Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Fifth Column

Lala Times: Beverly Hills Facing Criticism After Arrests Of 28 Peaceful Protesters

2020-06-29

Looks like the Freakenstein Monster is turning on Dr. Freakenstein.

My favorite part of this piece is the biography of the co-writer (scroll down):

"Marisa Gerber is a narrative writer at the Los Angeles Times."
[LATimes] Beverly Hills is facing criticism after officers arrested 28 people during a peaceful protest against police violence overnight, two weeks after imposing an unusual ordinance banning demonstrations in residential areas that “disrupted the tranquility.”

The latest protest, which began about 7:30 p.m. Friday and drew about 75 people, was the third demonstration in Beverly Hills organized by the Black Future Project, but the first that resulted in arrests, said organizer Austin Tharpe, 29.

“We’re protesting for Black lives,” he said. “Specifically in Beverly Hills, because of the privilege and the whole makeup of the community, we felt like our voices needed to be heard over there.”

He said that after protesters marched for several hours, police deployed a long-range acoustic device, also known as a sonic cannon, and declared the demonstration an unlawful assembly shortly before midnight.

“We put the signs on the ground,” he said. “We turned around and faced away from the cops with our knees on the ground and our hands behind our head.”

He said that officers continued to yell out orders to disperse, while protesters continued to kneel.

A total of 28 people were taken into custody, most on suspicion of unlawful assembly, though one person faced an attempted arson charge after allegedly trying to set fire to a large American flag that was attached to a building, said Sgt. Thomas West of the Beverly Hills Police Department. That person was associated with the protest but not the Black Future Project, Tharpe said.

“They were given multiple warnings to leave, and as arrests were being made we were continually asking people to leave, so it was just the people who absolutely refused to leave who were placed under arrest,” West said.

Initially, the Police Department planned to hold the protesters under what’s called a misdemeanor non-release, which would have required that they post $5,000 bail to get out, West said.

Later in the day, citing a directive from command staff, the department reversed course and said the protesters would be cited and released on their own recognizance, provided that they did not have outstanding warrants. The demonstrators remained in custody late Saturday afternoon, prompting concern from activists who said they should have been cited and released more quickly.

Link

Iraq

The Paratroopers Who Killed 265 Insurgents To Defend One Downed Apache

2016-06-12

On Jan. 28, 2007, a 12-man Military Transition Team, or MiTT, composed of paratroopers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division was called upon to assist an Iraqi army unit that was engaged in a fierce battle with insurgents near the city of Najaf.

The mission was to orchestrate close air support by communicating with the helicopters circling over the firefight. The battle had already claimed the lives of 10 Iraqi soldiers. But before the team made it to its objective, something happened: An AH-64 Apache helicopter plunged from the sky.

“When I saw the Apache go down, it immediately changed everything,” Master Sgt. Thomas Ballard, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the team, later told an Army reporter. “Everything was focused on that crash site; nothing else mattered. That’s where we had to go and that’s what we did.”

Ballard’s team had been told that the enemy force numbered somewhere between 15 to 20 insurgents, but upon reaching the crash site, they quickly realized that wasn’t the case. Suddenly, Ballard and his men found themselves engulfed in heavy machine-gun fire. A rocket-propelled grenade exploded nearby. Then the battle started.

“We began engaging, and continued engaging,” Ballard recalled. “Everything we shot was targets and collectively, we burned up about 11,000 rounds of machine gun ammo, M4 ammo, M203 grenade launcher ammo and 10 airstrikes.”

The insurgents, who apparently belonged to a religious cult called the Soldiers of Heaven, had “ungodly amounts of weapons,” and were maneuvering through a series of bunkers, trenches, and tunnels that encircled the area. The firefight raged for nearly three hours before backup arrived.

The enormity of the force Ballard’s team was up against didn’t come to light until the dust finally settled. An estimated 1,000 enemy fighters had been on the objective. Of them, 265 were killed; 400 more were captured.

All 12 men on the MiTT team were recognized for their actions that day, with each receiving the Army Commendation Medal with Valor. Later, Ballard’s award was upgraded to a Silver Star.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Sheriff Raids Democrat Fund-Raiser with Chopper, Pepper Spray!

2009-06-30

Holy Guacamole!

(This is near San Diego, btw)
ENCINITAS -- Francine Busby says she will demand an explanation from the Sheriff's Department about deputies breaking up a fundraising party held for her in Cardiff and arresting the host.
The party was Friday night in the 1300 block of Rubenstein Avenue, the home of Shari Barman, a Busby supporter.
I guess you could count on someone named "barman" to throw a wild party.
It ended with Barman, 60, being arrested and jailed on suspicion of battery on a peace officer, and resisting, delaying and obstructing a peace officer. Pam Morgan, 62, a Rancho Santa Fe resident and one of the guests, also was arrested and taken to the Encinitas Sheriff's Station, where she was cited for resisting, delaying and obstructing a peace officer.

Other partygoers were doused with pepper spray, and seven deputies, a sergeant and a helicopter were dispatched to the neighborhood of expensive homes.
"Here, ya' old hippy, this'll sober ya' up!"
Busby, Barman, guests at the party and a Sheriff's Department spokesman provided varying accounts of what happened.
No doubt.
Busby, 58, a Democrat seeking the 50th Congressional District seat in 2010, said she will meet with Sheriff Department officials today to find out who made what she called a "phony" noise complaint.

The Sheriff's Department received the complaint at 9:33 p.m. from a man who said someone was talking on a loudspeaker and a crowd was cheering, keeping him awake. From about 8 to 8:30 p.m., Busby said, she used an amplified microphone to talk to guests, whom she described as middle-aged supporters.
Yep, old hippies. Probably hard of hearing from listening to the Dead at max volume for so many years.
During Busby's speech, Barman said in a statement yesterday, a man on the property behind her house shouted "disparaging remarks" about Busby and gay people. Barman lives in the house with her partner, Jane Stratton, 55. After her talk, Busby said, people chatted. "It was a quiet home reception, disrupted by a vulgar person shouting obscenities from behind the bushes," Busby said.

Neighbors on three sides of the house said yesterday there wasn't much noise from the party. One man said he slept through it. "We didn't hear anything until the sheriff came, with eight patrol cars and a helicopter," said Natasha Cortina, 43, who said she and her two children were home with the windows open. Hugh Elliott, 53, who lives closest to the house, said he heard a deputy's radio, then arguing, coughing, crying and finally everyone spilling outside as the smell of pepper spray drifted over his back fence.

Deputy Marshall Abbott, who has worked for the department for about two years, was sent in response to the noise complaint, said Sgt. Thomas Yancey of the Encinitas station, which serves Cardiff. A member of the department's psychiatric emergency response team, who was riding with Abbott that day, went with him. Abbott could not be reached for comment.
Right person for the job.
While trying to deal with the complaint, guests at the party surrounded Abbott and he felt threatened, Yancey said. "We don't like people standing behind us -- we have Tasers, guns, clubs," he said.

Busby said no more than 30 people were still at the party. Yancey said deputies' reports indicate there could have been as many as 50.

When Abbott arrived, Yancey said, he told Barman about the complaint, and she uttered an expletive about a neighbor. Abbott asked Barman for her birth date so he could issue a noise warning, but Barman refused to give it, he said.
Power game, you lose, lady.
Barman tried to walk away, Yancey said, and Abbott grabbed her. The guests took Barman away, and Abbott used pepper spray on them. In the chaos, someone kicked the emergency response team member, a woman who is 5-foot-2, Yancey said. "He was pepper-spraying the faces of anyone who tried to talk to him," Busby said. "People were stunned. It was something that none of us has experienced."

In her statement, Barman said she asked the deputy why he needed her birth date, because he knew her name and where she lived. "He told me I was under arrest, grabbed my right arm, twisted it behind me and threw me on the ground," she said. When Stratton asked the deputy to be careful because Barman had shoulder surgery recently, the deputy "knocked her to the ground," Barman said.

After the pepper spray was used, the crowded backed off, and Abbott saw Barman in the kitchen and grabbed her, Yancey said. A man held on to Barman's foot to prevent her from being taken out of the room, and she fell to the floor. Abbott took out his Taser, the man backed off, and Barman was arrested, he said.
Good. Grief.
At some point Abbott called for backup and six deputies and a sergeant responded, Yancey said. Deputy Derek Sanders arrested Morgan, he said. There were no reported injuries.

Reports from deputies at the scene do not mention alcohol, Yancey said, which indicates people at the party were not suspected of being drunk.
Just really mean and stupid.
"The place got out of hand," he said. "If Francine Busby was there, why not take a leadership role, step up, and nip this thing in the bud?"

Busby said she couldn't intervene because the deputy was using pepper spray on people indiscriminately.
No he wasn't. He was only using it on the party-goers.
Barman was booked into jail at 2 a.m. Saturday and released on her own recognizance at 11 a.m., a jail official said. She is scheduled to appear in Vista Superior Court on Aug. 11 on the two misdemeanor counts.

Morgan could not be reached for comment.

Busby had sought the 50th Congressional District seat in 2006, but was defeated by Brian Bilbray, 53 percent to 44 percent. The seat was vacated by former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who is in federal prison after pleading guilty in a corruption scandal.
Ok, was Rove in San Diego recently?

Link

Afghanistan

Medic gets Distinguished Service Cross

2008-05-06

Master Sgt. Brendan OConnor on Wednesday received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Armys second-highest valor award, for his actions during a 17-hour battle in Afghanistan.

The 47-year-old Special Forces medical sergeant spoke with humor and humility after the medal was pinned on his uniform in a ceremony at Bank Hall on Fort Bragg. My word! OConnor said, reacting to praise by a three-star Army general and a four-star Navy admiral. My name is Brendan OConnor, and I didnt fully approve that message.

In his self-effacing remarks, OConnor apologized to his children for missing birthdays and thanked his wife, Margaret, for what she has done in raising their family in his absence. Margaret OConnor writes a Home Front column for The Fayetteville Observer.

Master Sgt. OConnor, who resigned his commission as an officer and then took the rigorous training to become a Special Forces medical sergeant, said his momentary courage pales in comparison to people who cope courageously with difficult situations daily, such as Capt. Ivan Castro, who is blind, and Harry Hubbard, a friend who suffered a stroke in his mid-30s.

The audience included former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy, a friend of the OConnor family, and former 7th Group commanders.

The heroism of OConnor and his team in the face of an attack by 300 Taliban fighters received national attention April 20 in a segment on the CBS news show 60 Minutes.

Adm. Eric Olson, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command at Tampa, Fla., pinned the award on OConnors uniform. Olson hailed the contributions of the Green Berets and said the demand for Special Forces may grow as conventional forces are reduced overseas. Master Sgt. Brendan OConnor exemplifies the spirit of these warriors, Olson said.

The admiral wore his white Navy dress uniform. OConnor was in his green Army dress uniform.

OConnor led a quick reaction force June 24, 2006, in Kandahar provinces Panjwai District, described by Special Forces as one of the most hotly contested areas of southern Afghanistan. He maneuvered his force through Taliban positions and crawled alone through enemy machine-gun fire to reach two wounded soldiers, the citation said. He tied a signal cloth to his back to identify himself to aircraft overhead. While under fire, he provided medical care and carried a wounded soldier more than 150 yards across open ground. He climbed over a wall three times under enemy fire to help wounded soldiers seek cover. Then he took over as the operations sergeant and rallied, motivated and led his team.

Thank God for men like Master Sgt. OConnor, said Lt. Gen. Robert Wagner, commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.

Maj. Sheffield Ford said after the ceremony that OConnor picked up Sgt. Joseph Fuerst and carried him over his shoulder and ran while under fire. Knowing that bullets were coming in all around him, he didnt hesitate, Ford said. He continued to get up and move because he knew he had to get Joe back if he was going to have a chance to try to save him. Fuerst died, and Staff Sgt. Matthew Binney survived, Ford said.

Former Sgt. 1st Class Abram Hernandez received the Silver Star, the Armys third-highest award for valor, on April 17 on Fort Bragg for his actions in the same battle. Master Sgt. Thomas Maholic was killed in the fighting and received the Silver Star posthumously Nov. 15.

During training, Special Forces medics, who have extensive training and upon whom the entire team depends, are told to wait for others to bring the wounded to them, but OConnor realized the soldiers needed immediate help and the battle was not going to stop, Ford said.

Staff Sgt. Charles Lyles said OConnor paused before going out on the mission to make sure he was taking everything he would need. The seconds he took to make sure he had everything ready, I believe, made the difference, Lyles said.

Staff Sgt. Brandon Pechette remembers OConnor being calm and cool and very intelligently funny while we were there, keeping the morale high, which is very important because we were such a small force against overwhelming odds.

The award came 40 years after OConnors father was killed in Vietnam.

The last time soldiers of the 7th Special Forces Group received Distinguished Service Crosses was in July 1964, Wagner said. Capt. Roger Donlon received the Medal of Honor, the nations highest valor award, for his actions in the same battle, he said. He was the first Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War.

Link

China-Japan-Koreas

Ten Missing WWII Airmen are Identified

2007-04-09

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of ten U.S. servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are 2nd Lt. Raymond A. Cooley, of Leary, Texas; 2nd Lt. Dudley R. Ives, of Ingleside, Texas; 2nd Lt. George E. Archer, of Cushing, Okla.; 2nd Lt. Donald F. Grady, of Harrisburg, Pa.; Tech. Sgt. Richard R. Sargent, of North Girard, Pa.; Tech. Sgt. Steve Zayac, of Cleveland, Ohio; Staff Sgt. Joseph M. King, of Detroit, Mich.; Staff Sgt. Thomas G. Knight, of Brookfield, Ill.; Staff Sgt. Norman L. Nell, of Tarkio, Mo.; and Staff Sgt. Blair W. Smith, of Nu Mine, Pa.; all U.S. Army Air Forces. The dates and locations of the funerals are being set by their families.

Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men in their hometowns to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Army.

On April 16, 1944, a B-24 Liberator crewed by these airmen was returning to the aerodrome at Nadzab, New Guinea, after bombing enemy targets near Hollandia. The aircraft was altering course due to bad weather and was proceeding to the aerodrome at Saidor, but it never returned to friendly lines.

In late 2001, the U.S. Embassy in Papua New Guinea notified the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command that wreckage of a World War II bomber had been found in Morobe Province. Early the next year, a JPAC team surveyed the site and found aircraft wreckage and remains. They also collected more remains and Gradys identification tag from local villagers who had found the items at the crash site.

Later in 2002, a JPAC team began excavating the crash site and recovered remains and crew-related items, including identification tags for Knight and Smith. The team was unable to complete the recovery, and another JPAC team re-visited the site two weeks later to complete the excavation. The team found additional remains and identification tags for Sargent and King.

Among dental records, other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains.

Link

Iraq

Despite increased training efforts, Iraqi army still not ready to defend Fallujah alone

2006-11-27

FALLUJAH, Iraq: It's been two years since U.S. forces overran this dangerous western city, triggering the bloodiest urban combat of the war. Now, heavily armed insurgents are returning, but Iaqi soldiers undergoing American training to defend Fallujah still aren't ready to face the front lines on their own.

U.S. teams say training efforts have been severely undermined by corruption and bureaucracy, a dearth of basic equipment and Iraqi soldiers' mistrust of those from different Muslim backgrounds and lack of faith in the fledgling central government.

Iraqi commanders acknowledge they can't handle a city as large and volatile as Fallujah without American support especially with their country teetering on the edge of civil war between its Shiite Arab majority and Sunni minority. "It's something we keep in mind, that one day coalition forces are going to leave. But it can't be now," said 1st Lt. Hamazah Adman, head of intelligence for the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division.

There are more than 400 U.S. adviser teams in Iraq, and Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. forces in the Middle East, has said he recommends expanding those teams as America looks for a new direction in the war.

Not waiting for Washington, U.S. Marine Col. Lawrence D. Nicholson, commander of Regimental Combat Team 5 in the overwhelmingly Sunni, insurgent-dominated province of al-Anbar, began moving troops from combat to adviser teams in January. Those efforts have increased the average size of training teams in an area that includes Fallujah from about 10 to between 15 and 20 Marines.

A city of 300,000 which lay in ruins after fierce fighting in November 2004, the lights and water are back on and many residents who fled have returned to Fallujah. The Iraqi army now patrols more than 60 percent of the city, helping to battle insurgents who have killed scores of Marines with roadside bombs, ambushes and snipers.

During a recent late-night operation, Marine helicopters and humvees cordoned off the southern district of Nazaal and two U.S. companies went house-to-house, hunting for guns, explosives and suspected insurgents. An Iraqi company backed by three American advisers conducted its own search of one section of the neighborhood. "They are our people and they are just doing their duty," said Abed El-Rahem, who sat in his socks on a couch while soldiers traipsed through his home, tracking mud on fine embroidered carpets.

Except for one red-faced moment when his soldiers attempted to search the same house twice, the operation went smoothly, though the Iraqi army recovered just one rifle in four hours of searching. "Things are so violent that the people can't come to us for help, so we come to them," said Col. Abd al-Majeed Nasser, who led the raid.

Like many U.S. advisers across Iraq, Marines from the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion's Military Transition team live with the Iraqi army, sharing separate ends of a heavily fortified former health club.

But the Americans complain that much of their time is spent ensuring Iraqi soldiers are paid on time and in-full by the government in Baghdad and that they receive basic equipment such as flashlights and gloves.

Higher-ups pocket supplies meant for the troops beneath them and many soldiers sell their uniforms and boots while home on leave, then return demanding new ones. "Most of the time we can't advise. We are too busy running around protecting ourselves from attack or just making sure the army has the basics," said Sgt. Thomas J. Ciccarelli, 37, from South Lake Tahoe, California.

Part of the problem is the Iraqis don't have enough soldiers to patrol Fallujah. Officially, the 2nd Brigade of the army's 1st Division is more than 700 men from full strength, but problems with understaffing are actually far worse than the statistics indicate because of desertions and "ghost" soldiers who exist on paper and cash pay checks, but have never report for duty.

Ciccarelli's transition team is supposed to be advising 465 soldiers, but actually interacts with only about 300.

Lt. Col. James Teeples, a senior adviser to U.S. military training teams in Fallujah, said many of the problems on the ground stem from corruption at the top levels of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. While the average soldier makes less than US$700 per month, officials pay bribes of US$15,000 to become brigade commanders, anxious to pocket kickbacks from the lower ranks.

Link

Home Front: WoT

A reminder: profile of Sgt. Jason Thomas, USMC

2006-09-10

Never forget the heroism of ordinary Americans on 9/11. Thank you Sgt. Thomas.

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK Aug. 14, 2006. For years, authorities wondered about the identity of a U.S. Marine who appeared at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, helped find a pair of police officers buried in the rubble, then vanished.

Even the producers of the new film chronicling the rescue, "World Trade Center," couldn't locate the mystery serviceman. The only name he'd given at the scene was "Sgt. Thomas."

The puzzle was finally solved when one Jason Thomas, of Columbus, Ohio, happened to catch a TV commercial for the new movie a few weeks ago as he relaxed on his couch. His eyes widened as he saw two Marines with flashlights, hunting for survivors atop the smoldering ruins. "That's us. That's me!" thought the New York native, now working as a court officer in Ohio's Supreme Court.

Thomas, 32, hesitantly re-emerged last week to recount the role he played in the rescue of Port Authority police officers Will Jimeno and Sgt. John McLoughlin, who were entombed beneath 20 feet of debris when the twin towers collapsed.

Now a father of five, Thomas had been out of the Marine Corps for about a year when the terrorists struck. He was dropping a daughter off at his mother's Long Island home when she delivered the news. "My mother insisted it must be an accident," he said. Thomas believed differently.

Rushing to his car, he dug in his trunk, retrieved his Marine uniform and put it on.

Minutes later, he was speeding toward Manhattan, eventually finding himself on the West Side Highway following a convoy of police cars. He had just parked when one of the towers collapsed. "All I saw was ash. Ash coming in my direction," Thomas said.

As it billowed around him, he knelt by the side of his car and pulled his shirt up over his mouth. Then, he got up and ran at the center of the cloud. "Someone needed help. It didn't matter who," he said. "I didn't even have a plan. But I have all this training as a Marine, and all I could think was, 'My city is in need."'

Thomas spent hours putting people on stretchers and setting up triage stations before bumping into another ex-Marine, Staff Sgt. David Karnes. Like him, Karnes had also grabbed his fatigues and headed into Manhattan when he learned of the attacks.

Acting on their own, the pair decided to search for survivors. Carrying little more than flashlights and an infantryman's shovel, they climbed the mountain of debris and began an hours-long hunt, skirting dangerous crevasses and shards of red-hot metal, calling out "Is anyone down there? United States Marines!"

It was dark before they finally heard a response. The two crawled into a deep pit to find McLoughlin and Jimeno, injured but alive. Even then, getting help wasn't easy. Thomas clambered back to the surface and feverishly tried to flag down other rescuers in the dark. Karnes phoned his sister in Pennsylvania and had her relay their location to 911 dispatchers.

Jimeno would spend 13 hours in the pit before he was pulled free. Thomas stayed long enough to see him come up, but couldn't find the strength to wait for McLoughlin, who remained pinned for another nine hours. "I was completely exhausted. I just had to get out of that hole," Thomas said.

He stumbled away and drove home, stopping to hose himself off in his backyard. "I knew my wife would kill me if I went in to the house with all that ash," he said.

Thomas said he returned to ground zero every day for another 2 1/2 weeks to pitch in, then walked away and tried to forget. "I didn't want to relive what took place that day," he said.

As for his story, Thomas said he is gradually becoming more comfortable telling it. "It's been like therapy," he said.

Link

Home Front: WoT

A reminder: profile of Staff Sgt. David Karnes, USMC

2006-09-10

Never forget the heroism of ordinary Americans on 9/11. Thank you Sgt. Karnes.

USMC, Okinawa , Japan , Sept. 12, 2003 During his 20-plus years in service to the Marine Corps, Staff Sgt. David W. Karnes wanted nothing more than to find the warfront, seeking a chance to defend our nation, its citizens and their way of life.

On Sept. 11, 2001 , three years after he last served the Corps, 43-year-old Karnes had his opportunity to demonstrate what Marines do. It came to him in the form of one of the most devastating attacks in U.S. history.

Working as a senior accountant at the time with Deloitte & Touche's national headquarters in Wilton, Conn., Karnes received a phone call that once again ignited his warrior spirit. It was early that morning at work when I received a phone call from my sister in Pittsburgh who told me that a small plane had just crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers, Karnes recalled. I looked outside and saw that it was a clear day, I knew that planes just don't fly into buildings that tall on such a day. I suspected right off that terrorists had flown a skyjacked commercial airliner into the building.

Karnes' nightmare soon came to reality as the morning events unfolded. Shortly after the first plane crashed, a second commercial airliner slammed into the second tower. After seeing the reports of a confirmed terrorist attack on television, Karnes knew that a call to duty had once again been sent to him. I told people at my office you guys may not realize it, but we're at war right now,' Karnes stated. After staying at my desk for a few hours praying and asking God what I should do, I left the office to go to the WTC site.

What Karnes did next would likely seem strange to anyone other than a Marine. I stopped to get a high-and-tight haircut at the local barbershop, then traveled toward my home in Wilton to throw on a pair of starched cammies I had hanging in my closet. I then stopped at my storage unit on Long Island to grab some basic 782 and rappelling gear, and then started on what is normally a 45-minute drive toward the World Trade Center.

I was traveling down the closed parkway in my car at a very aggressive speed, Karnes explained. Funny thing is that two weeks prior to the attack, I bought a used car ironically, it was a Porsche 911. The cops that had checkpoints all up that route waved me through because I had the top down on my car and they could see that I was a Marine with intentions to get to the site.

Upon arriving at the site where the towers once stood, Karnes immediately noticed a group of fireman as well as a handful of military service members like himself. Karnes found a search-and-rescue buddy in another Marine on the scene whom he knows only as Sgt. Thomas. I asked Thomas and the others if anyone has been in the center of the collapse area where the two towers stood, Karnes admitted. He said no because the authorities won't let anyone near that area, so I asked him if he would take a walk over there with me.

Karnes and his new friend Thomas walked to the rubble that was once The World Trade Center complex. After charging into the wall of smoke in front of them, they executed a hasty patrol route through the debris field. As we were walking we were yelling at the top of our lungs United States Marines, can anyone hear us?' Karnes described. As we approached the depression of the south tower I thought I heard something. Indeed it was some muffled call for help, I ensured them that Thomas and I were both looking for them so keep yelling so we can find you.

Karnes instructed Thomas to position himself on some high rubble for visibility and to guide any responding rescuers to the trapped men.

After calling his wife and sister on his cell phone with instructions to relay to the authorities his whereabouts, Karnes was able to find two survivors. Port Authority Police Officers William Jimeno and John McLoughlin, were trapped 20 feet below the surface in a dark and smoky cavern made by the debris that was once the World Trade Center.

When I made it to the bottom of the void, I saw that Jimeno had an encroaching fire at his feet, if we had arrived about 20 minutes later than we did, the fire would have started burning him alive, Karnes said. About 15 minutes after reaching both officers, Chuck Sereika, a paramedic operating that day with expired credentials, showed up and started performing first aid on them.

After Sereika arrived, two Emergency Service Unit officers from the New York Police Department heeded the call for help followed shortly after by a New York City fireman. Together, the five men compiled what tools they had to dig the two officers out of the rubble. Discussions even arose about amputating Jimeno's leg to free him, but the only tool in their inventory capable of that was Karnes' K-bar knife, thankfully it did not come to that, Karnes said.

It took the men three hours to dig out Jimeno. By that time a human chain of rescuers had formed across the pile to Liberty Street to pass along the gear necessary for the nine-hour effort it took to free McLoughlin from his crypt.

The day ended for Karnes as he found a place to sleep for a few hours at Bellevue Hospital. He then spent the next eight days conducting search-and-rescue operations at the site.

When Karnes returned to Wilton the next week, he eagerly rushed to re-enlist in the Marine Corps Reserve. He is assigned [N.B.: as of the date of this article] to Company A, 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division.

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Home Front: Culture Wars

'WTC' casting error draws flak from African-Americans

2006-08-16

A hero of another color in Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center" has some people again balking at the whitewashing of a black character in a Hollywood film. This time it's the character of Marine Sgt. Thomas, one of two former Marines who help rescue New York Port Authority Officers Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin from beneath 20 feet of twisted metal, broken concrete and sparking debris in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. In the film, white actor William Mapother -- who's Tom Cruise's cousin and who played Ethan Rom in the first season of "Lost" and Quecreek miner John "Flathead" Phillippi in ABC's "The Pennsylvania Miners' Story" -- plays Sgt. Thomas.

His part in the movie was much smaller than that of Staff Sgt. David Karnes, mostly because no one knew who he was.

Last week, the real Sgt. Thomas -- a black, former Marine named Jason Thomas of Columbus, Ohio -- came forward and told his story. "Someone needed help. It didn't matter who," Thomas told the Associated Press. "I didn't even have a plan. But I have all this training as a Marine, and all I could think was, 'My city is in need.' "

Thank you, Marine

So, instead of heading to class at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at City University of New York that fateful morning, he headed toward the devastation. At ground zero, he ran into another ex-Marine and Connecticut accountant, Staff Sgt. David Karnes, and the two decided to search for survivors. Eventually they found Jimeno and McLoughlin. Karnes, who couldn't reach Manhattan's 911 from his cell phone at ground zero, called his sister in Munhall, Joy Karnes. She helped relay information to New York emergency services that helped them pinpoint the trapped men's location.

Film producer Michael Shamberg apologized to Thomas for the racial inaccuracy in the film, saying they realized the mistake only after production had already begun, the Associated Press reported. That apology comes a bit late for Paradise Gray, 42, of Wilkinsburg who sent out e-mails to hundreds of thousands via African-American list serves and Internet groups, such as the Luv4Self Network yesterday calling for a boycott of the film. "You want to apologize to me?" Mr. Gray says. "Stop it." Black men so rarely are portrayed or presented as heroes in popular culture and the media that when the opportunity to do so arises, they should be, he says.

Well, what do you expect from a bunch of right-wing Repub........oh, wait

"It's so natural for Hollywood to assume that every hero is a white man," Mr. Gray wrote in his e-mail. "Hollywood has always changed facts and edited history. From Charlton Heston as Moses and Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. They are only continuing their tradition of whitewashing our history."

Uh, Mr. Grey? Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemy dynasty, put in charge of Egypt by Alexander the Great. They were Greek.

He also criticized the black community for not speaking out more. The Jewish community's mantra is "never forget" while the black community's mantra is "forgive and forget," he said. The black community should speak up every time this happens.

Backlash against Oliver Stone in ......Hello?

Six years ago, there was a similar controversy surrounding color-blind casting in the film "Pay It Forward." Kevin Spacey's white burn victim in the movie actually was a black Vietnam veteran in the book.

Though disappointed his character in the "World Trade Center" movie wasn't black, Thomas, who lived on Long Island during the attacks and now works as an officer in Ohio's Supreme Court, told the Associated Press he's not upset. "I don't want to shed any negativity on what they were trying to show," he said.

The movie is much bigger than him, Thomas told the New Pittsburgh Courier, and it's the people who lost their lives who need to remembered.

Link

Science & Technology

Belgian team clearing WWI ordnance near Chievres

2006-08-04

In March 1918, a British intelligence unit set out to blow up a huge German ammunition dump in western Belgium.

By all accounts, it was an audacious mission, one that involved a Catholic priest who headed up a local spy network and the clandestine use of a German plane for the daylight insertion of a demolition expert.

We would prefer to lose 10,000 men than to lose this munitions site, Belgian air force Commandant Jan Savelkoels said, quoting a World War I German army general who was assigned to the region.

The mission succeeded, insofar as it effectively denied German forces use of that stockpile.

But the saboteurs failed to destroy all the munitions, something a Belgian explosive-ordnance disposal team is now addressing nearly nine decades later.

Savelkoels, the team commander, estimates that the site contains at least 300 tons of munitions, and that roughly 6 percent of it is toxic. The list of undesirable agents ranges from phosgene and diphosgene to chloramine, all of which were used by both sides in the Great War.

As far as Savelkoels knows, the site, near the U.S. air base at Chievres, is the biggest one of its kind from WWI. It alone will account for a normal years worth of recovered munitions.

In the interest of security, Belgian and U.S. officials asked that the exact location of the site not be disclosed.

There are bombs I have never seen before, said Savelkoels, a career EOD officer.

That says a lot, given that the Ypres region is still peppered with all sorts of ordnance, much of it dating to that era. Savelkoels said Belgian explosive-ordnance units annually get at least 3,000 requests.

To see rounds that you studied about in (EOD) school is awesome, said U.S. Army Master Sgt. Thomas Frankhouser, who recently visited the site and would be among those contacted in case of an emergency there. We didnt know it was here.

For years, neither did members of the Belgian military, which lost or misplaced many of the documents pertaining to the ammunition site, Savelkoels said. Local residents brought the issue to the attention of Belgian authorities, but even then the details were sketchy.

The site was initially thought to cover about 130 square meters, Savelkoels said. But when his 12-man team began working the site in late April, they found it was more than four times that size. What was estimated to be a monthlong effort has turned into a six-month project.

With every (passing) year, it is more and more dangerous, Belgian army 1st Sgt. Dirk Gunst said.

After WWI, Belgian authorities began to work the site but lacked the expertise to handle it, so they buried it. A second effort commenced in the 1950s but it, too, was aborted.

Its an extraordinary site, Frankhouser said.

The artillery rounds range in size from 7.7 cm to 25 cm, and the heaviest piece recovered so far checks in at 93 kilograms. Once the materiel is unearthed, it is either destroyed near the site, especially if it is deemed unstable due to leakage, or moved.

Every day, Savelkoels team checks the direction of the wind and other factors in the event an accident occurs and toxins get released into the air. So far, there have been no serious problems, though Savelkoels worries about complacency.

Routine kills, the Belgian officer said. Thats what I fear here.

That concern is negated somewhat by the extraordinary opportunity to get an extended view of a large cache of munitions nearly a century old.

Weve never found very large ammunition dumps from the second World War, only the first World War, Savelkoels said, explaining the front lines were more static in World War I. Its the biggest one Ive seen.

Link

Iraq

New body armor shelved in Iraq

2006-03-27

HUSAYBAH, Iraq (AP) -- Extra body armor -- the lack of which caused a political storm in the United States -- has flooded in to Iraq, but many Marines here promptly stuck it in lockers or under bunks. Too heavy and cumbersome, many say. Marines already carry loads as heavy as 70 pounds when they patrol the dangerous streets in towns and villages in restive Anbar province. The new armor plates, although only about 5 pounds per set, are not worth carrying for the additional safety they are said to provide, some say. "We have to climb over walls and go through windows," said Sgt. Justin Shank. "I understand the more armor, the safer you are. But it makes you slower. People don't understand that this is combat, and people are going to die."

Staff Sgt. Thomas Bain shared concerns about the extra pounds. "Before you know it, they're going to get us injured because we're hauling too much weight and don't have enough mobility to maneuver in a fight from house to house," said Staff Sgt. Bain, who is assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. "I think we're starting to go overboard on the armor."

Since the insurgency erupted in Iraq, the Pentagon has been criticized for supplying insufficient armor for Humvees and too few bulletproof vests. In one remarkable incident, soldiers publicly confronted Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld about the problem on live television. Hometown groups across the United States have since raised money to send extra armor to troops, and the Pentagon, under congressional pressure, launched a program in October to reimburse troops who had purchased armor with their own money. Soldiers and their parents spent hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars on armor until the Pentagon began issuing the new protective gear.

In Staff Sgt. Bain's platoon of about 35 men, Marines said only three or four wore the plates after commanders distributed them last month and told them that use was optional. Top military officials, including Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey, acknowledge the concerns over weight and mobility but have urged that the new gear be mandatory. "That's going to add weight, of course," Mr. Harvey said. "You've read where certain soldiers aren't happy about that. But we think it's in their best interest to do this."

Marines have shown a special aversion to the new plates because they tend to patrol on foot, sometimes conducting two patrols each day that last several hours. They feel the extra weight. In Euphrates River cities from Ramadi and Romanna, lance corporals to captains have complained about the added weight and lack of mobility. But some commanders have refused to listen. In the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, for example, commanders require use of the plates. Last year, a study by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner said dozens of Marines killed by wounds to the torso might have survived had the larger plates been in use. "I'm sure people who ... lost kidneys would have loved to have had them on," said 2nd Lt. William Oren, who wears the plates. "More armor isn't the answer to all our problems. But I'll recommend them because it's more protection."

Some Marines have chosen to wear the plates, particularly those in more vulnerable jobs, such as Humvee turret gunners. But many think the politics of the issue eventually will make the plates mandatory. "The reason they issued [the plates], I think, is to make people back home feel better," said Lance Cpl. Philip Tootle. "I'm not wishing they wouldn't have issued them. I'm just wishing that they wouldn't make them mandatory."

Link

Europe

Spain drops journo death charges against US soldiers

2006-03-10

Spain's National Court has dropped charges against three U.S. military men in connection with the 2003 killing of a Spanish television cameraman in Baghdad. "There was no crime, rather an act of war against a mistakenly identified enemy," said the court in the ruling made public on Friday. The same court last October had upheld warrants for the arrest on murder charges of two U.S. Army officers and a sergeant in the killing of Jose Couso in April, 2003 during the chaotic days when U.S. forces were taking control of the Iraqi capital.

Couso, who worked for Spain's Tele 5 network, was killed while filming from a balcony of the Palestine Hotel in the Iraqi capital. A colleague from Reuters, Ukrainian photographer Taras Protsyuk, also died from the explosion of the round fired by a U.S. Army tank. The three accused men never were in Spanish custody. The charges carried possible jail sentences of 10 to 20 years. Judiciary sources said Pedraz would formally "archive" the case on Friday, "in accordance with the criteria of his hierarchical superiors".

Last month, U.S. authorities refused Pedraz permission to question the three soldiers implicated in Couso's death: Sgt. Thomas Gibson, Capt. Philip Wolford and Lt. Col. Philip de Camp of the 3rd Armored Division of the U.S. Infantry. The United States rejected Spanish jurisdiction in the matter and repeated the official version of the U.S. Army that the round that killed Couso was launched as part of an action of returning enemy fire, presumably from Iraqis in another part of the hotel.

Tedious details at the link.

Link

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