Blue Star Chronicles

Am I the only one who has wondered why there have been a couple of incidents of British military personnel being captured by Iranians without any resistance from the British?

It seemed odd to me each time. After all, the British are known to be disciplined and fierce warriors. The British are certainly known to have one of the best Naval services in the world. That’s their reputation. It has been for centuries. The British Navy defeated the Spanish Armada for crying out loud.

Here’s the story.

A senior American commander in the Gulf has said his men would have fired on the Iranian Republican Guard rather than let themselves be taken hostage.

In a dramatic illustration of the different postures adopted by British and US forces working together in Iraq, Lt-Cdr Erik Horner - who has been working alongside the task force to which the 15 captured Britons belonged - said he was “surprised” the British marines and sailors had not been more aggressive.

Asked by The Independent whether the men under his command would have fired on the Iranians, he said: “Agreed. Yes. I don’t want to second-guess the British after the fact but our rules of engagement allow a little more latitude. Our boarding team’s training is a little bit more towards self-preservation.”

The executive officer - second-in-command on USS Underwood, the frigate working in the British-controlled task force with HMS Cornwall - said: “The unique US Navy rules of engagement say we not only have a right to self-defence but also an obligation to self-defence. They [the British] had every right in my mind and every justification to defend themselves rather than allow themselves to be taken. Our reaction was, ‘Why didn’t your guys defend themselves?’”

Read the rest of this entry »

BAGHDAD Mar 25, 2007 (AP)— Iraqi police detained a man as he was trying to detonate an explosives-laden truck filled with chlorine in Ramadi, the military said Sunday.

The incident occurred Friday afternoon when a white cargo truck stopped near the entrance to a police station, about 150 yards from a water treatment plant in the Sunni city, according to a statement.

Police detained the driver after discovering the truck was rigged with more than two tons of explosives. Five, 1,000-gallon barrels filled with chlorine also were hidden under several 55-gallon drums, the military said.

The driver was being held for questioning and the explosives were destroyed by demolition experts, the statement added.

There have been seven chlorine attacks launched since Jan. 28, when a suicide bomber driving a dump truck filled with explosives and a chlorine tank struck a quick-reaction force and Iraqi police in Ramadi, killing 16 people.

The use of the toxic gas in attacks has prompted the U.S. military to warn that insurgents are adopting new tactics in a campaign to spread panic. AP

The Iranians are getting bolder in Iraq. They keep ratcheting up the ante. They are claiming that the British Sailors and Royal Marines they have captured were violating Iranian territory even while they have had operatives in Iraq since the beginning of this front in the Global War on Terror.

From Stars & Stripes

By Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, March 25, 2007

Ongoing “clearing operations” by U.S. and Iraqi troops in the Mansour district of Baghdad have led to three arrests and the seizure of a particularly distinct cache: thousands of bottles of booze.

According to the U.S. military, troops uncovered a “contraband cache” that included 100 cases of Smirnoff vodka, 50 cases of Johnny Walker bourbon, three hand grenades and several passports.

In six other seized caches, troops found 50 gallons of nitric acid, six bags of homemade explosives, one suicide-bomber vest, several guns, body armor and bomb-making materials.

“Over the last three days of clearing operations [in Mansour], Iraqi security forces and coalition soldiers detained 34 suspected terrorists and found 15 weapons and explosives caches,” a U.S. military news release read.

The operation, called Arrowhead Strike 9, includes some 500 Iraqi police and soldiers along with 1,100 U.S. troops from the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division and 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. It is part of the larger Baghdad security plan in which U.S. and Iraqi troops take up permanent residence at bases inside the city, then clear neighborhoods from within.

The U.S. military announced Saturday the creation of another such neighborhood base in the Baghdad district of Furat.

Soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division have built and moved into a base now known as Combat Outpost Battle.

“These combat outposts are important because it gets us out with the people where we can get to know them more,” Capt. Brian Ducote, the company commander, was quoted as saying.

“It’s easier to patrol. You can respond quicker to incidences.”

The troops have already put up some 350 “Alaska barriers” — tall, movable concrete barriers — to help beef up security at the base.

For the time being, troops are living in tents, with a makeshift motor pool housing their vehicles, the news release read.

“It will be austere at first but every day we’re taking steps to improve it. It will really be just like a mini-[forward operating base] out here,” said 1st Lt. Scott Hutchison. “We’re here until the job gets done.”

I really hate to think of our Soldiers having to live in the neighborhoods, outside of the FOBs. These outposts they are building sound even more uncomfortable than the FOBs have been.

I’m sickened by our most loudly vocal countrymen. They have no idea the sacrifices made on their behalf. They are oblivious to what is done to protect their right to spit in the faces of their fellow Americans and to burn our Soldiers in effigy.

I’ve read an unhealthy number of articles and comments the last few days from the left who seem to delight in calling patriotic Americans ‘fascists’ while calling for the murder of those who don’t agree with their point of view.

One commenter wrote that anyone not believing that the American government planned and orchestrated the 9/11 attacks at the behest of Israel should be lined up against the walls of the Pentagon and shot. That same commenter went on to write that even better, we should all be marched to the top of skyscrapers in New York City and pushed off.

That same commenter called the people he/she wants to kill ‘fascists’. The commenter obviously doesn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘fascist’.

In the video of the protester in D.C. spitting on a counter-protester, a 20-something male is walking proudly down the street speaking with authority, ‘Lawful assembly, guaranteed by our first amendment rights.’ He repeats this several times and looks very proud of himself. How very brave of him. Marching in Washington D.C. and protesting against the United States of America is not exactly a risky thing to do. I suppose it’s exciting for someone like him.

I’d be impressed with his bravery if he had the guts to be loyal to his own country.

Read the rest of this entry »

From the Gathering of Eagles

For Kathy Mizner, 58, Saturday was a fantastic day. Mizner’s father served in World War II. Her husband was in Vietnam. Her son in Iraq. Like Kirlin, she rode the bus for D.C. that Hill had organized. To get to 30th Street Station for the 6 a.m. departure, she left her home in West Deptford at 4. Mizner is usually “scared to death” to drive on ice- and snow-covered roads, but this was important to her. “We’ve always been true to the flag and our troops,’ she says.“That’s how I was raised.’

‘“To be with true heroes, the Vietnam vets and the kids in uniform still serving, to give them a kiss and to say, ‘God bless’ . . . money can’t buy the feeling it gave me to do that for them,’ she says.

As a marshal helping to ensure order, Hill heard plenty of angry exchanges, with neither side holding back. He recalls one protester marching by and yelling, “You don’t support the troops!”

The vets fired back: “We are the troops!“

The entire article is in the Philadelphia Inquirer

Previous:

• Main Stream Media Ignores A Gathering of Eagles
• Gathering of Eagles

Iranian operatives have captured 15 British Sailors and Royal Marines and taken them to Tehran.

Fox News

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates ‘Naval forces of Iran’s hardline Revolutionary Guards captured 15 British sailors and marines at gunpoint Friday in the Persian Gulf’ an audacious move coming during heightened tensions between the West and Iran.

U.S. and British officials said a boarding party from the frigate HMS Cornwall was seized about 10:30 a.m. during a routine inspection of a merchant ship inside Iraqi territorial waters near the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway.

Britain has responded by demanding their immediate and safe release.

Manama: Britain demanded the immediate return of 15 British naval personnel seized at gunpoint yesterday by Iranian navy, the Bahrain-based US Navy said.

Iranian forces captured the servicemen in the mouth of the waterway that separates Iran and Iraq, triggering a crisis at a time of heightened tensions over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. The Britons were seized as they were “engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi waters,” the US Navy said in a statement sent to Gulf News.

Encircled by gunboats

The British Defence Ministry said separately that two boatloads of sailors and marines from the naval frigate Cornwall had finished searching a merchant vessel in Iraqi waters on a UN-approved mission when Iranian gunboats encircled and captured them.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett was quoted as saying she was “extremely disturbed”. Britain summoned Iran’s ambassador in London and protested through its embassy in Tehran. “We sought a full explanation of what happened … we expect immediate and safe return of our service personnel,” Beckett told Reuters.

A US Navy spokesman said the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had radioed a British warship explaining that no harm had come to the servicemen and that they were seized because they were in Iranian waters. However, the British Defence Ministry said the Iranians took custody of the personnel in Iraqi waters.

The Iranians are claiming the British Sailors were illegally in Iranian waters. They claim they have obtained confessions from the 15 Sailors and Marines verifying they were operating illegally in Iranian waters.

TEHRAN, Mar 24 - Iran showed no sign Saturday of readying a swift release of 15 British troops detained while patrolling off Iraq, saying they strayed into its territorial waters in a violation of its sovereignty, AFP reported.

Britain has demanded the immediate safe return of the 15 sailors and marines its says were seized in Iraqi territorial waters while conducting “routine” anti-smuggling operations.

But the Iranian foreign ministry angrily dismissed the British demands, insisting that the naval patrol was “suspect” and “illegal”.

Germany and the European Union have joined Britain in calling for the immediate release of these Sailors and Marines.

Britain has accused Iran of supplying troops and equipment to the Shia who are fighting British troops in south Iraq. This abduction also comes on the eve of the UN Security Council voting on whether or not to tighten sanctions on Iran for it’s continuation of it’s nuclear development. It also comes on the heels of Iran’s President Ahmadinejad abruptly canceling his plans to attend the UN

Jihad Watch writes that the British Sailors will be used as bargaining chips.

They’re counting on the British to behave as Western governments almost always behave these days: responding to provocations with concessions.

Hollywood puffy boy and mediocre actor Carlos Estevez aka Charlie Sheen is set to narrate a new release of the conspiracy theory internet movie Loose Change. As most of you probably know, Loose Change is an extreme left-wing movie that presents a lot of made up ‘facts’ to prove the American government is really responsible for the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Sheen is calling for a new independent probe into the 9/11 attacks.

From the New York Post, Page Six

March 22, 2007 — SOME celebrities don’t know when to keep their traps shut - like Charlie Sheen and Rosie O’Donnell, who are throwing their weight behind the twisted theory that the United States government was behind the 9/11 terror attacks.

Page Six has learned that Sheen, the hooker-loving Hollywood hunk, has agreed to narrate a new version of the loopy YouTube documentary “Loose Change,” which claims that a corrupt faction within the federal government orchestrated the mass murder at the World Trade Center.

Sources say Sheen - whose father, Martin Sheen, has been arrested 63 times protesting on behalf of various leftist causes - is in talks with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s Magnolia Pictures to distribute “Loose Change.” Sheen has called for a new independent probe of the attack, telling Alex Jones’ radio show: “It seems to me like 19 amateurs with box cutters taking over four commercial airliners and hitting 75 percent of their targets, that feels like a conspiracy theory. It raises a lot of questions.”

Sheen’s rep confirmed his participation. Cuban e-mailed us: “We are having discussions about distributing the existing video with Charlie’s involvement as a narrator, not in making a new feature. We are also looking for productions with an opposing viewpoint. We like controversial subjects, but we are agnostic to which side the controversy comes from.”

Meanwhile, on her blog, O’Donnell has pasted in a widely debunked rundown of the collapse of 7 World Trade Center from the whatreallyhappened.com Web site, created by conspiracy theorist Matt Rivero.

O’Donnell repeats his discredited theories, which include the notion that because the fires were not evenly distributed, it made the building’s perfect collapse into its footprint “impossible that landlord Larry Silverstein told the FDNY that “the smartest thing to do is pull it,” a phrase conspiracy theorists take to mean that he ordered the skyscraper’s destruction; and that firefighters withdrawing from the building feared it was going to “blow up.”

O’Donnell’s rep declined comment.

Rosie is in on this too??? Well, that gives it credibility!! HA!

Queen Elizabeth II awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross to U.S. Marine Major William D. Chesarek, Jr. He is the first American to receive this honor since World War II.

LONDON - A U.S. Marine appeared before Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace March 21 to receive the United Kingdom’s Distinguished Flying Cross for saving lives and in recognition for his bravery during combat operations in Iraq.

Marine Maj. William D. Chesarek Jr., is the first U.S. servicemember to be so honored since World War II.

Assigned as an exchange officer with the Royal Air Force’s 847th Naval Air Squadron, Commando Helicopter Force, based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset, England, the U.S. Marine flew the RAF’s Lynx Mk7 helicopter — the aircraft he used to dodge insurgent’s bullets and rocket-propelled grenades.

Through flight school training at Pensacola, Fla., and Corpus Christi, Texas, he mastered the Marine Corps AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter — a two-seater armed with Hellfire, Sidewinder and Sidearm missiles.

When he joined the RAF squadron in 2005, he traded in the Super Cobra for the Lynx.

“It’s a very agile aircraft,” said Chesareck, whose call sign is “Punchy.” “Its maneuverability is significantly enhanced, compared to a Cobra. It’s like comparing a Mustang to a Porsche. They’re both great, but different.”
Flying the evening of June 10, 2006, Chesarek was providing radio communication relay for British ground troops conducting a company-sized search operation near Amarah, Iraq. Listening to radio transmissions, he overheard that a vehicle involved in the operation had became disabled and a crowd of insurgents was firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades at the company.

According to his award citation, “Chesarek elected to fly low over the area in an attempt to distract the crowd and if possible, to engage the insurgents.” Because the crowd was so close to the ground troops, instead of engaging his machine gun, he “opted instead to provide bold, harassing, very low level flight over the area in an attempt to disperse the crowd.”

However, radio traffic from the ground told Chesarek he was now the target and was drawing small-arms fire, and that a rocket-propelled grenade had just passed the rear of his aircraft.

This was not his first time in combat. He and his wife, Christine, a U.S. Navy nurse, had served simultaneously in Operation Iraqi Freedom during the initial stages. But now in a different aircraft, with a different purpose, things were different. Last month, Chesarek’s RAF commander and his crew had been shot down flying in the same type of aircraft.

“I had been in a couple of situations with troops in contact before,” the 32-year-old Chesarek said. “I had a good idea of the kind of potential danger involved, but now I was listening to the individual commander on the ground. Someone was injured; what can we do?”

Using his view from above, Chesarek applied his training as an airborne forward air controller to coordinate, designate and control fixed-wing assets in conducting close air support, resulting in the dispersing the insurgents.

Chesarek made the unconventional move - what’s considered an “implied mission” in military parlance — to conduct a medical evacuation with the Lynx to help a British soldier with a life-threatening head injury. As the only aircraft available to assist, he landed the Lynx near the company in distress as his door gunner and another crew member jumped out.

“My door gunner jumped out and picked up the injured soldier and put him in the helicopter,” Chesarek said. “My other crew member had to stay, or we would have been overweight to fly.”

Now, nine months later, Chesarek’s name echoed throughout the ballroom of Buckingham Palace as he was called before the queen to be recognized and credited for “having a pivotal role in ensuring the rapid evacuation of (a) badly injured soldier and the safe extraction of the Company.”

Wearing his ceremonial uniform, Chesarek stood before the queen and hundreds in attendance, including his parents, his wife and their 2-year-old son, William. After Chesarek bowed, the custom when in front of the queen, the British monarch placed her kingdom’s level-three award for gallantry in the air while on active operation against the enemy on his chest.

Chesarek reflected on his lost comrades and brothers in arms.

“I am greatly honored and would like to accept this prestigious award for 847 NAS in memory of Lt. Cmdr. Darren Chapman (Royal Navy), Capt. David Dobson (Army Air Corps), and Marine Paul Collins (Royal Marines), who were killed in action over Basrah in May 2006,” Chesarek said. “The awarded actions were only possible due to the combined effort of my combat crew; Lt. David Williams (Royal Navy) and Lance Cpl. Max Carter (Royal Marines). My greatest sense of achievement that day is in knowing the ground troops all made it home.”

Read the rest of this entry »

I know everyone has missed me terribly the last couple days. Right?

Ha! You wouldn’t even know I’d been gone except for my sister telling everybody. I’ve been gotten on to by pretty much everybody for not telling anyone. My sister only found out because she happened to be in town that day. Plus, my Beloved Curmudgeon insisted on calling my Mother.

All the same, I’m fine and just have to follow up with my doc to figure out what the problem is.

I have been having chest pain for about a week and a couple of times thought I might should go to the E.R. I had a doctors appointment scheduled and figured I’d just wait till then. The pain got very bad the other night. My Beloved Curmudgeon had already gone to bed but I couldn’t sleep. So I was sitting in my den trying to decide if I should just go to the ER or wait till the next day when I had an appointment already scheduled. I finally decided I needed to go ahead to the ER.

The problem was that I hadn’t shaved my legs. It’s winter and I’ve been a little negligent about that - k!?!? I couldn’t go to the emergency with unshaved legs. I realize that sounds really stupid now, but it seemed important at the time. One of my Cotillion sisters suggested that it might have something to do with being raised to always have clean underwear, just in case. That made a lot of sense to me. In fact, I think that’s it.

So at one in the morning, while I’m perspiring (I’m a Southern female so by nature I can’t say I was sweating), flushed, pulse racing and having some pretty serious chest pain I went to take a shower and shave my legs. I don’t remember getting into the shower, but I do remember at some point while I was shaving my legs, thinking to myself that this was really not my smartest moment. I laughed at myself and thought if they find me in the bottom of the shower in the morning at least I’ll have smooth shaved legs. But then I thought if I’m dead it won’t really matter.

Apparently, in all my fumbling around I had woken up my Beloved Curmudgeon. When I came out he was sitting in ‘his’ chair in the den. He was dozing in the chair with the remote control firmly in his hand. I sat down and to put on trouser socks and shoes.

Before I had gotten into the shower I was thinking about what I would wear to the ER. Seriously! By the time I got out of the shower I just grabbed the first thing I could get to wear. But I still wore trouser socks and heels. Again, stupid!

My Beloved Curmudgeon was still dozing and I was still hurting. I hated to wake him but did decide that I probably shouldn’t go without telling him. I went over to him and told him I was going to the ER and would call him when they figured out what was wrong. He roused and looked confused and then cussed at me. I can’t repeat what he said here - but he basically told me I wasn’t going to drive myself to the ER. He dressed quickly and drove me to the ER.

Of course, it didn’t matter what I wore because I was taken right back to the little room and had to put on one of those hospital gowns. I spent the rest of the night and next day flashing everyone who came near me. But my legs were shaved!!!

I got admitted and they ran every test known to man on my heart and lungs and they are just fine. For those of you who like to leave hateful little comments here, you might be pleased to find out that I DO indeed HAVE a heart!!

Bottom line - I’m fine. I’ll follow up with my doctor to figure out why I’m having the pain. There are a couple of reasons it might be, but I know it’s not my heart or lungs. They said they just had to figure out I wasn’t about to drop dead. It was much ado about nothing.

@>-
Thanks to everyone who has expressed concern and been so very kind!

1. Alabama - Heck Yes, We Have Electricity.
2. Arizona - But It’s A Dry Heat.
3. California - By 30, Our Women Have More Plastic Than Your Honda.
4. Hawaii- Haka Tiki Mou Sha’ami Leeki Toru (Death To Mainland Scum, Leave Your Money)
5. Indiana - 2 Billion Years Tidal Wave Free
6. Kentucky - Five Million People; Fifteen Last Names
7. Louisiana - We’re Not ALL Drunk Cajun Wackos, (But don’t tell the tourists as that is Our Tourism Campaign.)
8. Maryland - If You Can Dream It, We Can Tax It
9. Massachusetts - Our Taxes Are Lower Than Sweden’s
10. Michigan - First Line Of Defense From The Canadians
11. New Hampshire - Go Away And Leave Us Alone
12. New Jersey - You Want A ##$%##! Motto? I Got Yer ##$%##! Motto Right here!
13. Texas - Sí, Hablo Ingles

Ha ha!!! My bird, an African Grey, did this same thing last week. We ended up having to wire the doors shut. He then chewed through the original cord we put on the door. We then put a thicker, stronger cord on the door and so far so good.

I just wish I had thought to make a video of his escape!

John, at A Keyboard and a .45 has interviewed presidential candidate Duncan Hunter.

Representative Duncan Hunter sparked my interest when he announced that he was throwing his hat into the ring and run for president on the GOP ticket. The Duncan Hunter ‘08 website did an excellent job of defining his core values and beliefs in the areas of the war in Iraq, terrorism, taxes, abortion and the like, but had scant information on his views of gun rights and the Second Amendment.

So what’s a blogger to do other than get in contact with his campaign staff and request an interview?

After correspondence back and forth, and a bit of time to allow Representative Hunter’s staff to vet both myself and my blog, he agreed.

An interview (via email) with presidential candidate Duncan Hunter.

Duncan Hunter had this to say in response to a question from John as to whether or not he would restrict a citizens right to carry a weapon based on cosmetics or ease of use.

“As President, I would veto any bill that reauthorizes the semi-auto ban that was sunset in 2004. These types of bills represent “feel good” measures that impede the rights of law-abiding citizens by banning guns based not on facts but based largely upon how scary they look.”

You can read the rest of the interview at A Keyboard and a .45.

Duncan Hunter 2008 website