Major Herbert 'Blondie' Hasler, right, in training for Operation Frankton and, inset, the Royal Marines officer after his escape through Spain disguised as a vagrant Photo: MOD/PA
New Monument For Cockleshell Heroes -- The Telegraph
A memorial to Second World War heroes who canoed almost 100 miles into occupied France to blow up enemy ships was unveiled yesterday after a Telegraph-backed fund-raising campaign.
The raid by the "Cockleshell Heroes" in December 1942 was so important that Winston Churchill reportedly claimed it could have shortened the war by six months.
But despite their actions being immortalised in film just over a decade later, there has until now been no public monument to recognise the bravery of the ten men.
In October we reported how Maj Malcolm Cavan, former head of the Special Boat Service, had begun raising money for a memorial at La Pointe de Grave, at the mouth of the Gironde river where the mission code-named "Operation Frankton" took place.
CONTINUING THE PROMISE - U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, administers the oath of re-enlistment to troops in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 29, 2011. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Joshua Treadwell
Vehicles belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi explode after an air strike by coalition forces, along a road between Benghazi and Ajdabiyah March 20, 2011. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/Files
Libya Crisis: Gaddafi Army 'Not At Breaking Point' -- BBC
Libya leader Muammar Gaddafi's armed forces are not close to breaking point despite hundreds of allied air strikes, American military chiefs have said.
Adm Mike Mullen told a US Congress committee Col Gaddafi's troops still had 10 times the rebels' firepower.
At the same hearing, Defence Secretary Robert Gates reiterated the US would put no "boots on the ground" in Libya.
Rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces appear to have reached a stalemate in their fight for control of the country.
My Comment: The ability to adapt and continue to pound the rebels even in the face of allied coalition bombing .... this tells me that Gaddafi's forces are more loyal and capable than what we have been led to believe. This conflict is truly (and rapidly) becoming the West's unwanted war in Libya.
Rebel fighters near Ajdabiyah on Thursday. At times when the rebels are gaining ground, the allies fear that the rebels will inevitably try to take loyalist cities by force, and could end up endangering or even killing civilians there. Andrew Winning/Reuters
NATO Warns Rebels Against Attacking Civilians -- New York Times
WASHINGTON — Members of the NATO alliance have sternly warned the rebels in Libya not to attack civilians as they push against the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, according to senior military and government officials.
As NATO takes over control of airstrikes in Libya, and the Obama administration considers new steps to tip the balance of power there, the coalition has told the rebels that if they endanger civilians, they will not be shielded from possible bombardment by NATO planes and missiles, just as the government’s forces have been punished. Read more ....
My Comment: The sentence that caught my eye was the following ....
“We’ve been conveying a message to the rebels that we will be compelled to defend civilians, whether pro-Qaddafi or pro-opposition,” said a senior Obama administration official. “We are working very hard behind the scenes with the rebels so we don’t confront a situation where we face a decision to strike the rebels to defend civilians.”
Threatening our friends and allies in a war situation is not going to win us friends and allies when this is all over.
For the past month I have been working on a contract that has been taking a good chunk of my time. While I have been able to keep up with my blogging on War News Updates, I have been quite often late in doing so (like today). This should come to an end by this Monday. Aside from one week in which I will be busy (that is in two weeks from now), I will be free till the end of this year to further develop and expand this blog .... a project that I am very much looking forward to.
Donald Rumsfeld Labels 'Kill Team' Afghan Photos As 'Much Worse' Than Iraq's Abu Ghraib -- Daily Mail
The former defence secretary for President George W. Bush has described the Afghanistan ‘Kill Team’ photos as ‘much worse’ than those from Abu Ghraib.
Donald Rumsfeld said the images were more depraved than those taken of U.S. soldiers putting detainees in humiliating positions at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
The Pentagon apologised on Monday after shocking new details emerged of how U.S. soldiers formed a 'death squad' to randomly murder and mutilate Afghan civilians.
My Comment: I commented on this a few days ago, but former defense secretary Rumsfeld is right, the 'Kill Team's' Afghan photos depicting murdered Afghans is much worse than Abu Ghraib. But while these photos are much worse .... there is no equivalent media coverage on this administration as the case was with Abu Ghraib and the Bush administration .... not even close. Kudos to the Daily Mail (and a few U.S. outlets) to recognize this contradictory news coverage.
Supporters of the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi stage a rally in Tripoli. Photograph: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters
Revealed: Gaddafi Envoy In Britain For Secret Talks -- The Guardian
Exclusive: Contact with senior aide believed to be one of a number between Libyan officials and west amid signs regime may be looking for exit strategy
Colonel Gaddafi's regime has sent one of its most trusted envoys to London for confidential talks with British officials, the Guardian can reveal.
Mohammed Ismail, a senior aide to Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, visited London in recent days, British government sources familiar with the meeting have confirmed.
The contacts with Ismail are believed to have been one of a number between Libyan officials and the west in the last fortnight, amid signs that the regime may be looking for an exit strategy.
In Ivory Coast, Gbagbo's Forces Defect En Masse: Reports -- Christian Science Monitor
Forces loyal to Ivory Coast's renegade President Laurent Gbagbo appeared ready to combat Thursday's lightning-quick rebel advance. Instead, thousands seem to have defected.
Celebrations are breaking out across Ivory Coast today as forces loyal to President-elect Alassane Ouattara seize city after city in a lightning-fast march to end the reign of renegade incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo.
Mr. Gbagbo has sat in the presidential palace for eleven years, using his army and youth militia to outlast a foiled coup and a 2002-03 civil war while presiding over a decade of economic stagnation and, finally, a Nov. 28 electoral defeat that he refused to acknowledge.
After months of waiting for a concession speech that never came, rebels last week launched an offensive deep into southern Ivory Coast, from whence Gbagbo hails. Read more ....
My Comment: A few months ago I predicted a civil war and bloodbath that would last for a long of period of time .... fortunately .... it looks like I was wrong.
Obama Administration Chaos Over 'Boots On The Ground' In Libya -- Thomas Lifson, American Thinker
Testifying before Congress this morning, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates claimed that the United States would put no military "boots on the ground" in Libya, only hours after the New York Times revealed that President Obama had signed an order authorizing CIA agents to operate in Libya, where they have been on the ground for some time now.
U.S. Officials, Opposition Warn Libya Could Get Bloodier -- CNN
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- From the halls of Congress to the shell-pocked streets of Libyan cities, intertwined themes rang clear Thursday: Leader Moammar Gadhafi is determined to prevail, and the opposition needs more training and allied airstrikes to have a chance.
"Gadhafi will "kill as many (people) as he must to crush the rebellion," Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen told the House Armed Services Committee. Read more ....
My Comment: I have done a large number of posts on this subject over the years, and I suspect that CNN and others will be studying (this battle) this battle long after the war in Afghanistan is over.
Authorities in Awe of Drug Runners' Jungle-Built, Kevlar-Coated Supersubs -- Wired Science
The clatter of helicopter blades echoed across the jungles of northwestern Ecuador. Antinarcotics commandos in three choppers peered at the mangroves below, scanning for any sign of activity. The police had received a tip that a gang of Colombian drug smugglers had set up a clandestine work site here, in a dense swamp 5 miles south of Colombia’s border. And whatever the traffickers were building, the tipster had warned, was truly enormous.
Mexico’s Drug Lords Fall, But War Goes On -- Washington Post
APATZINGAN, Mexico — Aided by technology and intelligence from the United States, including overflights by drone aircraft and sophisticated software to eavesdrop on cellphone calls, Mexican forces have hit the La Familia drug cartel harder than any other criminal organization in Mexico.
Now, for the first time, Mexican officials are declaring that a major cartel is on the brink of collapse.
But if the government sees victory at hand, the reality in the hot farmlands and mountain hamlets in the western state of Michoacan feels very different.
Rebel fighters move under fire from forces loyal to Col Gaddafi near Bin Jawad Photo: REUTERS
NATO Says Arming Libyan Rebels Not an Option -- Voice of America
As NATO assumed full control of military operations targeting Libya, the alliance's chief said the body does not support the idea of arming the rebel forces.
Hours after NATO took over the Libyan operations, the alliance's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen laid out the goals: to protect the Libyan people, not to arm them. His remarks appeared to contradict suggestions by U.S. and British officials that the UN mandate guiding NATO operations could allow for arming rebels fighting the forces of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Officers including spokesman with China's Ministry of National Defense Geng Yansheng (2nd L) prepare to answer questions at a press conference in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2011. The Chinese government issued the white paper on China's national defense in 2010 on Thursday, which reiterates China's insistence on peaceful development and pursuit of a national defense policy that is defensive in nature. (Xinhua/Li Mingfang)
China Lays Out Vision for Military -- New York Times
BEIJING — The Chinese military said Thursday that while the security situation in Asia and the Pacific was generally stable, it was becoming “more intricate and volatile,” with no clear solutions for tension points like the divided Korean Peninsula and with the United States increasing its involvement in regional security issues.
The military’s vision was laid out in a national defense white paper, a document published every two years since 1998. The paper tries to walk a line between trumpeting the modernization efforts of the Chinese military and assuaging fears by foreign governments and analysts that the fast-growing People’s Liberation Army will be used for expansionist purposes or regional dominance.
Ivory Coast Battle Nears Decisive Stage in Key City -- New York Times
DAKAR, Senegal — The battle for Ivory Coast’s presidency neared a decisive phase on Thursday as opposition forces reached the outskirts of Abidjan, the country’s commercial center, and the government’s army chief fled his post.
The army chief of staff, Gen. Phillippe Mangou, sought refuge for himself, his wife and five children in the home of the South African ambassador in Abidjan, the South African Department of International Relations said in a statement. Read more ....
CIA Operatives Gathering Intelligence In Libya -- NPR Staff and Wires
The CIA has sent a small, covert team into rebel-held eastern Libya while the White House debates whether to arm the opposition, NPR has confirmed.
The operatives are in Libya to gather intelligence to help direct NATO airstrikes and to help train inexperienced rebel fighters.
"The CIA team is there to train them how to shoot, how to fight, how to have military discipline," NPR's Deborah Amos reported from Cairo. "They are joining a team of former Libyan military officers who are now training about 30,000 young Libyans in the rebel stronghold to also improve discipline, improve communications and make it into a more coherent fighting force."
FALCON FUEL-UP - An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 555th Fighter Squadron based on Aviano Air Base, Italy, receives fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker, assigned to the 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, while flying over Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, March 29, 2011. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. William Greer
Within Obama’s War Cabinet, A Looming Battle Over Pace Of Afghanistan drawdown -- Washington Post
Military leaders and President Obama’s civilian advisers are girding for battle over the size and pace of the planned pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan this summer, with the military seeking to limit a reduction in combat forces and the White House pressing for a withdrawal substantial enough to placate a war-weary electorate.
Libyan Rebels in Retreat as Country's Foreign Minister Resigns -- ABC News
Obama Authorizes Covert Operations; NATO Takes Control of Air Operations
Libyan rebels have retreated despite support from NATO airstrikes, days after seeming to turn the tide against leader Moammar Gadhafi.
The ongoing battle has shown no signs of abating as President Obama Wednesday signed a presidential finding authorizing covert operations to assist the anti-Gadhafi forces.
Rebels were met overnight with heavy fire from Gadhafi forces as cars fled the eastern city of Ajdabiya, erasing almost all of the rebels' gains.
Qaddafi Forces Adapt As Rebels Grow More Ragged -- CBS News/AP
Rebels showing battle fatigue as military victory appears increasingly unlikely; Qaddafi forces ditch heavy armor for trucks to confuse NATO airstrikes
Libya's rebel forces continued to struggle against Muammar Qaddafi's superior firepower on the ground, as the United States and other allies consider whether to supply them with weapons.
The rebels have given up nearly all the ground they have gained after allied airstrikes took out some of Qaddafi's heavy weapons. Now government forces are changing tactics, leaving behind the armed military vehicles and moving in armed pickup trucks like the opposition does, reports CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark. That makes it difficult for coalition forces overhead to distinguish who's who on the ground.
U.S. Fears Libyan Rebels Set Up for Defeat Without Greater Western Intervention -- FOX News
Fresh battlefield setbacks by rebels seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi are hardening a U.S. view that the poorly equipped opposition is probably incapable of prevailing without decisive Western intervention -- either an all-out U.S.-led military assault on regime forces or a decision to arm the rebels.
Qaddafi is reaching deeper into his military ranks to send reinforcements onto the battlefield, has adopted new, unconventional tactics to counter the effects of coalition airstrikes, and apparently is convinced he can retain power by gradually retaking a degree of control of eastern Libya, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Wednesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence on the condition and capabilities of regime and rebel forces. Read more ....
My Comment: With the growing realization that the rebels are no match for Gaddafi's military, alternative strategies are now being explored to make sure that the fight on the battle field will change in favor of the rebels.
My prediction .... inevitably there will be boots on the ground from the West in confronting and wiping out Gadaffi. The question that needs to be asked is .... whose boots on the ground will they belong to.
Moussa Koussa, High-Profile Lockerbie Spymaster -- The Telegraph
Moussa Koussa, the Libyan foreign minister who defected from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime, was one of the architects of its rehabilitation in the international community but a deeply controversial figure who is likely to pose David Cameron a particularly thorny political problem.
As the highest-profile defection from the ranks of Col Gaddafi's loyalists, he is a plum prize who is likely to be of great value in helping to dismantle his dictatorship.
The former spy chief's resignation also comes at a critical time in the coalition's attempts to dislodge Col Gaddafi, as the rebels are retreating under fresh onslaughts and Whitehall sources suggested they were unlikely to win without arms or training from outside.
So his information and contacts among Col Gaddafi's generals will be all the more valuable.
Samantha Power, Susan Rice, President Obama Prepare to take us to War in Libya based on a United Nations mandate and ideology of our Responsibility To Protect (R2P) This becomes the Obama Doctrine of international intervention. Supported by Hillary Clinton and the U.S. State Department against the advisement of the Pentagon and US Defense Department. (Photo from The Last Refuge)
Samantha Power, Long A Critic Of U.S. Foreign Policy, Now Helps Shape It -- L.A. Times
An outspoken author and advocate against foreign atrocities before joining the Obama White House, she's now part of a small circle shaping the approach to the crises in Africa and the Middle East.
Reporting from Washington — After years as an outsider who watched in frustration as the U.S. failed to stop foreign atrocities, Samantha Power now is an influential White House insider in a position to try to help prevent mass killings and limit the influence of rogue leaders.
Power is part of a small circle of presidential advisors shaping the U.S. approach to multiple crises rippling through the Middle East and North Africa.
My Comment: UN Amb. Rice, Sec. of State Clinton, and NSA adviser Samantha Power have become the hawks on U.S. foreign policy in countries like Libya. But it is Samantha Power who is making the moral case for such interventions ..... and President Obama (so it appears) has accepted her reasoning.
10 Reasons Why We Shouldn't Be In Libya -- James Delingpole, The Telegraph
“It is one of those times when I feel estranged from the country and not comprehending of what we are doing and why everyone is so gung-ho for it all.” Rod Liddle on the Anglo-French/American Libyan intervention Spectator May 26
“One can only gape in stunned amazement at the extent of the idiocy being displayed by the leaders of America, Britain and Europe over the ‘Arab Spring’ – which should surely be renamed ‘the Arab Boomerang’.” Melanie Phillips on Libya in her Spectator blog.
The State Department is holding up final approval of Taiwan’s request for a multibillion-dollar arms package to upgrade Taipei’s fleet of aging F-16 jets.
U.S. national security officials close to the issue said the arms package, along with a report to Congress on Taiwan’s air power that is more than a year late, is being delayed by senior Obama administration officials, including Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, who are seeking to avoid a third rupture in U.S.-China military relations over Taiwan arms sales.
My Comment: There was a time when U.S. policy makers did what they felt was right and in the best interests of the United States, especially when it came to giving support to our allies who we felt were being intimidated and threatened by other countries and our adversaries. Today .... it seems that we live in an alternate universe. We do not want to offend those same countries who have no problem in threatening and intimidating our allies and long term friends .... and we do so openly.
Arlington's Paper Trail Of Problems -- Time Magazine
Many large modern cemeteries store data on the identity of remains via computer and keep track of grave locations with the aid of satellites. The previous leadership at the cemetery blew unknown millions trying to develop a similar system, but ended up just handing money to favored contractors who did little in return, according to an Army investigation last summer. As a result, Arlington tries to keep track of around 30 burials a day on pieces of paper.
PROWLER PATROL - U.S. Navy Seaman Ryan Hilliard directs an EA-6B Prowler on to catapult one before launching off the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in the Pacific Ocean, March 29, 2011. The Ronald Reagan is off the coastline of Japan providing disaster relief and humanitarian assistance to Japan to support Operation Tomodachi. Hilliard is an aviation boatswain's mate and the Prowler is assigned to the Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 139. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Dylan McCord
'Israel Releases Map Detailing Hundreds Of Hezbollah Sites In Lebanon' -- Haaretz
Map obtained by the Washington Post reveals that Israeli intelligence officials believe that the 550 underground bunkers identified have been stocked with weapons transferred from Syria since the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
Israeli military officials have provided a map detailing nearly 1,000 sites and facilities monitored by the Hezbollah militant group in southern Lebanon, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
Israeli intelligence officials believe that the 550 underground bunkers identified have been stocked with weapons transferred from Syria since the 2006 Second Lebanon War, according to the report. The map obtained by the Washington Post also details 300 surveillance sites and 100 other facilities Israel believes belong to Hezbollah militants.
A pair of Tornados prepare to take off from RAF Lossiemouth Photo: Reuters
Who Will Defend The Defence Industry? -- Con Coughlin, The Telegraph
Ministers should be banging the drum about British skills and planning for the future , says Con Coughlin.
The Government’s enthusiastic advocacy of a no-fly zone for Libya has provided a graphic illustration of its willingness, when necessary, to exercise military muscle. Within hours of the UN Security Council approving a resolution that authorised military action, British planes, submarines and frigates were in the thick of it, attacking Colonel Gaddafi’s tanks and anti-aircraft defences.
Indeed, the performance of RAF Tornados and Typhoons has been critical in turning the tide against the Libyan regime’s forces. Thanks to the crews’ skill in using their Storm Shadow and Brimstone missiles in precision attacks, the rebels have been able to battle for control of the port of Sirte, the Gaddafi clan’s stronghold.
My Comment: The British mindset is .... what can I say .... British .... and extolling the virtues of the defense industry is not in their character. But on the flip side .... extolling the virtues of the British soldier is something that they have no trouble in doing.
Military Expert: The World Could Never Survive a Real 'Battle: Los Angeles' -- AoL
A giant spaceship from another world arrives during the day and positions itself above the White House in Washington, while more ships do the same over other major cities around the world.
Then, without warning, all hell breaks loose, and the ships begin using devastating weapons and power to destroy everything around them -- people, buildings, military resistance.
This continues for about two hours of popcorn-eating enjoyment until the Earthlings on screen somehow come up with a miracle to stop these unwelcome invaders from laying waste to our beloved planet. Read more .... My Comment: An interesting .... what if .... analysis. On a side note .... I enjoyed the film.
