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

Category: Terror War

  • Make ’em walk the plank

    Associated Press reports that 11 pirates were put on trial today in Norfolk;

    Eleven suspected pirates were indicted Friday on U.S charges of piracy and other counts related to attacks on two U.S. naval vessels off the coast of Africa.

    The indictment was unsealed an hour after the suspects were led into the federal courthouse in Norfolk under heavy security.

    One of the accused pirates had a bandaged head, while another was carried into the court building. The 11 were scheduled for a court appearance Friday afternoon.

    In addition to the piracy count, the charges include attacks to plunder a vessel, assault with a dangerous weapon, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.

    Five of the men were captured March 31, after the frigate USS Nicholas exchanged fire with a suspected pirate vessel west of the Seychelles, sinking a skiff and confiscating its mother ship.

    The other six were captured after they allegedly began shooting at the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland on April 10 about 380 miles off Djibouti, a small nation facing Yemen across the mouth of the Red Sea.

    The 11 had been held on U.S. ships for weeks off Somalia’s pirate-infested coast and nearby regions as officials worked to determine whether and where they could be prosecuted and prepare legal charges against them.

    The indictment did not indicate the pirates’ nationality.

    The Somali mission to the United Nations said it is attempting to sort out jurisdictional issues.

    “We prefer those kids to be tried in Somalia,” said Omar Jamal, first secretary for the mission. “As far as we know, they are all Somalis.”

    Their futures look a thousand times brighter than it was looking in February irrespective of the outcome of the trial. They should be grateful…and what is the Somali government going to do? Give them vessel ID flash cards so they don’t mistake American warships for freighters again?

  • How is that working out for you now?

    Well after reading Jonn’s post about the (I might have thought about going to) Iraq, GWOT, New Dawn Veterans against the war is doing in Iraq. Considering her last statement, I wonder how well it would work if we where not there. This might be a likely out come.

    The three University of California at Berkeley graduates were detained July 31, after apparently straying into Iran while hiking in a scenic part of Iraq. This month, Iran’s intelligence minister accused them of having links to U.S. intelligence services, which their families said was absurd.

    Two of three American hikers jailed in Iran for nearly nine months are in poor health and told Swiss diplomats — their first outside visitors since October — that they were considering a hunger strike, their mothers said late Thursday.

    Yep remember the three students from Berkley University home of the “not welcome in our city.” in regards to the Marines? Well they are still there and from the looks of it their accommodations are less then a 5 star rating.

    Bauer and Fattal, who are both 27, and Shourd, 31, had been allowed no sympathetic visitors in months, though they were allowed to call their mothers in early March. The calls lasted about a minute.

    Their mothers were heartened that the Swiss diplomats were allowed a 40-minute visit. They were told their children have been allowed to receive letters from family and friends, and were given access to books from the prison’s library, the diplomats told their families. The three were told of efforts by their families to secure their release and that their mothers applied for visas to try to visit them in prison.

    But seems that one of them has a stomach issue that is thinking on going on a hunger strike while another is having problems with a pre-existing depression issue while being in isolation for 9 months.

    But the reason that they were where they are is….

    Bauer, a freelance journalist, had been hired to cover the Kurdish elections, but his family said the hiking trip was a vacation. He and Sarah Shourd were dating and had been living in Damascus, Syria. She taught English and had written for various online publications.

    Josh Fattal went to visit them after traveling overseas on a teaching fellowship.

    So after 9 months how is that vacation and fellowship teaching?

    Mean while Tracey Harmon is having fun posing next to Russian made Anti-aircraft guns. Where have I seen that before.

  • Dancing on their own grave

    Jerry920 sent us this link to a story about how the US abandoned a base in Afghanistan and the Taliban danced around and celebrated their victory;

    “We don’t want Americans, we don’t want Germans or any other foreigner. We don’t want foreigners, we want peace. We want Taliban and Islam — we don’t want anything else,” one local resident said on the tape.

    Another man identified by Al-Jazeera as a local Taliban commander said the militants intended to use the base for attacks on U.S. forces.

    Maj. T.G. Taylor, a spokesman for U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan, said the Americans destroyed major firing positions and observation posts before they left, and if militants tried to use the base “we have two companies that can do an air assault there anytime we want.”

    Did they think we threw away the grid coordinates to the place?

  • Late Sunday Night Funny

    At least it is Sunday here. I was not going to post this weekend but this is too good to pass up.

    I have been following posts on the Rag Blog that led to John posting this one.

    I got a chance to read what the author’s thought on both sites, some standard replies but nothing out of the norm. Then comes this guy, Brother Jonah

    He does not waste a letter to start off the crazy.

    Then there’s the Kurd Shepherd blown away along with his flock because a U.S. Air Force Pilot couldn’t tell the difference between sheep and people. Bush, a master Liar from the depths of Hell, claims that every such incident occurred only whenthe aircraft were targeted. This happened in the Northern No-Fly Zone (Kurdistan) before the Invasi… oops “Liberation”.

    Ok, besides were is the proof, I have to ask where did this come from?

    Lets not forget the sinister motives.

    I suspect the reason you challenge her story is by your own admission you do a lot of challenging of anybody who speaks or writes against the war. The Anti-War movement are by necessity volunteers, no corporate or government sponsors.

    Or this one.

    We’re not the ones killing people based on lies. That leaves a much higher burden of proof on the Pentagon apologists. Prove you’re not an Agent Provocateur or that any of the “discredited” stories you claim to be debunked are both fake AND not from a Pentagon source.

    This one I was not even sure how to reply to this one.

    Then there’s the notion that the Pentagon plants fake veterans in organizations like VVAW and IVAW in order to “expose” them, and all the ChickenHawks crow really loudly that they’ve “disproved” the Anti-War Veterans.

    So all of those people that have been outed in the IVAW as fakes are really just infiltrators.

    It goes on and on like that for two post, but the thing that I got offended about was him trying to tell me how Texans act. I was born and raised in Texas, living there for over 25 years.

    By the way, people in Texas DO talk to strangers. It’s something you’d have to experience.

    Really? I mean seriously?

  • Gates Says Pentagon Isn’t Hiding On Ft. Hood Shootings

    From the AP:

    BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS – Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the Pentagon has “no interest in hiding anything” on last year’s mass shooting at Fort Hood.

    I think we have shown the opposite to be the case here at TAH.

  • Spetsnaz Boomstick

    Rurik sent me this video yesterday entitled Spetsnaz Boomstick found on Gun Blog.

    I gotta think that no one volunteers to be the guy swinging the stick.

  • Stephen Colbert Does What Nobody Else Has the Balls To Do

    We’ve been calling out WikiLeaks and their friends in the anti-military left over the “collateral murder video” pretty frequently here at TAH for the last week. We aren’t the only ones: most of the milblog community (including many left-leaning and anti-war veterans blogs) has been demolishing this blatantly editorialized video.

    Last night Stephen Colbert did what seems like nobody else in the media has the balls to do: call out WikiLeaks director Julian Assange and expose him as a fraud.

    Watch the whole thing, it is worth it:

    The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
    Julian Assange
    www.colbertnation.com
    Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

    Beautiful. Finally, someone takes Assange and WikiLeaks off its high horse and exposes them as another anti-military propaganda outfit with an agenda. I bet this guy was expecting a softball interview too. Does anybody honestly believe they leak everything they get now? How much more footage or documentation are they sitting on in regards to this incident?

    It is a sad commentary on the state of big media in this country that a professional comedian with a fake news show exposes more about a major news story than an established REAL media outlet.

  • “Smart Diplomacy” in action

    We’ve watched over the last few weeks while the Obama Adminstration snubbed and demonized the Israeli government of Bebe Netanyahu. Over the several months of the administration, the Obama government at the same time reached out and stroked Syria’s President Bashar Assad. And the results? (Wall Street Journal link)

    Syria has transferred long-range Scud missiles to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, Israeli and U.S. officials alleged, in a move that threatens to alter the Middle East’s military balance and sets back a major diplomatic outreach effort to Damascus by the Obama administration.

    The SCUDs put almost all of Israel within range of the Stone Age thugs of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite militia which exists only for the destruction of Israel.

    President Barack Obama has made engaging Mr. Assad’s government a cornerstone of his Mideast policy, hoping to woo Damascus into a regional peace process and lure it from a strategic alliance with Iran.

    How’s that workin’ for us?

    “If anything, we need (an ambassador) in Damascus full time just to ensure that reality gets its day in court now and then,” a senior administration official said.

    Yup, how’s the reality of SCUD-armed savages feel? How much more reality of the type we’re getting from this administration can the world stand? Maybe we can settle this whole thing with a unicorn race.