This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: AW1Ed

  • As Trump administration tightens screws on Iran, top UN official cries foul

    imam
    Fox News reports a top U.N. expert is taking aim at the Trump administration’s tightening the screws on Iran’s theocratic regime, claiming U.S. sanctions are “illegitimate” and are driving Iranians into poverty.

    Trump’s administration has been criticized by members of both the U.N. and E.U. leaders for the decision reimpose sanctions on the Islamic regime. The sanctions target Iran’s financial, automotive and precious metals industries, and will also target its oil and banking system in November.

    A senior administration official told Fox News this month that the restored sanctions are designed to constrict the revenue Iran uses to fund “terrorists, dictators, proxy militias, and the regime’s own cronies.”
    But Idriss Jazairy, a former Algerian ambassador who was appointed by the controversial U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) as the special rapporteur remarked “on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on enjoyment of human rights,” and chose to direct his criticism at the U.S.

    “The reimposition of sanctions against Iran after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, which had been unanimously adopted by the Security Council with the support of the U.S. itself, lays bare the illegitimacy of this action,” he said in the statement published Wednesday.

    “International sanctions must have a lawful purpose, must be proportional, and must not harm the human rights of ordinary citizens, and none of these criteria is met in this case.”

    The U.S. withdrew from the Human Rights Council this year, describing it as a “cesspool of political bias.” John Bolton said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that the U.S. will pull funding for the Council and the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR.)

    Jazairy went onto claim that sanctions are driving millions into poverty.

    “These unjust and harmful sanctions are destroying the economy and currency of Iran, driving millions of people into poverty and making imported goods unaffordable,” he said.

    Cry me a river. Iran is in financial extremis because of the policies of the regime’s state sponsored terror, and institutionalized corruption.

    Iran supports Shia militias and militant groups, including the Iraqi Shia in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, and to a lesser extent, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen, not to mention backing Assad in Syria. Iran is running out of money and the Iranian people are demonstrating in the streets.

    This time a feckless SCoaMF is not in the Oval Office to ignore the people’s unrest.

  • Gowdy requests records related to allegations Pentagon spokeswoman misused staff

    trey

    The Washington Examiner reports Congress is investigating allegations that the Pentagon’s chief spokeswoman misused and retaliated against staff.

    House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., has ordered the Department of Defense to produce records pertaining to the allegations against Dana White, according to a CNN report.

    dana

    Gowdy wrote to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday to request “all documents and communications to, from, or about Dana White regarding her tasking other Department employees with non-official business,” and “all documents and communications to or from Dana White regarding the transfer of staff to different positions” by Sept. 7, and to arrange a briefing for the committee by the end of the month.

    White, a Trump administration appointee and the department’s top public affairs official, is under investigation by the Pentagon inspector general for asking staff members to get her snacks and pantyhose from the Pentagon pharmacy, pick up her lunch, drive her to work, and do her mortgage paperwork, according to previous reports. Staffers who reported the behavior complained to the inspector general they were later transferred as a reprisal, according to CNN. The investigation is ongoing.

    The letter notes that the allegations raise “questions about whether the Department’s senior managers receive proper ethics training,” and requests documents and training materials for senior officials related to ethics and management responsibilities.”

    When asked by CNN Thursday about the letter, DoD spokesperson Col. Rob Manning said, “This is an ongoing review and therefore we are unable to provide additional comments.”

    Innocent until proven guilty, but really not surprised at the allegations. Happens all the time, but who does she think she is, the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy?

    On a side note, the bane of my existence, the evil “Politics” tag, actually fits here.

  • Navy corpsman ran through a wall of fire to save his Marines during ambush in Iraq

    devil doc
    Military Times tells the tale of, at the time, SA Fonseca, a Hospital Corpsman assigned to a Marine Battalion, and his actions under fire during the Iraq War.

    The deadly battle of Nasiriyah reared its ugly head on March 23, 2003, when the Marines of 2nd Assault Amphibious Battalion were ambushed as they advanced to secure the Saddam Canal Bridge, the northernmost bridge in the Iraqi city.

    The elaborate attack of small arms and indirect fire claimed the lives of 18 Marines that day, a number that could have been significantly higher had it not been for the bravery and instinctive actions of their corpsman, then-23-year-old Seaman Apprentice Luis Fonseca.

    “As we came up and over the bridge, we ran right into an ambush,” he said in a 2008 Department of Defense release. “They threw all they had at us — small arms fire, heavy machine gun fire, rocket propelled grenades, mortars and artillery rounds.”

    With all hell breaking loose, an amphibious assault vehicle to Fonseca’s front was struck by a rocket propelled grenade, inflicting five casualties.

    Seeing the vehicle beginning to catch fire, the platoon sergeant, then-Gunnery Sgt. David Myers, called for Fonseca, and the young corpsman on his first deployment sprung into action, grabbing his medical bag and sprinting through a wall of small arms fire on his way to the disabled vehicle.

    When he arrived, he saw all five Marines were grievously wounded. Fonseca got to work immediately.

    “I noticed I had two patients with partial lower-leg amputations, one with flash burns to his eyes, and all had shrapnel wounds,” the corpsman said. “I applied tourniquets on the two Marines with the partial leg amputations and instructed the other Marines around to apply battle dressings on the others that were wounded.”

    Fonseca then coordinated the removal of the wounded Marines from the kill zone to a vehicle where the enemy ambush was less concentrated. After administering morphine to the two with the most urgent medical needs, he received a call that another vehicle had been hit.

    Because the convoy had broken up at the outset of the firefight, the disabled vehicle he was looking for wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Exposed and unsure where it was, Fonseca ran through more fire to get back to his vehicle.

    Just as he arrived, four direct hits blasted the amtrak, creating havoc and dust-filled confusion.

    “Two of them were on our right side,” he said. “One was on our center top hatch. All three were … 122 mm mortar rounds. The fourth and final round that disabled the truck was a recoilless rifle round that blew up our transmission.”

    All wounded Marines from Fonseca’s vehicle, except one, were quickly transferred out of the kill zone at the direction of the corpsman.

    “I picked up the last Marine … and carried him to a ditch,” Fonseca said. “The Marine and I sat in the ditch for about 30 minutes before I could get another vehicle to pick us up and drive us out of there.”

    Once that Marine was picked up, Fonseca rejoined his platoon in the fight, a brutal clash that would wind up lasting over six hours.

    On top of the 18 killed, “fifteen others were wounded and left the battlefield, and about 10 others [who] were wounded … stayed,” Fonseca said.

    The corpsman treated and coordinated the evacuation of nearly a dozen Marines that day. For his bravery, he was awarded the Navy Cross, the service’s second highest award for valor.

    “The Navy Cross means to me honor, sacrifice and loyalty,” Fonseca said. “Honor because it is my honor to wear the Navy Cross for my brothers that gave their lives in that fight. So, it’s my honor to wear their Navy Cross that honors them. A lot of men sacrificed that day. Unfortunately, some families and friends had to sacrifice their loved ones.”

    When the fighting finally slowed, Gunnery Sgt. Myers, who once told Fonseca, “I’m only going to tell you this once. I don’t like corpsman. Stay out of my way,” approached the exhausted 23-year-old “doc.”

    “He came up to me and gave me a big hug,” Fonseca said. “With pride in his voice, he said ‘Doc, you did one hell of a job. Oorah Marine!’ He became one of my biggest mentors.”

    Fonseca would go on to complete additional deployments and see combat with the Marines in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but that day in March 2003 is what showed him the true meaning of being a combat medic.

    “The job of a corpsman is to go through hell and back for your Marines,” Fonseca said in a release. “My brothers needed me, so I was going to be there for them. As long as I was alive, I would keep working, even if it meant my life. I wish I could have done more.”

    Another humble hero. Since there really isn’t anything I can add, I’ll just leave it here.

  • Eight soldiers nominated for DSCs, Silver Stars for actions during deadly Niger attack

    DSC
    Army Times
    Seems Dave is unavailable, doubtless doing the Soviet’s bidding, so I’ll back him up.

    Posted at the request of AnotherPat.

    The team leader at the center of the investigation into a deadly ambush of a special operations unit in Niger last year has been recommended for an award for his valor in combat, the New York Times reported Thursday.

    Capt. Michael Perozeni, the Green Beret in charge of the mission, could receive a Silver Star for his actions, despite bearing some responsibility, according to the military’s investigation, for the botched mission. Seven more soldiers from that mission are also up for awards, according to the New York Times.

    “There will be awards for valor,” Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser. commander of U.S. Africa Command, told reporters when the Pentagon released the investigation in May.

    A Defense Department spokeswoman would not confirm Thursday whether Perozeni was on that list.

    “Individual members of the U.S. Special Operations team performed numerous acts of bravery while under fire on Oct. 4, 2017, and their actions are being reviewed for appropriate recognition,” Air Force Maj. Sheryll Klinkel said in a statement.

    Perozeni, according to the New York Times, was called out in the 8,000-page incident investigation for filing a misleading mission plan, taking 11 U.S. soldiers and 30 Nigeriens into a dangerous area without a back-up plan.

    According to the official report, the team was going after a key member of the local Islamic State cell, but did not obtain the higher-level approval required to step outside of their train-advise-assist mission with Nigerien counter-terrorism forces.

    The New York Times also reported that Perozeni had pushed back against the part of the mission that would turn deadly, but he was ordered by a lieutenant colonel based in Chad to continue the mission.

    When the soldiers came under attack, each of their eight vehicles — three U.S. vehicles and five Nigerien vehicles ? became separated from each other within minutes, in a kill zone that was thousands of yards long. Under heavy enemy fire, the vehicles had stopped, and U.S. and Nigerien forces exited to return fire.

    As enemy forces closed in, Perozeni made a string of split-second decisions to have the U.S. and Nigerien troops get back in their vehicles and pull back to avoid being flanked. But the vehicles ultimately lost contact with each other and did not immediately have visibility on the forces left behind.

    Four more soldiers are up for Silver Stars, the third-highest award for valor, the Times reported, and three are recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross ? the award second only to the Medal of Honor.

    All four soldiers killed in the ambush are under consideration: Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright and Sgt. La David Johnson for the Distinguished Service Cross, and Sgt. 1st Class Jeremiah Johnson and Staff Sgt. Bryan Black for the Silver Star.

    During the ambush, La David Johnson and two Nigeriens had been returning fire from outside his vehicle. He fired the vehicle’s M240 mounted machine gun until it ran out of bullets, then picked up an M2010 sniper rifle.

    When the call came to pull back, the three were trapped. Intense incoming fire kept La David Johnson from being able to reach the driver’s seat.

    So, they ran. The Nigeriens were shot; La David Johnson was the only one left. He ran the length of five football fields to reach the only cover in the area: a single thorny tree. He took his position and returned fire as an enemy truck with its own mounted machine gun closed in.

    His body was found two days later.

    Meanwhile, Black, Jeremiah Johnson and Wright were returning fire from outside the second U.S. vehicle.

    Jeremiah Johnson acknowledged the order to move out with a “thumbs up,” and another team member threw a smoke grenade to give them cover to move.

    Wright began driving their vehicle slowly forward, while Black and Johnson remained outside, using the vehicle as cover to continue firing.

    As Black moved slightly ahead of the vehicle, he was shot and killed by enemy fire.

    Jeremiah Johnson would fall next. Badly wounded by enemy fire, he could not continue on. Wright stayed beside him, returning fire until both were killed.

  • Submarine XO in the brig for illicit recordings

    alaska ssbn
    The Navy Times reports that the former second-in-command of the submarine USS Alaska has been convicted of using a cellphone to secretly record others before broadcasting the footage.

    Lt. Cmdr. Bryan P. Watson was fired as the blue crew executive officer of the King’s Bay, Georgia-based boat in July 2017, for what officials said at the time were the preliminary results of a Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation.

    As part of a pre-trial deal, Watson pleaded guilty to indecent visual recording and broadcasting of an indecent visual recording charges on May 1.

    Watson was sentenced to 15 months in the brig and a dismissal, according to the Navy.

    Officer dismissal is equivalent to a dishonorable discharge.

    A redacted charge sheet provided to Navy Times does not state where or when the offenses occurred, but notes that the infractions happened on several occasions in private areas where the victim “had a reasonable expectation of privacy.”

    Navy officials declined to say how Watson disseminated the footage and said only the information on the charge sheet was releasable.

    Watson was transferred to the Navy’s brig at Charleston, South Carolina, in June and could not be reached for comment.

    “They’re not entitled to talk to the media,” the brig’s administrative officer, James Greenway, said Tuesday.

    The nuke officer was commissioned in 2003 and had stints on the submarines New Hampshire, Louisiana and Michigan before reporting to the Alaska in March 2017, according to Navy Personnel Command records.

    He also worked at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations from 2013 to 2016, according to the records.

    Navy Judge Advocate General Corps officials said personnel issues prevented Watson’s May conviction from being posted online until recently.

    USS Alaska is a Boomer, or ballistic missile boat. These were trial boats for co-ed crews, because their larger relative size to Fast Attack boats could accommodate separate berthing spaces, showers, etc. I’ll bet the former LCDR Watson was recording the female crewmembers in these spaces, violating what little privacy there was to be had. It’s going to be a long 15 months for him; he’s going to be Number 1 Chew Toy for the Brig’s MAs and Marine guards.

  • Spc. Nicole McKenzie Saving the World

    Spc.-Nicole-McKenzie-
    Army Times reports Spc. Nicole McKenzie witnessed a chilling incident, stopped and rendered aid to a disturbed 12 year old child.

    When a 12-year-old boy jumped off an overpass in New York, a National Guard soldier was there to help.

    Spc. Nicole McKenzie was driving home from the Yonkers armory when she saw a flash of red going over the guardrail on the Saw Mill Parkway, according to an Army news release.

    “I saw what looked like the outline of a boy going over the side,” McKenzie said in the release. “I knew something was wrong.”

    The cable systems installer and maintainer with A Company, 101st Signal Battalion immediately pulled over to see how she could help.

    McKenzie ran to the edge of the overpass, where a police officer was also assessing the scene — then McKenzie saw a boy lying on the rocks below.

    The soldier and police officer ran down the overpass, climbing over a fence and dropping 10 feet to the ground in order to reach the boy, the release said.

    McKenzie learned the boy was from the Andrus campus in the Bronx, an organization that provides services to children with special needs and behavioral issues.

    According to the release, staff from Andrus were talking to the boy when he jumped from the overpass.

    McKenzie had recently finished combat lifesaver training with the National Guard, and she began to triage the boy’s injuries.

    She and the police officer used splints from McKenzie’s combat lifesaver bag to secure the boy’s neck, arm and leg, the release said.

    The soldier also checked his vitals and stayed until medics arrived to take the boy to the hospital.

    “I wear the uniform every day because I want to help soldiers — I want to help people,” McKenzie said in the release. “This is my family.”

    Bravo Zulu, Spc. McKenzie- damned well done!

  • Move over, Musk: Kalashnikov unveils ‘electric supercar’

    new hotness
    Yahoo News reports Russian arms maker Kalashnikov on Thursday presented its new electric car inspired by a rare 1970s model brick, saying the new technology will rival Elon Musk’s Tesla.

    The Kalashnikov brand, best known for the AK-47 assault gun, presented the decidedly retro-looking pale blue prototype, the CV-1, at a defense expo outside Moscow.

    The look was inspired by a Soviet hatchback model developed in the 1970s called “Izh-Kombi,” a statement on the Kalashnikov website said.

    Holding company Kalashnikov Concern said it has developed some cutting-edge elements for the “electric supercar”, including a “revolutionary” inverter. The vehicle can travel 350 kilometres on one charge.

    “We are developing our own concept of an electric supercar, which is based on several original systems developed by the concern,” the firm said.

    “This technology will let us stand in the ranks of global electric car producers such as Tesla and be their competitor,” RIA-Novosti further quoted the Kalashnikov press-service as saying.

    “We were inspired by the experience of global market leaders in developing our concept.”

    Sweet grocery-getter brought to you by the folks who unleashed Chernobyl on an unsuspecting world. Whatever could go wrong? Even better, AMC from the ’70s called, wants to talk merger with Pacer, Gremlin line.

  • ‘Allahu Akbar’: Two Killed, Attacker Shot by Police After Paris Stabbing

    paris police

    Breitbart News reports one member of the public was killed in the Paris suburb of Trappes Thursday morning in a knife attack, which was ended by French police fatally shooting the assailant, according to media reports.

    Police confirmed there was an operation underway in the neighbourhood in the aftermath of the suspected attack, the authorities have yet to release details about the incident. France’s BFMTV reports the 36-year-old male suspect was known to French security services, and was convicted in 2016 for “the glorification of terrorism”.

    Europe1 reports there have been two fatalities and two seriously wounded, and that the knifeman shot by police is likely one of the dead. Shouting “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is the Greatest) during the attack, the assailant took cover in a building after being shot and died of his wounds inside.

    The suspect was seen entering a building around 10am, before leaving with a knife a short time later and shouting “Allahu Akbar”. He attacked several passers-by before being shot.

    Despite the reported extremist background of the suspect, French police are investigating a potential family feud as the origin of the stabbing. Counter-terror police have the option to take over the investigation but have not yet done so.

    Isis is claiming responsibility, of course. Another melt-down known to authorities- he should have been deported upon his conviction.