James Downey Jr., who survived the infamous Bataan Death March in 1942 and became an inspiration to his family, died Monday. He was 96 years old.
Downey served with the Army's 26th Cavalry Philippine Scouts, a decorated unit that still rode horses into battle in the early days of World War II. Half-Filipino by birth, his mother was of Philippine and Spanish heritage and his father was from Augusta County, a cavalry officer who fought in the Spanish-American War.
In 1942, Downey was a young soldier in the prime of life, six years removed from a tryout on the 1936 U.S. Olympic swim team, when Japanese soldiers captured him on April 9.
He was put in line with thousands of other prisoners and ordered to start walking. The rule was simple, he recalled. If you stop, you die.
The forced march to a Japanese POW camp covered 60 miles and lasted five days. For a time, Downey carried his little brother, Robert, who survived the march but ultimately died of sickness.
Downey recounted his experiences last year in an interview with the Daily Press. After more than 60 years, his memories were still chilling.
"A lot of my friends died along the way," he said. "And sometimes a Japanese tank would go over -- Oh God -- you'd see them along the road. It was terrible."
By some estimates, 11,000 men died.
But his determination in surviving one of the darkest chapters in American military history was not lost on his family.
His son, Gary Downey, said the themes of never giving up and always helping a brother were impressed upon the children at an early age.
"The journey that happened to him on Bataan, it still continues for him," Gary said last year.
James Downey retired from the Army in 1963 as a master sergeant. He served a stint at Fort Eustis in Newport News, where he met his wife, Frances.
She died in 2006. She and James were married 57 years and had four children. He was a former resident of Yorktown.
#1
An Aussie doctor who survived that death march and the camps after... helped me a lot when I got hurt in the early 60s.... in the late 60s he committed suicide as the pain from his WW-II tortures finally got too much for him.....
Those guys went through the valley of the shadow and deep into hell.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/22/2011 1:08 Comments ||
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#3
It really gets me sometimes that Japan gets a pass on the atrocities they committed prior to and during WWII. This is just the best documented because of the number survivors that can tell the stories. POWs were used as slave labor, human experiments, and in a few cases food by the Imperial army. RIP BUT NEVER EVER FORGET!
#4
Note that the 'trials' in the Far East followed less stringent standards than Nuremberg and we hung a good number of the principles who we caught. Japan rebuilding didn't really begin as it was happening in Germany till the North Koreans invaded the South in 1950 at which time it was thought a rebuilt Japan was a better fall back position in case things didn't turn out for the better on the peninsula.
The biggest difference is that the Germans faced up to what they had done in the post-war years, the Japanese just ignored it. Of course the Germans have gone rather soft militarily (which is probably a good thing after 200 years + of conflict in Central Europe) while the Japanese really haven't, however keeping it well checked up to now. Given the rising return of Chinese territorial imperialism, that may not be such a bad thing either.
#5
Japan rebuilding didn't really begin as it was happening in Germany till the North Koreans invaded the South in 1950 at which time it was thought a rebuilt Japan was a better fall back position in case things didn't turn out for the better on the peninsula.
Sorta, the rebuilding started earlier, but rebuilding in Japan was from an even lower level than Germany. The Korean War gave a major shot in the arm to the Maritime trade in Japan, who were instrumental in supplying UN forces from very, very early in the fracas.
Posted by: Goldies Every Damn Where ||
06/22/2011 18:05 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Tunisian authorities came under fire Tuesday for their high-speed sentencing in absentia of ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his wife to 35 years in jail for embezzling public funds. Some things are simple...
The court's quick verdict Monday after only six hours of deliberation on the first day of the landmark trial was dismissed as a "charade" by some Tunisians and a "joke" by a Ben Ali lawyer.
"It is a big disappointment, the kind of charade of summary justice that the dictatorship had accustomed us to," said Mouhieddine Cherbib of a La Belle France-based Tunisian rights group.
"We wanted a real trial, a fair one ... a trial of the dictatorship with people who were tortured appearing as witnesses -- a justice system from which you learn something," Cherbib said, adding that high treason would have been a more appropriate charge.
Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi were charged with embezzlement after the discovery of money and jewellery at their palace on the outskirts of Tunis -- the verdict described Tuesday by daily La Presse as "a downpayment of 35 years each".
The ex-president was also fined 50 million dinars ($36 million) and his wife 41 million dinars ($30 million).
Judge Touhami Hafi said the sentences, which exceeded the 20 years that had been widely predicted, would take immediate effect despite the couple living in Soddy Arabia, which has so far ignored Tunisia's demands to extradite Ben Ali.
A second case targeting Ben Ali only, involving weapons and drugs allegedly found in a presidential residence in Carthage, was postponed to June 30 to allow his lawyers more time to prepare.
Ben Ali's lawyer in Beirut denounced the verdict as farcical.
"This is a joke," attorney Akram Azouri told Agence La Belle France Presse. "You don't retaliate to a joke. You just laugh."
The former president denies any wrongdoing and in a statement released Monday said he had not intended to go into exile while condemning political developments in Tunisia since the end of his 23-year rule.
"I did not abandon my post as president nor did I flee Tunisia, as some media have falsely reported ... I was duped into leaving Tunis," read a statement released by Azouri.
The trial was only the start of a long process that may see top members of Ben Ali's regime in the dock over allegations including murder, torture, money laundering and trafficking of archaeological artifacts.
Of the 93 charges Ben Ali and his inner circle face, 35 will be referred to a military court, said a justice ministry front man.
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06/22/2011 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A Tunisian court sentenced former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in absentia on Monday to 35 years in jail, six months after his overthrow in a revolution helped to inspire the "Arab Spring."
Ben Ali, who has been in Soddy Arabia since he was forced from power, was found guilty after just one day of deliberation of theft and of illegally possessing jewelry and large sums of cash.
The same sentence was handed down to his wife Leila Trabelsi, a former hairdresser whose lavish lifestyle and clique of wealthy relatives were symbols of the corruption of the Ben Ali era for many Tunisians.
Ben Ali and his wife flew to Soddy Arabia on January 14 after mass protests against his 23-year rule. The Tunisian government said in February it had asked Soddy Arabia to extradite Ben Ali.
During his time in office, members of his extended family accumulated fortunes while his security forces routinely locked away anyone who dared to dissent.
Tunisia's revolt electrified millions across the Arab world who suffer similarly from high unemployment, rising prices and repressive governments. Ben Ali's case has been watched closely in Egypt, where former president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... is due to stand trial over the killing of protesters.
In a statement issued by his lawyers earlier on Monday, Ben Ali denied all the charges against him, saying that he was the victim of a political plot. He said he had been tricked into leaving the country.
"What a moment," said Meriam, a student who was one of a handful of people waiting late into the evening outside the courthouse to hear the verdict. "After 23 years when he manipulated the courts, today a very fair court has returned to us a little bit of our honour."
"My brother was put in prison for nothing ... and the other one was forced to stay in Europe in exile for nine years," she said. "This (verdict) gives us some peace."
STEALING
Judge Touhami Hafian, who read out the verdict and sentence in the Palace of Justice in the Tunisian capital, also ruled that Ben Ali and his wife would have to pay fines totaling 91 million Tunisian dinars ($65.6 million).
The judge said the verdict on other charges, relating to illegal possession of drugs and weapons, would be handed down on June 30, according to a Rootersnews hound who was in the courtroom.
During the hearing, a prosecutor had asked the judge to hand down "the most severe punishments for those who betrayed the trust and stole the money of the people for their personal gain .... They did not stop stealing for 23 years."
Ben Ali's defense lawyers refused to comment after the sentence was passed. Abderrazak Kilani, a senior lawyer who was not involved in the trial, told Rooters: "They have been given the heaviest sentence in this type of case."
Earlier, Ben Ali's lawyers had given the first detailed account of the events that led to his departure from Tunisia.
At the time, thousands of protesters had gathered in the center of the capital Tunis to demand that he step down, the culmination of three weeks of demonstrations which police tried to disperse by firing on the crowds.
The statement issued by his lawyers said that the head of presidential security had come to Ben Ali in his office and told him that "friendly" foreign intelligence services had passed on information about a plot to assassinate the president.
He was persuaded to get on a plane that was taking his wife and children to safety in Jeddah, Soddy Arabia, but with the intention of returning immediately, the statement said.
"He boarded the plane with his family after ordering the crew to wait for him in Jeddah. But after his arrival in Jeddah, the plane returned to Tunisia without waiting for him, contrary to his orders.
"He did not leave his post as president of the republic and hasn't decamped Tunisia as he was falsely accused of doing," the statement said.
Ben Ali's version of events is unlikely to draw sympathy from the majority of Tunisians. They are now enjoying relative freedom after decades when most people would not speak openly for fear of arrest by the secret police.
In his statement released on Monday, Ben Ali said the weapons he was accused of possessing illegally were gifts from other heads of state and the jewelry had been given as presents to his wife by foreign dignitaries.
The money and drugs had been planted in his home and the presidential palace after his departure as part of the plot against him, he said in the statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2011 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Indonesia has recalled its ambassador to Soddy Arabia in response to the execution of an Indonesian maid who was convicted of murdering her Saudi employer.
The maid's beheading has sparked protests in Jakarta and calls for an explanation from Riyadh.
In the past 20 years, a total of 303 migrant workers from Indonesia have been sentenced to death in Soddy Arabia.
Indonesia has managed to help only 12 of its citizens escape execution.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Considering how Saudi employers tend to treat their Indonesian maids, Jakarta's response may well be appropriate - though ordinarily I wouldn't be concerned with whether or how a murderer was executed.
#2
Indonesia should have long ago developed a discreet revenge policy, so that when some Saudi murders an Indonesian maid, but then "gets over" in Saudi court, a killer is dispatched, to dispatch the Saudi--with plausible deniability.
Make it look like an accident. A nasty and painful one.
HOSPITAL chiefs have apologised after giving elderly patients a TAMBOURINE to call for nurses in an emergency.
The musical instrument was left in a day room after older patients feared they were too far away for nurses to hear any cries for help.
A pair of maracas were also handed out as a back-up in case the tambourine failed.
[Emirates 24/7] Silvio Berlusconi's ...current Italian prime minister, known for his plain (for a European politician) speaking and his liking for hookers a third his age or less... government won a confidence vote on a bill in parliament on Tuesday, bringing temporary relief to the Italian premier after crushing defeats in local elections and a round of referendums.
The government had turned a vote on a law for minor economic reforms into a show of confidence in the lower house, as Berlusconi prepared to reassure his supporters of his leadership in a speech to parliament later on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Honestly, I think that he is one of those rare individuals that hires women not as prostitutes, but for their aesthetic value at his parties. Every one mentioned had some ability or talent and provided entertainment for his guests.
This is an upper class custom, as it is quite expensive.
It also makes sense, because in his circles, cocktail parties are often drab, because all guests can talk about are politics and work. Anything that *isn't* that is a big splash, precisely because it isn't politics and work.
Elaborate food and drink will only take you so far. So he brings in dancers, and many women just to stand around and be talked at, because they are attractive.
But none of the other classes imagine this is possible. They must be prostitutes because that is what women do in exchange for money.
(KUNA) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... insists Tuesday the euro will not collapse because member states "will not let it." The 17 eurozone nations have too much invested in the single currency to allow it to fail, he told a presser at Downing Street.
It comes after former foreign secretary Jack Straw insisted it could not survive and called for a speedy demise rather than a "slow death." But Cameron said: "I was passionately opposed to Britannia joining the eurozone and I'm very clear as long as I'm Prime Minister there is no prospect of us even contemplating joining the euro.
"I've always believed that a country the size of Britannia, with our economy and our situation, it's much better if you have your own currency, are able to set your own interest rates because sometimes different countries in Europe need different interest rates in different circumstances.
"The countries that joined the euro have an enormous amount invested in it and do not want it to, and will not let it, fail.
"They see it as an absolutely key part now of their national interest and identities and I would not doubt their resolve in any way." EU finance ministers are refusing to hand the Greek government a second bailout package of 12 billion euro unless it agrees to implement a 28 billion euro (24.8 billion pounds) set of austerity measures which include tax increases and massive spending cuts.
Finance ministers meeting in Luxembourg put off until July 3 a final decision on the loan instalment, without which Athens would be forced to default on its debts.
Cameron said he "wished the Greek government well" but did not want to see the European financial mechanism used to help prop it up.
Britannia was not involved in the initial bailout so should not be involved in subsequent bailouts, he said.
"It would be quite wrong now to bring Britannia into this bailout," he added. Cameron said: "Britannia suffers when the eurozone struggles. Forty per cent of our exports go to eurozone countries.
"Turbulence in the eurozone is not good for Britannia and the consequences of severe turbulence could be bad for Britannia.
"The point about Greece that the Chancellor and I have both made is we were not involved in the first bailout of Greece."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"EU finance ministers are refusing to hand the Greek government a second bailout package of 12 billion euro unless it agrees to implement a 28 billion euro (24.8 billion pounds) set of austerity measures which include tax increases and massive spending cuts."
For all the arguments about the supposed benefits of stimuli, funny how, when the sh!t really hits the fan, everyone suddenly knows the solution's spending cuts.
Or is it because the finance ministers are on the outside looking in? A bit of distance from the politics, and the demands of those with a vested interest in maintaining the size of the public sector, whether doing so helps or not.
#7
IIRC the EU is repor attempting to set up a EU$700.0BILYUHN internal bailout package for its various troubled Member-States, e.g. Greece, Ireland, Spain.
* OTOH CHINA DAILY FORUMS > IRELAND WANTS [Northern Ireland] INDEPENDENCE! GERRY ADAMS [Sein Fein] CALLS FOR IRELAND'S UNITY.
Yoohoo, Washington DC, do I say "told ya" now, or later [once again]???
FYI pro-UK + Protestant paramilitaries are staging violent street protests in Belfast, includ alleged physical attacks on Catholics.
* WAFF > IFF GREECE EXITS EUROZONE, THEY WILL HAVE INFLATION OF 90%.
> Revised or indexed Drachma currency will likely suffer an currency-sepcific interest inflation rate of 20%.
> ordinary Greeks to suffer from higher prices for imported goods + food.
> Greek foreign investments to suffer massive devaluation.
Sub-OTOH, Radical Islam is coming to wage Jihad in the UK [EU] irregardless iff Ireland, Scotland is still part of the UK + EU or not.
Journalists from a variety of news outlets including the New York Times and full camera crews from CNN, CBS will be covering the anti-Israel flotilla from aboard one of the ships, according to The Nation correspondent Joseph Dana (who will also report from the flotilla).
While its hard to blame reporters for seeking out a colorful story, they should realize by joining the activists on the boat they are actually making themselves a part of the story.
They will be with the flotilla when it attempts to violate international law by trying to break Israels legally-established naval blockade. And they could potentially interfere with the Israeli militarys ability to do its job if IDF soldiers are forced to board the ships.
The one upside of this development is at least now flotilla activists will have a more difficult time attacking IDF soldiers with knives once the network news cameras are rolling. But the unfortunate downside is these reporters are giving the flotilla activists exactly what theyre aiming for media attention.
Seeing as theres no humanitarian reason for the flotilla (which is even more obvious now that the Egyptian border with Gaza has been opened), its only point is to generate publicity. The activists are sure to receive a lot of media coverage this time around and they wont even have to resort to stabbing soldiers to get it.
#9
Now your insulting vegetables! What did they ever do to you?
Veggies are more sexually mature than Justass. I mean the guy can't even look at a woman (or goats and other 'uncovered meat' for that matter) without getting sexually frustrated. I guess if we here at Rantburg can give him a forum for venting his frustration at least it might be easier on his livestock.
As for the article - I'm sire NYT and CNN will be very careful not to film the clubs, machete's and knives the 'peaceful protesters' have.
#14
maybe the ship will be disabled and drift for days in the Med in the middle of summer and run short of water and then maybe the reporters will be sexually assaulted... wouldn't that be a shame
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
06/22/2011 20:46 Comments ||
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#15
Goodness, Lord Garth, I don't recall you saying anything anything like that before.
[Dawn] Police claimed here on Monday to have recovered three kidnapped persons from different areas of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar and tossed in the calaboose four accused involved in their kidnapping.
The recovered people included a woman, her child and a college student, said DSP Sajjad Khan.
He said that the student, Mubashir Sharif, had been kidnapped from a bus stop in Lahore when he was on way to Rawalpindi on April 14.
Police raided a house at Sher Ghundai Tela Band area and recovered the student, who remained in chains since his kidnapping, he said. He added that his kidnappers had demanded Rs10 million as ransom for his release.
Two kidnappers identified as Zar Ali and Jan Mohammad were also tossed in the calaboose during the raid and weapons were seized from their possession," the DSP said, adding the tossed in the calaboose persons would be handed over to Punjab police.
The student told journalists that he was going to Rawalpindi in search of job. "As I cam to the bus stop, three gunnies in a white corolla motorcar forced me to accompany them," he said and added that they gave him some intoxicants and then he found himself chained in a room.
The kidnappers, he said, posed as Taliban and threatened to slaughter him if his father failed to pay them ransom.
The official said that a woman identified as Nighat Sultana along with her four-year-old child was recovered from Chabian village at Dalazak Road.
The woman had been kidnapped by a taxi driver when she was on way home from a hospital some six months ago. The woman belongs to Rustam area of Mardan.
Police said that the kidnappers had demanded Rs0.4 million as ransom for her release but didn`t free her despite getting the money. "They again demanded Rs0.7 million but this time they failed to get it as police succeeded in getting a clue about her whereabouts and recovered her during a raid," an official said.
Two accused identified as Habibullah and Noor Mohammad were tossed in the calaboose during the raid. The accused Habibullah who belongs to Swat, is now residing in Sarband area of Peshawar. Cases of kidnapping against the accused were registered at Badhber and Paharipura cop shoppes.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2011 00:00 ||
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The U.N. General Assembly will on Tuesday elect South Korean the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... to a second term as U.N. leader after he was backed by all major powers.
Outspoken in faulting the leaders of Arab countries facing protests, but criticized himself by some human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... groups, the former South Korean foreign minister has been certain to win reelection for several months.
Ban, 67, declared his candidacy two weeks ago and was given formal backing by the U.N. Security Council on Friday. With no challenger to force a contest, the 192-member General Assembly will confirm the new term by consensus.
"There has never been any doubt," said one U.N. ambassador. "He may not be everyone's favorite but no one has any reason to stop him."
Ban has said climate change -- a topic the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... struggled with during his first five years -- is his top challenge. He has called the battle against global warming "the most important priority" for mankind.
The U.N. chief has also vowed to keep speaking up for the protesters taking on long-ruling leaders in the Arab world.
Syria's President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... now refuses to take calls from Ban, the U.N. front man said. Ban has also had telephone confrontations with Libya's Moammar Qadaffy and other regional leaders in recent months.
Human rights groups have nevertheless attacked Ban for not raising the case of jugged Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo in a meeting with China's President Hu Jintao ...Hu has been involved in the Communist party bureaucracy for most of his adult life, meaning his viewpoint has a lot more theory than it does practice. He espouses a Harmonious Society approach, suggesting everybody should play nice or they'll be shot... last November.
Ban, a career diplomat, took over as U.N. secretary-general in 2007, succeeding Kofi Annan and calling himself a "harmonizer" and "bridge-builder".
But rights groups say he is too deferential to China and the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- Russia, the United States, Britannia and La Belle France -- which could have vetoed his reappointment.
"Now that he no longer has the burden of seeking reelection we hope that he will be more free to stand up for human rights everywhere," said Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... U.N. director Philippe Bolopion.
Despite the criticisms however, Ban has annoyed China and Russia with his strong line on Libya, Syria and the uprising in Yemen.
Sri Lanka was also infuriated by his naming of an independent panel to look into alleged atrocities when the government put down a decades-old Tamil separatist uprising in 2009.
Some U.N. officials have said privately that they expect the secretary-general to be more outspoken on rights in his second term.
Ban, who was South Korea's foreign minister from 2004 until 2007, is the eighth U.N. secretary-general since the body was formed after World War II.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/22/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
I am all for Ban and every other UN leader getting a new term of 20 years at Sing-Sing or similar place.
#2
I am all for Ban and every other UN leader getting a new term of 20 years at Sing-Sing or similar place.
Wouldn't it be more humane to let them improve their Karma by giving them an opportunity to reincarnate as something moral superior---say a Vibrio cholerae?
23 percent more data about the mentally ill has been added to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, according to FBI data acquired by Mayors Against Illegal Guns. But states and federal agencies still have millions of records that have not been added to the database.
Federal law bars people who have been involuntarily committed from legally purchasing firearms. However, states are not required to report involuntary commitments to the NICS database. Such record-sharing by states, as well as by federal agencies, has been spotty for years.
The advocacy group, co-chaired by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, supports better controls preventing criminals from illegally obtaining weapons.
Arizona added nearly 2,000 records, but the group estimates the state has another 115,000 records that have not been shared. The state had about 7,000 records on file with NICS as of April, according to the mayor's group.
"The background check system has stopped hundreds of thousands of illegal gun purchases over the past decade," Bloomberg said in a written statement. "But too many dangerous people are slipping through the cracks. It's incredible that five months after Tucson, the system is still missing millions of records." Lots of lies and half-truths, here. Most involuntary commitments are made by judges for *speculative* mental health evaluations in court cases. These are for just a few hours up to two weeks, and find no mental health issues. Likewise, the military uses a very broad net for PTSD screening, which gun controllers want to be labeled as "involuntary commitment", solely to deny these veterans guns in the future.
#1
Freedom isn't free. Free people are dangerous. Freedom is dangerous and messy, no getting around that. However, it is better than the alternatives that have so far been tried, in suitable populations anyway. Freedom for Pakistan, on the other hand, ....
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.
James Downey Jr., who survived the infamous Bataan Death March in 1942 and became an inspiration to his family, died Monday. He was 96 years old.
[An Nahar] Tunisian authorities came under fire Tuesday for their high-speed sentencing in absentia of ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his wife to 35 years in jail for embezzling public funds.
[Bangla Daily Star] A Tunisian court sentenced former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in absentia on Monday to 35 years in jail, six months after his overthrow in a revolution helped to inspire the "Arab Spring."
[Al Jazeera] Indonesia has recalled its ambassador to 
's
David Cameron
Punjab
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
President-for-Life Bashir 
