Category: Military issues

A number of you have sent me links to the story of the tragic attempted rescue of Linda Norgrove, a British aid worker who was kidnapped and held hostage by al Qaeda operatives. I resisted writing about it until allof the facts were in. The Telegraph writes about what is known now;

Two of the kidnappers attempted to escape from the compound but were cut down by the AC-130 monitoring the area with its highly sophisticated night vision equipment. As one of the assault teams move towards one of the building, one of the kidnappers opened fire with an AK47. Imagery obtained from a helmet mounted camera worn by one of the Seals revealed that a grenade was thrown into a room in a building, which may have also been where Miss Norgrove was being held captive. The battle raged on for a few more minutes before the last of the kidnappers were killed. As the dust settled and the smoke cleared, ST6 began searching for the aid worker. Miss Norgrove was found alive inside one of the buildings but with serious injuries.

Despite being given immediate medical treatment by the special forces medics, she died soon after. Beside her was the body of one of her kidnappers who had been almost blown in half by the force of an explosion. The injuries sustained by the kidnapper were far in excess of that expected from a grenade blast. The Sunday Telegraph understands that it is for this reason it was assumed that the aid worker was killed by a suicide bomber.

So she happened to be a room from which the SEALs were being attacked and they used a grenade to silence their attackers. It certainly wasn’t “bungled” as the Telegraph says – it was simply an unfortunate case of Norgrove being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Yeah, maybe it sounds like the SEALs shouldn’t have used grenades in the proximity of a room where Norgrove might have been, but RPGs pointed at you aren’t a good thing and demand immediate action.

It’s almost as though they’ve been set up (NY Times link);

Saying it would appeal a ruling striking down the law that bans gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the United States military, the Obama administration on Thursday asked the federal judge who issued the ruling for an emergency stay of her decision.

The Log Cabin Republicans, the gay group which brought the case to Virginia Phillip’s court room say it’s typical of the Obama Administration to ignore key constituencies;

“We are not surprised by the government’s action, as it repeats the broken promises and empty words from President Obama avowing to end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ while at the same directing his Justice Department to defend this unconstitutional policy,” said Dan Woods, a lawyer representing the group. “Now that the government has filed a request for a stay, we will oppose it vigorously because brave, patriotic gays and lesbians are serving in our armed forces to fight for all of our constitutional rights while the government is denying them theirs.”

Although I’m no champion of gays in the military, I’m starting to like this decision, at least over the next few weeks.

In addition to the lawsuit DoJ has filed against New York for failing to mail absentee ballots to voters in time for the votes to be counted, New Mexico is also facing penalties as well as Illinois. Illinois claims that they’re in compliance, though;

Officials with two of Illinois’ largest jurisdictions — the Chicago Board of Elections and the Cook County Board of Elections— said Wednesday that they mailed ballots on time.

But Courtney Greve, spokeswoman for the Cook County Board of Elections, said people can still request overseas ballots until Oct. 28 and receive them via fax or e-mail. She said the board has gotten about 300 of those requests.

So why would the DOJ be questioning their compliance with the MOVE Act?

All of this sudden concern about absentee ballots (read that; military votes) is fine, but why wasn’t anyone concerned about it a year ago when it could have done some good?

I’ve noticed that all three states are Blue States. I wonder what that means?

BooRadley, a Navy veteran herself, wrote to remind us that today is the Navy’s Birthday;

U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Maybus is scheduled to speak at a celebration of the Navy’s 235th anniversary aboard the North Carolina Battleship Memorial in Wilmington.

The StarNews of Wilmington reported that Maybus is among those scheduled to attend Tuesday’s celebration. Maybus leads both the Navy and the Marine Corps.

My father served in the Navy on the USS Saipan – the first carrier to launch jets he told me. I was born at the end of his stint at Pensacola NAS.

The only Navy story I know from history is that the first naval combat commander was actually an Army officer – Benedict Arnold. He commanded the building of a fleet of ships at Skenesborough (now Whitehall, NY) and sailed against the British up Lake Champlain and fought a naval battle at Valcour Island near Pittsburgh Plattsburgh on October 11, 1776, which forced the British to delay their assault to New York City until Spring.

Yeah, you’re going to hear a lot about this story during the next few days. If I didn’t know better, the slaves were freed today. And the hyperbole is flying;

[U.S. District Judge Virginia] Phillips declared the law unconstitutional after a two-week nonjury trial in federal court in Riverside. She said the Log Cabin Republicans “established at trial that the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Act irreparably injures servicemembers by infringing their fundamental rights.”

Which fundamental right is that Judge Phillips, the Clinton appointee? The right to put whatever you want in whoever you want? In which article can I find that?

She said the policy violates due process rights, freedom of speech and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances guaranteed by the First Amendment.

I’m no lawyer, but that seems specious on it’s face. I guess I’ll wait for our legal staff to review the decision in it’s entirety.

I can just hear the thunder of ballet-slippered feet as the gay community stampedes to line up at the recruiting stations. Can’t you? All of our retention problems have been solved.

According to the Washington Times, the Army is adding to it’s regulations the “Threat Awareness and Reporting Program” to the “Subversion and Espionage Directed Against the U.S. Army”, what we always called SAEDA. The Treat Awareness and Reporting Program is supposed to require soldiers to report the suspicious behavior of their fellow soldiers;

All Army personnel “should report … information regarding [Army] personnel who exhibit any of the behaviors that may be associated with a potential espionage or international terrorist threat and those associated with extremist activity,” the new rules state. They add that anyone failing to report such behavior could be subject to administrative sanction or even court martial.

Of course this is the Army’s response to Major Nidal Hassan murderous rampage in Texas.

I see the reasoning and I agree with it, but it seems to me that anyone who would report this behavior after the reg would be the only people who would have before the reg, published Monday. I’m pretty sure that a soldier would think twice if he considered the Army’s current politically correct environment.

I don’t think it would have influenced Hassan’s supervisors who were oblivious to the potential disaster. They were afraid to blow Hassan in to the Army, and I’m pretty sure that many people who report their workmates will still face the EO officer and an investigation. Now, if the Army wants to add a provision to protect soldiers from the Army, I could see it working. But that would mean that the Army has been using it’s EO policy arbitrarily to silence soldiers and hamstring leaders. i don’t see that happening.