01/2006 8:23 Comments ||
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Eyewitnesses saw a US Predator drone fire three missiles at the madrassa in Bajaur Agency that was destroyed on Monday, casting doubts on the governments claim that the airstrike was carried out solely by the Pakistani military, according to a report by news analysis service Stratfor. The report says the airstrike could have been meant to kill Al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri, but Pakistani security officials told journalists in Islamabad that Zawahiri was not in the madrassa at the time of the raid, though he had visited it in the past.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
We're getting close, and there's more missiles where those came from.
#5
Come to think of it. They aren't screaming very loud over this. Normally there would be riots, burning Bush effigies, the whole 9 yards. Something else must be going on with this.
#14
lol, JAB! So true! Hey, you guys think we could hit the tip jar enough to buy another one of these and paint RB on the tail? Ya know, for the troops! What kinda press would Fred and mods get if the RB took out binny or Zawahiri?
Posted by: BA ||
11/01/2006 13:55 Comments ||
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#15
a madrassa is nothing more than a human honey bucket. Look at it like we are emptying the honey buckets of pakiland.
#17
What odds the eyewitnesses actually know what they're talking about? I mean, I certainly wouldn't, and I have the advantage of a Rantburg education. ;-)
#18
The Hellfire the drones use laser guided, and are not fire and forget. They require someone (FO, SOC) to provide laser spotting on target. The Longbow Hellfire version used on Apache Longbow attack helicopters are fire and forget radar guided.
The Hellfire is a GP anti-armor missle. They are not generally used to attempt to destroy a building as they only weigh around 100 lbs., with a warhead ranging from 20-30 lbs or so. Not exactly what you would used to blow up even a simple building.
#19
Predators have their own laser designator. Hellfires also come with blast frag and thermobaric waheads just for the occasions you need to flatten a madrassa.
Posted by: ed ||
11/01/2006 18:00 Comments ||
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Two security personnel were killed and another was seriously injured when a landmine exploded in Dera Bugti district on Tuesday. Security forces were searching for landmines planted by militants in Dohi Wadh in the Pir Koh area when a soldier accidentally stepped on a landmine resulting in an explosion. Saeed and Javaid were killed while another soldier, Tariq, was critically injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2006 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD Coalition Forces launched an air strike on an IED factory early Wednesday morning South of Baghdad as they continue to dismantle the al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist network.
With the assistance of Iraqi citizens, Coalition Forces were able to locate and destroy a confirmed terrorist IED factory.
According to ground forces, there was explosive paraphernalia along with an estimated 70-80 barrels of unknown chemicals in the factory. I'm certain it was baby formula.
Before conducting the strike, Coalition Forces maintained surveillance on the target and surrounding area to ensure no innocent civilians would be injured in the strike. Unfortunately no guilty civilians would be injured either. But maybe we surveilled some IED visitors back to other locations of interest?
The destruction of this factory reduces the ability of the terrorist network to operate, and increases the safety of all Iraqi citizens, Iraqi forces and Iraqs Multi-National partners.
From correspondents in Baghdad
THE death toll from a car bomb attack on an Iraqi wedding party has climbed to 23, including 19 children aged under 10, the manager of the hospital that received the bodies said today.
A car bomb exploded early today outside a family home hosting a wedding reception in the north Baghdad district of Ur, just as the bridegroom's party was arriving in a convoy of cars.
Qasim Modalal, director of the Imam Ali hospital, told AFP that 23 people were killed in the blast - including 19 infants - and that another 19 were wounded, many of them seriously.
Baghdad is in the grip of a vicious sectarian war between rival Sunni and Shiite extremist factions, despite a massive security operation that has 15,000 US troops and more than 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and police on the streets.
#1
I got those Wedding Bell Bomb Blues ... apologies to the 5th Dimension.
What's with all the blowing up of weddings? Seems like these guys have something against marriage. Is it because gay marriage isn't allowed? Or goat marriage?
Eight Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed in heavy clashes in the northern Gaza Strip.
In one of Israel's biggest raids into Gaza in recent months, troops carried out three air strikes and moved to encircle the town of Beit Hanoun. Some 60 people were wounded as troops, backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, carried out the raid.
An Israeli military spokesman said the operation was aimed at stopping rocket fire into Israel.
Palestinian leaders have strongly condemned it. Both the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya, have described the Israeli military action as a massacre.
The director of the Beit Hanoun hospital told the Associated Press news agency that all the hospital's blood supplies had been used up.
The Israeli army confirmed the death of one of its soldiers some hours after Palestinian militant groups issued statements saying they had killed an Israeli.
Witnesses said Israeli tanks backed by helicopter gunships entered Beit Hanoun overnight, amid heavy exchanges of fire. Sixty tanks were involved in the attack, AFP news agency said.
It reported that Israeli soldiers took positions on rooftops during exchanges of fire with militants. Israeli bulldozers razed three houses in Beit Hanoun, and another dozen homes were hit by tank shells, the agency reported.
There are reports of fighting in the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp and the town of Beit Lahiya.
Among those killed are a Palestinian policeman and militants.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces killed two Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip in a clash in the south near Khan Younis.
#5
1. Shoot rockets into Israel helter skelter.
2. Israeli retaliation in force kills many.
3. Declare a massacre and complain to the UN.
4. Rinse, repeat ad infinitum.
Fatah terrorists are receiving US arms & training, while Hamas terrorists are preparing missile & anti-tank divisions. IDF officer criticizes: IDF's operations are not targeting the Hamas build-up.
Speaking before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday, the IDF Southern Command chief warned that the Palestinian Authority's ruling Hamas organization is planning to establish missile and anti-tank units. The new units were decided upon in light of the lessons Hamas learned from the Hizbullah's successes against Israel during the recent war in Lebanon, the IDF commander explained.
"Hamas is establishing an organized division with anti-tank capabilities and with missiles that could reach threatening distances," Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant told the Knesset committee.
Anti-tank missiles caused about a third of the IDF casualties in Lebanon during the recent campaign against the Hizbullah. Military analysts, as well as Hamas propagandists and strategists, have noted that long-range missiles of the type used by Hizbullah deployed in Judea, Samaria and Gaza would place many Israeli strategic facilities in danger.
In an initiative presented as an effort to counter the growing strength and influence of Hamas, the United States has been arming and training a militia affiliated with the Fatah terrorist group, headed by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The premise for the American support is that Fatah and Hamas are headed for a violent civil war, and the US prefers a Fatah victory.
Maj.-Gen. Galant told the Knesset Committee that IDF operations in Gaza, no matter how extensive, have all been part of general security operations, "and were not specifically intended to degrade the strengthening Hamas or its building up of its forces." Overall, he said, "the strength of Hamas has grown immensely and significantly since the Disengagement." Smashing success.
The IDF commander described a complex system of tunnels along the Philadelphi Route, "most of which are camouflaged and not even dug up. The minute there is an order for smuggling, they dig out an opening and connect to a preexisting tunnel; and after the smuggling is completed, they cover it over."
He said that Hamas has begun building an army-like hierarchical infrastructure, including special forces, brigades and battalions. In part, these units are meant to counterbalance such forces currently under the command of the Fatah organization, headed by Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). "It is reasonable to assume that, in the future, Hamas will put into the field a force of thousands of terrorists, organized and well armed... with weapons systems and night-vision systems, which will form a division. In addition, Hamas is constantly working to increase the range of the Kassam [rockets] - and the technology is within reach."
According to security analyst Aluf Benn, American security coordinator General Keith Dayton presented Quartet representatives in London last week with a program for training the PA's presidential guard - Force 17, controlled by Abbas - using Egyptian, British and Jordanian instructors. PA sources say the training by Americans started more than a month ago, at a compound near the Intercontinental Hotel in Jericho.
In the past, official PA militias were found to have used weapons provided by the US and Israel in terrorist attacks on Jewish targets.
Earlier this month, in an interview with WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein, a Force 17 terrorist implied that weapons supplied to Fatah from the United States would be transferred to the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, which is recognized as a terrorist organization under US law.
#3
I doubt any of these "new" brigades would stand up well to a mixture of high explosives and napalm. Israel needs to get serious about cleaning out the cesspools known as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Screw the "paleostinian" ayrabs.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/01/2006 12:55 Comments ||
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#4
When you make it too costly to apply precision fire from tanks and air, the result is that the enemy reduces the area with artillery. If that is what the Paleos want, they had best evacuate any women and children they would like to survive to the beach and keep them there.
#5
The moment a single one of the Palestinian Authority's thugs fires even one American bullet at Israel, we'd better have the moral fortitude to go in and bomb them ourselves. Arming Palestinians of ANY stripe is an incredibly profound mistake. You might as well fill your swimming pool with pirahna. I can only hope that Israel will act in a far more decisive manner this time around. Nothing of Hamas or the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade should be left standing.
#6
As for US arms to the Fatah terrorists, I believe this refers to the rifles, handguns, and ammunition provided to the PA police force and does not include any heavy weapons.
#9
Zenster, I am sure they will, but being Arabs it is doubtful that they will be able to hit anything with them. The rifles will most likely be used for gun sex or, if absolutely necessary, spray and pray fire. Personally, I would like to see the Israelis go Roman on Gaza and then salt the earth, but realistically, the proprieties must be observed.
#10
This is stupidity at the highest level if true. Why do I smell State Department ? Oh, I see, Maumoood said they'd never be used against Israelis. Oh, perfectly safe then.
#11
I think RWW is basically making a correct point. A small percentage of the arms to Fatah being used probably unsuccessfully against Israel is an acceptable risk in return for the use of the preponderance of them against Hamas. AAMB uses weapons across the border against Israel mainly for PR - the fight with Hamas MAY be on the point of becoming a life and death struggle. It is not unreasonable to think the US and Israel have a dog in this fight.
What remains questionable is if Abbas really has the cojones for it. Years ago I was sure he did. Events have led me to question it. But we shall see what we shall see.
#13
Basically, all we have done with this is decide which one of the two street gangs present in the Paleo areas is the one we can work with, once the other is wiped out. So we give them some basic training, light weapons, ammo, and comm systems; they then go out and wipe out the other gangbangers. If Fatah then is smart enough, they will then cut a deal with the Israelis where the US and Israel leaves them alone to loot and pillage the Paleo treasury, in exchange for them stomping on the local terrorists.
Street bangers writ large with keffiyehs is what Fatah is, and street bangers will kill anyone who gets in the way of that kind of deal for them. They would then effectively be the only mob left in town, looting and pillaging to their heart's content.
#14
Fatah has demonstrated, to my satisfaction at least, that they aren't as smart as that, Shieldwolf, although they are marginally smarter than their competition.
When will the Humiliation cease?
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
Hamas terrorists are hesitant to accept a deal for the release of their Israeli hostage for fear that the IDF is planning a last-minute rescue operation.
Quoting sources close to Hamas, the Palestinian Authority-based Ma'an news agency reported Tuesday that the terrorists holding IDF soldier Gilad Shalit have faith in their Egyptian interlocutors, but they suspect an Israeli deception. They have therefore insisted on the presence of Red Cross officials during the proposed exchange of Shalit for imprisoned Arab terrorists, the sources said. Israel has thus far refused this condition.
The captors expressed two separate fears, the sources quoted by Ma'an report. First, they want to forestall the possibility that Israel would attempt a rescue raid when Shalit is moved from his current location in Gaza to Egyptian custody. Second, the terrorists seek assurances that, if the deal goes through, released Arab prisoners will not be summarily re-arrested within a few days.
Ma'an went on to report that the intensive efforts by Egyptian negotiators in the last 48 hours have limited the dispute over the exchange of Shalit for imprisoned Arab terrorists to the issue of the oversight of the physical release of the Israeli captive.
Last week, in an interview with Israel Radio, David Hacham, a senior advisor to the defense minister, confirmed Arabic press reports stating that Israel had agreed to free terrorists in a deal for the release of Gilad Shalit.
Corporal Shalit was taken captive in a multi-pronged attack in Kerem Shalom on June 25, 2006. He is believed to currently be somewhere in Palestinian Authority-controlled Gaza, in the hands of Hamas terrorists.
According to unconfirmed reports, the Egyptian-brokered deal for the release of the IDF captive includes the release of 1,000 terrorists, many convicted of fatal terrorist attacks, and a joint Hamas-Fatah unity government. Hamas politburo leader Khaled Meshaal and Egyptian intelligence chief General Omar Suleiman met in recent days in Damascus, Syria and again in Cairo, Egypt to discuss the exchange.
Hamas sources expressed general satisfaction with the deal, saying it will be the "first prisoner exchange in the annals of Palestine to take place with the Israeli side on Palestinian lands."
In the meanwhile, Hizbullah terrorist chieftain Sheikh Nasrallah says that negotiations are underway for the release of the two captive Israelis in its hands, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. His claims have not been confirmed, however, and Israel has no knowledge as to whether the two soldiers are even alive.
A defiant Israel vowed to continue controversial flights over Lebanon despite mounting international protests that the action violates the UN-brokered truce that ended this year's war.
Israeli warplanes on Tuesday carried out intensive mock air raids at low altitude over Beirut and south Lebanon.
The Lebanese army responded by firing off anti-aircraft batteries towards the jets for the first time since a UN-brokered cease-fire came into effect between Israeli forces and Shiite militia Hezbollah on August 14.
"They can protest for as long as they like. Our reconnaissance flights will continue," said deputy defence minister Ephraim Sneh in response to a question about the fierce international criticism of the flights.
"These are not agreed flights but operations carried out to locate enemies, terrorists," said Mr Sneh, a member of Israel's centre-left Labour party who was promoted to deputy defence minister only two days ago.
"The fact there was a cease-fire in Lebanon has not transformed this country into another Switzerland. Hezbollah continues to prepare and arm itself, this is why we have to gather intelligence.
"Things must be very clear: it is only when we have information signalling that arms supplies to Hezbollah coming from Syria have stopped and that our two soldiers have been released that we can talk about a stop to these flights."
The minister was speaking one day after France, which commands the UN peacekeeping force overseeing the truce in Lebanon, and the United Nations urged Israel to halt overflights that they called a violation of the cease-fire.
The Lebanese army also confirmed it had fired off anti-aircraft batteries towards Israeli warplanes flying over the south on Tuesday, having been ordered to oppose Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty by all means.
A UN statement issued in the name of special envoy to Lebanon, Geir Pedersen, condemned the persistent violations of Lebanese air space.
"Geir Pedersen expresses his serious concern at the continuing overflights by Israel which constitute a breach of Lebanese sovereignty and specifically of Security Council Resolution 1701," it said.
Lebanon has repeatedly urged the United Nations to stop Israeli violations of its airspace during the last 30 years.
Various European countries, including those who have contributed troops to the UN peacekeeping force, have lent voice to the Lebanese demands.
France again came out against the overflights on Tuesday as "contrary to the spirit and the letter of Resolution 1701," a foreign ministry spokesman said.
IAF helicopter fire killed three Palestinians early Wednesday and at least 20 people were wounded in firefights with troops around the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, Palestinian security officials said. The army said that one air strike was aimed at a group of armed men seen planting a mine and another at a gunman spotted moving toward troops during the nighttime operation, the latest phase in a four-month offensive in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2006 00:00 ||
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destructive fish in an islamic barrel
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2006 0:08 Comments ||
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By Edward Murray and Martin Kane
The Picatinny Voice
October 31, 2006
PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. (Army News Service, Oct. 31, 2006) With the recent delivery of eighteen new M777 lightweight 155mm howitzers to the Armys 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery, at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, the King of Battle the field artillerys nickname took a giant step forward.
The M777 is the militarys newest field artillery weapon, a lightweight 155mm towed howitzer developed jointly by the Army and Marine Corps. It will be the artillery system for the Armys Stryker Brigade Combat Teams.
The program is managed by a joint-service program office here. The weapon systems themselves are manufactured by BAE Systems with final integration and assembly occurring at the firms Hattiesburg, Miss., facility.
The M777 is the first ground-combat system to make extensive use of titanium in its major structures to trim weight; the howitzer is 7,000 pounds lighter than the M198 weapon it replaces.
The weight reduction improves transportability and mobility without impacting range or accuracy, said Joint Program Manager James Shields.
Shields said the system will be compatible with the entire family of 155mm ammunition, including the Excalibur precision munition when it is eventually fielded.
The 2-11 FA is part of the Armys fifth Stryker Brigade Combat Team. It recently completed new-equipment training and a live-fire battalion exercise using the basic M777 system at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Prior to receiving the M777, the 2-11 FA was an exclusively 105mm battalion that was equipped with the M119 howitzer.
The M777 has the deployability advantages of lightweight system like the M119, but the firepower of a 155mm weapon like the larger M198. Two systems can be transported on a C-130 at the same time.
The new howitzers have returned to Schofield Barracks, where they will be retrofitted with a digital fire control system (DFCS) in January to become M777A1s. The DFCS will provide the howitzer with the capability to communicate, navigate and aim, an upgrade that will increase accuracy and responsiveness.
Soldiers from 2-11 FA said they were pleased with the new weapons and look forward to the added capabilities provided by the DFCS upgrade.
#1
This is long over due. Now the light guys can have the reach and punch of a 155 and keep the mobility. Great news!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/01/2006 11:45 Comments ||
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#2
Question: are they planning to use this more as a direct-fire weapon?
It has to do with how an arty unit moves when doing indirect fire, that is, halt-fire-move-halt. This seems to be different from how a Stryker unit would maneuver, which is more like light cavalry.
If, however, the guns are to be used as a direct fire weapon, the Strykers and the arty maneuver as "traveling overwatch", with one moving while the other provides fire support. This technique for light cavalry and arty goes all the way back to Kit Carson.
#3
Um, no, it's towed artillery. No modern army has used towed artillery in a direct-fire role since they phased out the anti-tank gun for recoilless rifles around the time of Korea.
I don't think anyone even uses direct-fire artillery any more - not since tank main cannon got heavy enough to do their own direct-fire work.
Maybe in Bosnia, but that would be because of the arms embargo that left all sides using whatever WWII-surplus rubbish they could find at the back of the local arsenals.
The light towed artillery is just a recognition that it would be far too expensive, and goofy, to use the Stryker chassis to hack together a self-propelled artillery platform that could "keep up" with the rest of the brigade. A much lighter towed 155mm can bounce along behind a stripped-down Stryker acting as a prime mover, without all of the special engineering & heartache in trying to mount the gun directly on the vehicle proper. It would probably be a lot safer for the artillery/Stryker crew this way, anyways. Not having to add all of that structural metal & extra hull space probably lets them save weight that would otherwise come out of armor protection.
The Stryker brigades were supposed to get an upgunned armored car based on the Stryker... ah, here it is: Mobile Gun System. With a 105mm main cannon for the sort of direct-fire work you were asking about. They don't seem to be in any hurry - they'll start rolling out production in July of next year.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
11/01/2006 13:00 Comments ||
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#4
good link, thx Mitch
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2006 13:02 Comments ||
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#5
This technique for light cavalry and arty goes all the way back to Kit Carson.
OT: Great new book out on Kit Carson by Hampton Sides (Ghost Soldiers) - Blood and Thunder. Good read.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/01/2006 13:14 Comments ||
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#6
Great! Now I want to see a 220mm titanium mortar. Give the INFANTRY some heavy hitting power.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/01/2006 13:17 Comments ||
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#7
Russian artillery doctrine counts on their artillery in a direct fire and antitank role.
#8
badanov: do you have a cite? The only thing I can find is a reference to direct-fire usage during the Russian destruction of Grozny, but that was in reference to the use of self-propelled artillery. There was a hobbyist site that made reference to Russian gunshields, but that was in the course of a rant about the absence of gunshields on modern American towed artillery.
I would regard the direct-fire usage of towed artillery as preposterous assuming the availability of tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored cars, or other armored vehicles with a big gun, but that's a big assumption in the case of third-world or stretched militaries, and the only books I've read on Russian/Soviet doctrine were both armor-centric and thirty years old. Maybe there's a strong suicidal streak in the Russian/Soviet artillery arm. The modern battlefield is just too dangerous for exposed artillery. Asking them to perform direct-fire seems unreasonable given modern heavy infantry weaponry, and its ability to perform everything up to full-scale demolition work.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
11/01/2006 16:45 Comments ||
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#9
From scanning information on various security sites, you will find Russian still issues HEAT rounds for both 122mm and 152mm field guns, as well as for the 120mm automortar.
As for a citation, "Soviet AirLand Battle Tactics" Col. William Baxter, Presidio Press, 1986.
As well as other sources...
So apparently your contention that the modern battlefield is too dangerous for direct artillery fire is false. The Russians don't believe the modern battlefield is so dangerous artillerists can't get their licks in.
#10
Every major Russian/Soviet artillery system is designed with a secondary direct fire/anti-capability, and all have specialised ammo for the same. It seems that the Bulgarians anyway have designed thermobaric warheads for 122mm guns, and the Russians have a HESH round for the 130mm and 152mm guns.
#12
There are several C-17's at Hickam AFB in HI, a total of 8 due to be in place there this year (might be there now, I don't have the current count).
Lots of major hauling capability from the islands over to Asia with 8 of those, although it's obviously not a full wing.
#13
The US Army used 105mm and 155mm towed (and air lifted) artillery as direct fire weapons in Vietnam. The beehive round was used when the NVA and Viet Cong assaulted remote Fire Support Bases, in the boonies, at night. This was the the mother of all shotguns. I delivered them and their crews to these locations, with ammo, resupplied them with ammo and food, and took them out when the mission was complete.
#14
Um, no, it's towed artillery. No modern army has used towed artillery in a direct-fire role since they phased out the anti-tank gun for recoilless rifles around the time of Korea.
Indian Pakistani wars 1965-2002 [and before of course] Kargil War 155 direct fire...Tiger Hill. Thousands of of direct fire rounds
The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower, and its accompanying carrier strike group, passed through the Suez Canal on Monday, Oct. 30, and arrived in the Red Sea on Tuesday, Oct. 31.
DEBKAfiles military sources report that the USS Eisenhower is at sea off the Saudi Arabian coast, together with another aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise. The presence of the two US aircraft carriers, and their accompanying strike groups, in a body of water as small as the Red Sea is an extraordinary development.
So far there have been no indications that the USS Eisenhower arrived to replace the USS Enterprise.
US Intelligence director John Negroponte also is in the region. He was in Saudi Arabia over the weekend and in Cairo on Tuesday, and is due to arrive in Israel on Wednesday, Nov. 1.
With the arrival of the USS Eisenhower in the region, there are now three US aircraft carriers in the Persion Gulf and surrounding waters, including the USS Iwo Jima. Accompanying the USS Eisenhower are the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, the guided-missile destroyers USS Ramage and USS Mason and the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine USS Newport.
DEBKAfiles military sources report that a fourth US aircraft carrier, the USS Boxer, will arrive on the scene by the beginning of next week, together with its carrier strike group. The USS Boxer is currently taking part in joint US-Indian naval maneuvers, dubbed Malabar 06, which include the landing of marines on beaches.
Carriers:
USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) - East China Sea
USS Enterprise (CVN 65) - Mediterranean Sea
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) - Pacific Ocean
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) - Red Sea
#7
I don't know if this kind of concentration is unusual, though.
It is. Original reason given was joint naval exercises. But then there was acknowledgement of intel re: a pending al Qaida attack on major Saudi, Kuwaiti and Bahraini oil terminals.
#11
The Navy's having a party and the Army aint invited?? I feel snubbed.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/01/2006 11:37 Comments ||
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#12
last I noticed from my office window - two were in SD port at North Island (it can berth three). They do slip out to do offcoast training though...
Posted by: FBI guy ||
11/01/2006 11:41 Comments ||
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#13
damn - my cookie's been eaten
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2006 11:41 Comments ||
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#14
CV-63 USS Kitty Hawk - commissioned 1961, active
CVN-65 USS Enterprise - commissioned 1961, active
CV-67 USS John F. Kennedy - commissioned 1968, active, "Big John"
CVN-68 USS Nimitz - commissioned 1975, active
CVN-69 USS Dwight D. Eisenhower - commissioned 1977, active, "Ike"
CVN-70 USS Carl Vinson - commissioned 1982, active, "Gold Eagle"
CVN-71 USS Theodore Roosevelt - commissioned 1986, active, "TR"
CVN-72 USS Abraham Lincoln - commissioned 1989, active, "Abe"
CVN-73 USS George Washington - commissioned 1992, active
CVN-74 USS John C. Stennis - commissioned 1995, active
CVN-75 USS Harry S. Truman - commissioned 1998, active
CVN-76 USS Ronald Reagan - commissioned 2003, active
CVN-77 USS George H. W. Bush - construction begun 2001, scheduled to be commissioned 2008
CVN-88 USS Slick Willie Clinton - Coming soon "Big Cigar"
#19
...Sadly, one of those carriers is most assuredly not ready to fight a war, though in extremis she could be sent in. Mind you, she might have to be towed there...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/01/2006 12:48 Comments ||
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#20
Sheesh, what overkill. One Ohio-class could take care of the whole thing.
#21
think there's no subs involved? Sounds like a minimum of two are there (at least) :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2006 13:04 Comments ||
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#22
I thought this was all about reacting to AQ threat against Ras Tanura? Lots of luck there - you'd have to have been a UOP engineer for 30 years just to figure out where to start.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/01/2006 13:06 Comments ||
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#23
Did we say we were having a big naval exercise? We were misunderstood. Again. We meant we were having a big navel exercise. We will all be looking at our bellybuttons until we think we're out of range again, then it will be back to the same old rhetoric.
Sorry for the confusion. For now.
Posted by: The MMs ||
11/01/2006 13:09 Comments ||
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#25
think there's no subs involved? Sounds like a minimum of two are there (at least) :-)
Altho my experience is slightly out of date, maybe one will travel with the moving combat group and more will hand off responsiblity along the way with the one or more sub patrolling the Persian Gulf/Red Sea area. They'll try to be flexible as possible.
#26
Does anyone else get the feeling that the pucker factor in Tehran is rapidly approaching infinity? I'll bet that right about now you couldn't get a round toothpick up an Iranian mullah's asshole.
#27
I'd LOVE to see eLarson's quote in #3 photoshopped onto a deck photo of the USS Reagan (I know, the USS Jimmuh Carter would bail out, it is Tehran after all) and posted at drudge or some other "right wing" website. Watch 'em squirm.
So is this in preparation for next Wednesday, when we know who's in control of Congress?
Posted by: BA ||
11/01/2006 14:12 Comments ||
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#28
The USS Jimmah Cahtah was last reported rounding the cape with swinning rabbits in pursuit. The rabbits are considered non-lethal, but problematic nontheless. The source of the rabbits is unknown.
#33
Question: Besides all the US assets in the region, there are all the Europeans and Australians, with even the Russians assisting India. What if NK or Iran have already shipped missiles or technology to Brazil or Venezuela or the West Coast for an attack on the US Mainland? Do we have enough defensive protection for our own shores?
Excellent question. Believe we had a similar occurrence back in Oct of 1962 in Cuba. History does seem to repeat itself from time to time, especially in that part of the world.
This is the MK 48 torpedo. The Seawolf class carries of mix of 50 of them and missiles. If a MK 48 has been fired at you, you have less chance of survival than if a Hungarian assassin is after you to settle a blood feud.
The optimal chance is if the crew of the Iranian ship or submarine beach their vessel, come onshore, assume new identities and disguises and fan out over the country. Then they might have a chance to get away from a MK 48.
#38
So, in response, the Mad Mullahs and Immadinnerjacket are going to put their boats into the Gulf tomorrow to stage their own practice sessions. Hmmmm, hope one of their boats doesn't sink prematurely.
#40
Somebody did preipherally mention it...but BOXER and IWA JIMA are not CVNs; they are LHDs. Thus they lead an Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG), not a Carrier Strike Group (CSG). EISENHOWER/ENTERPRISE are big deck nukes with F/A18s of various flavors and EA6s. LHD's are chopper (Marine) heavy to support amphib ops, etc. Two different, though complimentary concepts.
#41
Then they might have a chance to get away from a MK 48.
Does that qualify as a design defect?
Posted by: Matt ||
11/01/2006 16:51 Comments ||
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#42
In defense of Debka a little, LHDs are sometimes referred to (not by us) as small carriers as they are much bigger than the older LADs as I recall.
Builder: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Ingalls Operations, Pascagoula, MS.
Date Deployed: July 29, 1989 (USS Wasp)
Propulsion: (LHDs 17) two boilers, two geared steam turbines, two shafts, 70,000 total shaft horsepower; (LHD 8) two gas turbines, two shafts; 70,000 total shaft horsepower, two 5,000 horsepower auxiliary propulsion motors. Length: 844 feet (253.2 meters).
Beam: 106 feet (31.8 meters).
Displacement: LHDs 1-4: 40,650 tons full load (41,302.3 metric tons)
LHDs 5-7: 40,358 tons full load (41,005.6 metric tons)
LHD 8: 41,772 tons full load (42,442.3 metric tons).
Speed: 20+ knots (23.5+ miles per hour). Crew: Ships Company: 104 officers, 1,004 enlisted
Marine Detachment: 1,894.
Armament: Two RAM launchers; two NATO Sea Sparrow launchers; three 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts (two on LHD 5-7); four .50 cal. machine guns; four 25 mm Mk 38 machine guns (LHD 5-7 have three 25 mm Mk 38 machine guns). Aircraft: 12 CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters; 4 CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopters; 6 AV-8B Harrier attack aircraft; 3 UH-1N Huey helicopters; 4 AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters. (planned capability to embark MV-22 Osprey VTOL tiltrotors).
Ships:
USS Wasp (LHD 1), Norfolk, VA
USS Essex (LHD 2), Sasebo, Japan
USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), Norfolk, VA
USS Boxer (LHD 4), San Diego, CA
USS Bataan (LHD 5), Norfolk, VA
USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), San Diego, CA
USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), Norfolk, VA
Makin Island (LHD 8) - under construction
Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, VA.
Date Deployed: May 3, 1975 (USS Nimitz).
Unit Cost: About $4.5 billion each.
Propulsion: Two nuclear reactors, four shafts. Length: 1,092 feet (332.85 meters).
Beam: 134 feet (40.84 meters); Flight Deck Width: 252 feet (76.8 meters).
Displacement: Approximately 97,000 tons (87,996.9 metric tons) full load.
Speed: 30+ knots (34.5+ miles per hour). Crew: Ship's Company: 3,200 - Air Wing: 2,480. Armament: Two or three (depending on modification) NATO Sea Sparrow launchers, 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts: (3 on Nimitz and Dwight D. Eisenhower and 4 on Vinson and later ships of the class.). Aircraft: 85.
Ships:
USS Nimitz (CVN 68), San Diego, CA
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), Norfolk, VA
USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Newport News, VA
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), Norfolk, VA
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Everett, WA
USS George Washington (CVN 73), Norfolk, VA
USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), Bremerton, WA
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), Norfolk, VA
USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), San Diego, CA
George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) - (keel laying 6 Sept 2003)
#43
Don't forget the 5 LHAs of the Tarawa class (40K tons full load).
Posted by: ed ||
11/01/2006 17:15 Comments ||
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#44
It is so funny : the US has so much experience with carriers, and so many of them, that we can classify a carrier type as a non-carrier - the Wasp class of LPH. Compare the LPH to any of the WWII carriers and which would you rather have? In any navy other than the US {and maybe British}, the LPH is a carrier, and a damned big and fine one at that. Look at what the Red Chinese are getting as their carrier and compare it to the LPH.
#45
As a prime example of what I said above, look up the specs on the USS Enterprise built in 1938 and compare it to the LPH : the LPH is the better carrier.
#47
Most of the world that criticizes us for throwing our weight around haven't a CLUE what our military could and can do if we decide it is warranted.
And we may (or may not) need that capability against a resurgent China in the next 1-2 decades. We'll see.
#48
The LPHs were built on Essex hulls. BTW, they have all been mothballed.
Posted by: ed ||
11/01/2006 18:21 Comments ||
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#49
Hmmmm .... I wonder who is in charge of the "false flag" provocation attack on some isolated rig by "Geraniums" - that will serve to justify our obliteration of the Persian mullocracy. Surely Iran's Sunni neighbors won't be making too big a fuss if we bitch-slap Iran.
How does November 8th look - the day AFTER US mid-term elections? Yeah, that date looks good ............
#53
That won't last long. My understanding of the rule of thumb is 1/3 on station, 1/3 at port and 1/3 in transit. To have 3 on station at one place is definitely a strain that can't last. May just be a one or two week overlap for turnover, or could be something worthy of popcorn.
#55
Redneck Jim, I think they're counting the Iwo Jima expeditionary group as a carrier group. Not to be sneezed at, but not the same thing in our terms.
NS, I agree two carriers on station together are a big deal. I expect the Marines and their strike groups will be there a bit longer though. Al Q's playing as is Iran. Uncle Sam's Misguided Children may get some time on the oil terminals and elsewhere ... we'll see.
#62
"So is this in preparation for next Wednesday, when we know who's in control of Congress?"
How about Tuesday night at about 8 p.m. EST?
I started at the bottom of the thread and worked my way backwards. Here in Ohio they already have an unprecendented number of mailed in ballots, because this year we can ask for one without cause... and they can't be run through until the polls open on Tuesday. It's already been announced that as a result, results will take a while to tally after the polls close Tuesday evening, perhaps days to enter the things into the new, computerized machines. I may stick around Tuesday for a bit to witness unofficially, for my own satisfaction, although I know and trust at least some of the people who work the place where I vote.
#66
I had the pleasure to spend a little time on the Boxer. The Marines there are incredible. As for the soon to be extinct Iranian sub fleet, adios!!! They will very quickly and quietly rest on the bottom of the sea. No press, no fanfafe, just sunk.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/01/2006 20:34 Comments ||
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#67
I've been accused of being a dirtbag, but a sock puppet, no. Someone posted and showed my NoSpam email addy :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2006 20:35 Comments ||
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#68
I think you look quite fetching, twisting in the wind like that...
Middle East News Nov 1, 2006, 10:58 GMT
Tehran - Iran is to hold renewed military exercises throughout the country, including in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman where naval manoeuvres led by the United States currently take place, the Fars news agency reported Wednesday. The commander of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), General Yahya Rahim Safavi, said that the exercises would begin Thursday November 2. Code-named 'Grand Prophet (Mohammed) 2,' the operations are to run for nine consecutive days in 10 provinces, mainly focused on the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, the general told reporters. Long Live Karl EMPEROR MAXIMUS
#1
Will the Iranians provoke an incident...stay tuned!
TEHRAN November 1, (RIA Novosti) - Iran's army will conduct practice launches of long-range ballistic missiles during large-scale military exercises starting Thursday, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said Wednesday.
General Yahya Rahim-Safavi said the exercises will take place November 2-12 in southern Iran, and involve units of ground forces, the air force, the navy, and Basij (militia) forces.
~~~~~ Xinhua, The Peoples Daily Iran to start "extensive" military maneuvers in the Gulf on Thursday.
On Sunday, the U.S. navy said that vessels from the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Australia and Bahrain began a naval training exercise off the Iranian coast in the Gulf aimed at blocking smuggling of nuclear weapons and arms proliferation.
Iran will not bothered about the military maneuvers because the country "is powerful in all fields," the official IRNA news agency quoted Elham as saying.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will not accept threats. Iran is a strong and powerful state and will not take maneuvers as a threat," he said.
#2
...Man, the LAST time the Iranians got froggy with us in the Gulf, we cleaned their clocks. Apprently there's zero corporate knowledge up there at Tight Turban Central...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/01/2006 10:15 Comments ||
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#3
And German naval vessels are on interdiction patrol off the cost of Lebanon.
#5
Dunno, .com. There was an article posted earlier stating that the Germans couldn't patrol within 12 (I think) miles of the Lebanese coast without Lebanon's permission.
A brief DW background article on the mission here.
#6
There's two sets of Germans, in essence. One with Unifil and one with the German troops. The one's the Israelis buzzed was apparently an intelligence gathering ship in support of German troops. Sort of a German Liberty. They've probably got different ROE depending on which force they're with, including rights to cruise in Lebanese waters.
#7
I asked TGA, once upon a time, about this if Iran were blockaded. He had suggested that Germany would likely participate if the blockade was the result of a UNSC resolution, IIRC. And I asked him if Germany would be willing to actually disable, i.e. shoot off the rudder, of a ship running the blockade. He did not have an answer to that and I took it to mean that Germany is still wrestling within regards force and power. I appreciate that they have taken the issues of aggression and anti-Semitism to heart, no one else has ever done as much to atone for past actions, but it has left them in a quandary to find their balance that remains unresolved 60 years on.
I look at an 8-ship committment as a pretty serious deployment. And with a contingent of 1000 German marines, that looks to me like prep for a possible shooting campaign. Everyone in that area seems to be set for a major balloon lift.
#9
What difference would a military inclined Germany make? Not much in the overall scheme of things. But the German infrastructure and logistical support would be appreciated to any active response in the area. I would prefer France, Germany and Spanish moral support (I like to dream big) than their basically uneffective and degraded military. As my Belgian brother in law likes to say about NATO - Nato is the US.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/01/2006 13:10 Comments ||
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#10
Paraphrasing someone else hereabouts, what good is it if you aren't willing to use it? Time will tell, as always.
#11
The Guards' speciality is small boats that blow up. This is a more worrisome Navy than China of the old Soviets. Harder to keep track of little boats in a sea full of little boats.
#14
Actually, with the Marines using SuperCobras and Apaches, and the coverage from the Hawkeyes, the light suicide boats are not that big of a concern anymore. Also, remember that we have Coast Guard cutters in the area because of the new Customs inspection agreement; some of the newer Coast Guard cutters are pretty impressive light warships.
#15
Just what are the rules for a simultaneous exercise by non invited nations? I mean how close can they get to each other? Too close and the enemy will penetrate umbrella coverage between groups or god forbid, individual ships! Do we still have a "Don't fire, till you see the whites of their eyes" rule?
#16
Nope, there is a set distance that foreign naval vessels can come to from a carrier battle group. That distance tends to expand and contract based on known threat level of the foreign navy.
#19
whatever it takes to push the MM's and IRG to respond with the provacation
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2006 20:39 Comments ||
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#20
On Sunday, the U.S. navy said that vessels from the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Australia and Bahrain began a naval training exercise off the Iranian coast in the Gulf aimed at blocking smuggling of nuclear weapons and arms proliferation.
"This calls for a really stupid, and yet futile gesture."
#21
It amuses me. They keep saying they want us out, and then do things that keep us there. When is the Muslim street going to realize this?
This reminds very little of the old Vaudeville act where a young maiden is being somewhat roughly introduced to the finer points of lovemaking while she exclaims;
#22
Operation "Hidden Imam in the Urinal" should also disrupt the Iranian state broadcasting with our war exercise videos - just to let the people know we're there
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2006 21:35 Comments ||
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#23
Notes for an analysis: Provoking Iran
-provocation against Iran, as pretext for mass destruction.
-explicit discussion of fabricating/creating a provocation
-discussion of Germany's U.N. role in the region and as a world power
-discussion of the options using some military terms
-ease and comfort amongst commenters
---
May good judgment rule. Contrary to the tendencies above, I wish for no provocation in the region but rather the U.S.'s acceptance of Iran's developing a nuclear program under the auspices of the IAEA. Hard, tough, negotiating but no more. Even manoeuvres. But. No. More.
With the resolve of a leader of the free world. Rather than the leader of a very different world.
#25
Were Iran a remotely civilized, trustworthy nation, I'm sure we'd all agree with HighVoltage's vision... after all, we accept a nuclear armed France without a quibble. However, Iran's leadership awaits an imminent Shiite Armaggedon led by a decendent of their Prophet who has spent the past millenium at the bottom of a well. You'll understand why we're a bit uncomfortable about said Iranian leadership's ability to analyze the situation realitically.
#27
apparently HighVoltage doesn't include neurons firing
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2006 22:08 Comments ||
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#28
Note: Addition
-the tendency to use Ad Hominems
---
trailing wife:
-I think that Iran is not nearly so fearful a nation as your colourful description would have it - the people, or the leadership, or even the structure of governance for that matter (where the President has not nearly so much authority as the U.S. President).
-They really are not a bunch of crazies. They are tough, hard minded and rational. Even in Iran, politicians play politics when appealing to an electorate.
-That this nation could seriously be regarded as somehow outside of rational, pragmatic relations because of political and religious beliefs baffles.Why? America is regarded as a rational player despite the influence of religious beliefs on U.S. foreign policy. It actually has the nuclear weapons.
So, like, what's the fear factor here? What is being feared?
#29
feared? I detect several sneers and ridicule. Little fear
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/01/2006 22:11 Comments ||
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#30
And your expertise in this matter is what, Mr. HighVoltage? You've been here before, and never yet explained why we should value your opinion over the information collected directly from the words and actions of the parties we hold in such low esteem.
#32
What is being feared is a country that seized our embassy, held embassy workers hostage for over a year, calls us "The Great Satan" (for over a quarter of a century), materially supports terrorism worldwide, denies the Holocaust, ran a clandestine nuclear program for a long time in defiance of its treaty obligations, claims "peaceful" nuclear plans even though putting its facilities into hidden and hardened underground locations, is building longer range missiles regularly, threatens Israel's right to exist, and operates on homicidal religious fervor rather than logic. Aside from that, they suppress women, suppress free speech, censor media, and do generally despicable things like using children to clear mine fields. Nitwit.
An explosion at a school in Lebanon's eastern Beka'a Valley killed one adult and seriously wounded another Tuesday, a school official and the official news agency reported. What caused the explosion was not immediately clear. The official National News Agency said it was a bomb, but a staffer at the Abbas Mussawi School in Ba'albek said only that an explosion occurred in a room, killing one man, Hafez Hassan, and wounding another, Fahed Yaghi. A stronghold of the Hizbullah, Ba'albek was repeatedly hit by Israeli aircraft during the 34-day war that ended with a UN-brokered cease-fire on Aug. 14.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Gee, using a school as cover? What an original idea.
#7
She looks like she's 15, what a turn on that is.
I know I'm a dirty old man, but you will be too when you get to my age. Any turn on is welcome and rare.
#18
Sheesh, lol. I stood on your shoulders, Dar stood on mine, then NS climbed on top and took a piss - gravity with that personal touch. Go figure, huh?
#21
I just figured out why she looks so unhappy. Read the headline just to the right of her picture: 2" Aussie. No, maybe that's not right.........but it sure looks suspicious.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
11/01/2006 16:07 Comments ||
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#22
I have more pictures of her, looking happier. One's with a cow.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2006 16:31 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Afghanistans intelligence agency said on Tuesday it had arrested three men planning suicide attacks in Kabul, including two from a Pakistan-based cell run by the capitals Taliban-era deputy police chief. The two were seized this week while trying to enter the city from neighbouring Logar province, spokesman Sayed Ansari told reporters. They were part of a Pakistan-based cell organised by 
The account Halima Sherif gave of her family's ordeal was chillingly familiar in this part of the world. Arab men on horseback rode into her village, shouting racial epithets over the rat-tat-tat of Kalashnikov gunfire. 
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is seeking to confirm reports that a fourth Australian has been arrested in Yemen. Three men from New South Wales, two of whom are brothers, were arrested about two weeks ago for allegedly trying to smuggle weapons to Islamist militia in Somalia. The Australian Consul in Riyadh was to have met with the men last night but was denied access by Yemeni officials. He is expected to meet them later today. In September, Yemen said it had broken up an Al Qaeda-linked cell that was behind foiled attacks on oil and gas installations.
A judge refused to toss out charges against a jazz musician, a doctor and two other men accused of supporting terrorists. Defense lawyers had argued that the men were arrested through entrapment and outrageous conduct by an overzealous government in late 2001, but U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska refused to dismiss the charges Monday. She said evidence in the case could be viewed as showing the men had made statements and taken actions making them "predisposed to commit these crimes" even before the government sent a confidential informant to record their conversations.
Eyewitnesses saw a US Predator drone fire three missiles at the madrassa in Bajaur Agency that was destroyed on Monday, casting doubts on the governments claim that the airstrike was carried out solely by the Pakistani military, according to a report by news analysis service Stratfor. The report says the airstrike could have been meant to kill Al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri, but Pakistani security officials told journalists in Islamabad that Zawahiri was not in the madrassa at the time of the raid, though he had visited it in the past.
PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. (Army News Service, Oct. 31, 2006) With the recent delivery of eighteen new M777 lightweight 155mm howitzers to the Armys 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery, at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, the King of Battle the field artillerys nickname took a giant step forward. 
