Friday - June 21, 2013

war photography as I haven’t seen it. not even in the movies. and we still lost?

Sometimes I believe I have to be the dumbest person here or else a total masochist or perhaps both.

Why oh why, knowing exactly what I would find, do I continue to read all the bullshit trashy anti-American comments that follow a story like this one.
It’s always the same and still I learn nothing and go back for more.
There has to be some kind of serious malfunction of the brain to allow for that sort of stupidity.  What makes it even worse is, I’m the guy who liked to think he didn’t make the same mistake more than once or 2wice at the most.  Different ones to be sure, but not a repeat of the same.  Of course, these are not mistakes. Are they?  More like self inflicted wounds.

So a note my readers in the USA. Do yourself a favor and just pass on the comments at the end of the article I am posting here. Ignore them.

By ignore comments, I mean those comments at the link below, not the bmews comments. We welcome those even if you don’t agree with some pov you read here.  It’s the damn anti-USA stuff that follows the article itself when you link to the whole story and all of the pix.  So many experts on America all saying the same parrot BS. A pox on them.

Astonishing Vietnam War photos reveal the moment U.S. troops unleashed hell on Viet Cong sniper in hills above an Army camp

By Daily Mail Reporter

A Vietnam War veteran has released incredible night-time photographs he took of American troops opening fire on a Viet Cong sniper who had been firing on a U.S. Army camp.

For more than four decades, photographer James Speed Hensinger kept these incredible photographs to himself, not releasing them to the public until now.

Hensinger was just a 22-year-old paratrooper with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in April 1970 when a Viet Cong sniper began spraying automatic rifle fire on Hensinger’s base in Phu Tai, near the coastal city of Da Nang.

Hensinger set up his Nikon FTN camera to take long exposures to capture the firefight. Each shot includes 15 to 60 seconds of gunfire.

When the Viet Cong sniper began shooting, the Americans unleashed hell.

An M42 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun began pouring cannon and machine gun fire into the hills above the camp.

Lots and lots more to see and read HERE

Posted by peiper     on 06/21/2013 at 04:31 AM   
Filed Under: • Art-Photography • USA • War-Stories •  
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   Saturday - June 15, 2013

we’ll just arm the good rebels in syria

I am no great fan of this guy.  In fact, no fan at all.
He is far to the left and quite anti-American.  He might deny it but I think he hates us.  If not, at the least has little use for us and even less for the Israelis.  Keep in mind that is my take having read him on and off for a short time.

In this article by Fisk, who is mainly based in the Middle East and has been writing for a very left wing paper for 30 years, it has to be said that he is not entirely wrong.  That is, he is dubious of possible American involvement in Syria. In point of fact, he’s against it, and so are many of us.

In case some of you readers missed it, I posted this link yesterday and do so again today.  I do not think American newspapers do this kind of detail and hardly ever on TV which is more about sound bites. 

Anyway …. here’s Fisk today, because people, every now and then we should give a spot of space to a liberal lefty who doesn’t like us.
Uncensored and unedited.

SO AMERICA WILL ARM ONLY THE NICE REBELS?  OH, PLEASE …

by Robert Fisk

Tosh! That’s the only sane reaction to the White House’s announcement that America the Brave is to arm the Syrian rebels.

The US doesn’t plan to send weapons to the horrid rebels, mark you – not to the al-Qa’ida-inspired al-Nusra Front whose chaps film themselves eating Alawites for YouTube videos, barbecue the heads of captured Syrian troops and murder 14-year-old schoolboys for blasphemy. Only to the nice rebels, the Free Syrian Army deserters who are battling the forces of Assad darkness in the interests of freedom, liberty, women’s rights and democracy.

Anyone who believes this knows nothing about war, killing, barbarity and, especially, greed. Because weapons are not just guns. They are currency. They are money. They are saleable commodities the moment you send them across any border. Their value in US dollars, pounds sterling, Syrian pounds or Qatari dinars is infinitely more important than their use in battle.

The Western powers are dangerously close to flooding Syria with weapons and ammunition which will officially go to the nice rebels – but will quickly pass to the horrid rebels, who will sell some of them to al-Qa’ida, Iraqi insurgents, Syrian government troops, Malian militiamen, Taliban fighters and Pakistani hitmen. Guns are about money.

IT WORKS LIKE THIS

The nice rebels could be given anti-aircaft missiles (shoulder-fired variety preferred) to use against Assad’s helicopters and Migs. Thank you – “shukran” – the nice rebels will say. But once over the border, the horrid rebel Nusra chaps will make an offer the nice rebels can’t refuse: either many thousands of dollars or a threat to seize the munitions (head-chopping optional), or a mixture of both. For a hefty sum, the horrid rebels will then split the proceeds with their chaps in Iraq. Ask the Syrian government soldiers – as I have – and they’ll tell you that they too would prefer the weapons to go to the nice rebels, who always run away – because the horrid rebels of the Nusra always fight to the last man.

In the Lebanese civil war, not a single gun I ever saw was actually donated to the men who carried them. The Phalangists used weapons they received from the Israelis, who got them from the Americans (or with American money, the same thing). The Palestinians used guns from Syria, which had in turn imported them from the Soviet Union. Hezbollah even have a few self-loading rifles which appear to have come long ago from the Lebanese Army, which received them as surplus from the British Ministry of Defence after our chaps left Northern Ireland following the Good Friday Agreement.

Back in the Eighties, the US handed out missiles and other goodies to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the super-freedom fighters trying to kill lots of Russians in Afghanistan. But Mr Hekmatyar then became a super-terrorist and decided to kill lots of post-2001 American occupiers of his country – using the same weapons donated to him by those grand arms dealers Messrs Carter and Reagan Inc.

In 1991, the Israelis took delivery of AGM-114C missiles from the Americans – manufactured for the US Marine Corps, who were supposed to fire them at Iraqi soldiers – and used one of them to blow up an ambulance full of Lebanese women and children in 1996.

History lesson. The weapons used by both sides in the 1922-3 Irish civil war – and you can see them in museums – included Lee-Enfield .303 rifles, each bearing the imprint of a British crown on the butt. They had been made for the Brits to use against Germans in the First World War. Whoops…

CAUTION, the source is a very lefty newspaper

“and used one of them to blow up an ambulance full of Lebanese women and children in 1996.”

Mr. Fisk writes as though the Israelis intentionally target these people.  It could have happened but I would be willing to bet there is far more to the story then he presents in this one line.
On the other hand there is also this.

The Hadassah convoy massacre took place on April 13, 1948, when a convoy, escorted by Haganah militia, bringing medical and military supplies and personnel to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus was ambushed by Arab forces.

Seventy-eight Jewish doctors, nurses, students, patients, faculty members and Haganah fighters, and one British soldier were killed in the attack. Dozens of unidentified bodies, burned beyond recognition, were buried in a mass grave in the Sanhedria Cemetery. The Jewish Agency claimed that the massacre was a gross violation of international humanitarian law, and demanded action be taken against a breach of the Geneva Conventions. The Arabs claimed they had attacked a military formation, that all members of the convoy had engaged in combat, and that it had been impossible to distinguish combatants from civilians. An enquiry was conducted. Eventually an agreement was reached to separate military from humanitarian convoys.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadassah_medical_convoy_massacre

“ it had been impossible to distinguish combatants from civilians.”

You know, it is possible the Arabs could have been telling the truth in this case. Maybe.  I don’t know. 
But I find it very interesting that the many times this situation has been faced by the Israelis, in every single case this reasoning has been rejected by the haters of Jews and of Israel. And by people like Robert Fisk.
It can not be denied by any fair minded people that Israel sometimes gets things very wrong.  They can not be right ALL of the time, any more than we can.
And that’s a damn shame.  However, for some folks, the Israelis are never right. Ever. 

Posted by peiper     on 06/15/2013 at 05:07 AM   
Filed Under: • UK • USA • War-Stories •  
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   Friday - June 14, 2013

THE WORLD AT WAR?

Meanwhile, while Britain braces itself while flushing itself, the Germans are busy with the further erosion of their culture and country. They are going to give (start the laff meter) “Temporary” homes to some 5,000 Syrian refugees.  The Germans, again masters of Europe in a financial sense this time, are going to find a way to resettle some of the reported two million Syrians who have fled the war in their country.  A war in which the UK and now Obama insists on getting involved in.  It’s for the civilians you know, and the rumor, most likely made up by his enemies, that the Assad govt. has used chemical weapons, gives Mr.O. the excuse he has been eagerly looking and praying for. It has not dawned on these deadheads yet, that when those folks kill each other, that’s good for our side.  We should encourage that.

Drew beat me to this I was so busy putting together my last post. So I need say no more on the subject of Syria.  Anyway, Drew says what I think better than I think it or say it.  So I will simply share this with you.

I would like to strongly urge you all to please read the link here. This is a large article with much more than I can post here.  It details much of interest for us, especially now that Obama has chosen his side.  Read it!!!

READ IT ALL HERE

Could Syria ignite World War 3? That’s the terrifying question as the hatred between two Muslim ideologies sucks in the world’s superpowers

Syrian conflict could engulf region in struggle between Sunni and Shia
Already claimed 93,000 lives and made 1.6million people refugees
UK, France and U.S. taken different side to China and Russia

By Michael Burleigh

Today, in Syria and across the Middle East, the divide is a gulf in which theology plays an important role.

The main pillars of the current Assad regime are the army, the intelligence services and the Ba’athists, the local version of the national party Saddam Hussein led in Iraq.

Assad’s backbone is stiffened by the influence of his mother and uncles, who want to crush the Syrian rebels.

Many wealthy businessmen in the capital Damascus also support the Assads, as do Christians who fear the rapid establishment of an Islamist state if he falls.

At the heart of the Syrian regime are members of Assad’s Alawite sect, who make up 12 per cent of the population, yet represent 80  per cent of army officers and 90  per cent of generals.

There is also an Alawite militia called the shabbiha that specialises in murdering opponents.

Christians make up 10 per cent of the Syrian population, while another 10 per cent are Kurds, who are Sunnis and present in much larger numbers in Turkey, Iran and Iraq, too.

The above quote re. Obama not keen to involve the USA, was obviously written before his decision to stick our nose in that cesspool.

Posted by peiper     on 06/14/2013 at 11:16 AM   
Filed Under: • International • UK • USA • War-Stories •  
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   Wednesday - June 12, 2013

Saving the last flying pencil

The Dornier Do 17, nicknamed “the flying pencil” for it’s long thin fuselage, was a “fast light bomber” designed in the interwar period. The idea behind it was that it would be as fast or faster than the fighter planes opposing it, and thus could evade them and drop it’s few bombs on target. With a bomb load of just over a ton and a top speed of only 255mph, by the time WWII got really hot the plane was more of a sitting duck. Although 2100 of them were built, not one survived the war intact.

A British museum on Monday successfully recovered a German bomber that had been shot down over the English Channel during World War II. The aircraft, nicknamed the Luftwaffe’s “flying pencil” because of its narrow fuselage, came down off the coast of Kent county in southeastern England more than 70 years ago during the Battle of Britain. The rusty and damaged plane was lifted from depths of the channel with cables and is believed to be the most intact example of the German Dornier Do 17 bomber that has ever been found.

“It has been lifted and is now safely on the barge and in one piece,” said RAF Museum spokesman Ajay Srivastava. The bomber will be towed into port Tuesday, he added.

A few fragments of the plane dropped off as it was being lifted, but officials said divers will retrieve them later. The museum had been trying to raise the relic for a few weeks, but the operation was delayed by strong winds and choppy waters. In 2008, divers discovered the aircraft submerged in 50 feet (15 meters) of water.

[ May 3, 2013] The operation will see the retrieval of what is the only known survivor of the Luftwaffe’s ‘flying pencil’ bomber from the Goodwin Sands, off the coast of Kent where it crash-landed in 1940. Using pioneering techniques, it will take approximately three weeks to complete the lift which has been made possible thanks to a grant of over £345,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF).

The aircraft is the only known example of its kind in the world and was spotted by divers in 2008. After sonar scans conducted by the museum, Wessex Archaeology and the Port of London Authority the identity was confirmed as Dornier Do 17Z Werke nr. 1160 (aircraft history below).

The aircraft is in remarkable condition – considering the events surrounding its loss and the effects of spending so many years under water. Other than the effects of sea life such as barnacles, corral and marine life, it is largely intact. The main undercarriage tyres remain inflated and the propellers clearly show the damage inflicted during the bomber’s final landing.

Amazingly, researchers were able to identify the very airplane itself, who the crew were and what happened to them, and even who shot it down with what kind of plane.

Over 400 Do-17 participated in the Battle of Britain during the course of which nearly 200 examples were destroyed. [sitting duck, indeed!]

Research by the Air Historical Branch and the RAF Museum suggests that the wreck is Do-17-Z2 Ser No 1160 of 7/III/KG3 (5K + AR) lost on 26 August 1940, the height of the Battle of Britain.

The Dornier 17 was part of a large enemy formation intercepted by RAF fighter aircraft at midday on 26 August 1940 as they attempted to attack airfields in Essex. This particular aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing on the Goodwin Sands at low tide after an attack by Defiant fighters of No 264 Sqn that left both engines stopped and the crew wounded.

The Dornier, flown by Feldwebel (Flt Sgt) Willi Effmert attempted a wheels-up landing on the Goodwin Sands. He touched down safely and the aircraft sank inverted. Effmert and his observer were captured but the other crewmen died and their bodies were washed ashore later.

Of the flight of 7 bombers that this one was part of, 6 were shot down that day, by half a dozen Boulton Paul Defiants from RAF No. 264 Squadron, which themselves suffered 50% casualties from the Dornier’s escorting Messerschmidt Bf109 fighters.  War is hell.

Lots more pics at these links:
Daily Mail Online
UK Mirror
This is Kent
The Guardian

Posted by Drew458     on 06/12/2013 at 09:06 AM   
Filed Under: • Archeology / Anthropology • Battling Brits • planes, trains, tanks, ships, machines, automobiles • War-Stories •  
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   Wednesday - June 05, 2013

“RIGHTS” LAWYERS TO BRIT TROOPS. DROP DEAD. WHAT? US WORRY? HAHAHA

Just my opinion but, I think it’s criminal that lives of Brit troops are on the line and these ass-wipe human rights groups can meddle in things to this extent.  In fact I don’t even think they should be allowed a voice. Come to think of it, or life either.  I’d love to see the troops turn their weapons on the “rights” creeps.  Bang-bang delete.  I’m living in a dream world hoping for that. 

Taliban bomber ‘who killed three soldiers’ to be freed from the British Guantanamo

· Terrorist leader being held at a prison within Camp Bastion
· Directed attack that killed three British soldiers and injured six others
· Explosives expert likely to be released into corrupt Afghan judicial system
· Could be freed within weeks to launch fresh attacks

By Mark Nicol

A Taliban bomb-maker suspected of directing an attack that killed three British soldiers could be freed within weeks if lawyers win their battle to close the ‘British Guantanamo’, it’s been claimed.
Defence sources have said that the terrorist leader is being held at a controversial prison within Camp Bastion.

Due to pressure from human rights lawyers, the Taliban explosives expert is likely to be released into the notoriously corrupt Afghan judicial system, with the danger that he will be freed to launch fresh attacks.
A Taliban bomb-maker suspected of directing an attack that killed three British soldiers could be freed within weeks if lawyers win their battle to close the ‘British Guantanamo’.
But after pressure from human rights lawyers, the Taliban explosives expert is likely to be released into the notoriously corrupt Afghan judicial system, with the danger that he will be freed to launch fresh attacks.
Three British troops died and six others were wounded five weeks ago when their Mastiff armoured vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED) .
Days after the attack, British Special Forces uncovered a cache of home-made bombs five miles from the blast site. Troops followed up this success by capturing the suspected bomb-maker and four accomplices.

Now, following the intervention of British human rights lawyers, the Camp Bastion prison is facing closure and the inmates are likely to be transferred to an Afghan jail.
Defence sources are adamant that the country’s legal system remains corrupt and that suspected terrorists could be released by the courts or freed in Taliban raids.
Last night, former Government Defence Minister Sir Gerald Howarth attacked the move, saying it will put British soldiers’ lives at risk.

Taliban IED technicians represent a very serious threat to British personnel. So we should not connive in any measure that results in them being able to continue operations against our troops,’ he said.
‘I am also sick and tired of human rights being evoked to defend or protect those who seek to destroy us and take the lives of members of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces. So absolutely no way should he or anyone else be transferred or released before the end of 2014 when British troops withdraw from Afghanistan.’
Public Interest Lawyers, which is acting for eight of the approximately 80 inmates at the Camp Bastion prison, say that its clients are being mistreated by UK guards.
It claims that torture techniques such as sleep and sensory deprivation, blindfolding and a process called ‘harshing’ – when guards stand just inches in front of the inmates and suddenly scream abuse – are being used to extract information and confessions.

READ AND SEE MORE

Posted by peiper     on 06/05/2013 at 05:00 AM   
Filed Under: • Judges-Courts-Lawyers • War-Stories •  
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   Tuesday - June 04, 2013

the article calls it the world’s biggest ship graveyard.The ghost fleet of Truk Lagoon

Not a thing for me to add here. Just interesting war story and photos that speak for themselves.

The ghost fleet of Truk Lagoon: World’s biggest ship graveyard discovered at site of WW2 battle where US crushed Japanese fleet

Over three days in 1944, more than 60 Japanese warships and 200 aircraft sank after an attack by Allied forces
During the Second World War Chuuk Lagoon was Japan’s main base in the South Pacific
American bombardment of the base wiped out their supplies and reduced Japanese threat
The lagoon is now considered one of the top wreck diving destinations in the world

By Jill Reilly

In the Second World War Chuuk Lagoon was Japan’s main base in the South Pacific, but in 1944, American forces launched an attack and over a two day bombardment more than 60 warships ended up on the floor of the lagoon.

Years later the Japanese still pay their respects at the watery graves each year, but now the site, formally known as Truk Lagoon due to a mispronunciation, offers scuba divers a chance to explore a piece of living history.

The codename for the assault on Chuuk Lagoon was ‘Operation Hailstone’ and the attack began on 17 February, lasting for two bitter and bloody days.

The American armada included five fleets carriers and four light carriers - they were also seven battleships, submarines, destroyers and over 500 aircraft.

Over 250 Japanese aircraft were destroyed - most of them had not had a chance to take off as they had only just arrived from Japan and were partly dissembled.

The few Japanese aircraft that did take off were claimed destroyed - the U.S. lost twenty-five aircraft during the attack, mainly due to the intense anti-aircraft fire from Truk’s defenses.

Very few of the troops aboard the sunken ships survived - the attacks ended Chuuk Lagoon as a major threat to Allied operations in the central Pacific.

Most of the wrecks were left untouched for nearly 25 years since people feared setting off the thousands of sunken bombs.

Many of the shipwrecks in the scuba diving paradise have full cargo holds full of fighter aircraft, tanks and bulldozers.

They also have spooky reminders of human life such as perfectly preserved porcelain cups positioned next to skulls.

ALL THE OTHER PHOTOS ARE HERE

Posted by peiper     on 06/04/2013 at 08:00 AM   
Filed Under: • History • USA • War-Stories •  
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   Saturday - June 01, 2013

ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER ANTI AMERICAN RANT FROM ANOTHER PISS ANT

Americans don’t emigrate, at least not very many of us do, and the few who do don’t do it well.  We have created our own land and culture, and we simply don’t fit anywhere else, not even in the lands of our ancestors, who can barely tolerate us on two-week holidays.  In truth, while I admire Europe, I find the Europeans a bit tiresome, especially when they complain about Americans. 

Taken from Nelson Demille’s book, Gold Coast

Which is pretty much how I feel only more so at the present time.

A neighbor’s dog is barking again and I still have not figured out a way to kill the F***** thing.  I suppose killing the neighbors would accomplish the task as someone would then have to take away the dog.  Problem of course will be I’d be taken away too.  Not a pleasing prospect.  So back to sq. 1, how to …….

But the number ONE thing that has me going today is the god damned anti American article in the form of a book review by a fool named Guy Walters in the Mail.

He’s writing about the same subject I shared with you the other day, the so called “academic” who wrote about all the rape and slaughter and mayhem our GIs visited on the poor French after the invasion and liberation of Paris.  I have been to Paris, years ago, and have maintained ever since that we should have let the Germans keep it. Would have served them right.  Anyway, what did the French and the Brits expect when France declared war on Germany FIRST?

I’m just pissed because he (Walters) seems to buy the whole story as she wrote it. He seems to question nothing. And there isn’t any way I could have avoided the article today, because the damn headline ran all the way across the top two pages in a centerfold review.  So there it was staring at me in huge print.

THE GIs WHO RAPED FRANCE

US academic reveals American troops committed thousands of rapes on French women they were ‘liberating.’

His review goes on to paint a picture I had not read last week.  He is either quoting the bitch who wrote the book or it’s his opinion, hard to tell, but he says, “many French felt that their towns had been needlessly destroyed in a macho display of American firepower.” The article goes on to claim that there were an estimated 20,000 civilians killed in the battle for Normandy and in LeHavre alone 3,000 had died.  While thousand of French dead were taken from the rubble, there were no more than 10 German bodies.

It gets lots worse as this ass wipe would be journalist quotes actual conversations between a prostitutes and our GIs. The problem is, even though he uses the names of the girls, turns out they were murdered and raped by these killer Americans.  OK, could have happened and does in every war. And no war at all. Question here is, if the GI in question murdered the prostitute, how does this jerk know what exactly it was Elisabeth said to the “handsome American soldier” who he does not name.  Why not? If he knows the victim’s name he must know the killer or how else would the piss ant reviewer know the soldier was handsome?  He claims the soldier raped her corpse.

HERE’S THE LINK IF YOU WANT TO READ IT ALL

Lying fucks!

Posted by peiper     on 06/01/2013 at 10:39 AM   
Filed Under: • Commies • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • FRANCE • USA • War-Stories •  
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   Monday - May 13, 2013

brit pm willing to go to war on a lie he keeps repeating, figuring ppl will have to believe

David Cameron warned today he may still sanction military intervention in the war-torn nation amid growing evidence that Assad is using chemical weapons against his own people.

Well David Cameron is full of it, he wants that to be true but has NO absolute proof.  But he does want Assad gone and believes he has the right to make it so.  Of course, if he keeps repeating this line he may just get other people to believe it as well. 

So far, even human rights groups who as you all know I am no fan of, and who also dislike Assad, they say the rebels fighting him have gotten their hands on chemical weapons AND HAVE USED THEM.
Even that loud mouth Carla Del Ponte, a former Chief Prosecutor of two United Nations international criminal law tribunals, has said there is proof now that it was NOT Assad’s people but the rebels themselves who have used chemical weapons.
If you read the papers here, and I do, on one page you can read Del Ponte being quoted that way, and on another page you will read a quote of Cameron’s saying otherwise with NEVER a reference to what she has said.

I don’t believe Assad is that dumb.  If he is, he deserves to be out of office if for no other reason, than being stupid.  And I really doubt he is.  This is a civil war, it’s religious and it’s tribal and it’s a mess.  And Cameron wants to dive right into the middle of this thing. Which you can understand because the UK has NO urgent problems to be solved at home.  And besides, there’s spare cash in the treasury needs spending before the taxpayers, who’ve been told to tighten their belts, find all that hidden money. Which from now on we can simply refer to as Moron’s secret cash war fund.
Oh ... and do not count out Obama folks.  He’s being a bit more cautious at the moment but every so often I hear a sabre rattling.

Obama wants to help the rebels with non lethal aid.  Moron wants war. Action. Boom-boom. No more empire and no Germans to fight and the French aren’t inclined to battle the Brits so what to do. 

COME TO THE IMMEDIATE AID MILITARILY IF NEED BE, OF THESE HARD FIGHTING FREEDOM FIGHTERS OPPOSED TO ASSAD.

Right on Dave.  We’re with ya.

Lets take a look at some of the hard fighting freedom loving rebels who yearn to be free.

Syrian rebel ‘cuts out soldier’s heart and EATS it’ in horrific propaganda video

· Rebel is believed to be Abu Sakkar, a founder of the rebel Farouq Brigade
· Sakkar rants: ‘I swear we’ll eat from your hearts and livers, you dogs’
· He then raises one of the organs to his mouth and takes a bite
· Cameron warns he may send troops as evidence of chemical weapons grows

By Matt Blake

A video that appears to show a Syrian rebel cutting out and eating the heart of a dead government soldier has been posted online in a horrific new propaganda stunt.

The unverified clip, posted by a pro-government campaign group, claims to show a man - believed to be Abu Sakkar, the well-known founder of Homs’ Farouq Brigade - standing over the uniformed corpse in a ditch while ranting against President Bashar al Assad.

Using a knife, the man hacks open the torso and removes two organs before holding them up to the camera and declaring: ‘I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog.’ He then raises one to his mouth and takes a bite.

It comes as David Cameron warned today he may still sanction military intervention in the war-torn nation amid growing evidence that Assad is using chemical weapons against his own people.

The video, posted on YouTube by and billed as proof of a war crime, is the latest installment of a propaganda war that is growing fast behind the scenes of this bloody conflict.

Last month, a photograph was released by a pro-Assad group based in Lebanon that appeared to show a young rebel fighter barbecuing the severed head of a government soldier.

Experts say such images demonstrate that the battlefield has spread from rubble-strewn streets and war-churned fields to the internet as both sides vie to control their public image and discredit that of their opposition.

Meanwhile, human rights groups say it is emblematic of a civil war that has rapidly descended into sectarian hatred and revenge killings.

In the most recent video, Sakkar tells the camera: ‘I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog,’
His rant is greeted by offscreen cheers of his comrades shouting ‘Allahu akbar (God is great)’.

READ AND SEE MORE AT THE SOURCE

“ David Cameron warned today he may still sanction military intervention”

And he probably will.  After all, his kids are still too young to wear a uniform and be put in harms way.

Posted by peiper     on 05/13/2013 at 02:07 PM   
Filed Under: • International • Tyrants and Dictators • UK • War-Stories •  
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   Thursday - May 09, 2013

the more things change, the more they remain the same

I happen to see this letter to an editor of a paper today, and was immediately reminded how little things change.  Although it had not occurred to me it started so long ago. Don’t know why.  Just never thought about it and not as much got reported back in those pre computer days.
I am referring to the guys on our side, being killed by guys they trained.  They trained them thinking they were allies. The place was Aden, Yemen.  No surprise then is it?

Posted by peiper     on 05/09/2013 at 10:26 AM   
Filed Under: • Terrorists • War-Stories •  
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   Sunday - April 28, 2013

‘Whatever happens, we have got. The Maxim Gun, and they have not.”

It occurs to me yet again, as it often does, that this generation or a large part of it, would never have seen the Nazi threat.  Of course, the Brits felt duty bound to honor a treaty they signed with Poland.  Not to mention they tried to undo it ( some did try ) but anyway, the war began in ‘39 with the French reluctantly dragged along for company as well. 

So fast forward to where we are now, and read some of the comments ppl are making with regard to the cowardly use of drones and GASP, the fact that Brit RAF people are involved as well, and one gets the feeling these folks would never have fought WW2.  All the angst and all the hand wringing over civilian casualties as if they were intentionally targeted. 

Anyway, some Brits are angry that RAF people are flying American drones . WAR CRIME they shout.  Jerks.  As wars have progressed the weapons technology has done so also. That isn’t rocket science.  But to read some of these folks, I get the idea they want us to go out jousting against the Taliban with flags waving and ladies favors tied to the lance.  Nice picture.  For Hollywood maybe.

It was well put a long time ago and wars always go this way.

‘Whatever happens, we have got. The Maxim Gun, and they have not.” And nothing will ever change that in war. Oh right. The left isn’t calling this a war.

RAF’s role in US drone attacks that killed hundreds of Iraqis: MoD admits for first time that Britain helped pilot the aircraft from American bases

Ministry of Defence has admitted for the first time British helped fly drones
Drones were operated remotely from bases thousands of miles away
RAF were involved in as many as three missions a week from 2004
Tory MP said news raised ‘serious questions’ about British role in Iraq war

By Robert Verkaik

RAF pilots took part in America’s notorious drone programme in Iraq in which hundreds of civilians died, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

Heavily armed drones – using deadly missiles to destroy targets – were flying as many as three missions a week from 2004.

They were operated remotely by pilots, often from bases thousands of miles away.

It had been thought the operations in Iraq, which have been condemned by human rights groups as war crimes, were run solely by the US Air Force. Now the Ministry of Defence has admitted for the first time that British personnel were helping to fly the drones from bases in the United States.

In a statement to Parliament, Armed Forces Minister Andrew Robathan was forced to correct a previous account in which he said the RAF flew US drones only in Afghanistan and Libya.

He said: ‘The answer should have said that UK personnel embedded with the US Air Force have only flown US RPAS [Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems] in support of operations in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq.’

The MoD conceded that these embedded missions ran from 2004 to 2009, but a spokesman was unable to provide further details. One intelligence source said British pilots would have worked on drone operations in Basra, using Hellfire missiles to target insurgents fighting UK forces.

more to see and read here

Posted by peiper     on 04/28/2013 at 11:04 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous • Stoopid-People • War-Stories •  
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   Monday - March 25, 2013

so who is it that’s stealing and selling bread while the civilians go without?

I thought for a change you might find this of some interest.

I’m sure there was news wherever you are, that there has been a chemical attack on some village about a week ago.  Each side blames the other but, surprise, surprise, even the ‘rights’ fanatics have claimed that it wasn’t the govt. of Assad that did it.  Since then, I haven’t seen or heard a word about it.  So, did it actually happen?  And should we care?  Well I’d say yeah cos if by some insane chance islamists got their grubby hands on chemicals, that does not bode well for us. And by us, I mean the UK cos we are a lot closer to things here than you are in LA these days.

Anyway, this piece has nothing to do with all that.  But it does point out that should Assad fall, islamists are there and ready and active and will want to take over.
And they could.

There is a good 3 minute video at the link. I couldn’t embed it here.

Syria: Islamist Nusra Front gives BBC exclusive interview

By Paul Wood BBC News, Aleppo

After many hours of waiting in the pitch black and freezing cold for the bakery to open, the crush of men at the head of the queue started drumming on the doors in frustration.

An activist was explaining to me how the bread shortage in rebel-held parts of Aleppo was another crime to be heaped on the head of Bashar al-Assad.

He was waved away by a stout matron in a hijab and long black coat.

“Don’t blame Bashar. What’s happening to us is of our own making,” she said as, behind her, Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters struggled to keep order.

It is widely believed in Aleppo that the bread shortage was caused by the FSA stealing flour to sell elsewhere.

An FSA officer confirmed as much when I asked him if this had been done by individual fighters or was ordered by commanders to fund their operations.

“Both,” he said, “including my own brigade.” He added, ruefully: “We are all thieves.”

It was a joke, and his men erupted in laughter, but he meant it seriously, too.
‘Syrian mujahideen’

The beneficiaries of this are the hardline Islamists, especially Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front.

They have now taken over distribution of flour to bakeries in rebel-held areas of Aleppo.

None of the FSA brigades - all accusing each other of looting - trusted anyone else, the officer told me.

The Nusra Front is outside the FSA and has a reputation for discipline and honesty. It is also a jihadi group behind most of the suicide bombings in Syria and as such is on a US blacklist of terrorist organisations.

BBC VIDEO

Posted by peiper     on 03/25/2013 at 06:12 AM   
Filed Under: • muslims • Terrorists • War-Stories •  
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it’s a different assad.  col. riad al-assad wounded

BBC WORLD NEWS

Syria rebel commander Riad al-Asaad wounded by blast

Col Riad al-Asaad has regularly appeared with rebel fighters on the ground in Syria

read more / source BBC News

A rebel military commander in Syria is reported to have been wounded by a bomb blast in Deir al-Zour province.

Activists said a device exploded next to a car in which Col Riad al-Asaad, long head of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), was travelling in Mayadeen.

There were conflicting reports about his fate, but an FSA spokesman told BBC Arabic that he had lost a leg.

Col Asaad once led the armed rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad, but his position was gradually superseded.

In December, more than 260 leaders of the main FSA units from across Syria agreed at a meeting in Antalya to a unified command structure.

They elected a 30-member Supreme Military Council (SMC), which then chose Gen Salim Idriss as the new chief of staff.

Col Asaad said he had not been invited to the meeting by the foreign powers which organised it, adding: “They want people who obey orders.”

The former Syrian Air Force commander, who defected in July 2011, nevertheless remained a prominent figure in the armed uprising, regularly appearing with rebel fighters on the ground in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, reported that Col Asaad had been conducting a tour of the eastern town of Mayadeen on Sunday night when a bomb exploded near his car, wounding him in the leg.

An FSA spokesman confirmed to BBC Arabic that Col Asaad had lost the leg.

a UK-based activist group

Gee .... what a shame that whole group couldn’t have been standing right on top of that bomb.

Posted by peiper     on 03/25/2013 at 05:43 AM   
Filed Under: • Middle-East • Military • War-Stories •  
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   Friday - March 22, 2013

TV Is Tacky. Yeah, So?

Not sure how to respond to this one ...

The popular CBS reality show “The Amazing Race” is under fire for featuring an episode set in Hanoi, Vietnam, where contestants go to a B-52 Memorial, which is the wreckage of an American bomber plane shot down during the Vietnam War, to find the next clue in their televised round-the-world journey.

In the episode, the twisted metal of the downed plane is treated as any other prop, with a bright ‘Amazing Race’ ‘Double-U-Turn’ signed planted in front of it, signifying to contestants the next phase of their scavenger hunt.

The show also had contestants learn a song that was performed for them by children in front of a portrait of North Vietnam communist leader Ho Chi Minh, with subtitled lyrics that included “Vietnam Communist Party is glorious. The light is guiding us to victory.”

“It’s like One Direction,” one contestant said of the performance, referring to the popular boy band.

“How did it not cross the producers’ minds that this might offend the men who fought in Vietnam and the families of those who died there?” Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld said on his late night show “Red Eye.”

Fox News contributor Bob Beckel agreed later on the news program “The Five.”

“I’m so outraged by this I can’t believe it. CBS is idiotic; they’re stupid,” Beckel said. “To have people go to a memorial where Americans died, then you ought to get off the network.”

Well Bob, perhaps I disagree with you on this too, along with everything else you say. We once were at war with this country, the North part in those days, and we did bomb the daylights out of the place. And while we lost bombers, they lost probably a thousand times more people. So I’m not terribly surprised that such a memorial exists. Granted, a chunk of wreckage in the middle of the street is a tad tacky. A bit on the raw side as memorials go, even for cost-conscious commies. But in another way, it’s extremely real; here’s a chunk of enemy aircraft that maybe fell to earth right on this spot. 40 years after the war you try and see both sides. But yeah, using it as a waypoint for the racers may not have been the smartest idea, IF they didn’t pause for a few seconds to comment on what was in front of them. That war was long over by the time any of them were even born. I’m sure there was some other statue, park, or architecturally unique building that would have worked just as well.

And learning to sing a song in the difficult local language sounds like a decent little challenge. Too bad that the network allowed themselves to be played by the local political commissars. If we wanted to hear songs praising Uncle Ho, we’d listen to Jane Fonda.

So half up, half down IMO. Could’ve been done better, sure could’ve been done worse. But outrage? Not really. Or am I seeing this entirely wrong? Opine away; it’s what the comments are for!

Video at the above link.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/22/2013 at 11:19 AM   
Filed Under: • History • Television • TURD WORLD • War-Stories •  
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   Thursday - January 03, 2013

onward christian soldier, with a long bow. usual but lovable brit insanity. who else would dare?

Missed yesterday and this will be my only post today.  Unavoidable.

Caught this a couple of days ago.  Reads like something that Hollywood should do.  Of course, they’d make the Brit an American like they did in the movie The Great Escape.  Which in case you didn’t already know, was a Brit operation in real life. 

So anyway, I saw this and still wonder, did he really do that?  It may be brave but it’s a bit bizarre. This is something that is so purely Brit, if Hollywood did the story and tried turning the lead into an American, nobody would buy.  The feeling would be, no American GI would be that dumb. 

Some might say he had more guts than brains.  I don’t think he was dumb at all, but I’m not sure why I believe that.

Bottom line whatever you choose to believe, this was some kind of derring do.

One little niggling problem with the story however, and it will take BMEWS Weapons Guru Drew to tel usl.  And he will if the info printed is incorrect, as I suspect it is.

The article says the guy used the Long Bow, with American Indian arrows.

How?  Would not the Indian arrows have been a lot shorter?  And why Indian arrows? The article does not say.

The amazing story of Mad Jack, the hero who took on the Nazis with a bow and arrow (and later became a professional bagpipe player)

Commando leader said soldiers without a sword was ‘improperly armed’
Led his men carrying a bow and arrow and playing the bagpipes
Earned two Distinguished Service Orders and a Military Cross during war
His story recovered by researchers from website findmypast.co.uk

By Ian Drury, Defence Correspondent

He was nicknamed Mad Jack by his men during the Second World War.

After coming face to face with Lieutenant Colonel John Churchill, the Germans probably had a similar, if less affectionate, moniker for the eccentric officer.

Rather than wield a sub-machine gun in battle, the commando leader inspired his comrades by storming beaches armed with a bow and arrow and two-handed sword, dressed in a kilt and playing a set of bagpipes.

He enhanced his reputation by capturing 42 German prisoners with only his broadsword and later escaping from one of the most daunting Nazi jails before the end of the war.

The colourful officer’s bravery – he is the only soldier in the war credited with killing enemy troops with arrows – earned him a chestful of gallantry medals, including two Distinguished Service Orders and a Military Cross. But even though his career was one of the most remarkable in the history of the Army, his story is not widely known.

Now the heroism of Lt Col Churchill, who died in 1996 aged 89, has been recovered by researchers at family history website findmypast.co.uk.

His story has been put together from reports in local newspapers which have been placed online for the first time.

Born in Surrey in 1906, he was educated on the Isle of Man and at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He joined the 2nd Battalion the Manchester Regiment in 1926.

He later left the Army to become a professional bagpipe player and appeared in films. He was also a highly skilled bowman, representing Britain in the World Archery Championships in 1939. At the outbreak of war he was recalled to the Army.

Carrying an English longbow and American Indian arrows on to the battlefield, Lt Col Churchill’s fearlessness under fire became his hallmark.

He often said that ‘any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly armed’. An account in the Dundee Evening Telegraph from May 1945 described his deadly attack against Germans hiding in bushes during the retreat to Dunkirk five years earlier.

‘He was on patrol when some Germans were detected in a thicket about 200 yards away,’ said the report. ‘He shot two arrows into the thicket. There were some strange noises and no answering fire.’

He was also in the thick of the action with his bagpipes while leading 2 Commando through Sicily, to Messina and the landings at Salerno, Italy.

Alongside a corporal named Ruffell, he took 42 German prisoners and captured a mortar post using only his sword, taking one guard as a human shield and then creeping between sentry posts and forcing the soldiers to surrender.

Mad Jack was finally captured in an attack on the island of Brac, off the then Yugoslavia, when, as bombs exploded around him, he continued to play his bagpipes until he was knocked unconscious.

He later escaped from the Sagan prison but was recaptured and interned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp until being released by the German army.

MAD JACK SOURCE

Posted by peiper     on 01/03/2013 at 08:04 AM   
Filed Under: • Battling Brits • UK • War-Stories •  
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