Thursday - May 10, 2012
Frozen in the sands of time: Plane of Second World War discovered in the Sahara desert
Doesn’t need words. The photos at the link, lots of em, tell the tale. Sad end to a young life.
Frozen in the sands of time: Plane of Second World War pilot discovered in the Sahara desert… 70 years after it crashed
Pilot of the Kittyhawk P-40 was thought to have survived crash, but died trying to walk out of the desert
Aircraft was found almost perfectly preserved, unseen and untouched, after it came down in 1942
Historian describes find as ‘an incredible time capsule’ and ‘the aviation equivalent of Tutankhamun’s Tomb’
By KERRY MCQUEENEY
A Second World War plane crashed by a British pilot in the Sahara desert, before he walked off to his death, has been found frozen in time 70 years later.
Unseen and untouched, the Kittyhawk P-40 has been described as an aviation ‘time capsule’ after it was found almost perfectly preserved in the sands of the western desert in Egypt.
After coming down in June 1942, the pilot is thought to have survived the crash and initially used his parachute for shelter before making a desperate and futile attempt to reach civilisation by walking out of the desert.
The RAF airman - believed to have been Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping, 24 - was never seen again. The crash site is about 200 miles from the nearest town.
The single-seater fighter plane was discovered by chance by Polish oil company worker Jakub Perka, who was exploring a remote region.
Despite the crash impact, most of the aircraft’s cockpit instruments are intact. Its guns and ammunition were also still intact before being seized by the Egyptian military for safety reasons.
There are also signs of the makeshift camp made by the pilot alongside the fuselage.
However there are fears over what will be left of it after locals began stripping parts and instruments from the cockpit for souvenirs and scrap.
Historians are now urging the British government to step in and have the scene declared as a war grave so it can be protected before the plane is recovered.
Historian Andy Saunders, from Hastings, East Sussex, said: ‘The aviation historical world is hugely excited about this discovery.
‘This plane has been lying in the same spot where it crashed 70 years ago. It hasn’t been hidden or buried in the sand, it has just sat there.
‘It is a quite incredible time capsule, the aviation equivalent of Tutankhamun’s Tomb.
‘It is hundreds of miles from anywhere and there is no reason why anyone would go there.
‘It would appear the pilot got into trouble and just brought it down in the middle of the desert.
‘He must have survived the crash because one photo shows a parachute around the frame of the plane and my guess is the poor bloke used it to shelter from the sun.
No human remains have been found but it is thought the pilot’s decomposed body may lay anywhere in a 20-mile radius of the plane.
The RAF Museum at Hendon, north London, has been made aware of the discovery and plans are underway to recover the aircraft and display it in the future.
A search will also be launched in the slim hope of finding the lost airman.
The defence attache at the British embassy in Cairo is due to visit the scene in order to officially confirm its discovery and serial number.
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Tuesday - April 24, 2012
t’was not a gentleman’s war
FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1942
When was the last time an American car was spoken of with such devotion and pride?
I haven’t posted one of these in a long time. The Telegraph runs a block on a page daily, reporting on the war as if it were happening now, with articles taken from the pages of the paper then. Makes for interesting reading.
If I live long enough to ever get home again, one of the things I will greatly miss are Brit newspapers. And Tesco and Waitrose and Sainsbury and Morrisons markets. If only they could divorce this political correctness they’re married to ......
AMERICAN TANKS THERE
American tanks have been in action in Burma for weeks past.
A young captain who brought some of them through seven road blocks under machine-gun fire and shell-fire, said: “They are the best in the world.”
They have all the fire power one can want, and are mechanically perfect. They are just like American cars: you put in the petrol and they go.
We blew up two enemy tanks 400 yards beyond what we consider the effective range of our guns, said the captain.
HEAVY ENEMY ATTACKS ON ALL BURMA FRONTS
“First trick by treachery”A British general on the front summed up his view of the Burma situation in the words: “The enemy has taken the first tricks by treachery and surprise; we will take the last.”
“Japanese sneak tactics made it impossible to hold the line in the jungle. Japanese wearing Burmese clothing would slip from tree to tree, calling to the Indian troops in Hindustani, ‘Don’t shoot. friend,’ until they infiltrated behind lines, laid ambushes and built road blocks.
We are definitely superior when we meet the enemy face to face, although he is good when up a tree or sniping from ambush and built road blocks.”
Reading this here in 2012 and with a few other wars behind and one ongoing, that general seemed upset that the Japanese were not fighting a gentleman’s war.
It would be comic except for what the troops actually had to endure for so long. And who also learned a few tricks of their own when it came to ambush and sniping etc.
Something else found while looking for things.
This really surprised me as I had always been under the impression that Burma was primarily a jungle war. Not so, apparently. Ya live and learn.
Take a look.
SOME JAPANESE TACTICS OBSERVED IN BURMA
The Japanese apparently make a practice of using various types of defensive positions, according to the terrain, the time available for construction, and the strength of the enemy. On Guadalcanal and parts of New Guinea, they frequently established their defenses on low, jungle-covered ground, in preference to high ground. In Burma, where less jungle is encountered, the Japanese usually established their positions on terrain heights and near the crests of heights.http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/jp-tactics-burma/index.html
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Permalink • Wednesday - March 07, 2012
a very bad day among many bad days for brits, and for afghan women
This is a crappy war that could be won with the liberal use of nukes. It’s that or just get the hell out.
It’s so easy playing armchair Fieldmarshal at a keyboard but truth to tell, I’m just frustrated like all of you.
I never thought much of Karzai and now think even less. But then, it’s his country and those savages prefer the dark ages. It’s what they are used to and generations of contact with the west hasn’t much improved them. Screw em. There isn’t one worth the life of a Brit or American or any Nato grunt in that god forsaken place. Now there’s news that six Brit soldiers were killed after their armoured vehicle was blown up.
Karzai’s backing of strict Islamic code (that allows men to beat their wives) ‘is a giant step back for women’s rights in Afghanistan’
Activists worried women’s rights being used as bargaining chip in negotiations with the Taliban
New code promotes segregation of the sexes
By DAMIEN GAYLEActivists have accused the Afghan president of reversing improvements in women’s rights after he endorsed a strict ‘code of conduct’ issued by clerics.
Hamid Karzai yesterday backed a document issued by the Ullema Council which promotes segregation of the sexes and allows husbands to beat wives in certain circumstances.
The move is seen as part of his attempts to reach out to the Taliban in the lead up to the planned withdrawal of Nato troops from the Afghanistan in 2014.
But activists are furious that gains made in women’s rights since the 2001 invasion and ensuing occupation are being used as a bargaining chip with Islamic extremists.
Prior to the 2001 U.S. invasion, girls were banned from going to school and women forced to wear burkas to conceal them from head to toe.
Women were also banned from venturing from their homes being escorted by a male relative.
Similarly, the new ‘code of conduct’ says women should not travel without a male companion and they should not mingle with men in places like schools, markets or offices.
Wife-beating is only prohibited if there is no ‘Shariah-compliant reason’, it said.
AND THEN THERE’S THIS. SOME OF THE FALLEN.
There’s more HERE. ALL 400 OF THEM.
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Permalink • Sunday - January 22, 2012
Taliban executes 15 Pakistani soldiers.
Nose buried in weekend papers and mags but this article comes from the net. No surprise. Less then an hour ago.
These are the folks our troops are ordered to treat ‘humanely.’
I don’t normally like to simply post an article and let it go. But heck. What can I say? The photos alone speak for themselves. I have one posted here but there are 6 more at the link below if you need that many to show what these vermin are like.
Handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the back of the head: Taliban releases horrific video of executions of 15 Pakistani soldiers
The paramilitary troops were abducted on December 23
‘God is greatest’ the Taliban yelled as they fired AK-47 rifles
Horrific video has been copied and distributed in street marketsBy JILL REILLY
A video showing fifteen Pakistani soldiers being lined up and shot dead by a firing squad has been released by the Taliban.
The paramilitary troops were abducted on December 23 in what the terror group described as an operation to avenge the deaths of insurgents in Pakistan.
The release of the horrific video is intended to serve as a warning to Pakistan’s 600,000-member army, which has failed to break the back of the insurgents despite superior firepower and a series of offensives against their strongholds in mountain regions.
The abducted soldiers were stood blindfolded, handcuffed to each other on a barren hilltop as one of their bearded Taliban captors held an AK-47 rifle and spoke with fury about revenge.
‘Twelve of our comrades were besieged and mercilessly martyred in the Khyber Agency (area),’ said the militant.
‘Our pious women were also targeted. To avenge those comrades, we will kill these men. We warn the government of Pakistan that if the killing of our friends is not halted, this will be the fate of you all.’
Before death, one of the men described how dozens of Taliban fighters stormed their fort in the northwestern Tank district and kidnapped the soldiers.
‘They attacked us with rockets, killed a sentry. One ran away. The Taliban entered the fort and captured us with our weapons,’ he said, sitting in rows with other soldiers with their arms folded and legs crossed in front of Taliban banners.
‘They tied our hands, put us in a Datsun and took us away.’
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Tuesday - September 27, 2011
Aargh Matey, Thar Be Tray-zure
When the SS Gairsoppa was torpedoed by a German U-boat 70 years ago, it took its huge silver cargo to a watery grave. US divers are working to recover what may be the biggest shipwreck haul ever, valued at some $210 million.
Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration on Monday confirmed the identity and location of the Gairsoppa, and cited official documents indicating the British ship was carrying some 219 tons of silver when it sank in 1941 in the North Atlantic some 300 miles (490 kilometers) off the Irish coast.
Valued then at 600,000 pounds, the silver today is worth about $210 million, which would make it history’s largest recovery of precious metals lost at sea, Odyssey said.
“We’ve accomplished the first phase of this project—the location and identification of the target shipwreck—and now we’re hard at work planning for the recovery phase,” Odyssey senior project manager Andrew Craig said in a statement.
“Given the orientation and condition of the shipwreck, we are extremely confident that our planned salvage operation will be well suited for the recovery of this silver cargo.”
Recovery is expected to begin next spring.
After a competitive tender process the British government awarded Odyssey an exclusive salvage contract for the cargo, and under the agreement Odyssey will retain 80 percent of the silver bullion salvaged from the wreck.
The 412-foot (125-meter) Gairsoppa had been sailing from India back to Britain in February 1941 bearing a cargo of silver, pig iron and tea, and was in a convoy of ships when a storm hit. Running low on fuel, the Gairsoppa broke off from the convoy and set a course for Galway, Ireland.
It never made it, succumbing to a German torpedo in the contested waters of the North Atlantic. Of the 85 people on board, only one survived.
The Gairsoppa was laid down in 1919 and was a 5200 ton steamer for the British India Steam Navigation Company. When it was torpedoed, it caught fire and sank in 20 minutes, which allowed all the surviving crew to escape in lifeboats. Unfortunately rough seas claimed 2 of the 3 boats, and most of the 31 on the 3rd boat died from exposure before they reached land. To add insult to injury, that lifeboat was wrecked in the surf, drowning all but 1 crew member.
The boat in charge of the second officer set sail with eight Europeans and 23 Lascars aboard, but after seven days most had died of exposure and only four Europeans and two Lascars were still alive when the boat reached land on 1 March. Sadly, it capsized in the swell and surf of Caerthillian Cove on The Lizard, Cornwall and all occupants drowned except the second officer, who was rescued unconscious by a coastguard.
The wreck was found very close to where the U-Boat logs said it was sunk.
another source article with lots of pictures
Posted by Drew458
on 09/27/2011 at 03:39 PM
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Permalink • Sunday - August 28, 2011
‘politically insensitive’ brit troops musn’t offend the enemy
How do I start on this one? I wasn’t even gonna boot today to be honest. Still dragging from yesterday, up early and think I may have a cold or something coming on. Not certain but not 100% old ranting self. Cold and damp and just want some coffee and back to a warm bed.
Our papers were delivered unusually early this Sunday morning. So when this darn thing caught my eye, well, I knew I had to turn this puter on and share.
If I had any hair left to pull out, I wouldn’t have the energy to do so this morning.
Take a look at this bit pc tom foolery.
Banned: ‘Taliban Hunting Club’ badges worn by UK troops in Afghanistan
By CHRISTOPHER LEAKEBritish soldiers in Afghanistan have been banned from wearing skull-and-crossbones badges on their uniforms that declare ‘Death To The Taliban’ and proclaim membership of a ‘Taliban Hunting Club’.
The unofficial stick-on badges are now a cult accessory among British troops fighting Taliban insurgents.
But senior Army officers visiting Helmand province in southern Afghanistan – where most UK troops are based – have ordered them to be removed because they are deemed ‘politically insensitive’.
Commanders were said to be particularly worried about the repercussions if any of the estimated 600 soldiers wearing one of the fabric badges accidentally shot a civilian in the heat of battle.
Ministry of Defence lawyers are understood to have expressed concern that any soldier wearing one of the badges who might later become embroiled in a legal case after killing an innocent Afghan would be viewed as ‘maverick’.
One of the banned emblems features a crude pirate-style skull and crossbones and a Death To The Taliban slogan, while another has a more intricate design of a skull with crossed rifles behind it and the motto Taliban Hunting Club.
Yet another shows a skull framed by a sniper’s gun sight covered in an Arab-style scarf and, on top of it, what appears to be the dead body of a Taliban fighter stripped to the waist.
The badges are made in Britain and they are sent out to soldiers by friends and relatives, or taken out by the troops in their backpacks.
Posted by peiper
on 08/28/2011 at 02:14 AM
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Permalink • Tuesday - August 09, 2011
‘Allo ‘Allo and Goodbye
Listen very carefully, I weel zay thees only wance!
Blisteringly sexy, she killed Nazis with her bare hands and had a 5 million-franc bounty on her head. As she dies at 98, the extraordinary story of the real Charlotte Gray
She stares into the camera with a coquettish half-smile and an unflinching come-hither look. The eyebrows are plucked, the lips full, the long auburn hair a classic 1940s style, falling onto the shoulders of her khaki uniform. She could easily have been one of the sassy songbirds who brightened up World War II. But this was the face of Nancy Wake, one of that conflict’s bravest underground fighters against the Germans in France — and certainly the most stylish. A male comrade-in-arms in the French Resistance summed her up as: ‘The most feminine woman I know, until the fighting starts. And then she is like five men.’ She lived up to both parts of that compliment.
...
... after being parachuted into France as a Special Operations Executive agent, she disposed of a German guard with her bare hands and liked nothing better than bowling along in the front seat of a fast car through the countryside, a Sten gun on her lap and a cigar between her teeth, in search of Germans to kill.
...
Passionate and impulsive, with a tendency to draw attention to herself, she was not the ideal undercover agent. Her superiors didn’t think she would last long behind enemy lines. But Wake proved them wrong and died this week, aged 98, in a nursing home for retired veterans in London. Her death brought to an end a life of such daring, courage and glamour that she was the inspiration for the Sebastian Faulks novel Charlotte Gray, which was made into a film starring Cate Blanchett.
...
(in 1939, ) Nancy was visiting London, for, of all things, a slimming course, when war was declared in September 1939. When she tried to join up to fight she was pointed, to her disgust, in the direction of a Naafi (Navy, Army and Air Force) canteen. So she went back to France and, when that country fell to the invading Germans, she proved herself as brave and as aggressive as any man — and more than most.
...
in London she volunteered for SOE’s French section and, despite reservations that she was too much of a party-girl, she was taken on and trained in survival skills, armed combat, Morse code and surveillance. Six weeks before D-Day, she was parachuted into the heavily-forested and mountainous Auvergne region of central France to prepare local Resistance groups, the Maquis, for the job of harrying the Germans and delaying their reinforcements once the invasion began.
...
Nancy proved her mettle, arranging air drops and hiding supplies of weapons, travelling between the groups, paying out money, urging them to co-operate, knocking them, as best she could, into shape. She was as tough as the old army boots she eschewed for heels. With an escort of Maquisards, she shot her way through enemy patrols and roadblocks.
...
She led attacks on German convoys and even took on armoured cars. When asked why she insisted on travelling in the lead vehicle, she said it was because she couldn’t bear dust being thrown up in her face by cars in front. In one mini-battle, her car was strafed by German fighter planes but she crawled out of the wreck, hanging onto her prized possessions — a jar of face cream, a packet of tea and a satin cushion. When the roads were too dangerous to travel by car, she cycled more than 300 miles in three days to find a working radio set to contact London.
...
She was festooned with honours — a British George Medal, the French Legion d’Honneur and three Croix de Guerre. She remarried, returned to Australia to live, took up politics for a while, then came back to Britain to retire in 2001. Her body is to be cremated, but at her request the ashes will be scattered in the Auvergne.
read the rest
Posted by Drew458
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Permalink • Monday - August 01, 2011
britain at war … a real one … august 1st, 1941
Every day for the last few years, The Telegraph has been running a reproduction, reduced in size of course, of the lead stories and page leading up to and then including events of the 2nd World War.
Usually they are short and just the bare bone headlines and comments. They are really very interesting and I think it’s a good way to present history.
Today’s war story is from August 1st, but it’s not the phony war in Libya 2011, where modern planes, unopposed, are now strafing and bombing TV stations.
Really. You couldn’t make this up.
The newspaper and radio news say that attacks were made against Transmitters and the TV stations to, “PROTECT CIVILIANS.” So help me that is exactly word for word the quote. Oh, and a chief commander, a general who defected from Gaddafi forces and was leading the folks who previously were called rebels but are now officially recognized by Brits and French as .... the Provisional Libyan Government, well the general was shot dead by ..... wanna guess? anyone?
Hard Line Muslims! Now see ... there’s something right away wrong with that news report because the muzzies fighting against Gaddafi are supposed to be only the good muzzies. Not those other rop lice farms.
So then ..... it’s August 1st .... 1941 for awhile. This is a very interesting read. It isn’t available on line. I called the Telegraph and spoke to someone there and they very kindly emailed me the following, which btw took me more then an hour to lay out as close to the way they had it as possible here. And I also had to do it twice due to a goof I made. I have no idea what is meant by Japan’s “medical condition” unless it was a typesetting error at the paper. I have reproduced it here exactly as sent to me. Enjoy.
BRITAIN AT WAR
The Daily Telegraph and Morning Post LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1941
U.S. MOVE IN ECONOMIC WAR AGAINST AXIS
ROOSEVELT SETS UP DEFENCE BOARD
INTENSIFIED Anglo–American economic warfare against the Axis and its associates, including Japan, is the primary purpose of the appointment by President Roosevelt tonight of a United States Economic Defence Board.
The Board, which is headed by the Vice–President, Mr. Henry Wallace, will maintain close contact with the British Ministry of Economic Warfare.
The establishment of the Board follows the issue of a blacklist of Axis firms in South America and neutral countries, and the embargoes against Japan.
A notable change which the President’s executive order makes is to give administrative authority to the Vice President.
Vice Presidents usually do nothing but preside over the Senate. But Mr. Wallace is looked upon by many as a Presidential possibility, and it was politically desirable to give him an important defence post that would keep him in the public eye.
SERVICE CONFERENCES
The frequency with which the President is calling in his naval and military advisors for consultation on the critical developments in the Far East is arousing especial interest in Washington because of the widely known Service opinion on Japan’s present medical condition.
Service chiefs do not advise the President on policy, but can assume as a hypothesis that a certain policy has been accepted and proceed from that to draw conclusions on how events would work out.
The hypothesis on which the Service departments are now working is that the United States would resist any attack on the Dutch East Indies by Japan.
The possibility of such an attack has been publicly referred to by the President himself when he stated that Japan has been allowed to purchase American oil in an effort to prevent it.
Thus, if a contrary policy is followed and the economic weapons recently acquired by the President are used to clamp down a tight oil embargo, a Japanese attack may be anticipated.
There are some officials who feel that a loaded economic gun should be pointed towards Japan, but should not yet be fired. Others urge that the sooner it is fired the better.
This is where the view of the Service experts becomes interesting. They start from the assumption that Japan is the third most war–weary nation in the world today, only Italy and Spain being more so. Her resources are strained and her armed forces dangerously extended.
By a great effort her army might be increased to 66 divisions, but that is held to be the limit. Even if 10 extra divisions can be sent to Siberia the Japanese forces would not be as great as the Russians, whose Siberian army is thought to comprise 30 divisions.
A drive southward might appear more promising, therefore, to Tokyo.
But Japanese warplanes are not as modern as the British, Dutch and American aircraft in that area, and her first–line strength is not placed higher than 2,000 or 3,000.
Her chief difficulty, however, is oil. If no oil can be imported and vigorous combatant work has to be undertaken, aircraft, mechanised equipment and naval vessels will use up Japan’s reserves rapidly.
This constitutes another reason for attack on the Dutch East Indies.
But naval forces engaged in such an attack would be operating far from their bases, and the land forces available are comparatively small, while bombing attacks would amount to suicide excursions, since interception would be possible both from Malaya and the Philippines.
In other words, always assuming that the United States is ready to engage in a shooting war, a Japanese attack on the Dutch East Indies would be a gamble with the dice loaded against Japan.
It is possible that the bombing of the gunboat Tutuila may have been deliberately designed to test American opinion. If so, Tokyo cannot have derived any satisfaction from the result, since the immediate reaction of Congress as well as one of the Administration was one of vigorous protest.
Copyright: Telegraph Group Ltd
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Permalink • Saturday - July 09, 2011
brit soldiers told not to fire on taliban.
An absolutely insane way to run a war but then, what the hell would I know about running a war.
I have to feel doubly sorry for Brits. In the last couple of days, they lost two soldiers shot by a very professional sniper. One shot got them both. Damn.
I believe the Brits know who he is, but can’t nail the bastard yet. I’m sure they will. I sure hope so. Brits are not dumb, they’re tough and they are professionals as well. But sorry to say some things are so screwed up and they are being made to fight with hands tied.
Take a look at this sad damn fix.
Soldiers told not to shoot Taliban bomb layers
British soldiers who spot Taliban fighters planting roadside bombs are told not to shoot them because they do not pose an immediate threat, the Ministry of Defence has admitted.
By Andy Bloxham
They are instead being ordered to just observe insurgents and record their position to reduce the risk of civilian casualties.
The controversial policy emerged at an inquest into the death of Sgt Peter Rayner, 34, a soldier from the 2nd Batallion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment who was killed in October last year by an improvised explosive device as he led a patrol in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.Wendy Rayner, 40, disclosed that in the days leading up to his death her husband been told that it was not his job to attack insurgents laying bombs.
Mrs Rayner, who lives with their young son in Bradford, told the inquest that the insurgents were being allowed to get away with the murder of British troops.
She said: “They are not allowed to fire on these terrorists. If they can see people leaving these IEDs, why can’t they take them out? One officer even told him ‘I am an army Captain and you will do your job’.“We have lost too many men out there, they had seen people planting IEDs yet could not open fire or make contact with them. I believe strongly if people had taken on board what he was saying more he might have been here today.”
Under the Geneva Convention and the nationally administered Rules of Engagement the 9,500 British troops in Afghanistan are told they can only attack if there is an immediate threat to life.A key part of the MoD’s counter-insurgency theory holds that it is more important to win over civilians by not killing innocent people than it is to eliminate every potential insurgent.
One officer who has recently served in Afghanistan said that if a soldier wanted to ascertain if an insurgent was an immediate threat, he would have to approach him and expose himself to greater risk.He said: “A British soldier manning a checkpoint at night might watch a man digging a hole for an IED 100 metres away and would not try to shoot at him. It’s a ludicrous situation.
“There has to be an immediate threat to life and that’s a hard thing to prove. An IED does not count as an immediate threat.
“The Americans are different – their Rules of Engagement are pretty liberal. If they even suspect someone of laying a bomb, they can shoot them.”
Afghans routinely dig holes in river banks to store meat because there is no refrigeration and farmers often dig at night because it is cooler to work. The Taliban bomb layers take advantage of this to spread confusion. They set roadside bombs where farmers work and villagers store meat, and they also pay civilians $10 a time to dig a hole.
If the civilian is shot, it is a propaganda victory for the Taliban, and if the hole is not discovered by soldiers, it can be used later for a roadside bomb.
The existing policy of “courageous restraint” was led by the US General Stanley McChrystal 18 months ago and has been repeatedly criticised for leaving soldiers fighting “with one hand behind their backs”.
At yesterday’s inquest, after the acting Bradford coroner Paul Marks recorded a verdict of unlawful killing, Mrs Rayner urged the MoD to “let our soldiers be soldiers”.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: “Troops in Afghanistan are required to exercise restraint when dealing with this threat as the use of deadly force is not always appropriate when there is a risk of collateral damage.
“The aim of this policy is to avoid innocent civilians who may be in the vicinity.”
Posted by peiper
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Permalink • Monday - June 20, 2011
soldier hits taliban scum, soldier now in trouble, quits army.
Mind how you act now boys. Mustn’t be seen to be abusive to Taliban prisoner. Never mind the excuse he was trying to get away.
Jeesh .... the way this reads, I think some authorities on the home front seem to think that it’s a good idea to transfer muddled civilian legalistic mumbo-jumbo to a fighting front. I guess that’s old news. But this story is right now.
I’m thinking many young Brits don’t read many papers (I know I didn’t at that age), and so they enlist in the army. But if too many start to read the newspapers before enlisting, I wonder how many would find some other employment.
Take a look.
A special forces soldier is being prosecuted for punching a member of the Taliban during an ambush in Afghanistan.
Court martial judge questions prosecution of soldier
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
The corporal is being taken to a court martial accused of an offence already described as “minor” by a military judge - and despite the “victim” having no apparent interest in the trial.
Corporal X, whose identity is being kept secret because of his membership of the special forces unit, has now left the Army in disgust at his treatment, which came despite an umblemished record and glowing references from his superiors.
The case has raised concerns in the military that troops are being prosecuted needlessly to avoid any allegations of “cover ups”.
It has been pursued despite a court martial judge expressing concern about whether deciding to “pursue” the soldier is a good use of the “public purse”.
Senior military figures are increasingly worried at the financial burden of troops being prosecuted, both because of the legal costs and the loss of soldiers from the front line.Cpl X was charged with assault last March and will have to wait until July for the full trial to take place.
The alleged attack occurred after a joint patrol of British special forces and Afghan troops was ambushed in the Sangin area of Helmand in March last year.
Two armed men on a motorcycle rode directly at the patrol and the driver, who had a pistol, was shot dead after he ignored repeated orders to stop.The pillion passenger was captured unharmed and placed in the custody of a member of the Special Forces Support Group.
Moments later the prisoner tried to escape and was punched once by the corporal as he tried to restrain him.The soldier relayed the entire incident to a member of the Royal Military Police and is alleged to have admitted striking the suspected insurgent to prevent him from escaping and endangering the lives of members of his patrol.
At the end of the interview, Cpl X was cautioned and sent home to Britain where he was arrested, cautioned again, interviewed and later charged with assault.
Afterwards he quit the Army, despite having had years of expensive training, with an outstanding letter of reference from his unit.Even though Cpl X had left the army and the “victim”, known only as Mr Wall had disappeared, the case was pursued, to the surprise of Judge Alistair McGrigor.
During preliminary proceedings last month, Judge McGrigor, an assistant judge advocate general, questioned whether a trial was in the best interest of the taxpayer given that any sentence passed would be minimal.He demanded to know why the Service Prosecuting Authority, the military equivalent of the Crown Prosecution Service, had kept the case going.
Addressing Lt Col David Phillips of the Army Legal Service, the prosecuting officer, Judge McGrigor said: “We have a former Cpl X, now a civilian, who has a charge of battery against him in relation to an incident that took place a year ago against a Mr Wall, who appears to have little or no interest in the proceeding.“Is this, Colonel, a matter that the public purse should be pursuing in such a robust way? I raise this because in the view of the effluxion of time, the fact that Cpl X is now a civilian and the fact that Mr Wall is not to be found well may mean that any sentence passed is going to be of a minimal nature.”
Lt Col Phillips replied: “That may well be the case here but there is an overwhelming public interest in pursuing soldiers who, as asserted here — and it is an allegation to be proved in court — have allegedly abused their position to strike a detainee.”Judge McGrigor responded: “A few minutes earlier, another Afghan national was shot dead. It seems the counterpoint in this is that the allegation against Mr X is that he caused a single blow — if that is accepted — which caused a minimal injury. In the context of what was going on, it does seem minor.”
Last night Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP for Newark, and former infantry commander, said: “This case is a waste of military time, legal time and taxpayers’ money.
“We have got to stop abusing our soldiers in this way because that is what this is — abuse.”
Posted by peiper
on 06/20/2011 at 07:51 AM
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Permalink • Saturday - June 11, 2011
the face of treason
Is there anything at all that I need to add to this?
Makes me steam every time I see an ad here with her face.
I don’t suppose she does adverts back home in the USA. Not that it will break them or her but, I wish American women would not buy the product while she’s their face. There is NO FORGIVING what she did.
Posted by peiper
on 06/11/2011 at 06:31 AM
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Permalink • coming soon to an asylum near you? libya, civil war, the movie.
I caught this a few days ago and thought I was reading 1984.
The friend may become the enemy who remains the enemy unless he becomes a friend. Got it. That’s easy. I know what they’re doing. Clever people.
Britain is getting ready to make a keystone kops movie out of the civil war in Libya.
Now why can’t America be that inventive?
Let me splain it to ya even though you may already know.
With us more or less in the background but still supportive, the Brits and French decided that the civilians in Libya suddenly had to be protected from that loon in Tripoli, MadMan Moo-a-Mar of Gaddifi. So they gathered all the saints of NATO and embarked upon a brand new crusade. It’s called Saving Civilians. A note if you please and even if you don’t. There is to be no civilian saving in the home countries.
Those slaves are for the purpose of paying for this latest incursion in another country’s affairs, as well as being victims of crime which everyone knows nobody can do anything about anyway.
ALL protesters or so called “activists” or “Rebels” are now ‘The Good Guys’ and anyone shooting at them even if they are armed, are the bad guys. All protesters who are protesting a govt. the west doesn’t like, are also ‘civilians’ and must be protected.
But a new twist announced this week makes for fairness in its game of moral high ground.
Take a look.
Apparently the allies are worried that their newest best friends will or have, taken some revenge against Gadiffi civilians who actually support him and have no problem with the monster. He’s their guy. Well of course. This is a very tribal country, innit?
So he’s bound to have some on his side. But the allies, whose motto over the past few months has become, Let’s go shelling, where they’re dwelling, have now warned their new best friends, the rebels, that they will turn their shells and missiles on them, should they muss up the hair of civilians on the other side.
Hey, looks good. This is gonna be a great movie. Already looking forward to the sequel.
Here’s the rough draft so far.
Libya rebels warned that Nato will use force to stop revenge attacks
Britain has warned Libya’s rebels that Nato is prepared to used military force against the opposition if it wages armed attacks on civilians loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi, officials said yesterday.
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Whitehall officials said that the “same assets” that are currently waging air strikes on Col Gaddafi’s regime and its forces would be unleashed on the rebels should they take revenge on towns and populations that have so far remained under Col Gaddafi’s control.
It is the most explicit warning yet that the international coalition enforcing United Nations 1973 resolution has not written a blank cheque to the rebels as they launch offensives against the regime in Misurata and eastern Libya. But officials said the National Transitional Council (NTC), which represents the rebel movements had given repeated assurances that they would not seek to punish government sympathisers in the aftermath of victory.
“We will protect civilians by all means necessary while the mandate is in force - that applies to everybody,” a government official said. “If the NTC was attacking civilians the mandate would give the international community the grounds to intervene. But we’ve seen no evidence that is likely to happen and the NTC has frequently address the need for reconciliation.”
Although Britain, its Nato allies and Gulf states are providing extensive support to the opposition, the resolution specifically bars deployment of troops alongside the rebels in what would effectively be taking sides in a civil war.
The government believes that Col Gaddafi’s regime is being steadily weakened after 10,000 bombing raids by fighter jets in three months. In a significant escalation, British Apache helicopter gunships and French Tigre equivalents have been deployed to attack Gaddafi’s troops on the frontline. Officials are convinced that Col Gaddafi will be ousted sooner rather than later. “He’s a trapped rat,” said one.
But as the opposition advances it is likely to be embroiled in clashes in civilian areas. As long as there is no convincing evidence that Gaddafi will fall without a fight, there is the prospect that Nato could be forced to turn on its allies. “The Nato operation has effectively mutated into regime change,” said David Hartwell, an analyst at IHS Global. “But clearly they don’t want to be caught on the hoof if Libya descended into internecine warfare”
A two-month stalemate between the rebels and the official army has frayed in recent days as rebels prepare to attack Gaddafite villages around the town of Misurata, which has successfully fought off a siege by the army. In eastern Libya preparations for an attack on the oil town of Brega are at an advanced stage and fighters are expanding their hold on the Western mountains along the Tunisian border.
A bid to convince the world that the TNC will establish a democratic government in a post-Gaddafi Libya will be made today at meeting of the 35-member Libya Contact Group in Abu Dhabi.
Leaders of the Benghazi-based body are to publish a blueprint for government alongside the official communique detailing international efforts to promote the downfall of Col Gaddafi’s regime.
Libyan rebels have accused of meting out arbitrary justice to captured Gaddafi troops and after the uprising allowing the slaughter of dozens of African migrants.
Activists yesterday accused the NTC of holding 330 civilians without trial, in conditions were many had suffered abuse.
Thinking a bit ahead, can you envision the total mess NATO and the west will be in, if they think they have to start aiming their gee whiz weaponry on the people they were originally helping. Oh boy. Now that’s a blockbuster movie if ever there was one. If they decide to make it. Lets see. Mostly muslim country, tribal, has a record of not feeling too warm and fuzzy about the west. Oh yeah. Sure thing. Lets all go in together and bomb both sides and see where that leads.
akbar snack bar, as Vilmar might say.
Posted by peiper
on 06/11/2011 at 05:33 AM
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Permalink • Thursday - March 31, 2011
Your Pound Of Beans
Forces loyal to Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara have seized the major cocoa port of San Pedro, extending a nationwide offensive that has left incumbent Laurent Gbagbo isolated in the main city, Abidjan.
In a blow to Gbagbo, his army chief of staff, General Phillippe Mangou, sought refuge in the South African ambassador’s residence in Abidjan. A South African spokesman denied rumors that Gbagbo was on the way to South Africa.
Residents and combatants from both sides said the pro-Ouattara forces were in control of western port town of San Pedro, and that it was now largely calm apart from some sporadic shooting.
Reuters witnesses in the main city, Abidjan, Gbagbo’s last remaining stronghold, said the streets were virtually empty and gunfire could be heard overnight and on Thursday morning, but it was not clear who was involved.
Gbagbo has resisted pressure from the African Union and the West to step down since a presidential election last November, which U.N.-certified results showed he lost to Ouattara by an 8-point margin, sparking a deadly power struggle.
But forces loyal to Ouattara launched an offensive this week on three fronts, and towns across the country fell, mostly without resistance, one after another as they swept south.
Cocoa prices have fallen about 9 percent since on the push. The capture of San Pedro, which ships half of the top grower’s beans, could, in theory, mean a resumption in exports.
Diplomats said on Thursday that European Union sanctions, including an embargo on cocoa shipments from San Pedro, would remain in place and if any exemption were discussed it would take four or five days to come into force.
So, who cares? Well, you do, even if you don’t know it. The Ivory Coast provides nearly half the world’s cocoa, and the unrest there has caused the commodity price to skyrocket. Neighboring Ghana and Nigeria Cocoa together produce a bit less than le Côte d’Ivoire; the 3 West African nations account for a touch more than 2/3 of world production. Ghana and Nigeria are having their own political instabilities.
Cocoa bean production is not a huge business; only about 3.4 million metric tons (1000 kilos = 2200lbs) a year of beans are grown worldwide. With more than 6 billion people in the world this amounts to just about 1 pound of cocoa beans per person annually.
Politics in the Ivory Coast are typically African, tribal crossed with religious, and too complicated for outsiders to understand, but when they had a civil war there 8 years ago cocoa prices took a huge jump from which they never fully recovered. Laurent Gbagbo was president before, during, and after the war, so I guess his forces won. A few months ago they held an election and he lost, although his people obviously rigged the numbers and he claimed victory. Since then he has refused to step down, and this has plunged the country right back into civil war. Thanks a lot. At this point in time it looks like rebel leader and election winner Alassane Ouattara and his followers are winning, and with their troops seizing the one decent port in the country international market fears are easing.
This is some interesting economics, considering that there is a worldwide sanction on cocoa from the Ivory Coast right now. In theory they are not part of the current market, so how could the situation there impact global pricing? I guess the answer is that they are still growing the beans, and they have to be piled up in warehouses somewhere. World demand is fairly stable, so with only 1/3 of the product currently available from the other producer nations, this would cause a rather skittish market. But it is more complex than that, because cocoa is not created in a factory. The beans are grown on trees, and the pods ripen whenever they feel like it. This means the main harvest season lasts 7 months, and the minor secondary harvest season lasts another 3 months. Right now we are just into the no harvest at all period.
Cocoa farming is on the decline in several of the other producer nations. The trees take 5 or 6 years to mature and can produce for 50 years or more, but there just isn’t much money in it for the farmers. I find that interesting in itself, because the commodity price is more than half again as high now than it was when the Ivorian civil war started, and that price (around $2200/mt) was nearly 3 times as high as the price was just 2 years earlier in 2000 ($800/mt). Even if you ignore February’s record shattering price of over $3700/mt, a 32 year high and the current drop from there, cocoa beans are selling at more than 4 times the price they were a decade ago. Go figure. You’d think people would be planting left and right. I guess it’s just too much hard work, even though most of it is done by children.
Some analysts say that up to a quarter million of the pod pickers are small children, and there are very strong allegations that many of these children are kept as slaves. But given the typical abhorrent living conditions in Africa and their standard horrific inhumanity and barbarism, how could you tell? But before you feel all guilty and start searching for only Fair Trade chocolate to buy, you should know that the cocoa pods can usually only be harvested by children. The cocoa tree is fragile and the pods grow from the trunk, not from the branches. Adults climbing the trees damage them, and monkeys can’t be used because they don’t differentiate between the ripe pods and the unripe ones. So child labor is it. Don’t forget that the Turd World has a very different view on child labor than the spoiled and decadent west. What we see as child abuse they see as giving children the work opportunity to not starve to death.
Oh, and the root of all the problems in the Ivory Coast? You don’t even have to guess; you know what the answer is. Pisslam. Of course! When the French controlled the Ivory Coast it was a wonderland, with some of the highest per capita income and standard of living on the entire continent. This continued for several decades after independence in 1960, but at some point the Ivorians started importing foreign labor to do the scut work. And guess who showed up?
A former French colony and the world’s top cocoa producer, Ivory Coast was once regarded as a haven of peace and stability, until a 1999 coup that toppled president Henri Konan Bedie. Long considered a peaceful country, that welcomed millions of immigrant workers to sustain a booming economy after its independence from France in 1960, up to 40 percent of the 16 million population is now foreign. The immigrants inflamed political, religious and ethnic frictions between the largely Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south and west.
Until his death in 1993, these disputes were kept under control by the country’s post-independence president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny. But like Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the ancient ethnic and religious animosities were still there, and were exploited by rival politicians after Houphouet-Boigny was gone. Elections were held and Laurent Gbagbo, a southern nationalist, won. He tried to improve his control of the country by forcing northerners out of the security forces, and have millions of them declared foreigners, and ineligible to vote.
This led to the first round of fighting in 2002. The French sent in troops, to at least prevent escalation, and with UN help, a ceasefire was achieved in 2003. But in late 2004, the ceasefire was broken with government air raids on rebel bases in the north.
Until the push south this week, the worst of the violence had centered on Abidjan, where anti-Gbagbo insurgents, who do not necessarily support Ouattara, have seized parts of town.
In a sign violence could spin out of control, the army called on Gbagbo’s often violent youth wing to enlist in the military. They have been fired up with anti-French, anti-foreigner and anti-U.N. propaganda, and on Wednesday the army started openly handing out weapons to them.
Currently there are 11,000 UN Blue Helmets in the Ivory Coast, the vast majority of them being other Africans. So you know what that means ... it’s a mess. A chocolate mess.
Posted by Drew458
on 03/31/2011 at 09:33 AM
Filed Under: • Africa • Economics • Fine-Dining • Politics • War-Stories •
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Permalink • Wednesday - March 30, 2011
a do run,run,run a do run, run. a kind of update and a ship named Barry?
Just for fun and it’s less then an hour old .....
btw ... The USS Barry? Oh please. A war ship named Barry? How about Brucie? ok ... not too funny but I just can’t see a man of war named Barry. Can you?
Anyway, there are some very good photos HERE.
Mad Max-style rebel army runs for their lives down the same road they gleefully advanced up two days ago
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:01 PM on 30th March 2011Days ago they gleefully streamed up Libya’s coastal road wearing massive grins as international air strikes flattened anyone who stood in their way.
But today Libya’s rag tag rebel army of enthusiastic amateurs was speeding down exactly the same road in the opposite direction - as they ran for their lives after coming face-to-face with what remains of Colonel Gaddafi’s army.
The increasingly shambolic rebels - who at times resemble characters from Mad Max - gained as much as 200 kilometres of territory in a two-day lighting advance from their stronghold of Benghazi earlier this week.
But today they had given up almost all of those gains following a day-and-a half of hasty retreat as they were shelled by government forces that had not been eliminated from the air.
Posted by peiper
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
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- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
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Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
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