Benghazi

The more I learn of the failings by the Obama administration over Benghazi, the more enraged I become.

The tactical usefulness of a live video feed over the compound would have been worth that drone's weight in gold.  The rescue squad could have been directed in real time as to where the bad guys where and even possibly where the mortars were so they could be neutralized.

For the rescue squad to be told to stand down and for them to disobey those orders. That is far far worse.  It signals this administration is willing to write people off and not even try.  The bad optics for this administration would have been a failed rescue mission it seems.  This shows how out of touch these people are with normal people.  The American public would have forgiven a quick rescue attempt even if it failed because it would have shown this administration was willing to risk all to safeguard American lives.

Instead we have gotten weeks of lies.  Senior administration officials lying to grieving families.  Obama and his people have told deliberate lies on the world stage including the UN.  And as a result another man has been deprived his freedom, the producer of a video which has now been shown not to have ignited this deadly ambush.  He still sits in a jail cell and even if he is released there is a good chance someone will try to murder him and his family for that video.

Obama and all of his malicious toadies need to be swept out of office.

Libyan Thanks

Kudos to Powerline for this very sad tale.  There are cemeteries in Benghazi, Libya where the fallen soldiers and airmen of the British Commonwealth are buried.  According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission there are over 1,500 buried there.  They are sons, brothers, husbands, fathers from across the Empire - United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and even the Sudan Defense Force - all are buried here.  At least one Victoria Cross recipient is interred here.  All killed during World War II resisting Nazi aggression.  Even Italian war graves have also been attacked.  No word if the British war cemeteries at Tobruk or Knightsbridge have been attacked.

And now their resting places have been brutally attacked and defaced, over a hundred known so far.  The perpetrators?  The same people the RAF, USAF, and their NATO allies helped to liberate last year from the tyranny of now deceased despot Gaddafi.  They even filmed themselves toppling gravestones with Crosses and Stars of David while calling the deceased warriors dogs.  Even the Cross of Remembrance has been smashed as seen in the video that Powerline has.

The reaction from the United Kingdom government has been diplomatic and couched with the caveat that Islam does not condone destroying graves.  The Libyan transitional government has offered apologies.  The Australians are not as diplomatic, calling it a desecration and sickening though no word if any Australian graves were smashed.

I am sorry England, there are graves and then there are the graves of infidels.  All these men are infidels to their defilers and hence they do not belong in any land claimed by the faithful warriors of Islam. 

The Western nations need to tell the Libyans to clean up their mess.  To hold accountable to the fullest measure these criminals.  If little or no action is done to these vandals, then Libya should be allowed to slide back into the 7th Century they seem to desire.

Post script -  Talking about Libya and WWII always brings up the mystery of Lady Be Good, a B-24 Liberator that vanished with her crew during a bombing mission against Italy.  To this day the body of SSGT Vernon Moore has never been found, he is presumed lost in the vast southeastern desert sea that comprises the border between Libya and Egypt.  As for the plane's wreckage, it was last seen in 2001 in a Libyan police impound yard.

Pesky Oil

The President now thinks releasing some oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is just the ticket to solve the current high gas prices.  The man assumes everyone, except him, is a gullible fool.  Which makes him a con-man of the lowest sort.

Here is a suggestion for our sitting on his hands President.

Open the local oil/gas tap.  Drill.  What will this action do?

1. First it will create thousands of jobs.  Jobs that pay taxes. 
2. It will also boost corporate revenues so they will pay more taxes.
3. It will turn the United States into a global exporter of oil.  More tax revenue.
4. It will increase the amount of slack in the global oil market, so will drive down the price of oil.
5. It would give this country a tool to help allies.  It would buffer countries like Britain and France from being held hostage to the likes of Libya or Iran.
6. It will also reduce the outflow of American capital to oil producing countries that have horrible human rights records.  For example Venezuela.

I hope this polite suggestion helps the President of the United States understand all the positive benefits for increased oil exploration and production.

Siege of Wukan Pt 2

Hat-tip to Karagush for this. And thanks again to the UK Telegraph for carrying this story.

The spin of the Chinese Communist Party is coming into play on how they will supress the discontent that is happening in the town of Wukan. The spin totally ignores the corruption of the local party officials who sold land to developers and skimmed some of the proceeds.

Instead the PRC is portraying their actions at battling the lies of troublemakers. They specifically name two individuals - a Mr. Lin and a Mr. Yang as the sources of trouble. Meanwhile Mr. Xue is still dead after being taken into custody.

If that farrago of untruth does not work, well the PRC has another excuse to allow them respond viciously to this peaceful protest. They say they are concerned for the safety of 60 hotel guests in Wukan. They obviously were not so concerned about the safety and well-being of Mr. Xue whom they snatched off the streets.

The cordon seems to be not as tight as the PRC wants as food is being smuggled in. Along with journalists. That might be the only ray of hope for the people of Wukan. The cameras and computers of those journalists keeping an eye on government forces so they do not misbehave. But with Tianamen all the PRC did was wait for night to fall and sweep up the protestors in the dark so they will probably follow the same tactic when they move on Wukan.

So citizens of the world, especially those who were proud of the Western powers saving the people of Libya, it is truly time to contact our governments and demand the same protection or threat of the same protection be extended to the people of Wukan. To do otherwise after Libya would be to show the true hollowness of that commitment. And reinforce in the minds of all who intend harm against the West how weak we are.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8957681/Chinese-government-vows-to-hunt-down-rebel-village-leaders.html

The Siege of Wukan

The Telegraph in the UK has an interesting article on unrest inside the Peoples Republic of China. An entire town has revolted against the Communist party machine and chased them out.

The town of Wukan had been selling property to developers and the villagers had been happy at making some money. Or so they thought. Then the economy started to go sour and the villagers needed more than their fishing fleet to get by, they needed land to grow food. That is when the local Communist party leaders sold even more land off, sparking a protest and then the leaders being chased out.

In typical heavy-handed thug behavior, the government in Beijing lashed out. They seized some of the local leaders who were trying to mediate things and tossed them into prison. Where one has now died in capitivity. His family says he was tortured. The government is refusing to release his body. I wonder if Xue's family will be told he was cremated and his ashes scattered into a river ala Tom Clancy in The Bear and the Dragon?

What is atypical is the actions of the government forces. After tear gas and water cannons failed to cow the local populace, they retreated. They now have erected a cordon around the town trying to block anyone from leaving or getting in. They have even blocked the fishing fleet. In the Middle Ages this would be called a siege as the attacking force tries to starve out the encircled garrison. Or wait for disease to break out or treachery. Or all three at once.

It will be interesting to see how this drama plays out. Is Wukan just the tip of the iceberg of revolt bubbling in mainland China? A country where one economist/TV talk show host has descibed each Chinese province as a Greece. A country that is overbuilt in ghost cities. A nation with an imbalance in its population caused by the One Child law.

What will also be interesting is to see how the international community reacts. NATO, UN, EU, and the US were all gung-ho to intervene in Libya for the sake of the people. Will they do the same when it comes to violent oppression by the Beijing government against its own citizens? Stay tuned I guess. And pray for the people of Wukan and all others who are willing to stand up against a brutal and corrupt government.

Source.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8954315/Inside-Wukan-the-Chinese-village-that-fought-back.html

Update - A thought has belatedly occurred to me why the Chinese officials have pulled back and encircled the town. It is an attempt to control information flow so other towns don't get the same idea. But one has to look back to Tianamen Square in Bejing for probably the real reason. The forces beseiging the town are probably drawn from local levys of conscripts. So they would not be reliable troops since they would identify with the town folks. So like Tianamen, Beijing is probably shipping in a few reaction battalions from another province. It will be these soldiers who will cause the streets of Wukan to run red with blood.

So we in the West really need to shine a spotlight on Wukan. Our governments need spines of steel if international concepts of human rights are to have any meaning. We the people of the world must speak in one voice to oppose any attempt by Beijing to silence the voices of the citizens it is supposed to represent. If the PRC does use violence, again, then there has to be reprecussions.

For Obama and His War-Mongers

For President Obama, Mr. Peace Prize, for his actions in Libya, Mexico, Honduras, Taiwan, and now Uganda.

Libyan WMDs

It seems I was right this morning to be worried about what the State Department was saying about the security of Libya's WMDs. And also typical of the Obama administration, they don't want to be the ones looking for those WMDs even though some are stored right outside Tripoli. They want NATO to find them. I wonder if this aversion has anything to do with the almost pathological aversion Obama has for anything related to being compared to George Bush?

"The State Department wants to wait for fighting to abate before moving throughout Libya to locate and secure fugitive leader Moammar Gadhafi's massive weapons stores, according to two U.S. officials. It's also stressing working through the nascent Libyan rebel government."

I do not understand this reasoning at all. The whole country is still in a state of upheaval and State Department wants to wait. Meanwhile these weapons are subject to being pilfered and sold on the black market. As the article states, the price on the black market for shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles has fallen and some think the Libyan arsenals have already been breached.

Would the American public object if several companies of US Marines were dispatched to secure the uranium yellowcake and the barrels of mustard gas? It would be nice for the Obama administration do something proactive and protective, but instead they are trying to pass the buck to NATO just like they did with the whole leadership thing for the overthrow of Gadhafi. Would the Libyan provisional government object? If the Libyans do object then we must call into question their reliability since Gadhafi had already turned over the United States much of its WMD capability.

"Libya doesn't have the means right now to turn this yellowcake into anything dangerous," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.

Obviously Ms. Nuland has never studied up on dirty bombs. Take the usual 155mm artillery shell IED, slap some yellowcake around it with duct tape, and detonate. You now have an explosion spreading enriched uranium particles where the wind blows. And people inhaling the stuff.

The mustard agent, she added, doesn't amount to "weapon-ready chemicals, (because) they can't be converted on the dot and they are in these massive drums inside heavy bunkers and we are able to monitor their security through our national technical means."

Technical means in this case means orbiting satellites, drones, and spy planes. Sorry Ms. Nuland, without boots on the ground to eyeball things how can you tell if those barrels of mustard gas are still in those bunkers. You can't. And I really don't want to think what an open barrel of mustard gas sloshing its contents out as it rolled through Tripoli either. But this is why Sec. of State Clinton and others are paid the big bucks. So what does Clinton have to say on this matter?

"We will look to them to ensure that Libya fulfills its treaty responsibilities, that it ensures that its weapons stockpiles do not threaten its neighbors or fall into the wrong hands, and that it takes a firm stand against violent extremism," Clinton said in a statement Thursday night.

But rest assured they are doing what they can. Why with the expenditure of $3million US teams have managed to destroy 30 SA-7s. The SA-7 is Vietnam vintage akin to the old US Redeye. And it would have been far cheaper to just set up a store, call it Crazy Barry's, and offer $5000 per SA-7 turned in. We would have gotten far more than a mere 30. To quote a certain movie, I have a bad feeling about this.

Friday News

With Hurricane Irene seeming ready to take a swipe at Washington D.C. after the city was rattled by an earthquake, one would think there might be something to all those end time prophecies. People across the Eastern seaboard are preparing for this storm. In many places evacuation orders have been issued. Stay tuned to this developing story.

Meanwhile our competitors on the global stage, the Peoples Republic of China, is squawking most irately over the US Defense Department doing its job. The PRC is taking umbrage at the DoD for doing its job and daring to ask why mainland China is going on such an arms buildup. Though the story in the last paragraph is incorrect since on August 14th Taiwan was informed they would not be sold the 66 new F-16 fighters.

Also overseas, lets look at Libya. The dictator is gone and the rebel government seems to be in control. While the DoD is doing its job in regards to the PRC, it seems the State Department is whistling and hoping a problem will just go away. Namely who really controls in Libya the tons of mustard gas, the 1,300 tons of precursor chemicals, and the remnants of Libya's nuclear bomb program. State Department claims everything is fine, no need for alarm. The US and its allies had military forces in Baghdad and still the Iraqi museum was looted. In Libya there are no NATO forces anywhere, but we are supposed to believe all these known WMDs are safe. I just don't buy it, do you?

What could --- Oooppss

In 1965, the Soviet nuclear powered ice-breaker V.I. Lenin suffered the first of its two nuclear accidents. One reactor suffered a loss of coolant before the nuclear fuel was removed. Due to all the heat, many of the rods melted themselves to the reactor vessel. The melted parts of the reactor core were sealed and disposed of in 1967 on an island. The second accident in 1967 involved a leak in one of the reactors. They had to use sledgehammers to get through the containment vessel to find the leak. The sledgehammers damaged the reactor vessel beyond repair. The repair and installation of new reactors was completed by 1970. In 1989 the ice-breaker was retired.

Back in 1994, in the primitive days of the Internet when a 56k modem was high speed, an American teen managed to turn his mother's garden shed into a Superfund site. David Hahn was a Boy Scout who managed to get his Atomic merit badge in 1991. But he did not stop there. Using various means including social engineering nuclear officials, he managed to obtain critical information. Along with material. First he wanted to create a neutron gun. Then he decided to try and create a breeder reactor. Then things started to get hot when his Geiger counter picked up radiation five doors down from his mother's house. So he started to take his project apart. It was the parts in his car that unraveled the whole mess, someone had called the police reporting a teen was stealing tires. Police found David Hahn. Along with a toolbox in the car's trunk that David said was radioactive. So the garden shed was taken apart and buried with other radioactive waste. David refused treatment for radiation exposure. And that should have been that. Except in 2007 David Hahn was arrested and convicted of stealing smoke detectors. His 90 day sentence was delayed because he had to get treatment for radiation exposure. His mug shot ain't pretty.

In these modern 21st Century times, such incidents might be filed under lessons not to repeat. It seems some have not learned. Or are just betting they can avoid the pitfalls this time around.

Example of the first, of not learning, seems to be this story out of Sweden. This delightful chap tried to do Hahn one better. He tried to build a reactor on his kitchen table. Then he had an attack of sanity, called Swedish nuclear officials to ask some questions about legality, and then the man and his project was scooped up before any harm happened.

Second one is from Russia and is far more troubling due to the possible scope of impact if calamity happens. And again it seems the Arctic environment is what could be affected, including all those polar bears everyone worries about. The Russians want to put on large cargo vessels nuclear reactors so they can stake better claims on Arctic resources. They use their experience with nuclear ice-breakers as justification that these 'nuclear wessels' will be safe. Right. Its also mentioned that Algeria and Indonesia are interested in floating nuclear power stations. Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, and Spain I think would object to such a plan; all of them worrying what happens if the vessel founders and the reactor gets breached in the confines of the Mediterranean Sea. And just thinking of such a vessel getting caught in another tsunami that devastated Banda Aceh gives me major goose pimples.

Typhoon in Combat

On April 12, 2011 a milestone in the Eurofighter Typhoon's saga was reached. Over Misurata Libya, the plane saw its first combat - video found at the link. A Typhoon flying in formation with a Tornado GR.4 received notice that government tanks were on the move south of Misurata. Two tanks were destroyed when the Typhoon dropped Enhanced Paveway II smartbombs.

What is interesting is the last paragraph. Currently the RAF has 60 Typhoons and it looks like they maybe flying as many as 230 of the planes in the future. Assuming the UK and MoD has the budget.

Remember Egypt?

While the media focuses on neighboring Libya and the unrest there, the unrest in Egypt is still happening. The struggle for a free Egypt continues even as the global eye is turned elsewhere. The future for the soul of an ancient and proud country is still in the balance. Tahrir Square is still the flash point for all this drama as this Saturday showed.

Thousands of demonstrators barricaded themselves in Cairo's central square with burned-out troop carriers and barbed wire Saturday and demanded the removal of the military council ruling Egypt, infuriated after soldiers stormed their protest camp overnight, killing at least one person and injuring 71 others.

What is buried below the above lead paragraph is what needs to be known. It seems the freedom lovers are still protesting, but two of their allies have switched sides in this struggle. El Baradei and the Muslim Brotherhood are standing with Defense Minister Tantawi, an ally of the now deposed Hosni Mubarak, who now rules Egypt.

Now what prompted this latest crackdown in Tahrir Square? The peoples' defender and bulwark against anarchy, the Army seems to be crumbling. Twenty-five officers of the Egyptian Army seem to have joined the protesters in Tahrir Square and denounced the current military government. Tantawi's government is putting forward a different picture, the use of the term 'thugs' reminds me of similar rantings that came out of Libya in regards to its protesters.

Egypt's struggle still continues. The nightmare did not end when Mubarak stepped down. In fact the whole country just might be waking up to an even worse nightmare. Perhaps it is time for the international community to again intervene, like they did when ousting Mubarak and tell all sides there are certain that need to be encouraged and protected if a post-Mubarak Egypt wants to be part of the modern world.

Libyan Birthers

Just to add another dollop of seasoning to the heady and confusing brew that is Libya, this should not be a surprise I guess. Richard Engel of NBC has found 1 in 5 Libyan rebels think Col. Gaddafi is Jewish and that is good enough for them to fight to overthrow him.

Is Gaddafi Jewish? The evidence is simply not strong enough. There appears to be clues Gaddafi was born out of wedlock between an Italian soldier and a Jewish girl. And as an infant was placed into the adopted care of a Bedouin family by the Catholic Church. That Gaddafi himself has admitted to having Jewish cousins and then he has turned around to deny it. The issue is simply murky.

In matters of right and wrong, Qaddafi's lineage does not matter. He is a tyrant and should be thrown down. But the question every government who is supporting the rebels should be asking is who will follow? With reports of AQ in the rebel ranks. And add those who think Qaddafi is Jewish. It does pose an interesting question that should have been asked before the passage of the UN resolution. To only now to search for a decent successor shows how unprepared the international community has been. And this for a tyrant who has ruled brutally since 1969. Now why do we need to pass any kind of global test when such global collaboration results in something almost like the various factions of White Bolsheviks holed up in Murmansk with US, UK, Canadian, and French troops battling the Red Bolsheviks?

I have a bad feeling that Operation Odyssey Dawn will end badly. So badly that the continuing non-function of Somalia as a nation will seem mild in comparison.

NATO AWAC E-3

Since NATO is in the news with Libya, thought I would post a pic of one of the planes probably directing the air-space denial missions and helping turn other military hardware into scrap.

Strike Eagle Update

Here is raw footage of the crashed F-15E Strike Eagle. It appears the plane came straight down due to how intact the airframe is. The center fuselage and inner wing areas have been consumed by fire it seems, this is also where the jet fuel is stored. It also appears the forward fuselage has also been destroyed, about the only identifiable area is the cockpit coaming where the HUD is found. At about time 15 second in the video on the left side one man in a green shirt steps over a seeker head for an AIM-9 Sidewinder. Later at 20 second mark, we are clearly shown an AIM-120C AMRAAM.

As for the crew, both are just slightly banged up. One came down in a sheep pen, rescued by locals, given some fruit juice and water, and then turned over to Coalition forces. The other pilot was rescued by US forces. Both are now back in US hands and being checked over.

Strike Eagle Down, Crew Safe

F-15E 91-326 with speed-brake deployed landing in 2006.

At approximately 2130Zulu 21 Mar 2011, an F-15E from the 48th FW based at RAF Lakenheath, like the one pictured above, and flying from Aviano AB Italy went down during a mission to support Operation Odyssey Dawn. The aircraft apparently suffered some kind of malfunction over nothern Libya. The two man crew ejected safely and have been rescued.

Google Is Strange

One of the above images does not really belong when the search term is Gulf of Sidra. Can you spot the one that isn't like the others? Strange, very strange.

Shoot Down #1?

Well the first aircraft to fall in Libya has hit the Internet.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/libyan-fighter-shot-down-24585249

At a guess it looks like a MiG-23. And no chute observed which means the pilot did not get out.