CDR Salamander

Labels: LPD-17

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 12:16

Lieutenant-Commander Andy Chalmers, who has died aged 84, was first lieutenant of the submarine Venturer, which sank two German U-boats and prevented the export of heavy water and rocket plans to Japan.

On November 4 1944 Venturer, under command of the highly-decorated Lt Jimmy Launders, left Dundee on Operation Hangman to re-supply clandestine observers reporting shipping movements along the Norwegian coast.

Chalmers was at the periscope when he saw the conning tower of a U-boat surface a few hundred yards away, and called Launders to the control room. In a snap attack lasting six minutes, Chalmers handled the boat while Launders fired four torpedoes to sink U-771. Next day Venturer resumed its mission, entering Andfjord by night in clear windless weather to land its stores by rubber dinghy. Chalmers was awarded the DSC.

On February 9 1945, while submerged west of Bergen, Chalmers was in the control room when he heard faint underwater sounds on the hydrophones, and Launders spotted a periscope at about 5,000 yards range. Chalmers trimmed the boat in silence for three hours while Launders stalked his quarry, calculating the range by the loudness of its noise.

U-864, commanded by Korvettenkaptän Ralf-Reimar Wolfram, was making "suicidal" use of its periscope, which was protruding about four feet above the surface. Venturer fired four torpedoes, and two minutes 12 seconds later there was a loud explosion. This is the only known sinking of one submarine by another when both boats were submerged throughout the engagement.
...0In March 1946, Chalmers became first lieutenant of a British trials crew of the German U-1407, which had been scuttled at Cuxhaven but was raised and renamed Meteorite. He easily passed the "perisher" course in 1948, and during the next eight years commanded Spur, Truculent, Alderney, Sanguine, Trenchant and Alliance.

He was then commander's assistant in the training carrier Indefatigable and first lieutenant of the frigate Veryan Bay in the West Indies. In 1970 he retired from the Navy to work for the Probation Service.

Andy Chalmers, who died on October 13, married, in 1945, Jean Eleanor Hawkins; she survives him with their two sons.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 05:36

“We’d like to get a riverine graybeard group together,” he said. “This is an extension of something the Navy has always done. Everyone thinks this is something really new. But this is something we’ve been doing off and on for 230 years.”

The Navy will have three deployment-ready riverine squadrons operational by early 2007, and more than 700 sailors will man the new 36-boat brown-water fleet.

The river raiders will be a key element of the Norfolk-based Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, which stood up Oct. 14. The type-command status of the NECC signals a growing demand for naval expeditionary forces and puts it on the level of the service’s air, surface and submarine forces.

Riverine squadrons

By spring, NECC will identify the manning, equipment and training requirements for three riverine squadrons, Bullard said. By spring of 2007, those new units will be ready to deploy. Details on who can join the force and how command structures will be organized are uncertain, Bullard said. He did say lateral transfers from various commands and ratings likely will be required.

Bullard said NECC planners are working with the Marines, who have a Camp Lejeune-based small boat company patrolling the waterways of Iraq, to develop plans, policies and procedures for the Navy force.

The Corps recently disestablished its small boat companies in a move to free up more infantrymen for deployments, only to see that requirement surface again in Iraq. By spring 2007, the Navy plans to take over that mission, Bullard said.

“We’re working with the U.S. Marine Corps very closely for the Navy to revamp this capability and replace their company in Iraq,” Bullard said Nov. 3. “In fact, we’re going to work with them on our initial training, our initial outfitting and we’re going to stay engaged because they become that combat arms force if we have to put them on a boat.”

Current plans call for three squadrons of 12 boats each. The initial riverine force will total 700 sailors. Bullard could not say how boats will be manned or equipped, as the concept of operations remains under development. It is not known if the boats will be skippered by junior officers or chiefs.

The goal, however, will be to re-establish the Navy’s ability to reach upriver from the littoral or coastal environment.

Although no decision has been made, Bullard’s staff has been looking at several existing boats for riverine operations. The candidates include the Mark V, a large, fast special-operations boat currently in use; the Special Operations Craft-Riverine, in use by special boat units; an enhanced Small Unit Riverine Craft, an armored version of the boat used by Marine small boat units; and the Riverine Assault Craft, a heavily armed and armored fast-attack boat.

“And there are other boats out there,” Bullard said. “Until we do the mission functions and tasks to determine what boat we need, we’ll look at that.”

As Bullard noted, Marines will be the Navy’s “combat arms” force because the Navy will not train sailors as infantry to bolster the expeditionary command. That said, any sailor involved in the new command can expect to spend a lot of time at the weapons range and in the weight room.

“We’re looking for physically fit sailors who will be in harm’s way at times,” he said.

Labels: Riverine

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 16:08

The incident began when Border Patrol agents tried to stop the dump truck on Interstate 10, sheriff's officials said. The truck fled to Mexico in the Neely's Crossing area.

The truck got stuck in the riverbed, and the driver took off running. Agents "started to retrieve the bundles (of marijuana) when the armed subjects appeared," said Agent Ramiro Cordero, a Border Patrol spokesman.

The Border Patrol called Hudspeth County sheriff's deputies and Texas state troopers for backup, both agencies confirmed.

Doyal said the truck driver returned with the armed men, including men who arrived in official-looking vehicles with overhead lights and what appeared to be Mexican soldiers in uniform and with military-style rifles.

The Mexican army is used in anti-narcotics operations. Army officials could not be reached for comment.

The standoff ended when the "soldiers" used a bulldozer to pull the dump truck into Mexico, sheriff's officials said.

Several possibilities exist for explaining this incident, none of which sounds good for the border situation. The most likely explanation is that the Mexicans wore fake military uniforms and the armed band worked for drug smugglers. Second, the Mexican army personnel work for the drug smugglers, and third, the operation was approved by Mexican army commanders as a competing interdiction effort. I can think of no other explanation, especially since the band had a bulldozer handy -- which tends to support the first two hypotheses, as American officials believe smugglers use the dozers to cut trails across the rivers for drug runners.

If the Mexican army sent a patrol into the US to steal the truck from our law-enforcement agencies, that qualifies as an invasion ....

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 11:31

Navy MilBlogger Admits He Didn’t Select for Major Command
Nov 24 3:28 PM US/Eastern
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NORFOLK, VA

CDR Phibian Salamander is coming clean on his military record - the Major Command Screen Board that is, admitting that his claim to have been a pick of the Board in 2004 was untrue.

For nearly a year, Salamander, often mentioned as a possible “SUPERSTAR” in his FITREPS, has maintained he was selected for Major Command.

The claim was included in a brief biography released when Salamander was looking for a cushy Shore Duty job. A letter to a college friend in JUL mentioned it when he was about to be named CFC Chairman for the region. And several girlfriends, including some in Virginia Beach, have reported it as fact over months.

But an investigation by a girlfriend’s ex-husband found no record of Phibian being selected for Major Command, at sea or ashore - or any significant billet.

Informed by the girlfriend of her findings, Salamander acknowledged the error in and email.

"After being notified of the situation and after researching the matter ... I came to the conclusion that I was not selected for Major Command." he said.

Salamander’s spokesman Gilbert Grape declined to comment when reached by the AP on Thursday.

Salamander, a right-handed officer who played hooky at University, said he was actively scouted by several major Flag Officers over the last few years.

He insisted his name appeared on "a Select list of some kind" created by the Detailer. He named Community Managers as well, whom he said told him that he "would or could" be Selected. The Community Managers have since retired.

Salamander later developed sea sickness, eliminating any possible of a command at sea.

In the summer of 1997, when he was stationed on an Aircraft Carrier, the words "CO" appear on the back of a chair he had his picture taken in, the Journal reported.

"When I saw that picture I was convinced I was Deep Selected," Salamander said. "And it stayed with me all these years."

Then-cruisebook coordinator Arnold Mycock said the picture was supplied by ship’s company, he didn’t know who.

On a biographical sheet Salamander completed for his Federal Executive Fellowship, he wrote, "Selected for Major Command, 2004." He said he wrote those words because he believed they were true.

"I never tried to embellish this," he said. "I never tried to mask it."

Salamander, with a PRD of JUN 06, is seeking another set of orders.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:58

Buck up, Europe. Though lacking a coherent ideology, a genuine political unity and a significant military, you have stumbled upon a way of life that is preferable even to America's.

Europe that has learned the value of trying to provide for the common welfare, health and happiness of most of its citizens - a Europe that, with him, sees an America overburdened by military missions and shamed by doctrinal individualism, unfair social policies and often violent tendencies.

Educated in Britain and France, Judt has lived in the United States for 16 years, teaching at New York University, directing his own Remarque Institute and looming as America's most prominent scholar of all-Europe affairs. He spoke to an invited audience of scholars and answered the questions of two admiring academic colleagues, Ian Buruma of Bard College and Jan Gross of Princeton University.

... he believes that Americans have misunderstood and greatly exaggerated their country's political and intellectual influence since the 1950s. For one thing, he argues that Europeans experienced the Cold War much less "emotionally" (I suspect he means "hysterically") than Americans, thus drifting toward their own path even before the Soviet collapse. For another, he thinks Europeans rightly understood the demise of communism as a suicidal implosion, and not primarily the fruit of U.S. policy.

The most important of his themes is that Europe's welfare states were not constructed for ideological, socialistic reasons, but rather as a "prophylactic" against the disasters that had befallen the Continent throughout the 20th century. This is not widely understood in the United States and perhaps not even in Europe.

The corollary message therefore is that Europe should not lightly dismantle those systems and may better serve the world as a model than the United States or China with their stress on rugged capitalism and military strength.

Judt acknowledged that American society has done a markedly better job of assisting and integrating immigrants. Much of Europe's future, and appeal as a model, now depends on its willingness to spread its welfare tents to the newcomers from the east and south.

There is nothing deterministic in Judt's view of how things turned out. They might have been very different if Stalin had not made crucial misjudgments in the late 1940s by rejecting Marshall Plan aid, staging a crude communist coup in Czechoslovakia and encouraging the invasion of South Korea. The Soviet aim of a neutral and disarmed Germany might well have been achieved.

But if his scholarship bears any messages, Judt concluded, they are these: Americans need to stop seeing Europe as weak and decadent - even in uncertain form the Continent has progressed far beyond its past and beyond what might have been. Europe, in turn, needs to actively study its inglorious history and not just memorialize its victims in stone; otherwise the tendency to forget and to deny can corrode what has been a brilliant redemption.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:40

WHEN IT COMES to the future of Iraq, there is a deep disconnect between those who have firsthand knowledge of the situation — Iraqis and U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq — and those whose impressions are shaped by doomsday press coverage and the imperatives of domestic politics. ...a survey last month from the U.S.-based International Republican Institute, 47% of Iraqis polled said their country was headed in the right direction, as opposed to 37% who said they thought that it was going in the wrong direction. And 56% thought things would be better in six months. Only 16% thought they would be worse.
...
The Pew Research Center and the Council on Foreign Relations just released a survey of American elites that found that 64% of military officers are confident that we will succeed in establishing a stable democracy in Iraq. The comparable figures for journalists and academics are 33% and 27%, respectively. Even more impressive than the Pew poll is the evidence of how our service members are voting with their feet. Although both the Army and the Marine Corps are having trouble attracting fresh recruits — no surprise, given the state of public opinion regarding Iraq — reenlistment rates continue to exceed expectations. Veterans are expressing their confidence in the war effort by signing up to continue fighting.
...
Thanks primarily to the increase in oil prices, the Iraqi economy is projected to grow at a whopping 16.8% next year. According to Brookings' Iraq index, there are five times more cars on the streets than in Saddam Hussein's day, five times more telephone subscribers and 32 times more Internet users.

The growth of the independent media — a prerequisite of liberal democracy — is even more inspiring. Before 2003 there was not a single independent media outlet in Iraq. Today, Brookings reports, there are 44 commercial TV stations, 72 radio stations and more than 100 newspapers.
...
This is not meant to suggest that everything is wonderful in Iraq. The situation remains grim in many respects. But the most disheartening indicator of all is simply the American public's loss of confidence in the war effort. Abu Musab Zarqawi may be losing on the Arab street (his own family has disowned him), but he's winning on Main Street. And, as the Vietnam War showed, defeatism on the home front can become self-fulfilling.

...American troops have become ''a catalyst for violence," and therefore more part of the problem than the solution. ... Victory on the battlefield, of the type President Bush keeps insisting upon, is beyond our grasp. Military commanders on the ground know that they are not defeating the insurgency and that they can only keep it disrupted until, hopefully, Iraqis can manage their own defense. ... Iraq today is ''a black hole," as France's antiterrorism judge, Jean-Louis Brugiere, said, sucking in impressionable youths from all over the Muslim world and radicalizing them. ... But the war in Iraq is not sustainable in this country, any more than the Vietnam War was in Laird's time. The longer we wait the harder the eventual pullout will be and the greater the betrayal of those who grew to depend on us. That's what we learned in Vietnam.

Labels: Media

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 13:29

"I can't imagine that we would open up the Swiss Guard to women," its current commandant, Colonel Elmar Mader, said in response to a question. He said that barracks in the Vatican were "small and cramped" and he did not want disciplinary difficulties.

"They are young and I don't want to enlist problems," he said. "I'm not saying that women are not qualified to be in security forces, but it is a question of discipline."

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 11:55

Maj. Andrew Atherton and 170 of his Royal Canadian Dragoons provide escorts for the truck convoys carrying the makings of the new base along a two-lane highway threatened by roadside booby traps and suicide bombers, as well as the normal hazards of dust, heat and bad drivers.

Atherton's Coyote and LAV III light armoured vehicles, armed with 25-mm cannons and machineguns, provide the security the convoys need for the 10-hour, 450-kilometre trip. He can also call on heavier elements, including air support from other members of the NATO coalition.
...
"Kandahar is not just a different place in Afghanistan, it's a completely different mission."

Kandahar, he said, is much more like Iraq. There are radical Islamic elements, high levels of poverty and a porous border with Pakistan through which men and arms percolate with ease.

"We're moving from what was, in a sense, a stability and peacemaking operation in Kabul to a very different mission in Kandahar which could include everything from an Iraqi-style insurgency and putting down that insurgency down to elements of diplomacy and aid that need to be rolled out in the region to stabilize it."

There are about 1,000 Canadian personnel in Afghanistan now. They are shutting down the base in Kabul and opening up in Kandahar.
...
By February, Canada will have about 2,000 soldiers based in Kandahar, including a provincial reconstruction team to help rebuild infrastructure, security elements, a medical detachment and a headquarters.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:45

Four rare battle flags captured during the American War of Independence by a British officer have been returned after more than two centuries to be auctioned.

The regimental colours seized in 1779 and 1780 by Lt Col Banastre Tarleton, who remains one of the conflict's most controversial figures, have already aroused huge interest among American military historians. They are expected to fetch between £2.3 million and £5.8 million at Sotheby's in New York next year.
...
The ones captured by Tarleton are in excellent condition and their history is well documented. One is the flag of the 2nd Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons, raised in Connecticut by Col Elisha Sheldon, who were defeated by Tarleton in Westchester County, New York in July 1779. The other three flags were seized the following year in a still controversial battle in the southern United States.

Tarleton crushed a Virginian regiment under Col Abraham Buford at Waxsaws near the border of North and South Carolina. Accounts of what happened next differ. According to the Americans, Tarleton ordered his men to slaughter more than 100 revolutionary soldiers who had already surrendered. But the British officer maintained that his horse was shot after a truce was declared and pinned him to the ground.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:06

Impaled on a knife in van Gogh's chest was a five-page note declaring holy war on The Netherlands and threatening death to other public figures deemed "enemies of Islam".

A year after his murder, The Netherlands is a country transformed. Previously, only the Queen and Prime Minister had police protection, and ministers cycled to their ministries.

Now, many politicians, writers and artists are considered to be in such danger that they have permanent armed guards and are driven around in bomb-proof armoured cars. The Interior Ministry has set up a special unit assessing death threats from Islamic extremists and providing protection squads.

"In a democracy, strong opinion-leaders must be able to say what they want to say. Therefore, the Government will take the responsibility to protect them," a spokesman from the ministry said, refusing to divulge the number of people receiving protection.

In the parliament in The Hague, inside the airport-style security, two besuited bodyguards stand erect outside the office of Geert Wilders, Ali's political rival, checking closely anyone who has permission to enter. "I have been deluged with death threats," said the maverick right-wing MP, who has called for the deportation of Islamic extremists.

Across town, police are investigating the shot fired at the window of Rita Verdonk, the Immigration Minister, who has become a hate figure among Muslim communities for introducing some of the strictest immigration laws in Europe, and insisting that Muslims should integrate.

Amsterdam councillor Ahmed Aboutaleb, a Dutch-Moroccan who has said that Moroccans who do not like The Netherlands should leave, is also under permanent protection. "He never gives interviews on that issue," a spokeswoman said.

Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen has tried to build bridges with the Muslim community but, as the country's highest-profile Jew, he also needs 24-hour protection.

At Leiden University law school, professor Afshin Ellian, an Iranian refugee who has called for reform of Islam and even suggested that comedians should make jokes about it, is hustled through the electronically locked doors to his office by two bodyguards.

"In The Netherlands, terrorists want to threaten not only the public ... they also want to kill public figures, such as artists, academics and politicians," he said. "It is not special in terms of Islam -- in Iran, it is normal to kill people who criticise Islam, as in Egypt and Iraq. It is legitimised by Islamic political theology, which says it is all right to kill someone if they are an enemy of Allah. But this is happening in Europe."

Academics and authorities in The Netherlands are trying to understand why, in their country, Islamic extremism has gone down the path of assassination, while in Britain and Spain it has produced bombings.

The rise in the death threats started in 2002 when Pim Fortuyn, a flamboyant, gay, right-wing maverick, called for a halt to Islamic immigration. He complained that police did not take the death threats against him seriously. He was killed not by a Muslim, but by a left-wing activist who said he did it "for the Muslims".

It was the first political killing in The Netherlands for three centuries and was seen as a one-off. But the murder of van Gogh two years later convinced people that the threat of political killing had become permanent.

A study by Frank Bovenkerk of the University of Utrecht confirmed the rise in death threats across the country, and their seriousness.

"They are under real threat -- they would be killed without protection," he said.

"We have a type of provocateur which is unprecedented in The Netherlands. They claim it is about freedom of speech, but it is about freedom of cursing."

Even if the would-be assassins are foiled by the intelligence services and the protection squads, the death threats are already having some success in silencing criticism. "People are very afraid of saying things now," Professor Ellian said.

"There is self-censorship."

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:56

"The period between 9/11 and Iraq was not a good time for America. There wasn't a robust discussion of what we were doing," Matthews said.

"If we stop trying to figure out the other side, we've given up. The person on the other side is not evil -- they just have a different perspective."

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:12

How to loose a war.

QUIT. It's that simple. There are plenty of more complex ways to lose a war, but none as reliable as just giving up.
...
No matter how great your team, you can't win the game if you walk off the field at half-time. That's precisely what the Democratic Party wants America to do in Iraq. Forget the fact that we've made remarkable progress under daunting conditions: The Dems are looking to throw the game just to embarrass the Bush administration.

Forget about the consequences. Disregard the immediate encouragement to the terrorists and insurgents to keep killing every American soldier they can. ...don't mention how a U.S. surrender would turn al Qaeda into an Islamic superpower, the champ who knocked out Uncle Sam in the third round.
... Forget about our dead soldiers, whose sacrifice is nothing but a political club for Democrats to wave in front of the media. ... Forget that our combat veterans are re-enlisting at remarkable rates — knowing they'll have to leave their families and go back to war again. Ignore the progress on the ground, the squeezing of the insurgency's last strongholds into the badlands on the Syrian border. Blow off the successive Iraqi elections and the astonishing cooperation we've seen between age-old enemies as they struggle to form a decent government.
...
Just set a time-table for our troops to come home and show the world that America is an unreliable ally with no stomach for a fight, no matter the stakes involved. Tell the world that deserting the South Vietnamese and fleeing from Somalia weren't anomalies — that's what Americans do.
...
Whatever you do, don't talk about any possible consequences. ... America's security? Hah! As long as the upcoming elections show Democratic gains, let the terrorist threat explode. ... For God's sake, don't talk about democracy in the Middle East. After all, democracy wasn't much fun for the Dems in 2000 or 2004. Why support it overseas, when it's been so disappointing at home?

All that matters is scoring political points. Let the world burn. Let the massacres run on.
...
There's plenty I don't like about the Bush administration. Its domestic policies disgust me, and the Bushies got plenty wrong in Iraq. But at least they'll fight. The Dems are ready to betray our troops, our allies and our country's future security for a few House seats.

Surrender is never a winning strategy.
...
What do the Democrats fear? An American success in Iraq. They need us to fail, and they're going to make us fail, no matter the cost. They need to declare defeat before the 2006 mid-term elections and ensure a real debacle before 2008 — a bloody mess they'll blame on Bush, even though they made it themselves. ... Let's just be good Democrats and prove that Osama bin Laden was right all along: Americans have no stomach for a fight.
...
If we run away from our enemies overseas, our enemies will make their way to us. Quit Iraq, and far more than 2,000 Americans are going to die.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 15:55

Hollywood star JOHNNY DEPP is so shocked by the riots raging through France, he's considering abandoning his home in the country.

The FINDING NEVERLAND heart-throb moved to Europe when life in Los Angeles became too violent.

"Life ain't perfect, and life ain't fair: deal with it."

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 07:18

“The way the chiefs, junior officers and enlisteds were all going out together, drinking together … it was just a big party,” he said. “A couple of chiefs and an E-3, an E-2 going out for a beer together — I’d never seen that before. And it wasn’t like it happened every once in a while. It was a daily occurrence.”

He added, “There’s not a lot to do in Pascagoula, anyway.”

According to the Navy, at least 13 sailors on the Chung-Hoon, commissioned barely a year ago, have been charged with fraternization, adultery or both over the past 1½ years — activities that began largely while the ship was still being put together in Pascagoula, Miss. … The 13 sailors ranged in rank from E-2 to O-3, Navy officials said. … the two officers, Chappell and Lt. Bernie Ridgeway, were sent to general court-martial, according to William Sink, Chappell’s civilian attorney, and other sources. Yarbrough was punished at a special court-martial and is awaiting a bad-conduct discharge. Five other .. sailors were sent to captain’s mast; the case against one … sailor was dismissed. (of the other’s charged) … one was sent to a summary court-martial, and the remainder to mast.
…
Lt. Tobias Chappell, is a former supply officer on the Chung-Hoon, now temporarily reassigned to the Defense Distribution Depot Pearl Harbor, where he “picks up trash and moves furniture” for a chief petty officer.

He secretly married his former supply department’s leading petty officer, Storekeeper 2nd Class (AW) Tonya Yarbrough, last December; she has since been demoted to seaman recruit.

Chappell’s court-martial on three counts of fraternization with three sailors — one of them an affair from five years ago — was scheduled to begin Nov. 14.

Chappell, a former enlisted sailor with 22 years of service, …

Chappell, with two counts of fraternization within the past year alone, also was charged with two counts of cruelty and maltreatment, obstruction of justice, larceny, making a false official statement and misleading authorities about … (a) petty officer’s affair, the Navy said. … Chappell’s second fraternization charge relates to an alleged affair with an enlisted sailor not assigned to the Chung-Hoon, he said. And the third, he said, stems from a late 1990s affair with another enlisted female sailor.

“I don’t think that’s fair,” Chappell said. “I can see the ‘frat’ charge with Tonya, and even the one a year ago. But five years ago? That’s too long.”

Chappell said he was an ensign when he had his first fraternization affair. …

Chappell said the additional charges he faces are bogus. The larceny relates to keeping two Navy laptop computers at home during the commissioning transition, which Chappell said was allowed. The obstruction of justice, he said, relates to a search of his stateroom, which turned up videotaped evidence of one of the earlier relationships, according to Sink. The cruelty and maltreatment charge, he said, stems from giving a first-class petty officer a poor evaluation and assigning him to barracks duty while showing favoritism to a second petty officer.

According to the official Navy charge sheet, however, Yarbrough was that second petty officer. The Navy says Chappell sent his leading petty officer, Storekeeper 1st Class John T. Crawford, to barracks duty after Crawford gave Yarbrough a presumably unfavorable counseling statement. The Navy also charges that another sailor, Storekeeper 2nd Class David M. Zepeda, was unfairly dropped in ranking board status, adding that Chappell ordered a chief petty officer to switch the promotion recommendations of Yarbrough and Zepeda.

Yarbrough, in addition to pleading guilty Aug. 2 to two counts of fraternization and one count of insubordination, was found guilty of failure to appear for duty. The insubordination charge was for tearing up a counseling statement, according to Chappell. Yarbrough said she was on temporary duty for training when charged with failing to appear. She received six months of confinement (reduced to three in exchange for agreeing to testify against Chappell), reduction to E-1, forfeiture of $750 a month for six months and a bad-conduct discharge. .. Yarbrough, who gave birth to the couple’s daughter Nov. 7, recently spent nearly three months in the Pearl Harbor brig and is awaiting a bad-conduct discharge.

The maximum penalty for fraternization, broadly defined as a relationship between senior and junior personnel deemed prejudicial to good order and discipline, is two years confinement, total forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and dismissal from the service, according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Adultery can bring either a dishonorable or bad-conduct discharge, a year of confinement and total forfeiture of all pay and allowances.

The trials and tribulations recent to Chung-Hoon have shaken, but not shattered, my faith in the khaki leadership or the crew in general. Even though we go to great lengths to re-enforce policies and provide clear guidance to the crew … there always seems to be someone that rationalizes the rules do not apply to him/her or that they will never get caught. I will try to re-enforce Navy core values, and especially the ideals of honor and integrity, during every captain’s call and meeting with the wardroom and mess. One’s honor and integrity can only be lost by the member through action, and once it is lost it may never be fully regained.

As background, fraternization and unduly familiar relationships have been a constant and steady topic since establishment of the [pre-commissioning unit], sail around and arrival in Pearl Harbor.
…
Even with the continued re-enforcement, I still have shipmates who choose to act dishonorably and ignore the rules — occasionally with life- or career-ending results. Thus far in this command tour I have:

• Lost a shipmate due to alcohol and not using his [personal protective equipment] while operating a motorcycle.

• Now have a fraternization case being investigated between and officer and his LPO.

• And also have an unduly familiar relationship/adultery case between a chief petty officer and an E-4.

Both the officer and chief looked me in the eyes and proclaimed their innocence when initially confronted — much like the drug user who refuses to admit his guilt. Honor and integrity are not virtues these individuals possess and I also must wonder about the moral courage of others to point out failures of their peers in the wardroom and chiefs’ mess.

Personally, my trustful nature and naïveté are slowly being replaced by cynicism and distrust. Although I know this attitude will soon rebound, there is a growing desire to read a future shipmate his/her rights and confiscate computer e-mails to determine if there is any fire with the smoke created when a junior shipmate complains of someone in the chain of command’s behavior. However, I still feel that an officer’s (and chief petty officer’s) word is his/her bond and that the wardroom and chiefs’ mess not only have the duty but also the moral courage to report inappropriate behavior when identified. Therefore I will continue to carefully balance the re-enforcement and restating of policies on fraternization and other good-order and discipline issues while not pushing too far that the command climate is decimated due to a perceived growing mistrust and spurious witch hunts.

Accusations of racism also underlie the problem. Eight of the 13 charged are black; the others are white. Two of the black sailors charged say they and others are being treated more harshly than their white counterparts. … The two black sailors leveling the racism charge, a lieutenant and then-second-class petty officer, admit they had an affair before getting married in December. But both say that whites similarly culpable were punished far less severely for essentially the same transgressions and that racism may have played a part. … The black officer, Lt. Tobias Chappell, is a former supply officer on the Chung-Hoon, … Of the eight black sailors charged, the two officers, Chappell and Lt. Bernie Ridgeway, were sent to general court-martial, according …Yarbrough was punished at a special court-martial and is awaiting a bad-conduct discharge. Five other black sailors were sent to captain’s mast; the case against one black sailor was dismissed. … Of the five whites, one was sent to a summary court-martial, and the remainder to mast. According to Sink, all of the whites were retained on active duty. … “I look at this ratio of blacks to whites [being charged] … and naturally, I asked if this was racial, and they said no,” Sink said. “And I don’t believe it.”

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 05:50

The racist and sexist "yellow woman doing a white man's job" knock is a tiresome old attack from impotent liberals that I've tolerated a long time. It is pathetic that I have to sit here and tell you that my ideas, my politics, and my intellectual capital are mine and mine alone in response to cowardly attacks from misogynistic moonbats with Asian whore fixations. My IQ, free will, skin color, eye shape, productivity, sincerity, and integrity are routinely ridiculed or questioned because I happen to be a minority conservative woman. As a public figure, I am willing to take these insults, but I cannot tolerate the smearing of my loved ones. Because I have always been open and proud about his support for my career, my husband has taken endless, hate-filled abuse from my critics. His Jewish heritage, his decision to be a stay-at-home dad, and even his looks, are the subject of brutal mockery.

Enough.

If you have a problem with my work and what I stand for, go ahead and take me on. Keep calling me whatever four-letter-word makes you feel better when you can't win your arguments. But leave my family alone.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 10:32

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive
citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy
for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive
sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a
deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog,
a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk
into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk
out unscathed. - Colonel Dave Grossman on Sheepdogs

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 05:33

$9.1 billion to permit construction of four new ships, less than half the total of 10 to 12 new vessels the Navy and independent consultants say is needed to sustain today’s fleet. The total includes $336.7 million to accelerate construction of a new aircraft carrier, CVN-78, that will be built at Northrop Grumman’s Newport News shipyard, as well as a new amphibious assault ship and a new destroyer.

Labels: Shipbuilding

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 23:16

Katherine Schinasi of the GAO, tha watchdog arm of Congress, said the Defense Department already knows many of the steps it needs to take. However, the Pentagon has yet to find the necessary willpower.
“DOD is not employing the knowledge-based approach, discipline is lacking, and business cases are weak. Persistent practices show a decided lack of restraint,” Schinasi said.

Anyone reading the amendment gets the sense that the Senate's foremost objective is the draw-down of American troops. What it should have said is that America's first goal in Iraq is not to withdraw troops, but to win the war. All other policy decisions we make should support, and be subordinate to, the successful completion of our mission.

Morality, national security and the honor our fallen deserve all compel us to see our mission in Iraq through to victory.

But the amendment suggests a different priority. It signals that withdrawal, not victory, is foremost in Congress' mind, and suggests that we are more interested in exit than victory. …
A date is not an exit strategy. To suggest that it is only encourages our enemies, by indicating that the end to American intervention is near. It alienates our friends, who fear an insurgent victory, and tempts undecideds to join the anti-government ranks.
…
Because the stakes there are so high — higher even than those in Vietnam — our friends and our enemies need to hear one message: America is committed to success, and we will win this war.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 05:01

George Duncan shot down 13.5 Japanese airplanes while flying with VF-15 off carrier Essex, gaining all his victories in the latter part of 1944....He made a career of the Navy, rising to command VF-51 and Air Group 5 during the Korean War.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 13:06

CSF’s effects based management structure consists of a USE Flag Panel, and supporting policy and action teams. CSF leverages the USE Flag Panel, as supported by cross-functional teams (CFT), to increase the productivity of delivering warfare capacity to meet operational demand. The USE Flag Panel, by setting strategy and approving and monitoring metrics linked to personal accountability, uses CFTs to provide the integration of enterprise activities to meet USE objectives."

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 11:43

U.S. Used Neurotoxic Munitions In Fallujah

Wednesday, November 16, 2005; A16

The U.S. military confirmed yesterday that it used small arms rounds containing almost pure lead against insurgents during the assault on Fallujah last November, but said it did not use the highly toxic element (Pb) agent against civilians as claimed in an Italian television report.

Lt. Col. Fruitie Reliable, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. forces in Fallujah "employed grey lead . . . as an kinetic weapon against enemy combatants," but said that "suggestions that U.S. forces targeted civilians with these weapons are simply wrong."

Defense officials acknowledged that they could not rule out the possibility that the lead-core munitions accidentally hit civilians during the Fallujah offensive, which involved the heaviest U.S. combat since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

U.S. troops who took part in the Fallujah battle recounted in detail their use of grey lead -- most commonly employed to kill people during an assault or to break things -- as an effective weapon for routing out insurgents from "trench lines and spider holes," according to an article written by three of the soldiers and published in the March-April 2005 issue of Infantry Illustrated magazine.

Reliable said munitions containing grey lead are not illegal and are considered conventional, not chemical, weapons. "It isn't like we were forcing their kids to chew on paint chips or anything."

-- Ann Irish Purdue

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:06

A Chinese-American engineer and two family members who allegedly conspired to steal sensitive information about Navy warships and smuggle it to China were indicted Tuesday on federal charges, authorities said.

The grand jury indictment charges Chi Mak, 65, his wife and brother with acting as agents of a foreign government without prior notification to the U.S. attorney general, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
....
Federal officials said Mak took computer disks from Anaheim defense contractor Power Paragon, where he was lead engineer on a sensitive research project involving propulsion systems for Navy warships.

He and his wife, Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, 62, then copied the information to CDs and delivered them to Tai Wang Mak, 56, who was scheduled to fly to Hong Kong on Oct. 28 with his wife, Fuk Heung Li, an FBI affidavit said.

From there, the brother allegedly planned to travel to Guangzhou, China, to meet a contact.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 05:31

Warmer, wetter weather brought on by global warming could increase outbreaks of the plague, which has killed millions down the ages and wiped out one third of Europe's population in the 14th century, academics said.
...
"The link is very important and it is also important to link it back to the Black Death in the 1300s because there were the kind of weather conditions then -- warmer and wetter -- that we predict for the future," Stenseth said.

"After 1855, when it (plague) reappeared again, there were once again similar weather conditions."

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 05:27

SAN FRANCISCO had been hit 45 times and had 22 major fires
burning; she had some 183 dead out of 1100 on board. Besides the
Admiral and Captain Young, all but two of the Admiral's staff were
dead, and both Executive Officers. Turrets I and III could still be
fired, and five of eight 5-inch secondary guns.

The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal took three days to fight to a
decision, 13 - 15 Nov 1942. It came about because an American
reinforcement effort coincided with a major Japanese one. The narrow
American victory here was to decide the Guadalcanal Campaign, the
first American counteroffensive of the Pacific War -- and from here
on out, they would be rolling the Japanese back towards their own
home Islands. There was a great deal at stake, fighting for this
jungle airfield that nobody really wanted.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 04:20

Washington DC: 1,545
N. Virginia and central Maryland: 2,355
New York City: 550
San Diego: 250
Dallas:190
Chicago: 200
Seatle: 125
St. Louis: 125
Miami: 165
Other cities from coast to coast from Mexico to Canada: 1,490

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 12:15

Has it become "psychologically important" yet?

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:00

Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 25th Infantry Division (Light), fire a howitzer during their deployment in Afghanistan. The unit's outstanding performance of duty during combat operations in Afghanistan was cited in its winning of the 2005 Phoenix Trophy, the Department of Defense's highest maintenance award.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 11:12

Cabinet can declare state of emergency in all or part of the country

Regional leaders given exceptional powers to apply curfew and restrict movements

Breach of curfew could mean a fine or two-month jail sentence

Police can carry out raids on suspected weapons stockpiles

Interior minister can issue house-arrest warrants for persons considered dangerous to public safety

Public meeting places can be closed down

House searches possible day or night

Authorities can control press or broadcast media, film and theatre performances

State of emergency can only be extended beyond 12 days if approved by parliament

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 04:44

Dear CDR Salamander:

I happened to Google Sadron Lampert and found your article on the WWII memorial in Winona. My name is XXXX. I live in Norfolk, and my father, XXXX, is Sadron's brother. I would like to add to and clarify some of your information regarding the five young men from Winona who gave their lives serving their country.

The only person among the five that my father did not know was Robert W. Jones. Three of the families literally lived next door to each other: the Lamperts, Settles, and Woods. In fact, my grandmother, XXXX Lampert, was next door consoling Mrs. Settle on the death of her son, not knowing that her own beloved Sadron had already been killed.

By the way, my grandparents had already lost a little girl, Doris, when Sadron died, and my father, who was five years younger than Sadron, had gone into the Army before Sadron and was in New Mexico training to go overseas when he heard of his dear brother's death. My father--my hero--went on to fly more than his share of missions over Japan, flying out of Tinian. The siblings had another brother, Ralph, who died at age 56 of a massive heart attack.

To clarify Sadron IV's e-mail, Sadron III was two when his father was killed. Sadron III, of course, is my first cousin.

Sadron, Jr. entered Yale at age 16. He graduated at age 20. He was on a special football team--the 150 lb. varsity team--because of his slender stature.

Sadron, Jr., .... met his wife, Edith, (while she) was working at Farmer's, Inc., my grandfather's company, as a secretary when Sadron, Jr. met her. She was from South Norfolk. ...... After Sadron and Edith married, they moved to New York, where Sadron was the manager of marine and war risk insurance at Johnson and Higgins on Wall Street.

Sadron and Edith were married at Rosemont Christian Church in South Norfolk. The church was on Bainbridge Blvd., the same street where Edith's family lived. Her maiden name was Edith Herbert. Again, Sadron and Edith were a lovely couple. My mother and father can still picture them attending their church, First Methodist, Edith dressed to the nines and Sadron perfectly outfitted in a gorgeous white summer suit.

Sadron, Jr. was actually drafted in early 1944. He was drafted as part of Roosevelt's Limited Service Act because of his nearsightedness. Instead of the Army using his vast intelligence and putting Sadron where he could have made a weighty difference, the Army sent him straight to North Africa and then to Italy. .... He died on September 14, 1944, three days before my father's 21st birthday, because he and a boy from Wisconsin caught a mortar in their foxhole at Futa Pass, Italy, which killed both of them instantly.

Although Sadron Lampert was at Futa Pass at Highway 65 in Northern Italy on September 14, 1944, several WWII websites list incorrect information. For example, one lists him as "Lambert" and another lists his date of death as Sept. 29, 1944. Both are incorrect. Sadron Lampert died on Sept. 14, 1944.

I know that the fighting between Sept. 2 and Sept. 25, 1944, along highway 65 through Futa Pass--known as the Gothic Line--was intense. Between Sept. 10 and Oct. 26, four U.S. divisions suffered over 15,000 casualties. Some sites even suggest that the Futa Pass activity in September 1944 was a diversionary sacrifice to draw enemy fire away from other strategic points.

Sadron was dashing and extremely intelligent; everyone admired him. My mother also grew up in Winona and remembers seeing Sadron and Edith together and thinking what a perfectly beautiful couple they were. They had the aura of movie stars. My grandparents continued to live on Morris Crescent until their deaths. My grandfather, Sadron, Sr., died in 1983. I was lucky enough to know him well into my adulthood. My mother's parents lived on Huntington Crescent until their deaths (with my grandmother living almost to age 97). My uncle and my brother and his family still live in Winona, so my attachment to the neighborhood is quite strong.

Charles H. Ware went by Hal. He and my dad were the same age and were on the high school football team together. My dad believes that he was in the Army Air Corps.

Carl Wood was drafted rather late in life. He was 6 or 8 years older than Sadron. He was the first husband of another long-time Winona resident, Winnie (Mrs. William) Scullion, who died several years ago. Her sons (by her second husband) are still in the area.

Robert Settle was an Annapolis grad. He took Naval Flight Training and was killed in a crash stateside.
.....
Just last year, the Lafayette/Winona Civic League held a special Memorial Day service and dedicated the memorial site with new lights. My mother has photographs of the original dedication service, held in the early 1950s, complete with shots of Sadron, Sr.; his wife, Elizabeth; and their grandson, Sadron III.
.......

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 04:54

An administration with no agenda and no competence would be hard enough to live with on the domestic front. But the rest of the world simply can't afford an American government this bad for that long.
...
Ronald Reagan managed to turn his messy second term around and deliver - in great part through his own powers of leadership - ..

Right now, the vice president is devoting himself to beating back congressional legislation that would prohibit the torture of prisoners. This is truly a remarkable set of priorities: His former chief aide is under indictment, Cheney's back is against the wall - and he's declared war on the Geneva Conventions.

Bush cannot fire Cheney, but he could do what other presidents have done to vice presidents: keep him too busy attending funerals to do more harm. Bush would still have to turn his administration around, but it would at least send a signal to the nation and the world that he is in charge, and the next three years might not be as dreadful as they threaten to be.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 17:14

"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog."

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:17

Going gray is like ejaculation. You know it can happen prematurely, but when it actually does, it's a total shock.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 16:05

The move must take into account Japanese attitudes, U.S. military strategy, and American politics and economics — much of which will be difficult to reconcile.

At the moment, the leading candidates would seem to be the USS Abraham Lincoln, named for the American perhaps most revered in Japan, and the USS George Washington, named for the father of his country. The Lincoln, based in Bremerton, Wash., belongs to the Pacific Fleet while the Washington is assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and is based in Norfolk, Va.

Among carriers that should not be under consideration are the USS Harry S Truman, named for the president who ordered the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 to get Japan to surrender and end World War II, and the USS Nimitz, named for the U.S. naval commander, Admiral Chester Nimitz, in that war against Japan.

Posting the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to Japan would recall the cancellation of President Eisenhower's visit to Tokyo in 1960 in the face of violent protests against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. The USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered carrier to visit Japan, stirred up similar protests in Sasebo, a port in southwestern Japan, in 1968.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt is named for the president who negotiated a treaty to end the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 that many Japanese thought unfair.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 14:13

First, until this plan is implemented in full, we must insist that the French government acknowledge that there is no military or police solution to the problems of violence in its suburbs, and only through recognizing the legitimacy of the demands of the murderers and rioters outside Paris can the problems be resolved.

Second, we all agree that territory must not be annexed by force.
...
Germany has a moral right to demand the return of Alsace-Lorraine..France must agree to the return and rehabilitation of all ethnic Germans expelled from Alsace-Lorraine after World Wars I and II, as well as all those they define as their descendents.
...
...no aggression can be rewarded, and France has much other stolen territory to return. It took Corsica from Genoa, Nice and Savoy from Piedmont. As the successor state, Italy must get back all these lands. By similar token, territories grabbed from the Hapsburgs go back to Austria, including Franche-Comte, Artois and historic Burgundy. The Roussillon area (along the Pyrenees) must be returned to Spain, its rightful owner. And Normandy, Anjou, Aquitaine and Gascony must be returned to their rightful owners - the British royal family.
...
...Brittany and Languedoc must be granted autonomy at once, recognizing the Breton and Occitan liberation organizations as their legal rulers. This leaves the French government in control over the Ile de France (the area around Paris).

That, however, still does not solve the problem of the Holy City of Paris, sacred to artists, gourmets and adulterers. The Corsicans obviously have a historic claim to the Tomb of the Emperor Napoleon, their famed son, as well as the Invalides complex and beyond. For the sake of peace, is it too much to ask that Paris be the capital for two peoples? The French authorities must agree to prevent French Parisians from even entering the sacred tomb area, lest this upset the Corsicans.

The Saint Chapelle and the Church of Notre Dame, of course, will be internationalized, under joint Vatican-art-historical auspices. Indeed, the French should consider it a compliment of the highest order that so many people see Paris as an international city.

The French have nothing to complain about. They will enjoy the benefits of peace and retain control of the Champs Elysees.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 06:21

Recognizing a growing need for sailors trained in close combat and security, the Navy has realigned and plans to expand its land-based forces under a single command.

The Naval Expeditionary Combat Command was established last month and will eventually encompass 40,000 sailors around the world. Their headquarters will be at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base.
...
“The Marines are the naval infantry,” said Rear Adm. Donald C. Bullard, deputy chief of staff for operational readiness and training for Fleet Forces.
...
With heavy combat in the Middle East taxing the Army and Marines, the Navy wants to put more boots and force into the fight. The Navy estimates it has 7,000 sailors on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq. Sailors guard ports and oil platforms, build roads and buildings and run customs operations, among other duties.
...
The new Naval Expeditionary Combat Command also will include the Naval Construction Forces Command, or Seabees, Naval Expeditionary Logistics Support Force, Maritime Force Protection Command and the Master at Arms force. Bullard, a naval aviator and former skipper of the aircraft carrier Constellation will initially lead the new group.

The Navy also will re-establish a riverine combat force to close a gap in providing force and protection along rivers in hostile countries. The “brown water Navy” has not been widespread since swift boats fought in Vietnam, although Navy SEALs perform specialized river operations.

Bullard expects a force of more than 700 sailors to fill three units of river combat forces, with the first unit to become operational in 2007.

He said the riverine force could be used around the globe, particularly in Niger and Colombia. A home port or ports for the new force has not been decided.

Labels: CNO, Riverine

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 16:51

Police reported 1,295 vehicle burnings and made 312 arrests as unrest in African and Arab communities spread to Strasbourg, Toulouse and Nantes.

On the 10th consecutive night of riots, the violence reached central Paris, with four cars torched on Place de la Republique and the 17th District.

"Violence is not a solution," said Sarkozy, accused earlier of stoking passions by calling troublemakers "scum."

"Once the crisis is over, everyone will have to understand there are a certain number of injustices in some neighborhoods."

France's interior minister has warned rioters of stiff jail sentences for arson after a ninth night of violence in African and Arab communities.

Nicolas Sarkozy said setting cars on fire could "cost dear in terms of sentences" after a night which saw nearly 900 vehicles damaged.

He said the government was "unanimous about standing firm" against violence.
...
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy had warned of stiff jail sentences.
...
"We are trying to be firm and avoid any provocation," Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy...

An acquaintance of mine -- French, currently resident in North Africa -- sent a long post about the French riots to an email group I belong to. It is a fascinating post, but much too long to paste here. I did think, though, that the following passage would interest NRO readers, so with his permission, I pass it on.

It is from a passage headed: "Why an Intifada in France?" It is among a long list of reasons given as answers to the question.

"The Iraq war: as I had noticed very strongly in Tunisia a little more than 2 years ago, the opposition of France to intervention in Iraq has been perceived as a sign of weakness, and French are since considered as Dhimmis. The change of attitude from Arabs against French has been dramatic: now I know problems of security in Tunisia, and even in the French planes to go and come from there, and in Nice (French Riviera) Airport! This opposition, probably motivated by the money earned in Oil For Terror program and by threats from Saudi Arabia and Iran, has marked the end of France as a Western country (whatever one thinks about the Iraq war per se!)."

Sarkozy has courted Muslim opinion by urging a measure of positive discrimination and setting up a Council of Muslim Faith to represent France's 5 million-strong Muslim community.
.....
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met eight key ministers and the head of the Paris mosque, Dalil Boubakeur.

After the meeting, Mr Boubakeur urged a change in tone from the government.

"What I want from the authorities, from Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, the prime minister and senior officials are words of peace," he said.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 05:02

U.S. terrorism experts Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon have reached a stark conclusion about the war on terrorism: the United States is losing.
Despite an early victory over the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, the two former Clinton administration officials say President George W. Bush's policies have created a new haven for terrorism in Iraq that escalates the potential for Islamic violence against Europe and the United States.
…
America's badly damaged image in the Muslim world….

… bold U.S. initiatives to address the grim social realities that feed Islamic radicalism,…

"It's been fairly disastrous," said Benjamin, who worked as a director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council from 1994 to 1999.

“…We have done a lot to fuel the fires, and we have done a lot to encourage people to hate us," he added in an interview.

Benjamin and Simon, a former State Department official who was also at the NSC, are co-authors of a new book titled: "The Next Attack: The Failure of the War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting it Right" (Times Books).

Following on from their 2002 book, "The Age of Sacred Terror" (Random House), Benjamin and Simon list what they call U.S. missteps since the September 11, 2001, attacks on America.

"Everyone says there's a war of ideas out there, and I agree. The sad fact is that we're on the wrong side," said Benjamin, now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

… bolstering public diplomacy with trade pacts aimed at expanding middle-class influence in countries such as Pakistan.

Washington also needs to do more to ease regional tensions that feed Muslim grievances across the globe, from Thailand and the Philippines to Chechnya and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 04:38

A US marine, wearing an artificial leg, walks at his base near al-Qaim in western Iraq.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 13:51

While Smash is busy with his "real" job, I've been asked to take over certain tasks "around the house." One of the duties I've been assigned is heading the charge for the Navy in the Project Valour-IT Fundraising Competition. Now, I'm not as eloquent or as inspiring as our noble leader, so bear with me. I'm trying...

Given the multiple natural disasters that have hit our nation and the world in the past few months, I know a lot of people are experiencing donor fatigue right now. And the Holidays are right around the corner, so we're all counting our pennies. But in that spirit of holiday giving, if you have a few bucks, I hope you'll consider donating to this worthy cause.

There is currently an inter-service challenge to see which branch can raise the most money between now and Veterans Day, November 11th. As the Navy team "leader" (or at least, cheerleader), I hope you'll help us and blow the other services branches out of the water (pardon the nautical pun). (editors note - blogspot won't accept the paypal code, so this is the best I can do)

Donors may also send in donations to:

Soldiers Angels
Valour-IT Fund
1792 East Washington Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91104

Donations sent in the mail should be sent early on as they must be received by Nov 11 to count towards the contest. Include our team name (NAVY) with the donation so that we receive credit for it.

It's a tax-deductible donation and eligible for matching funds from companies who do that sort of thing.

So Give Early and Often! GO NAVY!! BEAT ARMY! (and Air Force and Marines...)

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 13:21

Over the past 30 years, immigrants poured into Leicester - and were welcomed thanks to the progressive policy of city elders, who convinced local people of the value of a multicultural future. The newcomers established peaceful lives, turning Leicester into a model for the rest of Europe of a mixed city that works.

"What you see on the surface is quite fragile," warns Manzoor Moghal, a prominent Muslim leader in Leicester and a self-made businessman who arrived here from Uganda in the 1970s. "There are different currents running that threaten to split this asunder."

Moghal, chairman of the Muslim Forum, an umbrella group dealing with Muslim issues in Leicestershire, is one of many who worry that Leicester's tradition of peaceful coexistence is threatened by the pace of change.

But Leicester's leftist local government, declaring that the city's future was multicultural, successfully responded with a progressive policy that is still finely attuned to the cultural sensibilities of the newcomers.

"We don't talk about what the immigrants have to do to fit in with us," said Trish Roberts-Thomson, a policy officer at Leicester City Council. "Leicester has a very softly-softly approach."

The council embraced ethnic leaders in a multiplicity of race committees and interfaith councils.

Muslims are demanding more on a number of fronts, such as their own faith-based schools and the freedom to wear their religious dress at work or to have halal food in the city hospitals, as well as broader political power within the city council. Winstone says the change is leading to "the perception that Hindus could leave the city - and Hindus have been Leicester's economic motor."

A further challenge to Leicester's equanimity is the risk of the re-emergence of white opposition toward the immigrants.

In 2002, in the wake of the northern riots, Leicester's council commissioned a report that found hitherto unnoticed and worrying levels of hostility among people in poor, white working-class districts toward their ethnic neighbors. This was mainly caused by resentment about the perceived generosity of public resources being channeled to the Asian districts. "The biggest threat to multiculturalism is from the white working class because multiculturalism gets the attention the white working classes don't," said Roberts-Thomson.

Among other steps, the government proposes banning some Islamic groups, but Muslim leaders fear such action would encourage the white British public to view them as foreign rather than British.

In the newly febrile atmosphere, a debate has begun - even here in multicultural Leicester - about the degree of assimilation required by immigrants.

"When you want to live in a society, when you want to be part of that society, you have an obligation to blend in," says Moghal, who dresses in an impeccable business suit.

Others, like Ibrahim Mogra, a younger Muslim and one of Leicester's leading imams, take a stricter line and believe Muslims should be allowed to live and work in Britain on their own terms.

"I do not want to live in a Britain where my culture is second-class," said Mogra, who greets visitors to his small terraced home in one of the heavily Asian districts of Leicester in turban, robe and full flowing beard. "I have integrated as best as I could. I have done almost anything."

And no, I didn't cherry pick. This is roughly the same outfit he was wearing around his neighborhood in the picture that came with the dead tree version.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 05:30

News from Cid Martel:

No monument for Theo van Gogh, from Fok:

There will be no monument for Theo van Gogh where he was killed. Council member Martin Verbeet (social-democrat) says such a monument could lead to provocations and unrest in the neighbourhood. They would like to remember him every year but the emphasis then needs to be on freedom of speech and the provocative way in which Theo van Gogh used to express himself.

In other words: "They killed him, and if we memorialize him, they may kill us. Let's just forget the whole thing."

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 15:18

Bad writing, bad politics, and from beginning to end a cognitive inablitiy to understand why the ratings were poor and active duty personnel hated it.

In explaining the cancellation FX chief John Landgraf takes pains to note that the "beautifully produced, acted, written and directed" show was axed solely due to the realities of the TV business, not for any creative reasons.

"That decision was motivated entirely by 'Over There's' ratings performance and our belief that the numbers were reflective of what the show is about, rather than its quality or entertainment value," Landgraf says.

"I think the obvious point is people are fed up with the war and don't want it in their living room," says Jonathan Taplin, a professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication. He says FX should be proud of the series' human perspective, which he finds missing from much news coverage.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 11:51

‘Modernity’, by which I mean the word, has had an exceptionally good run for its money, but is now long past its sell-by date (the term has been used to peddle so many meretricious panaceas of late that the commercial metaphor for once seems apt). According to Fredric Jameson, the ‘project’—another label subject to intolerable abuse—is over. [1] It may, on more dignified Habermasian assumptions, be incomplete; but its incompleteness is merely a token that whatever promise it once bore is now definitively buried. It has become a modern form of ‘antiquity’. [2]
…
The term thus becomes code for closing down alternatives to capitalism, a massive irony in that many of the links between modernity, modernization and modernism are often held to be unintelligible without reference to the utopian and revolutionary moments of socialism and communism. [5] Modernity’s epitaph might well be the long goodbye to the hopes invested in that particular constellation, overwhelmed by the final triumph of the alignment of the Enlightenment project with the imperatives of a market society, the name for whose contemporary ubiquitousness is now the consumerist blankness of the postmodern.

// posted by CDR Salamander @ 08:28