Wednesday, December 30, 2009

False Flag.

This is coolbert:

I recall this very incident creating a a mild stir at the time. NOW almost three years ago. Since that time, nothing more. As reported by the New Duranty Times [New York Times]:

"Iran May Have Trained Attackers That Killed 5 American Soldiers, U.S. and Iraqis Say"

January 31, 2007

"BAGHDAD, Jan. 30 — Investigators say they believe that attackers who used American-style uniforms and weapons to infiltrate a secure compound and kill five American soldiers in Karbala on Jan. 20 may have been trained and financed by Iranian agents"

"the sophistication of the attack astonished investigators"

"said the attackers had carried forged American identity cards and American-style M-4 rifles and had thrown stun grenades of a kind used only by American forces here."

NOT persons "trained and financed by Iranian agents"! Iranian agents totally able to impersonate American soldiers. The appearance, the uniforms, ID cards, the weapons, the vehicles, the weaponry, the language, the slang, etc. Total and almost fool-proof impersonation that surprises!!

Iranian agents [??], false-flag units or pseudo-forces, operating in Iraq, able to abduct and then execute American troops.

"•False flag or pseudo-operations where troops of one side dress like another to eliminate or discredit them and their support"

And there was precedent for this sort of thing in Iraq? Again, this was observed on previous occasions and should not have surprised as it did?

From the book: "EMBEDDED A Marine Crops Adviser Inside the Iraqi Army"

"'a group of men approached my corporate headquarters in Baghdad dressed in U.S. Army camouflage uniforms, spoke fluent English, and told me that they needed to set up a meeting.'

'The following week the gentlemen I originally met came to my offices . . . this time dressed in civilian clothes . . . However, the lead U.S. Army soldier had an odd request. He asked me to bring all of my employees outside and put them in a line so they could search them for weapons . . . I followed the request and marched all of my employees outside the building . . . I turned around and to my horror there were five men dressed in U.S. Army fatigues pointing AK-47s and RPK machine guns in our direction. The men transitioned from speaking fluent English and began chanting in fluent Arabic with a Persian [Iranian] accent . . . They opened fire on us, mowing us down like weeds. . . . it was an execution mission set up by sophisticated Iranian terrorists.'"

[this story as related by a Sunni Iraqi contractor doing work for the U.S. government and military in Iraq. This particular incident occurring slight more than one year prior to the abduction and execution of the American troops]

So there we have it. Iranians, able to impersonate American soldiers flawlessly. And COMMITTING ATROCITY AGAINST THOSE PERECEIVED AS COLLABORATING WITH THE AMERICANS! Acting on behalf of the Shia militants such as Al-Sadr who are opposed to the American presence in Iraq? Creating much heightened and unwarranted animosity between Sunni and Shia and doing so in a manner as to make the victims suspect U.S. military units are to blame!!


* Such persons able to impersonate Americans might very well be Americans themselves? Having an ability to speak fluent English and "pass" for a U.S. troop might very well suggest that these villains are in reality persons born and raised in the U.S., having repatriated to Iran at some point, in furtherance of the Iranian and Islamic cause? Maybe only U.S. intelligence knows for sure.

* How many times has this same sort of murderous rampage played out in Iraq? Iraqi, presumably Sunni, being slaughtered by what they THOUGHT were U.S. troops?

* Getting caught on the battlefield wearing the uniform wearing the adversary is normally a case where the perpetrator merits and receives the death penalty, usually with all due dispatch!

* The use of false-flag or pseudo-forces is something very ticklish and ONLY can be approved by the highest authorities in Tehran? Surely something that is expected to rankle and raise the hackles of the American military and civilian leaders. But then, the Iranians are well capable of such actions, as we all know.

[Victor Ostrovsky the renegade Israeli Mossad katsa [case officer] relates that he actually witnessed Jordanian false-flag units in operation. Jordanian soldiers able to impersonate with great skill Israeli troops and do so with impunity!!]


Monday, December 28, 2009


This is coolbert:

More on the Nigerian jihadi suicide bomber:

A mass-casualty jihadi attack that was thwarted by luck and the quick reaction of the passengers and air crew.


* PETN saw widespread use by airplane hijackers and bombers of the 1970's and 1980's.

* This liquid injected into the PETN was some sort of accelerator or chemical to enhance the detonation?

* This Nigerian jihadi paid $2,500 cash for a one-way ticket to Detroit and had only one small carry-on bag on his person.

[paying cash, one-way ticket and no-check in bags are the stereotypical signature of the hijacker or suicide bomber!]

* There was a secondary security check in Holland. The jihadi escaped detection there as well as at Lagos.

[I am assuming that a security check of some sort was done at Lagos!]

* PETN is and has been detectable by a sniffer dog, a swab-test, or a "puff" machine.

* PETN was the same explosive substance as was found in the shoes of the previous unsuccessful airplane suicide bomber, Richard Reid.

* The airliner was NOT over the ocean, rather, on the final stage of approach to Detroit for landing.

* This villain either by choice or by coincidence had a seat on the airplane where maximum damage would have occurred. In a window seat by the fuselage, right where the wing meets the body of the plane, and above two fuel tanks. Catastrophe was imminent and ONLY a miracle prevented that plane from being blown out of the sky!

* Unless you would have had the jihadi [suspected] strip, pull his pants down, and inspect his genitals, the explosive otherwise would have escaped detection even if a full-body scan type of device was available? And you would have only done such an intrusive "pat-down" if you have suspicions that warranted the search, and then ONLY with great fear a LAW SUIT!!

Attacking an airliner has the maximum psychological effect as desired by the jihadi. "You Amriki have taken all these precaustions and still we can get you!!"



Sunday, December 27, 2009

Stock Exchange.

This is coolbert:

Well, this one has to take the cake.

Thanks here to AtlasShrugs through AfricanCrisis.

The Somalia pirates, waging seaborne jihad [??] against western interlopers, have now gone public, opening a "stock exchange" to finance expeditions which can return a profit to investors. Ransom paid to the pirates can return dividends to those persons purchasing "shares" in the "adventure"!





Shares, profits, dividends, investment, exchange, etc. All the trappings of western capitalism. But in this case for nefarious reasons. And financed to a degree by those in Somali "diaspora", what they call it. Somali refugees all over the world helping to support, aid and abet piratical raids!

I cannot say for sure, but the Barbary pirates of old were financed in a similar manner by the various deys, bashaws and local rulers of north Africa? NOT merely independent and isolated freebooters but syndicated, financed and directed predators. A portion of the "take" paid as a dividend to the "investors".



This is coolbert:

The jihadi from Nigeria attempting the suicide mission, bringing down the Detroit bound airliner was not armed with a brand-new and esoteric explosive!

Was armed with PETN sewn into his under ware? This seems to be the case.

PETN is a very powerful explosive primarily used in the U.S. as the main component in detonating cord.


"Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) . . . is one of the most powerful high explosives known"

And not all that easy to detonate? Normally detonated by an explosive blasting cap, either an electrical or fused variety!

The PETN sewn into the under ware would be VERY HARD - - perhaps impossible - - to detect, only a sniffer dog could find?

Even the most intrusive and delicately done full-body pat down would not have found the PETN? And of course the Muslim objects even more strenuously than others to having certain parts of the body subject to search [the crotch/private parts area]!

And the Muslim abhorrence to having a dog sniff you is also an impediment to having this type of explosive device detected.

So much and so much problem! And keep in mind that about a quarter [1/4] of plastic explosive is need to bring down and airliner.

Always a new set of problems posed by these incidents. TSA and the airliners and the passengers got lucky again!!



This is coolbert:

"The Somnath Temple signifies that the power of creation is always greater than the power of destruction."

"It has withstood the six-repeated desecration by the Muslim invaders. The very existence of this temple is [a] symbol of reconstructive spirit and cultural unity of our society."

From a previous blog entry: "Rana and Headley discussed possible attacks on a number of other sites in India: Somnath, a temple . . . Bollywood . . . the Indian film industry, and Shiv Sena"

Here with info on the Somnath Temple. Allegedly a target for the LeT and having recently been under surveillance by Daood Gilani, the Pakistani-American terrorist spy and agent. Surveillance that was perhaps part and parcel of a forthcoming terrorist raid on the temple itself?

"The Somnath Temple . . . is the most sacred of the twelve Jyotirlings (lingas of light) of the God Shiva."

The Somnath Temple. In the background can be seen the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.

"The present temple is the seventh temple reconstructed on the original site. The first temple of Somnath is said to have existed before the beginning of the common era."

The Somnath Temple, one of the most sacred sites in India. An ancient sacred spot, in the Christian tradition only the cathedral at Chartres in France perhaps being comparable.

An attack on the Somnath Temple by the LeT terrorists would have a psychological impact of the most immense proportions. An attack, the intention to only exacerbate in a marked manner the already existing thousand year old enmity between the Muslim and Hindu!!

The temple of Somnath, having great significance to the Hindu, has REPEATEDLY been targeted for destruction by the Muslim invader. With a REPEATED AND WANTON glee and malicious mischief of the highest order the Muslim has sought to destroy one of the most sacred sites in all of India.

Destruction to include:

* "In 725 Junayad , the Arab governor of Sind, sent his armies to destroy the second temple."

* "In 1024 A.D. , the temple was once again destroyed by Mahmud Ghazni"

* "In 1296 A.D., the temple was once again destroyed by Sultan Allauddin Khilji's army."

* "In 1375 A.D., the temple was once again destroyed by Muzaffar Shah I"

* "In 1451 A.D., the temple was once again destroyed by Mahmud Begda"

* "In 1701 A.D., the temple was once again destroyed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb"


* Please note how close the Somnath Temple is to the ocean. Recall too that Mumbai attackers came by boat. I can easily imagine an attack on the temple by teams of amphibious terrorist raiders, the object to kill as many worshippers and tourists as possible, blow the temple up, etc.

* The current temple has been re-built on the original site, a mosque erected by Aurangzeb having to be demolished first on the exact location. That a temple for poly-theists has arisen where a mosque once stood will be considered an extreme provocation by the Muslim. Recall that a hateful nature is one of the trademarks of modern Islamic terrorism.


Saturday, December 26, 2009


This is coolbert:

"'Al-Qaeda' attack foiled"

December 27, 2009 [this attack was on Christmas Day, and reported only today! The Dec. 27 date is from the Sydney Morning Herald.]

"A young Nigerian man with reported links to al-Qaeda is under arrest after trying to blow up a US airliner, as authorities worldwide tighten airport security."

"Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was badly burned when he ignited a sophisticated explosive device on Friday on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit"

"After his arrest, Abdulmutallab told the authorities that he had used a syringe filled with chemicals to mix with powder taped to his leg"

"Reports said he had boarded the plane on a one-way ticket after flying in from Lagos"


* This attack is indicative of the Al Qaeda type operation? The grand event for maximum publicity. Destroy an airliner over the ocean with an enormous amount of casualties. Attack on THE important holiday [religious too] in the "western" world!

* The stereotypical behavior of the airline attacker was present here? One-way ticket. Connecting flight to avoid security [security in Lagos is non-existent?]

* Detroit too is famous for having the largest American Muslim population in the entire country.

* A new and sophisticated explosive was used here that EVADES all conventional detection. Some sort of powder, carried in a colostomy-type bag, strapped to the leg, the detonation occurring when "chemicals" [a liquid?] are mixed with the powder! Another worry for TSA and other foreign agencies. Peragolic explosives [two liquids inactive when separate but detonating when mixed] have long been a worry of TSA? This powder stuff is something new?

* Attacking an airliner of course has perhaps more than anything else a pronounced psychological effect. All the various measures taken to safeguard the airlines industry and the passengers are all for naught? Such is the impression Al Qaeda wants to create. Terror the intention of which is to terrorize!


Thursday, December 24, 2009


This is coolbert:

Here is the type of news item that does NO GOOD at all. Creates a false impression and is a NOTHING!

As carried by the Asahi Shinbun. The most prominent newspaper in Japan, a real heavy hitter!

"Secret Japan-U.S. nuke deal uncovered"

"In a move that repudiates past government denials, a former prime minister's son disclosed the secret agreement allowing the United States to bring nuclear weapons into Okinawa after its reversion to Japan in 1972."

"the document states that during a 'time of great emergency,' the U.S. government 'will require the re-entry of nuclear weapons and transit rights in Okinawa with prior consultation with the Government of Japan.'"

The treaty signed in 1969, forty years ago now, a treaty that reverted control of Okinawa to Japan [1972] had secret provisions, actually classified TOP SECRET!

The reversion of Okinawa to Japanese control was to be done with all American nuclear weaponry being removed from the island. And this was done. Treaty compliance was not in question.

Secret protocols to treaties are not unheard of.

And what is being said in the protocols in this specific instance is not unreasonable.

Nuclear weapons could be reintroduced:

* During a time of GREAT EMERGENCY!
* ONLY with prior consultation of the Japanese government!

A GREAT EMERGENCY would be a global war, a regional conflict with North Korea, China, etc.

And ONLY if the Japanese were consulted first and gave their approval would the weapons be reintroduced?

NONE of this is unreasonable. Forty years after the fact, a something is going to be made of nothing?

The presence of atomic weaponry ON JAPANESE SOIL has always been a point of contention in Japanese politics? The proverbial hot-button issue!

And the U.S. and Japan periodically announce that THERE ARE NO AMERICAN ATOMIC BOMBS ON JAPANESE SOIL! Dig the clever wording? NO bombs on Japanese SOIL! But out there in the harbor, on that aircraft carrier - - one can easily surmise - - well, you get it!!

Still, this headline represents a something made of a nothing?


Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Grand Event?

This is coolbert:

More on the danger from the alleged terrorist duo, Gilani and Rana. Gilani, alleged to have done a recce [reconnaissance] on an INDIAN plutonium and atomic bomb-making plant! [alleged, always alleged!]

This terrible thought has occurred to me. Illinois - - the most nuclear state in the USA - - also was in danger from Rana and Gilani?

That sheep and goat ranch, Kinsman IL. USA, owned by Rana, the alleged terrorist accomplice and plotter, was within striking distance of a number of American nuclear facilities. A fairly elaborate ranch, with adjacent slaughterhouse, potentially a safe-refuge and hiding place for a gang of terrorists, bent on wholesale slaughter and destruction. Slaughter and destruction through the use of the radiological weapon, nuclear debris lofted into the atmosphere, carried by the prevailing winds to a target!

Clustered close to Kinsman are at least three major nuclear facilities that were likely and potential targets for an attack by Al Qaeda operatives. Aided and abetted by Rana and Gilani!

Atomic facilities to include:

* Braidwood I and II. Nuclear power plants.
* La Salle I and II. Nuclear power plants.
* Dresden II and III. Commercial nuclear storage facilities.

Kinsman is located more or less in the center of that cluster - - La Salle/Dresden/Braidwood!

Each and everyone of these power plants and storage facilities are within less than an hours drive from Kinsman.

Kinsman is a small hamlet, less than one hundred folks, totally rural, country, farm land intensely cultivated and highly productive.

About sixty miles to the northeast is the metropolitan area of Chicago. Seven million persons, highly urbanized.

A radioactive release from anyone of these three complexes [Braidwood, La Salle, Dresden], would pose an extreme danger to the Chicago area. Especially in the summertime, the prevailing winds during that season blowing from the southwest to northeast!

Someone in the counter-terrorism community has taken note of the Kinsman ranch and the proximity of same to these nuclear facilities? I would hope so.

Someone - - the FBI, Homeland Security - - SOMEONE - - has totally dismantled that slaughterhouse and dug up thoroughly that property in Kinsman? Looking for concealed weaponry, explosives, etc. I hope so!


Nuclear Attack.

This is coolbert:

Once again we are on the subject of Rana and Gilani. The gruesome two some. Terrorist operatives, SPIES, up to no good, acting on behalf of the LeT and Al Qaeda. Gilani [A/k/a David Coleman Headley] in particular very active, doing recce [reconnaissance] on Indian targets. Targets to include NUCLEAR FACILITIES and much more:

1. "Rana and Headley discussed possible attacks on a number of other sites in India: Somnath, a temple . . . Bollywood . . . the Indian film industry, and Shiv Sena, a political party with strains of Hindu nationalism...."

2. "David Headley [Gilani] Said to Have Helped Terrorists Target Nuclear Plant"

"Authorities Say Chicago Man Cased, Photographed Facility at Tombroy, India, that Produces Plutonium for Nuke Weapons"

The Indian facility that produces plutonium for nuclear weapons was seriously considered as a "possible" target.



NO, NOT AN ACCIDENT! A deliberate release of large amounts of radioactive material of the most potent sort. Creating havoc on a widespread basis, and ON AN INTERNATIONAL SCALE!! I would have to think the release of plutonium from such a facility would be immense and extremely lethal, hard to clean up in the aftermath!


* The "temple" at Somnath has been the subject of a previous blog entry from a long time ago. 1,000 years ago that temple - - the city and fortress - - attacked and destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni, the conqueror and annihilator of all things Hindu. LeT operatives seeking a target - - symbolic and propaganda value of which would be very great.

* Shiv Sena of course has as its patron the great Hindu ruler and military leader Shivaji. Also the subject of a previous blog entry. Please recall the Mumbai attack of 2008 began with the assault on the Shivaji rail terminus. All things related to Shivaji are a cause of extreme hate for the LeT.

* An attack on Indian nuclear facilities might very well have precipitated a nuclear counter-blow on Pakistani atomic production facilities? I think this is highly probable. Nuclear attack of whatever nature only begets further nuclear attack in retaliation.



Monday, December 21, 2009

Iron Blind.

This is coolbert:

Here are two items of interest from the DEBKAfile.

Thank you DEBKA!

1. The French are poised to launch, or have already launched - - a new "spy" satellite, the mission of which is to provide dedicated coverage of the Middle East. Specifically, Lebanon and Iran. This is the Helios 2B.

"17 Dec. A French spy satellite Helios 2B was due to be launched . . . Dec. 17 . . . The new satellite is equipped to map and relay images in real time from battle zones, track threatening terrorist movements and hover over Lebanon and Iran to monitor events in both places."

2. The French are also intimately involved in the Iron Blind project. An effort to thwart the tunnel warfare smuggling of Hamas. Hamas tunneling successfully under the border between Egypt and Gaza, smuggling contraband and weaponry in furtherance of their machinations!

Iron Blind is a massive project, a multi-national effort [U.S./France/Egypt], a barrier of immense proportions, above and below ground, high-tech, etc.

"armored iron plates 18 meters long and 50 cm thick and drive them into the ground along the Philadelphi border which divides the Gaza Strip from Egyptian Sinai."

"Iron Blind, a perpendicular armored iron barrier, fitted with sensors, which ranks as the most ambitious military project ever attempted for obstructing tunnels carrying smuggled arms to a terrorist organization."

France is generally regarded as a medium-sized military power, albeit with nuclear potential, but still desires an active role on the world stage - - as is evidenced with Iron Blind!


Sunday, December 20, 2009

Jeune Ecole?

This is coolbert:

Some comments regarding the Israeli unmanned surface vessel [USV], the "Death Shark":

* "The unmanned speedboat is equipped with a remote-controlled machine gun capable of being operated with laser accuracy up to a range of 50 kilometers, reportedly the first of its kind in the world."

This cannot be correct. That machine gun is a fifty [.50] caliber weapon, stabilized, quite accurate, laser guided aiming, very destructive. BUT NOT able to fire to a range of fifty kilometers as advertised? More like five [5] kilometers and NOT fifty?

* The use of the USV of such small size to a degree is reminiscent of the French Jeune Ecole naval theory from the late 1800's?

"The Jeune École ("Young School") was a strategic naval concept developed during the 19th century. It advocated the use of small, powerfully equipped units to combat a larger battleship fleet"

Most specifically, myriad numbers of coal-fired, steam-powered torpedo boats to overcome and defeat in naval battle the much larger and much more formidable warships of the era [late 1800's]. Asymmetric warfare with the small and weak overpowering the strong and big primarily through the use of technology - - torpedoes being the advanced technolgy in the case of Jeune Ecole.

A massed attack by numbers of fast moving torpedo boats - - under cover of darkness, negating the overwhleming firepower advantage of the pre-dreadnought battleships of the era.

Indeed, Jeune Ecole was a very attractive theory on paper as presented to politicians formulating a defense budget. A very cheap alternative to a massive and very expensive ship building program.

It should be understood that "Death Shark" USV is first-generation technology and a concept that can go in a variety of directions. Including increasing substantially the organic firepower available to the remote operators of the USV. These USV can proliferate in prodigious numbers, being much less costly than a major warship, and yet pose a significant danger to any manned warship afloat, of any navy in the world, and right now too!!

Naval warfare of the future will be fought by vast fleets of USV and underwater UV, deployed and controlled from "mother ships" and remote locations? This is plausible!

Le Jeune Ecole was a valid theory and concept but was over one hundred years too early? The Israeli employing modern technology have now vindicated the French?


Hospital Ship V. [End]

This is coolbert:

Here we have the case of the AHS Centaur. Attacked and sunk during the Second World War [WW2], apparently a case of "battlefield" [at sea] atrocity. Japanese submariners attacking in a wanton and callous fashion, in total violation of all conventions and protocols addressing the question of hospital ships operating in war time.

"Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur(I) was a hospital ship which was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, Australia, on 14 May 1943. Of the 332 medical personnel and civilian crew aboard, 268 were killed."


"The wreck of Centaur was found on 20 December 2009."

"while on her second voyage, Centaur was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine . . . The attack resulted in public outrage as it was considered to be a war crime."

"The reason for the attack is unknown, and the events surrounding the sinking of Centaur are controversial because it has been attested that she may have been in breach of the international conventions that should have protected her"

" [At the time of the sinking] Centaur was painted with the markings of a hospital ship as detailed in Article 5 of the 10th section of the Hague Convention of 1907":

* "white hull with a green band"

* "three red crosses on each flank of the hull"

* "white superstructure"

* "multiple large red crosses"

* "identification number 47 on her bows."

* "markings were illuminated by a combination of internal and external lights"

Here is a photo of the Centaur properly painted and displaying identification markers as required by the Geneva Conventions.

"Also, Centaur was sailing completely illuminated" [the attack occurred during hours of darkness.]

Even from the time of the sinking, there was rumor and controversy surrounding the charges that the Centaur was in violation of the Geneva Conventions regarding hospital ships. Charges found to wanting - - even at the time of the attack!

"During the loading process there was an incident when . . . ambulance drivers . . . attempted to bring their rifles and personal supplies of ammunition aboard . . .the rifles were not allowed on board until Centaur’s Master received official reassurance that the ambulance drivers were allowed to carry weapons under the Hague Convention (specifically Article 8), as they were used 'for the maintenance of order and the defence of the wounded.'"

The ship's master had specific concerns about the ambulance drivers being armed. Such concerns were allayed and the Centaur proceeded as scheduled, "official reassurance" BEING CORRECT! The presence of armed ambulance was NOT in violation of the Geneva Conventions, the weapons [small arms] being unloaded and the ambulance drives being both required and permitted to have such weapons aboard ship!

"the search team announced on 20 December that they had found Centaur . . . The Centaur wrecksite has been marked as a wargrave and protected with a navigational exclusion zone. Inspection and filming of the wreck with the ROV is slated to occur in early January."

Also, again, as in all cases, state-of-mind of the Japanese submarine commander has to be a factor here as to whether or not this constituted a war crime. Did the sub skipper have some advance notice that the ship MAY have been in violation of the Geneva protocols? I think NOT!

This is a modern day saga that is not going to go away. I have a source that is up-to-date on this matter! More info to follow when available. Over sixty years after the foundering of the Centaur, revelations are forthcoming.

Like I said - - a cause celebre'!


Hospital Ship IV.

This is coolbert:

"'They said the tragedy of the Gustloff was a war crime. It wasn’t. It was terrible, but it was a result of war, a terrible result of war.'" - - Günter Grass - - noted German post-war author.

Here are two instances from the era of World War Two [WW2] of German "hospital ships" being torpedoed and sunk while ferrying wounded soldiers to safety!

Controversial in that these ships do not totally come within the definition of the "hospital ship".

True - - carrying wounded and medical personnel on board, but MUCH MORE TOO!!

NOT strictly non-combatants as the hospital ship is defined by protocols and international agreements.

In BOTH instances, German "hospital ships" sunk by the same Soviet submarine, during Operation Hannibal, the evacuation of German troops and civilians from East Prussia, 1945.

1. The steam ship (SS) General von Steuben.

"set sail from Pillau in the bay of Danzig on 9 February 1945, her destination being Swinemünde. On board were 2,800 wounded German soldiers; 800 refugees; 100 returning soldiers; 270 navy medical personnel including doctors, nurses and auxiliaries; 12 nurses from Pillau; 64 crew for the ship's anti-aircraft guns, 61 naval personnel, radio operators, signal men, machine operators, and administrators, and 160 merchant navy crewmen, a total of 4,267 people."

Torpedoed and sunk, the ship settling to the bottom quickly, with catastrophic losses.

"Three thousand to four thousand people died in the sinking of the Steuben. About 300 survivors were saved"

Among those lost, German military men perishing at their own hand,

"wounded German officers committing suicide with their pistols"

German military men preferring a quick death by gunshot to the head rather than drown or freeze to death in the icy cold waters of the Baltic.

2. Wilhelm Gustloff.

This particular photo shows the Gustloff painted in the colors of the hospital ship, white with the green stripe. Should have been illuminated brightly at night too.

"It was requisitioned into the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) on 1 September 1939 and served as a hospital ship during 1939 and 1940. Beginning on 20 November 1940, it was stripped of medical equipment and repainted from its hospital ship colors (white with a green stripe) to standard naval grey. The Wilhelm Gustloff was then assigned as a floating barracks for naval personnel at the Baltic port of Gdynia (German: Gotenhafen), near Gdansk (German: Danzig), from 1940 onwards."

"The Gustloff was hit by three torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic . . . and sank in less than 45 minutes. An estimated 9,400 people were killed in the sinking. If accurate, this would be the largest known loss of life occurring during a single ship sinking in recorded maritime history."

"the Wilhelm Gustloff was carrying a crew of 173 (naval armed forces auxiliaries), 918 officers, NCOs, and men of the 2nd Submarine Training Division (2. Unterseeboot-Lehrdivision), 373 female naval auxiliary helpers, 162 wounded soldiers, and 8,956 civilians, for a total of 10,582 passengers and crew"

"the ship's equipment included antiaircraft weapons, it had been travelling blacked-out, it was not marked as a hospital ship, no notification of it operating in a hospital capacity had been given, and as it was transporting combat troops, it did not have any protection as a hospital ship under the international accords governing this."


* Both of these ships did not enjoy the status of a non-combatant hospital ship at the time of their sinking. Were equipped with arms [anti-aircraft], carrying non-wounded military personnel, were not not painted or illuminated in the right manner, etc. NOT a hospital ship in the strictest sense of the word.

* Both ships had prior to Hannibal functioned as either a troop transport or a floating barracks. Would have been recognized by the Soviet as such.

* Hannibal has been judged to be a tremendous success, the sinking of the von Steuben and Gustloff not withstanding. 1.2 million persons evacuated is an achievement, losses to be expected!

Again - - in the very strictest sense, these two sinking - - albeit with wounded on board, WERE NOT war crimes.


Hospital Ship III.

This is coolbert:

Here is an example of an allied atrocity from World War Two [WW2]? Often thought to be. NOT this time the brutal Hun! In this specific case, the brutal American. An American submarine, in a deliberate and callous manner sinking a Japanese hospital ship, the sinking resulting in catastrophic loss.

"Only one of the 2,003 passengers and crew survived"

This was the sinking of the Awa Maru. Went to the bottom with almost all hands while on a relief mission.

NOT so fast!!

The Awa Maru was not a hospital ship in the strictest manner of the term. Can be more correctly called a "relief" ship. Ferrying supplies needed for the survival of allied POW's being held in Japanese captivity. Allied POW's being held prisoner in the Philippines, Malaya, Dutch East Indies. Prisoners-of-war not being treated humanely. POW's for which the various allied nations had sent much needed supplies. Supplies to be ferried in the war zone by the "relief" ship Awa Maru.

The Awa Maru NEVER carried a sick or wounded POW or treated same in even the slightest of manner. Did not carry a complement of doctors and nurses to treat injured or dying! NONETHELESS, was marked as a hospital ship and as agreed to by the allies, to be treated as such!!

"In 1945 the Awa Maru was employed as a Red Cross relief ship, carrying vital supplies to American and Allied POWs in Japanese custody. Under the Relief for POWs agreement, she was supposed to be given safe passage by Allied forces, and Allied commanders issued orders to that effect."

A Japanese hospital ship [??], sunk by an American submarine, in a callous and brutal fashion, a barbarous act.

This is so? Again - - NOT so fast!!

"Having delivered her supplies, Awa Maru took on several hundred stranded merchant marine officers, military personnel, diplomats and civilians at Singapore. In addition, there have been stories that the ship carried approximately $5 billion in treasure—40 metric tons of gold, 12 metric tons of platinum, and 150,000 carets of diamonds and other strategic materials. Less dramatic and more credible sources identify the likely cargo as nickel and rubber."

The "hospital ship", loaded with persons that can be classified as combatants, and also laden with precious cargo and LOOT, destined for Japan, sunk.

A "hospital ship" returning to Japan, legitimate as a non-combatant on the outward bound voyage, NOT SO during the return voyage!!

At that exact moment, A FAKE HOSPITAL SHIP!! So it would seem!

"There was a thick fog the night of 1 April and visibility was zero. The American submarine Queenfish located the Awa-maru on its radar. her position was fifty kilometers ahead of schedule and, because she was overloaded with cargo, her shape made her look like a cruiser. The submarine captain [Loughlin] attacked and sank the ship." - - Frank Gibney - - Senso - - letters to the editor Asahi Shimbun.

"The Awa Maru was sunk in April 1945 . . . Japan claimed he [Loughlin] had sunk a genuine hospital ship, implying that the 2,009 people who died were mostly patients. . . . After the war . . . records were discovered showing that the Awa Maru was a fake hospital ship that had carried munitions, crated fighter aircraft and VIP families to the South Seas, and was bringing war loot and VIP's back to Japan." - - Sterling Seagrave.


* I have it on the best authority - - right from the horses mouth so to speak, that the commander of the Queenfish DID NOT know that the Awa Maru at the exact moment of sinking was a FAKE hospital ship.

* Loughlin made contact by radar, under much less than optimum visual conditions, during hours of darkness and sank the Awa Maru, without making a positive identification if this was a hospital ship? The ship should have been well illuminated and marked but was NOT?

* Frank Gibney just recently passed away. Is said to have some high contacts at the CIA?

* Seagrave is the son of Dr. Seagrave from Burma WW2 fame? A writer on controversial items as pertain to Asia and conflict!

Again, such an attack and the legality of same is most dependent upon the mental state of the submarine commander at the exact moment he fired the torpedoes. An inadvertent attack against a FAKE hospital ship is NOT a war crime.


Hospital Ship II.

This is coolbert:

Here with a World War Two [WW2] instance of a hospital ship, clearly marked and indicated by illumination during hours of darkness, an obvious non-combatant, exempt from attack under common military law and international protocols and conventions, coming under attack and sunk - - again - - by the brutal Hun. The German.

"The Sinking of HMHS Newfoundland. "

"She was a large ship. Entirely painted in white except for large red crosses painted amidships and on the funnel. At night she sailed with all her lights on so that enemy submarines and aircraft would be able to tell that she was a non-combatant and therefore protected by the Geneva Convention."

"The 3 hospital ships were joined by a 4th and about 40 miles off the Salerno Beaches they all anchored for the night. They were all lit up like Christmas Trees to highlight the fact that they were hospital ships."


The Newfoundland coming under REPEATED attack until being set on fire, eventually being sunk!!

"The reason or motive for the Luftwaffe had for attacking HMHS Newfoundland has never been known. One theory has been put forward that the American nurses were mistaken for troops because of their green uniforms and maybe the Luftwaffe believed that the hospital ship was being used as a troop ship."

This "answer" begs the question. Those nurses, dressed in green uniforms were seen from the air and thought to be combatants. BUT THE REMAINDER OF THE MUCH MORE CONSPICUOUS MARKINGS THAT INDICATED HOSPITAL SHIP COULD NOT BE SEEN BY THE LUFTWAFFE AIRCREWS??!!

One can only conclude that the attack was deliberate, pre-meditated, callous and brutal. Complete disregard for all international protocols and the common laws of warfare. That must be why they called them the BRUTAL HUN!!


Hospital Ship I.

This is coolbert:

Here with a series of blog entries on the hospital ship. More specifically, attacks on hospital ships, intentional or otherwise. Attacks in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions and the common law of warfare. Non-combatant vessels on the high seas during a time of war, specifically marked and exempt from attack under all and any circumstances.

Exempt from attack under international conventions and law, and yet there existing a very sorry record of such attacks occurring, egregious and callous in nature.

Hospital ships, also referred to as Mercy ships, floating hospitals, floating ambulances, etc. Providing medical treatment and service to wounded personnel, most of which are non-ambulatory, ferrying those afflicted by war wounds to a safer location, far from the battlefield.

Hospital ships are a Twentieth Century phenomenon? Such ships in both World Wars seeing extensive service and performing yeoman work!! Just during the Great War [WW1], for the British alone:

"2,261,502 wounded men returned to Britain from France aboard hospital ships and 29,000 returned aboard hospital ships from Malta, the Middle East and Africa

The operation of hospital ships during war time are strictly governed by international protocols and agreements.

International Law of the Geneva Convention ruled that hospital ships had to:

* "display electrically powered lights to illuminate their red cross signs on the sides of the ship and upon the deck." [light providing illumination at night in total disregard for normal military procedure.

* "were painted all white with a broad green stripe round the hull and red crosses painted on the sides to make them easily [identifiable]."

Markings however, that even when recognized, did not mean the ships were exempt from attack. Far from it!! Rather than warding off attack, such markings SEEMED to encourage attack!!

Sadly the reality was that they [hospital ships] provided an easy target.

So much so an easy target that:

"Towards the end of the First World War many of the hospital ships were painted grey so that enemy ships, planes and U-boats could not tell them apart from merchant ships in an attempt to stop them being targeted."

The list of British hospital ships [British ships alone in this case, as for others, I cannot say!] sunk during World War One [WW1] is pretty extensive. The brutal Hun at his worst!

Ships sunk to include:

* "HMHS China served during the Great War. It hit a mine at Scapa Flow on the 10 August 1918. Four lives were lost"

* "the Glenart Castle was sunk in the Bristol Castle and 162 lives were [lost]."

* "the Hospital Ship Warilda that was torpedoed [and sank] after leaving Le Havre on its passage to Southampton on 3 August 1918."

* "The Hospital Ship Rewa was sunk by a U boat off the Bristol Channel on the 4 January 1918 and four lives were lost."

* "The Hospital Ship Salta was sunk on the 10 April 1917 with the loss of 52 lives"

* "The Hospital Ship Gloucester Castle was torpedoed in the English Channel"

* "HS Asturias was torpedoed out of Salonika. [March 1917]"

I must ask the question if the brutal Hun, the German submariner, in a quite deliberate and malicious manner attacked these vessels with the intention to sink, kill all those on board, do maximum damage.

Sinking or attacking such ships is a grave violation in wartime for which the normal punishment would be death for the perpetrator. That so many British [alone] hospital ships were attacked and sunk is a clear indication that pre-meditation of an evil sort was at work here? I don't like to think so, but am forced to conclude as much - - the brutal Hun was up to NO GOOD!


Thursday, December 17, 2009

"Death Shark".

This is coolbert:

Once again, superior and cutting-edge Israeli military technology surpasses and outshines anything else available anywhere in the world, other major powers of the world not even in the same league.

"Israel Defense Forces Navy Unleashes 'Death Shark' Against Terrorism"

"In the most recent unveiling the Israel Navy has now deployed a speedboat drone capable of reaching enemy targets hundreds of miles from Israel shores."

A naval vessel, unmanned, a UV [unmanned vehicle], a patrol, reconnaissance, intelligence gathering naval war craft with an offensive capability that surprises.


A gun-stabilized system that ensures accuracy even in the heaviest seas. A machine gun, so-called, with extraordinary range and accuracy. The "Death Shark" is badassed, as they say!

The "Death Shark" has already been operating surreptitiously for some time, and in considerable numbers too. That is a big advantage to such a naval vessel. You can make and deploy whole bunches of these craft and do so very cheaply. Operate from a long distance with a minimum of "crew" [two men to operate remotely]!

The analysts suspect that the "Death Shark" has been around for at least a year, with hundreds deployed throughout the waters of the Middle East and Mediterranean.

Also, this "Death Shark" can be piggy-backed on a conventional ship, or large numbers of them can be piggy-backed, to any point on the globe and operated remotely, without a whole lot of trouble. A global-reach potential that the Israeli has been striving for.




This is coolbert:


This was a major television news item this evening.

"Iraqi insurgents using $26 software to monitor Predator video feeds"


Militants - - terrorists - - combatants in Iraq and Afghan and perhaps elsewhere, have been able to intercept the open and unencrypted video down links as transmitted from various U.S. drone aircraft. See what the pilot and "gunner" firing weapons from the drone sees, in "real-time", what they call it.

It is surprising that this video down link is unencrypted? Anyone possessing the right combination of software, antenna and radio receiver can see what the pilot of the drone sees, and "see" at the same exact moment?

NOT necessarily "hacking" and interfering with the flight of the drone however? NOT "hacking" as intrusion into a computer system or altering the controlling software. "Hacking" as that term is normally understood is not occurring here!

Intercept of this down link is relatively easy to do with some pirated [?] software and a minor amount of technical skill?

"The militants use programs such as SkyGrabber, from Russian company SkySoftware."

Intercept of drone video by unfriendly forces has actually been going on for some time?


"The U.S. government has known about the flaw [unencrypted video down link] since the U.S. campaign in Bosnia in the 1990s"

"Last December, U.S. military personnel in Iraq discovered copies of Predator drone feeds on a laptop belonging to a Shiite militant"

Shia seems to suggest that the Iranians have a hand in all this? That too!

This problem is being solved as we speak? Encryption of the down links [up links?] for drone video is being implemented right now? Data links used for controlling the drone have been encrypted from the start and for some time now? I hope so!


Parthian Shot.

This is coolbert:

"'You wound, like Parthians, while you fly, And kill with a retreating eye.' - — Samuel Butler, An Heroical Epistle of Hudibras to His Lady (1678)

This is a surprise to me! Perhaps to you too? These two phrases DO NOT have the exact same meaning. The origins are different?

1. Parthian shot.

"The Parthian shot was a military tactic made famous by the Parthians, ancient Iranian people. The Parthian archers, mounted on light horse, would feign retreat; then, while at a full gallop, turn their bodies back to shoot at the pursuing enemy."

[Parthians, more correctly referred to as a Persian people.]

2. Parting shot.  "a threat, insult, condemnation, sarcastic retort, or the like, uttered upon leaving - - A final insult or last word in an argument"

"'Parthian shot' is not to be confused with the phrase 'parting shot'.

"the two phrases has rather similar phonetic soundings but are actually separately derived at different times."

So says the wiki source. The source says the jury is still out on the etymology [word origins]! To the English speaker, the phrases DO sound similar, but the origins are actually different? Well, it was a surprise to me!

The feigned retreat is normally a military maneuver, a tactic, difficult to implement? ONLY troops of the highest quality, the best trained, and the most disciplined can execute the feigned retreat with any guarantee of success. And the "Parthian Shot" was an important component of the feigned retreat? American Indians in particular favored the feigned retreat as a method of dealing with the U.S. Army. A tactic - - the feigned retreat, used over and over with success during combat actions with cavalry troopers.


Tuesday, December 15, 2009


This is coolbert:

From the Chicago Tribune today, a story that reminds one of Eddie Leonski, the "Brownout Strangler", from World War Two [WW2] infamy. A military man gone bad, taking advantage of a situation, killing and raping young women, all the while a serving on active duty, performing apparently honorable service!


"Ill. inmate charged in "86 campus killing"

"LOS ANGELES - - it's been nearly 24 years since Robbin Brandley, 23, was stabbed to death in a parking lot after leaving a piano concert at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif."

"Still, no one has ever been prosecuted for her death."

Until now that is.

"Andrew Urdiales 45, is on death row in Illinois . . . Soon after his arrest he confessed in detail to killing eight women in a 9-year spree."

"Urdiales is accused of five murders in Orange, Sand Diego and Riverside counties between 1986 and 1995. For six of those years, Urdiales was a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton and Twentynine Palms."

Brandley was a college student, the remaining women killed being prostitutes.

A person serving in the military WHO IS ALSO A SERIAL KILLER IS A HARD PERSON TO CATCH? Permanent change of station [PCS] removes the perpetrator from the area and eliminates the villain for consideration as a "possible" during a routine police investigation?

One particular case I am thinking of is that of the the Zodiac Killer. A serial killer notorious for terrorizing the San Francisco area during the late 1960's. Was thought by some to have been a military type, perhaps even a U.S. Navy SEAL! The killings stopped when the man went PCS? NO person has ever been caught or apprehended in the killings attributed to Zodiac.

Eddie Leonski of course terrorized the Aussies for a period of time, American military man killing Australian women in a notorious case from the era of WW2. Finally caught and brought to justice, hung and with all due dispatch.

It was thought too that Leonski had also killed a number of American women state-side also. Had moved on [PCS] to another military base before being caught. Repeated his infamy over and over, a man in transit from one military facility to another, escaping justice for a long time until getting his due!

Killers of this type are few and far in between? Military men off-duty preying upon local women!

In the case of Andrew, the man is already on death row in Illinois. A further trial represents justice delayed, justice denied? Better than nothing I would surmise!!


Saturday, December 12, 2009


This is coolbert:

Eternal warfare!!

Here from: Jordanes - - on the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains [Romans and Visigoths versus Huns - - 451 A.D.]

"The fighting became hand-to-hand, fierce, savage, confused and without the slightest respite.... Blood from the bodies of the slain turned a small brook which flowed through the plain into a torrent. Those made desperately thirsty by their injuries drank water so augmented with blood that in their misery it seemed as though they were forced to drink the very blood which had poured from their wounds"

Desperately thirsty - - drank the water - - augmented with blood [their own]!!

And here from: "HERBERT - The Making of a Soldier".

"My throat was on fire. I needed water. I reached out and broke an icicle from a passing truck. I stuck the end in my mouth and sucked on it. It was sticky, dirty, and salty. Frozen blood. It dropped from my hands. I moved out farther onto the flank again, deeper into the darkness. Only a candy ass really needed water." - - Lt. Col. Anthony Herbert describing the retreat of the U.S. Army - - Korea - - 1950!!

"can·dy-ass or candy ass n. Vulgar Slang - - A sissy; a wimp; timid or cowardly; sissified."



This is coolbert:

Read here the entire legal opinion as offered by the then sitting Attorney General of the United States - - James Speed - - in response to the assassination of President Lincoln [1865]. The decision having been made to try the conspirators to the murder of Lincoln, those also aiding and abetting - - BY MILITARY TRIBUNAL RATHER THAN A CIVILIAN COURT.

"That the persons implicated in the murder of the late President, Abraham Lincoln, and the attempted assassination of the Honorable William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and in an alleged conspiracy to assassinate other officers of the Federal Government at Washington City, and their aiders and abettors, are subject to the jurisdiction of, and lawfully triable before, a Military Commission; - - Order of the President, Executive Chamber Washington City, May 1, 1865."

The decision to use military tribunal NOT being a spur of the moment decision - - NOT a mere emotional response to the assassination but rather a well-though-out, reasoned and REASONABLE judgment, mustering an impressive array of legal concepts, precedents, and placing the whole within a historical context.

In particular, it was felt that military tribunals in this instance were well warranted, as President Lincoln, at that exact moment of his assassination, was fulfilling his constitutionally mandated role as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, military units of which were actually in the field engaged in combat action against a hostile foe.

Booth and his cohorts too were part of a conspiracy!! Two or more persons, acting in concert, plotting to commit crimes and violate the law. Trial of the accused in front of a military tribunal rather than in a civilian court was in the case of the Lincoln assassination?

"I am, sir, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

Attorney General."


Friday, December 11, 2009

Day of Daood.

This is coolbert:

Here, printed in entirety, from the DEBKAfile, yet more on Daood Gilani. A/k/a David Coleman Headley. The evil doer, once again having India in his sights. Another attack was in store, Daood having laid the ground work, done the recce [reconnaissance], selecting targets - - doing advanced surveillance, preparing the battlefield so to speak!!

Thank you DEBKAfile.

This time in particular the targets were Jews and Israelis.

"09 Dec. US and Indian security sources say the arrest of the Pakistan-born American David Coleman Headley [Daood Gilani] in Chicago on suspicion of complicity in the Mumbai terrorist atrocity in Nov. 2008 prevented a wave of attacks this month on Israeli El Al airline offices, synagogues and Chabad hospitality centers across India."

"Four months after the Mumbai siege, in which 170 people lost their lives in including six Americans, he was back in India, this for selecting Jewish and Israel locations for attack, advance surveillance and laying in caches of explosives and firearms for the Lashkar e-Taibe operatives to collect. This group is al Qaeda's operational arm for its campaign of terror in India."

"He first booked into a small hotel near El Al offices in New Delhi for the surveillance of comings and goings and the security set-up. He then rented a room in the Holiday Inn hotel opposite the Chabad center in the Indian capital, posing again as an Orthodox Jew and potential donor."

"From Delhi, Headley travelled to Pushkar in Rajasthan and booked into a hotel room overlooking the synagogue and, three days later, he was in the popular resort of Goa watching young Israeli tourists."

"When arrested in October, Headley had completed his list of Jewish and Israeli locations in India ready for attack in late November and early December this year."

Targets were to have been struck - - "late November and early December"! Daood was forestalled by great counter-intelligence and investigative work!

Daood is at best a spy and at worst a man complicit in mass murder and the planning of mass murder.

Extradite Daood and let him dangle at the end of a rope!!



This is coolbert:

From the Chicago Tribune just today:

"India seeks Chicagoan in Mumbai terror plot"

"Headley wanted for questioning and extradition"

"NEW DELHI - - India plans to seek access and eventual extradition of a Chicago man arraigned by the FBI for this alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, a top Indian official said Thursday."

"David Coleman Headley [Daood Gilani] is accused of conducting surveillance on sites in Mumbai targeted in the November 2008 attacks that killed 166 people."

"Indian Home Secretary . . . Pillai . . . said India's National Investigation Agency was expected to complete its investigation . . . after which New Del;hi would seek his [Daood Gilani] extradition."

Daood [NOT David] is really in the hot water now. India will seek the man be turned over to their judicial process. Daood faces a fate at the end of a rope.

Daood is guilty of those terrorist murders in the same manner as if he had been at the scene himself, pulling the trigger! A miscreant of the worst sort of type.

Daood should and hopefully will be extradited to India, where he faces some real justice. NO pity for this bad guy!!

[I just wish the media would stop referring to this Daood as David Coleman Headley. The alias of Headley is merely a pretense, an alias, a falsity.]


Monday, December 7, 2009


This is coolbert:

Yet another of those eccentric but very successful British "code breakers" [cryptanalysts].

"Hugh Rose Foss . . . was a British cryptographer. He was born in Kobe, Japan where his father (Hugh James Foss) was a missionary Bishop, and he learned Japanese. He was educated at Marlborough College and Christ's College, Cambridge."

"He joined the Government Code and Cipher School in December 1924 . . . In September 1934 Foss and Oliver Strachey broke the Japanese Naval Attache cipher"

"Hugh Foss, an eccentric 6ft 5in Scot, who wore a long straggly red beard, a kilt and sandals. Foss was a brilliant, but highly eccentric, codebreaker. His first major success came in 1934 when he broke a new machine cipher used by Japanese naval attachés in their embassies . . . Foss's efforts to construct a device to read the Japanese machine cipher did not have the same degree of sophistication."

[sophistication as meaning the use of primitive but effective specialized electronic computers, a mass of assistants, working aids, an abundance of intercepted material, etc. as used against the German military version Enigma cipher machine! Foss had NONE of this?]

Hugh Foss, a Scotsman noted for his eccentricities, to include:

* Scraggly red beard.
* Wearing a kilt and sandals.
* Of almost over-powering stature.
* Also a man noted for creating and popularizing a series of Scottish country dances.

A man well versed in the Japanese language as are few persons. Born and raised [?] in Japan, speaking the tongue as would a native speaker?

As was "Dilly" Knox with German non-stecker cryptographs, Foss, able to "read" secret messages as encrypted by Japanese cipher machines, using a non-mathematical approach to do so! Employing a Rube Goldberg type of apparatus, a "thing", to do so.

"The first trial was made in the office using a brown foolscap file cover with a collar stud, a piece of string and slots cut in the cover for the letters." But the device worked.

In those inter-war years [1918-1939], the Japanese employed a series of machine cryptographs, providing in each case [?] increasing and more formidable degrees of security against eavesdroppers. These machines included:

* RED. [in prototype and standard version] As used by the Japanese Navy and Foreign Office.

"91-shiki injiki("Type 91 print machine") in 1931. The year 1931 was year 2591 in the Japanese Imperial calendar. Thus it was prefixed "91-shiki" from the year it was developed. ("Type A Cipher Machine")"

* PURPLE. Used by the Japanese Foreign Office.

"97-shiki ōbun inji-ki ("System 97 Printing Machine for European Characters") or Angōki Taipu-B ("Type B Cipher Machine"), codenamed PURPLE by the United States, was a diplomatic cryptographic machine"

* JADE and CORAL. Cipher machines used by the Japanese Navy.

"JADE was the codename given by US code breakers to a Japanese World War II cipher machine. The Imperial Japanese Navy used the machinefor communications from late 1942 until 1944"

"In September 1934 Foss and Oliver Strachey broke the Japanese Naval Attache cipher"

This was obviously the RED machine. Primitive but effective non-mathematical techniques sufficing. British eccentric triumphant over wily and unscrutable Oriental [Japanaese].

"eccentricity is a reluctance to be bound by social, spiritual, scientific, political, esthetical or any other limitations [boundaries]"

. . . .

"[eccentrics] consciously choose to live and act sometimes ignoring such boundaries, which often leads to the new steps in the development and progress of the mankind"

Exactly! Foss was an eccentric - - not accepting the normal boundaries, able to go where no one else had gone before, exceeding the bounds, quite remarkably so too!


Sunday, December 6, 2009

Al Houthis.

This is coolbert:

"politics makes strange bedfellows"

Yes - - politics makes for strange bedfellows - - and so does war for that matter.

Has everyone been following the latest news regarding the insurgency, the guerrilla campaign, the terrorist movement in Yemen?

A local conflict between a Yemeni tribe, Shia oriented, and the Sunni central government.

A local conflict that has begun to assume regional dimensions. Bringing into play some unusual and unexpected players.

Saudi territory has been violated and Saudi military forces in response have entered the fray!!

This is the Al Houthi rebellion, often referred to as the Sa'dah insurgency.

"Battle rages on as Saudis and al Houthis take prisoners"

"Al Houthis say Saudi air force hit villages"

"The Saudi air force launched intense attacks on al Malahidh district, the villages around Maran, Souq al Husamah and the villages on the border,” Mr Abdulsalam said."

"The Saudi operation comes two days after the rebels attacked Jabal Dukhan territory inside the Saudi border, which according to Saudi officials killed a Saudi border guard and injured 11 others."

NOT ONLY Saudi aerial attacks on the insurgents, but Saudi combat aircraft SHOT-DOWN by shoulder fired MANPAD surface-air-missiles!!

Unusual and unexpected players to include Al Qaeda elements [Sunni] located in Yemen allied with the Yemeni central government on one side, Hezbollah [Shia] fighters from Lebanon aiding and abetting the al Houthis rebels!

Who would have thought it??

Already among the combatants are found:

* Yemeni military. [forces of the central government]
* Sunni paramilitaries.
* Al-Qaeda. [?]
* Saudi Arabia military.
* Jordanian military.
* Egypt. [?]
* U.S. Navy. [?]

* Shabab al-Muomineen. [Al Houthis]

Alleged support:

* Iran.
* Hezbollah.

This fracas bears watching? Could turn into a much larger regional conflict with far-reaching ramifications? Time will tell.

Bear in mind too that the ancestral home of the Bin Laden family is Yemen. It has been reported a long time ago now, just after 9/11, that Osama had fled Afghan and surreptitiously made his way to the most remotest and desolate area of Yemen, but an area from which his clan originated. Sunni and Shia are in a mortal millennial long feud that never ceases, this Yemeni "affair" being only the most recent and current manifestation of the conflict.


Friday, December 4, 2009


This is coolbert:

Here with a series of miscellaneous items regarding the Kinsman, IL. USA terrorist duo [alleged], Gilani and Rana!

The alleged terrorist conspirators that make a bloggers day. The gift that keeps giving and giving.

1. From the Chicago Tribune:

"Bail on hold for terror suspect"

"One of two Chicago men charged in a terrorist plot to attack a Danish newspaper over cartoons that enraged the Muslim world is a family man who never has voiced extremist or violent views . . ."

"The testimony came in a hearing at which a judge postponed a decision on whether Tahawwur Hussain Rana can be be bailed out while awaiting trial"

"Mohammad Arshad Mirza, a local eye doctor, who said Rana belong to the Iqbal Society, which ascribes to the beliefs of a peaceful Pakistani philosopher and poet who urged Muslims to meet their goals through education."

This poet of course if Mohammad Iqbal. The poet whose grave Hillary Clinton recently visited and offered prayers.

Iqbal, a very historical influential person [?] in Pakistan and a person of renown [?] in the Islamic world, has been a subject of previous blog entries on my part. Mohammad did advocate peace [?], all the while recognizing that:

"Believe me, Europe today is the greatest hindrance in the way of man's ethical achievement . . . even the least enlightened man among us [Muslims] can easily lay down his life"

[die in a 9/11 style attack!!]

Rana is being offered the customary rights of the person accused of criminal behavior. NOT being treated as an unlawful enemy combatant! This is the approach of the Obama administration.

2. "Pak PM Gilani's PRO admits Headley is his half-brother".

"Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's public relations officer [PRO] on Saturday acknowledged that David Coleman Headley [a/k/a Daood Gilani], a terror suspect detained in the United States, is his half-brother, but dismissed as incorrect reports that his family is related to the premier."

This is Public relations officer [PRO] Danyal Gilani - - the half-brother of Daood Giulani - - currently serving as the PRO for the Pakistani Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani [Yousuf Raza not a relation]! Yousuf Raza just the other day WAS DELEGATED WITH THE NATIONAL [PAKISTANI] NUCLEAR COMMAND AUTHORITY!!

"Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has ceded command of the country’s nuclear arsenal to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani."

"Zardari has 'divested himself of the powers' of the National Command Authority"

3. I have it on very good authority that one of the villainous pair [alleged], received not so long ago a very bad beating from some Kinsman, IL. farmers. An exchange of words or some bad vibes set a couple of the locals off, either Gilani or Rana on the receiving end of a bad pummeling.

It would be possible to create an entire blog devoted just to the pair of Gilani and Rana? The gift that keeps giving and giving. These two were a major "catch" in the Global War On Terror [GWOT], divulging a lot to investigators, clearing up loose ends and leading to new suspects and culprits?

I think so!


Thursday, December 3, 2009


This is coolbert:

"In 1937 Knox cracked the code of the commercial Enigma machines used by Franco's Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War"

Read here of Alfred Dillwyn "Dilly" Knox.

Another one of those eccentric but very talented persons the English are so fond of. Contributed in a significant manner to German defeat in both World Wars.

"Alfred Dillwyn 'Dilly' Knox . . . was a classics scholar at King's College, Cambridge, and a British codebreaker [cryptanalyst]. He was a member of the World War I Room 40 codebreaking unit, and later at Bletchley Park he worked on the cryptanalysis of Enigma ciphers until his death in 1943."

It should be noted that Knox was NOT a mathematician. WAS a classics scholar. NOTED for his linguistics abilities - - able to speak Greek, Latin, etc., in the ancient and modern forms. Knowledgeable in the works of the ancients, etc.

To defeat the commercial version of the Enigma cryptographic machine, Knox and his colleagues devised a LINGUISTIC approach to the matter, as opposed to the mathematical solution as applied to the military version of the same machine. The German military version of the Enigma possessing the plug board [stecker]

The technique as used by Knox was referred to as "rodding". Read at the link below an entire description of "rodding". Too complicated for me to follow.

" 'RODDING' - - This technique . . . was used to break messages that had been enciphered on Enigma machines that did not have a plug board."

Read further about "Dilly" Knox and the role of "Classics and Intelligence" here.

Students and scholars of the "classics" indeed have strong minds that are highly trained and are able to unravel puzzles such as was posed by Enigma. "Dilly" Knox is the archetype in this regard?


Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Bad Eggs!

This is coolbert:

"When sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions." - - Claudius - - From Shakespeare's Hamlet, 1603"

First read this blog entry of mine from the recent past. Regarding Larry Wu Tai Chin. Arch Chicom spy during the Korea war, almost sixty years ago now. A man, who while serving as a translator for U.S. forces, did grave harm to the interests of United Nations forces.

"Chin served as a Chinese translator in the US Army during the Korean War . . . He misrepresented the intelligence that he was translating from captured Chinese soldiers . . . He also provided the Chinese with the names of captured Chinese soldiers who were revealing information or intended to defect."

Larry - - a man, while assisting in the interrogation of captured Chinese soldiers during the Korean War, in a deliberate fashion - - "misrepresented the intelligence that he was translating from captured Chinese soldiers"

Larry - - doing much more too! And all of it bad!

NOW, almost sixty years later, history repeats itself? From the New York Post, thanks to Robert and Pamela:

"Another spying scandal at Gitmo"

"A number of Arabic and Pashtu interpreters at the terror-war detention center at Guantanamo Bay are under active investigation for omitting valuable intelligence from their translations of detainee interrogations, among other security breaches"

Deliberate malfeasance and villainy on a widespread scale is alleged. To include:

* Omitting valuable intelligence from their translations of interrogations.

* Slipping notes to detainees inside copies of the Koran.

* Coaching detainees to make allegations of abuse against interrogators.

* Meeting with suspects on the terror watch list while back in the United States.

Contract workers, foreign nationals NOT Americans, translators, native Arabic and Pashtu [Afghan] speakers, NOT doing their job properly. Mistranslating interrogations and deliberately mis-leading American authorities, AMONG OTHER THINGS! American intelligence agencies, military and civilian, fooled in a very big way!

NOT just merely a bad-egg, but a battalion of bad-eggs. NOT merely a single modern-day Larry Wu Tai Chin but an entire battalion of persons who are doing mis-translations of interrogations of captured terrorists undergoing "processing" at Gitmo.

Deliberate and malicious malfeasance of a startling and overwhelming nature? And NOW only discovered and come-to-light a number of years after the fact?!


A whole series of quotations and adages are appropriate here? U.S. intelligence agencies and the military "snookered" and big time by "bad-eggs" IN THE EMPLOY AND ALLEGED SERVICE OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT AND DURING A TIME OF WAR!!

As it was with Larry Wu Tai Chin, as it is now at Gitmo.

Can it be suggested that during the time all these extensive [?] interrogations have been going on of captured terrorists, NO ONE has ever thought it wise and necessary to do quality control on these translations? Detect errors early, identify bad-eggs and weed them out.

Well, I guess I should not be surprised. "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!"

For shame! History has a very bad way of repeating itself. And for American intelligence agencies, so it seems, over and over.

And a remedy is suggested for all this? From the NYPost article again:

"More immediately, it must review key translations on the shelf for accuracy, using trustworthy translators -- and subject new translations to spot-checking in a stringent quality-assurance program."

Right, record these interrogations and have known reliable personnel do quality control checking to see if everything "is on the up and up" A clear and persistent pattern of mistranslation will become evident and you will be able to identify who the "bad eggs" are.

But this has not been done and IS not being done??