Sgt. James Hinson, Marine Barracks Washington motor transportation operator, prepares a dish for a homeless person during a So Others Might Eat volunteer event in northwest Washington, D.C., Oct. 20, 2011. Fifteen Barracks Marines volunteered to assist the SOME staff in feeding homeless men and women from the nation's capitol region.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero. Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
Over 100 Highlanders from 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (4 SCOTS) received an emotional and rapturous welcome when they returned to their base this weekend from Afghanistan.
A Highlander from 4 SCOTS is welcomed home by his girlfriend [Picture: Staff Sergeant Ian Houlding RLC, Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]
They were the last members of the battalion to return from a gruelling six-and-a-half month tour in central Helmand where they supported 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines in preparing the Afghan National Army and Police to fully take over security operations in the country in 2015.
The men and women of 4 SCOTS, which recruits from across Scotland and around the UK, met their families and friends as they arrived at their barracks in Fallingbostel, Germany, after a long flight from Cyprus where they spent their decompression.
500 soldiers from 4 SCOTS deployed to Afghanistan in March as Combined Force Lashkar Gah and conducted operations in support of the Afghan Government across the largest district in Helmand, ranging from the dense Green Zone and farmland of Babaji, through to the deserts and smallholdings of Yakshal and the Arghandab River Valley.
C Squadron from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and B Company from 3rd Battalion The Mercian Regiment made up the remainder of the Combined Force....
Read the rest of this great story - my most favourite kind of story! - here.
Pansini, from Littleton, joined the Marines 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) after he finished high school in 2005. After three years in Okinawa and tours in Iraq in 2008 and 2009, he was ready to return to civilian life.
He got a job, a girlfriend and dog, and filled his spare time by riding his mountain bike and putting together two hot rod cars. Nick’s father, Joe Pansini, thought his son had moved on from his war experiences, and was keeping busy.
He learned later that there was one thing Nick was not doing.
“At what point did he deal with his war experience? He did not,” Joe said on Saturday.
Nick Pansini shot himself in his own home in Littleton on July 22, 2010. He was 23 years old and had been out of the Marines for about a year.
“There was not the magical note that was left behind,” Pansini’s father recalled. Not having served in the military, he had no idea what his son was going through, he said....
Poor Julian Assange just can't seem to catch a break these days - and he is blaming it all on those nasty corporations, and banks.
Today, he held a press conference in London to say that Wikileaks is suspending their operations temporarily, because they are broke.
We are forced to temporarily suspend publishing whilst we secure our economic survival. For almost a year we have been fighting an unlawful financial blockade. We cannot allow giant US finance companies to decide how the whole world votes with its pocket. Our battles are costly. We need your support to fight back. Please donate now. (here)
If you really must, go to the link above (that's Wiki's site) and watch the video of Assange telling how Wikileaks needs YOU!
In case you have been living under a rock for the last few years, Wikileaks is the group who have endangered many lives by their cavalier release of classified information, both military and political.
Major newspapers throughout the world released the first wave of information from the largest U.S. Military leak in history, which they obtained from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has also put the some odd 250,000 leaked cables on the Wikileaks site, despite the site having gone dark and made inaccessible earlier today from supposed DOS attacks.
Wikileaks is believed to have illegally obtained these cables from a former intelligence analyst, 22 year-old Bradley Manning, who has been held in solitary confinement awaiting court martial. He has been charged with charged with unauthorized downloads of classified material while serving on an army base outside Baghdad.
WikiLeaks was established back in 2006 by Julian Assange, "a man with a near genius IQ" say some. According to the NYT's Assange redefined "whistle-blowing by gathering secrets in bulk, storing them beyond the reach of governments and others determined to retrieve them, then releasing them instantly, and globally."
Mr. Assange crossed the line when he released classified documents and video pertaining to the Afghanistan War. Completing his journey across that line with his newest release of more classified documents pertaining to the Iraq War, life for the near genius Julian Assange has dramatically changed.
On October 23, 2010 the NYT's described Julian Assange as a "hunted man" who is in such fear of our intelligence agencies that he can barely be heard when he speaks to others. He resorts to encrypted cell phones, fake names, cash only transactions, trusting nobody, not even his once loyal followers.
Oh how the mighty have fallen......I am more than pleased at his sudden change in lifestyle! He is a RAT of the lowest kind!
Adm. Mike Mullen tweets "Another irresponsible posting of stolen classified documents by Wikileaks puts lives at risk and gives adversaries valuable information. 1:19 PM Oct 23rd" The Admiral urged media "to not publish" any of the leaked information.
Under the guise of exposing the dirty little secrets of our military actions in first Afghanistan and now in Iraq, Assange has exposed countless men and women to harm far greater reaching than he ever anticipated. He most likely feels the world has a "right to know" what goes on behind the veil of "confidentiality"
So where is the harm? After all any names that were deemed important were removed....or at least they tried to remove them all. "The harm" is in providing a whole bucketful of looks inside our operations, movements.....basically giving the enemy bits and pieces of "our playbook!"
There is no timeline on when this information will no longer be useful to our enemies.
Let's not forgot about PFC Bradley Manning who is currently in the brig at Quantico, VA. He is "suspected" but not convicted....yet, of providing Assange with the information that has been leaked. PFC Manning was in a perfect position to betray his country, working in Army intelligence. ...
WikiLeaks has finally made good on a months-old pledge to contribute financially to the defense of 23-year-old Bradley Manning, according to a group raising money for the imprisoned Army private suspected of providing WikiLeaks its most important U.S. releases.
But the sum, $15,100, is less than half the $50,000 WikiLeaks originally promised. It’s also less than the group pledged in December, when WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said WikiLeaks would immediately transfer $20,000 to Manning’s defense fund.
The Bradley Manning Support Network, which expressed frustration last month that it had not received the promised pledge, praised WikiLeaks’ contribution Thursday. ”This donation from WikiLeaks is vital to our efforts to ensure Bradley receives a fair, open trial,” wrote Mike Gogulski, the network’s founder, in a press release....
Not content with publishing military classified information, Assange and Wikileaks then went on to publish diplomatic cables, which caused more than a few red faces in the global community.
Secrets are safe as WikiLeaks, starved of funds, halts operations
WikiLeaks will not release any more secrets until it can raise enough money to keep going, according to the clandestine group's website. It has been choked by financial institutions that no longer process online donations to WikiLeaks.
Call it "the empire strikes back" – against WikiLeaks.
The self-described anticensorship website announced Monday that it is calling a halt to releasing secrets until it can raise enough money to keep its operation going. On the WikiLeaks website, its operators declared it to be the victim of a "blockade" by financial institutions that refuse to process online donations to the organization.
"We are forced to temporarily suspend publishing whilst we secure our economic survival," the website said. "For almost a year we have been fighting an unlawful financial blockade. We cannot allow giant US finance companies to decide how the whole world votes with its pocket. Our battles are costly. We need your support to fight back. Please donate now."...
CSM has a lot more, and it is well worth the read, here.
Wikileaks has caused major damage around the world, and endangered many lives. Along the way, Assange has whined about a world-wide conspiracy against him and his group, even as major media colluded with him to release the document dumps that HE decided the world had a right to know - needed to know.
He collected 1.2m GBP or so as advance payment in a deal to write his autobiography, but later reneged on that, and as yet has not returned the advance to the publishing company. He HAS whined loudly that the publishing company went ahead and published what he had already given them.
The story of how Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder, became the first man in history to write an unauthorised autobiography will make a great chapter in his authorised autobiography, should he ever reach an agreement with himself to write one. I’m sure he will because you can’t really call yourself a celebrity these days unless you have at least a couple of autobiographies under your belt, preferably before you reach your thirties....
[...]
I’d like to be able to reveal that Julian Assange angrily disowned his memoir (the one he got a £1.2 million advance for) on the grounds that it was badly written by his ghost, but as with every other aspect of his mercurial life, it is not that simple. In fact, it is so complicated that I’m not sure I can summarise it here. I’m pretty sure it involves money, though. Indeed, his only significant comment on the subject has been to say that “all memoir is prostitution”....
I am guessing that Assange is having to rethink just what he is willing to do to raise funds for his ongoing crusade as self-proclaimed champion of the peoples' right to know!
It is safe to say that there are many who won't be shedding any tears for this latest turn in the tides of Assange and Wikileaks' fortunes or 'misfortunes. '
For now, I guess we can say that sometimes silence IS golden.
Has anybody told Bradley Manning yet?
Oh, and one more thing, about that Wikileaks logo?
Although they are too similar, I’m sure it’s not on purpose and the second logo is just the same by coincidence. Just two common ideas. Why I think so ? Because if you are man of truth , a man who has principles you’ll never rip off a logo. And the Wikileaks are men of honor, right ?...
Don't just whine and beat drums about people and institutions you don't know the first thing about.
Dear Demonstrators,
What a great time you must be having. I used to demonstrate a lot myself. In the 1950s and 1960s we marched and picketed for civil rights for black Americans and we accomplished a lot. In the late '60s and '70s we demonstrated to end the war in Vietnam and "bring it on home to Babylon..." as we often said. The results were a catastrophe for the Cambodians but probably good for the U.S., which was caught in a meat grinder there in Asia.
My wife and I also danced and screamed and sang for the Black Panther Party. That was a bit of a mistake but we were at Yale and we didn't know any better.
But we always had specific goals: voting rights. Equal housing and accommodations. Bringing the troops home.
What are your specific goals? It means zero to be against greed. Greed is a basic part of animal nature. Being against it is like being against breathing or eating. It means nothing....
The msm is full of news of the fledgling 'democracy' rising from the mass graves of dead bodies in Libya.
The world has watched as NATO and its allies have supported the 'protesters/rebels/insurgents/freedom fighters/alternative government/National Transition Council,' up to, and including, the death of the despot Gadhafi.
The new flag was hoisted, at the UN:
Sep 20, 2011 -
UN raises new flag for Libya
Image Caption:The pre-Gaddafi Libyan flag flies in front of the United Nations headquarters (Keystone)
The United Nations in Geneva has decided to display a new flag representing Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC).
In the presence of Libyan UN ambassador Ibrahim Aldredi, the green, black and red flag was hoisted on Tuesday. A small group of Libyans gathered and sang Libya’s new national anthem.
On Friday, the UN’s general assembly decided to recognise the NTC as the official representative of Libya. According to a UN spokeswoman, the flag was raised at the request of the Libyan authorities.
The new flag features a half-moon and a star, and was already the national flag of Libya from 1951-1969. It replaces the green flag of the Moammar Gaddafi regime....(here)
All well and good, and to paraphrase a famous Leonard Cohen song: "Democracy is coming to...Libya."... Really? Even as I write this the CBC is headlining "Today, Libya begins a new road to democracy, human rights..." Really?
The BBC is running headlines like:
Gaddafi death: The bloody birth of a new Libya
22 October 2011
The death of Muammar Gaddafi has removed a big problem for this country's transition rulers. It has also imbued the new Libya with original sin it may regret.
The leaders of the National Transitional Council (NTC) during the months of the fight against the colonel often spoke about building a country based on rights, not revenge...(more here)
US calls for independent inquiry as to how Gadhafi died, because that's what democracies do!
However, all is not rosy in Libya. For many months, some have been watching the Libyan 'uprising' with great trepidation. War on Terror News has written many columns on these new 'democracies,' one being The State of the War and The World back in May 2011. WOTN also wrote a long column in February 2011: Who is the Muslim Brotherhood?
NATO may congratulate themselves on a mission accomplished, but by now, some must be asking what shape this 'democracy' in Libya - funded and armed by the rest of us, will take. Back in March 2011:
Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links
Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against 'the foreign invasion' in Afghanistan Photo: AFP
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya".
Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader".
His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals in the Libyan rebel zone and acquired arms, "including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries".
Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" in Afghanistan, before being "captured in 2002 in Peshwar, in Pakistan". He was later handed over to the US, and then held in Libya before being released in 2008....
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2011 – President Barack Obama congratulated the Libyan people on their Liberation Day, saying the nation is beginning a “new era of promise.”
[...]
“On behalf of the American people, I congratulate the people of Libya on today’s historic declaration of liberation,” Obama said in a written declaration released by the White House today. “After four decades of brutal dictatorship and eight months of deadly conflict, the Libyan people can now celebrate their freedom and the beginning of a new era of promise.”
But Obama noted that much hard work remains in Libya. He said the officials of the Transitional National Council must turn their attention to the political transition ahead.
“We look forward to working with the TNC and an empowered transitional government as they prepare for the country’s first free and fair elections,” the president said.
Obama called on Libyan leaders to respect human rights, to reconcile with Gadhafi’s followers and bring together disparate armed groups under government control. He also called on Libyan leaders to secure weapons and dangerous materials. [Yes, emphasis mine]
“As they take these steps, the United States will continue our close cooperation with our international partners and the U.N. support mission in Libya to help advance a stable, democratic transition,” he wrote....(DoD here)
Sounds great, doesn't it?
Not so fast:
Op-Ed: Questions For A New Libya Oct 23, 2011 By Sadiq Green.
Last Thursday, Libya celebrated the capture and death of longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi with gunfire and jubilation. Now the work of building a new nation will begin in Libya and all the world will be watching to see what type of new nation emerges.
Questions abound on what's next for Libya beyond the obvious one: What will the new era mean for Libyans, the Middle East, the United States and the world at large? No one can be certain of what is next for Libya or if it will really become a full fledged democracy in the end. Will the future be better for Libyans? Exploring these other questions may provide some answers.
Will Libya descend into civil war? Libya is historically a tribal country with ethnic divisions prone to factional strife and vendettas. During the colonial period, and under Gadhafi’s rule, that was largely suppressed.
[...]
Can Libya build a democracy? Gadhafi's death is clearly a defining moment in the history of the region. Yet it remains to be seen whether the new Libya will be the democratic nation that many western leaders are rooting for. ..
[...]
Has NATO created more Islamist enemies? Perhaps the most troubling aspect from the uprising and death of Gadhafi may very well be the emergence of Islamist extremists and other hardliners from within the ranks of the Libyan rebel opposition. Islamist groups have been the biggest winners elsewhere in the Arab uprisings, and they may not necessarily welcome a secular government. Add to that the west and their propensity to turn a blind eye with regards to backing unsavory elements in the short term in order to establish whatever greater goal they're after. There has never been a clear understanding of who the leaders of the rebel movement are and/or whether some of the so-called freedom fighters actually had allegiances with Al-Qaeda and other unsavory groups. There are concerns that the new Western assisted regime will ultimately end up being more anti-west than Gadhafi was. It is not inconceivable that we could see Gadhafi’s regime being replaced by a Sharia regime populated by Al-Qaeda elements.
Gadhafi's death raises more questions than it answers, with perhaps the most pressing being whether can Libyans manage the transition from brutal dictatorship to functioning democracy. They only begin to scratch the surface of what is most assuredly a very historic, exciting and wary time for Libya's people. ...
' ...NTC Officials are saying Libya will be more pious...based on Sharia law. ..
This is bound to raise some eyebrows....'
Ya think? A very wise friend of mine - closely involved in the effort to liberate Libya from Gadhafi - has commented that within ten years Libya will be shooting at us. I am not so optimistic, and figure it will be much sooner than that, before the Sharia law, Islamist extremists of Libya will turn their anger and their weapons on us - their 'liberators.' You know, those weapons that we have given them over these last few months. Yes, we have seen this before.
Demonstrations in Libya of burning the American flag and "down with America" screaming mobs in 3...2...1
