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| Remember, kids: "Knee Mortar" was a GI nickname, NOT the method of deployment! |
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| Yes, that's a Type 96 Sniper rifle. "Chrysanthemum" marking was absolutely cherry. |
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| Odd that they had a buttload of Japanese weapons, but few German. |
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| Mark 18 grenade launcher, AKA "The Honeywell." I'd heard about these. Yes, that's a hand crank... |
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Mark 20 grenade launcher. Odd that we went from 18, to 20, to 19...
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| What the heck is that...? |
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| Oh! |
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| Oh-ho! |
That's a bullet comment that appeared on a couple of my Non-Commissioned Officer Evaluation Reports (NCO-ER) over the years. I always liked it, actually, even though I was well aware it was a backhanded compliment.
So, I had to laugh when I realized I was stopped in traffic next to a candidate for a local city council seat. He had large posters fixed to each side of his truck. He had a US Army sticker and a "Viet Nam Veterans of America" sticker.
And two of those stupid pirate Jolly Roger stickers in the back window. The only one I could read said "Prepare To Be Boarded."
Like I said, I find his candor refreshing, but I won't be voting for him...
Regular readers of NBfPB know that I follow and comment on the inexplicable resurgence of the scourge of piracy here at the dawn of the 21 century. Readers will further note that I favor the 19th century solution - watery graves for pirates - to this 19th century problem. Alas, much of the global shipping industry went along with the 21st century solution - international cooperation, under-resourced military escorts, haphazard judicial prosecution, namby-pamby rules of engagement - which has now proven a total failure. Today comes news of the capitulation. The largest ship-owning company in the world, AP Moeller-Maersk, long a holdout against having men with guns on its ships due to its vast global profile and inherent Danish pacifism, has given up on the oh-so-very-modern approach.
Danish shipping AP Moller-Maersk has accepted that armed security personnel are needed on its ships.Progress in my book.
The decision to allow selective use of guards on some vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean comes after a thorough legal review, the Maritime Danmark website said.
The historical remedy for piracy is the destruction of their port cities, but that seems unlikely in this case. Every Somali surface vessel should be given a warning to return to port, and then blown out of the water by the United States Navy, in a blockade to be maintained indefinitely until a stable government exists in Somlia. (Yes, “indefinitely” means a very long time).Hear, hear!
There is no reason for any Somali boat to ride the ocean waves – their meager shipping needs can be handled by carefully monitored commercial vessels, and they can be allowed small fishing boats close to shore. Protecting the huge amount of commercial and private sea traffic in the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and Gulf of Aden would require a massive fleet, standing guard and awaiting action at the convenience of pirates. Aggressively hunting down and killing Somali boats is a much more practical use of our limited but powerful naval resources, and transfers the initiative to our Navy instead of the pirates. It’s time to take the initiative.
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| Blackbeard, or Edward Teach, Thatch or Drummond was the most famous Pirate to emanate from Bristol, but he is not the only one. He was killed by the Royal Navy in November 1718 in North Carolina. |
Lately, there have been several interdictions of pirates in the piracy plagued waters of the Gulf of Aden. Here is one recent report. All of these reports have one glaring thing in common, no arrests were made. International naval forces catch pirates in the act of hijacking vessels, discover weapons and equipment used in hijackings...and then let the pirates go free. The effect is to deprive the pirates of a few thousand dollars worth of equipment whereas one successful hijacking probably earns a pirate crew $1-$3 million. The only conclusion is that we do not want to stop piracy. We are pussy-footing around with these pirates. Ideally, we should be sending them to watery graves, but at a minimum there should be some sort of an international zone established where probable cause or evidentiary criteria are suspended or drastically reduced so that combat forces can arrest and hold interdicted pirates. We have the zone setup already to delineate where ships can sail under naval protection, why can't we grant special legal status to that zone? I can understand why European powers and the US even are being such pussies, but why are the Egyptians, Chinese and the Saudis, who rely so heavily on transit through the GoA, not taking a tougher stance?Pirates = Terrorists in my book.
Somaliland Press: Russian Soldiers Stormed Ship & Executed All of Our MenSent to you via Google Reader
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, May 12, 2010, 4:56 AMThe Somali pirates will likely think twice before the hijack another Russian ship.
Russian soldiers stormed the MV Moscow University and executed all of the pirates after securing the ship.
2 pirates beaten to death, 7 hurt
[Bangla Daily Star] Locals severely beat up nine pirates, killing two on the spot, when they were attempting to loot a boat in a remote char area on the river Jamuna in Daulatpur upazila of Manikganj yesterday.
Police rescued and arrested seven pirates in a critically injured state. The dead or injured robbers could not be identified immediately.
Police also retrieved several machetes and locally made weapons to be used by the pirates.
Shawkat Hossain, officer-in-charge of Daulatpur Police Station, said 20 to 25 cattle traders on an engine boat were heading towards a cattle market at Bera in Pabna to buy cows.
When they reached Board Bazar area around 9:00am, a gang of 15 to 20 pirates attacked them.
However, when faced by fierce resistance from the traders and other passengers, the pirates threw their weapons in the river and attempted to flee with their motorboat.
Locals caught nine fleeing pirates and beat them mercilessly, leaving two dead on the spot.
The U.S. Treasury and Labor Departments will ask for public comment as soon as next week on ways to promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams, according to Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Iwry, who are spearheading the effort.In other words, if you have a tax-deferred retirement account, they want to con you into moving into a form in which they can tax it.
And, from the First Barbary War entry:Until the Declaration of Independence in 1776 British treaties with the North African states of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli protected American ships from the Barbary corsairs. Morocco, which in 1777 was the first independent nation to publicly recognize the United States, became in 1784 the first Barbary power to seize an American vessel after independence. That action got the attention the sultan sought; it followed several years of fruitless diplomatic efforts to get an American emissary to come negotiate a treaty. Thomas Barclay, American consul in France, went to Morocco in 1786 and negotiated a very satisfactory treaty based on the draft he had carried from Paris and requiring no future tribute or gifts.[20] Experience with Algiers was different. In 1785 two ships (the Maria of Boston and the Dauphin of Philadelphia) were seized, the ships and cargo were sold and the crews were enslaved and held for ransom.[21]
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson, then the ambassador to France, and John Adams, ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, a visiting ambassador from Tripoli. The Americans asked Adja why his government was hostile to American ships, even though there had been no provocation. They reported to the Continental Congress that the ambassador had told them “it was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave,” but he also told them that for what they considered outrageous sums of money they could make peace.[22]
American ships sailing in the Mediterranean chose to travel close to larger convoys of other European powers who had bribed the pirates. Payments in ransom and tribute to the Barbary states amounted to 20% of United States government annual expenditures in 1800.[23] In the early nineteenth century, President Thomas Jefferson proposed a league of smaller nations to patrol the area, but the United States could not contribute. For the prisoners, Algeria wanted $60,000, while America offered only $4,000. Jefferson said a million dollars would buy them off, but Congress would only appropriate $80,000. For eleven years, Americans who lived in Algeria lived as slaves to Algerian Moors. For a while, Portugal was patrolling the Straits of Gibraltar and preventing Barbary Pirates from entering the Atlantic. But they made a cash deal with the pirates, and they were again sailing into the Atlantic and engaging in piracy. By late 1793, a dozen American ships had been captured, goods stripped and everyone enslaved. Portugal had offered some armed patrols, but American merchants needed an armed American presence to sail near Europe. After some serious debate, the United States Navy was born in March 1794. Six frigates were authorized, and so began the construction of the United States, the Constellation, the Constitution and three other frigates.
19th century, United States-Barbary wars
This new military presence helped to stiffen American resolve to resist the continuation of tribute payments, leading to the two Barbary Wars along the North African coast: the First Barbary War from 1801 to 1805[24] and the Second Barbary War in 1815. It was not until 1815 that naval victories ended tribute payments by the U.S., although some European nations continued annual payments until the 1830s.The United States Marine Corps actions in these wars led to the line "to the shores of Tripoli" in the opening of the Marine Hymn. Because of the hazards of boarding hostile ships, Marines' uniforms had a leather high collar to protect against cutlass slashes. This led to the nickname Leatherneck for U.S. Marines.[25]
The First Barbary War (1801–1805), also known as the Barbary Coast War or the Tripolitan War, was the first of two wars fought between the United States of America (briefly joined by a small Swedish fleet) and the North African states known collectively as the Barbary States. These were the independent Sultanate of Morocco, and the three Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, which were quasi-independent entities nominally belonging to the Ottoman Empire.Almost certainly, she's laughing because she is entirely unsuited for the job of Secretary of State.
The protest against the porkulus is on for President's Day!I just wish I had known about this sooner.
Date: Monday, February 16th
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Where: Westlake Park in downtown Seattle, 401 Pine St., in the open area by the big arch.
The idea is to use what we've learned about dissent over the last eight years. We need loud protests with lots noise and visuals. So, what should you bring?
Bring AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN! Bring your families, your friends, neighbors, bring everyone!
Bring SIGNS!! Get those craft making juices flowing and make signs and banners and pictures and paintings. Just imagine that you are a left-wing college student with nothing else to do and that should help you get started!
Bring something to sit on and appropriate clothing.
Most importantly, JUST BRING IT!!!
Security Council approves piracy sanctions Associated PressI'm sure a freezing of financial assets and a travel ban will straighten those naughty boys right out! After all, we all know how well UN Sanctions worked on Saddam! Not to mention resolving all acrimony over subsequent governmental actions in accordance with said sanctions!
November 21, 2008
Reporting from United Nations — The Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to impose sanctions on pirates, arms smugglers and perpetrators of instability in Somalia, in a fresh attempt to help end years of lawlessness there.
The 15-seat council endorsed a British plan for a panel to recommend people and entities whose financial assets would be frozen and that would face a travel ban. It also reaffirmed an arms embargo.
Enforcing the sanctions poses challenges, however, as those responsible for much of the anarchy are well outside any traditional finance system.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when clan warlords ousted a longtime dictator. The current government, formed in 2004 with the help of the U.N., has failed to protect citizens while it battles an Islamist insurgency.
The council action was followed by discussion of the deteriorating situation in Somalia -- both on land and at sea, in a region that includes some of the world's most important shipping routes.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo called for immediate steps to stabilize the security situation, which threatens political progress and an Oct. 26 cease-fire agreement between the Somali government and insurgents.
She stressed that piracy was "a direct result of the lack of rule of law and desperate economic conditions on the ground."
...the scourge of the Barbary pirates. Sponsored by Morocco and the city-states of Tunis, Algiers and Tripoli, the pirates preyed on civilian vessels, plundering their cargoes and kidnapping their crews. "It was written in the Koran...that it was their [the pirates'] right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners," the emissary of Tripoli's pasha told a startled John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in London in 1785. The emissary demanded $1 million from the United States -- one-tenth of the national budget -- to suspend the assaults or face losing the valuable Mediterranean trade, representing one-fifth of all American exports.A little verbose.The choice was excruciating. No longer protected by the British navy and lacking any gunboats of its own, the U.S. had no ready military option. Nor did it have international support. Jefferson's attempt to create an international coalition together with European states was summarily rejected. Defenseless and internationally isolated, most Americans were opposed to devoting their scarce resources to building a navy and instead favored following the age-old European custom of bribing the pirates -- the euphemism was "tribute" -- in exchange for safe passage. "Would to Heaven we had a navy to reform these enemies to mankind or crush them into non-existence," an exasperated George Washington confided to his old comrade-in-arms, the Marquis de Lafayette.
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In spite of the potential pitfalls, an America-led campaign against the pirates is warranted. Though the Somali pirates do not yet endanger American trade, they will be emboldened by a lack of forceful response. Any attempt to bargain with them and to pay the modern equivalent of tribute will beget more piracy. Now, as then, the only effective response to piracy is a coercive one. "We shall offer them liberal and enlightened terms," declared Commodore Decatur, "dictated at the mouths of our cannons." Or, as William Eaton, commander of the Marines' march to Tripoli, more poignantly put it: "There is but one language that can be held to these people, and this is terror."
