History Forum / General / British History / March 2006

neither was an admiral.

actually petain did that.

No. The Argentinians attacked HMS Ambuscade (mistaking a Type 21 frigate
for an aircraft carrier) who successfully broke the missile's lock. In
what was the first demonstration of "flythrough", the missile continued
through the chaff to hit Conveyor.

Korea 1950 the American troops of the 2nd infantry division were driven from
their positions by the Naktong river by the Comchis. British troops rushed
forward to rescue them and to fill the breach in the line. Two Brit
battalions found themselves covering a front of 18,000 yards. During
repeated attacks by the Chinese on a feature known as point 282 two
companies of British troops of Argyles were defending a hilltop and clearly
displaying recognition panels. A flight of USAF mustangs attacked the wrong
hilltop and dropped napalm onto the British troops that had so very recently
rescued the Americans, various accounts attribute the deaths of 6 officers
and 80 men to the american attack.

Let us not forget the Mai Li massacre in Vietnam where the brave and noble
American troops massacred an entire village of men, women, children and
babies ( A trend repeated in iraq)

In Iraq a family of 5 including three children were machined gunned by the
yanks, their crime??, daring to drive along a road in their own country en
route to a family gathering.

In Iraq in an effort to capture or kill 200 insurgents the US laid siege to
the city of Falujah, in the battle that followed the city was almost
entirely destroyed and thousands of civilians killed in the air and
artillery bombardment, The bulk of the insurgents plus their leader escaped
( naturally).

During WW2 following a massive naval bombardment 35, 000 US troops
stormed ashore at Kiska. 21 troops were killed in the fire fight. It
would have been worse if there had been any Japanese on the island.

We try not to embarrass the yanks to much about their total humiliation in
Vietnam, Somalia, and Iran or how they managed to drown an entire SEAL team
when they wanted to invade Grenada. Or how an aged arab farmer armed only
with a vintage WW2 bolt action rifle shot down an apache helicopter.

The US military has apologised for dropping a bomb on the wrong house in
Iraq, killing between five and 13 people.

A spokesman said it dropped the 500lb laser-guided bomb after mistaking it
for a nearby insurgent hideout.

He said the military "deeply regrets the loss of possibly innocent lives".

The bomb destroyed a villa in the village of Aaytha near the city of Mosul.

Locals said 13 people were killed including four women and three children,
while the US military said its reports were that five Iraqis had died.

It is understood the dead are all from the same family.

In May, a US air strike near Qaim, a town on the border with Syria, killed
around 40 people.

Locals claimed that the strike hit a wedding party, while the Americans said
the house was a gathering point for "terrorists".

The US military bombed suspected insurgent targets in the former rebel
stronghold of Fallujah from June until its November offensive

to reclaim the city from insurgents.

US commanders acknowledged that their air campaign in Fallujah claimed the
lives of some innocent civilians.

Soldier Faces Execution

A US soldier has been sentenced to death for a grenade and gun attack that
killed two of his own colleagues during the Iraq war.

The 15-person military jury took seven hours to decide that Sgt Hasan Akbar
should be executed - jurors could have sentenced him to life in prison.

Akbar, 34, threw grenades into tents housing troops from the 101st Airborne
Division in Kuwait and then fired at soldiers as they ran to escape the
blasts.

US Soldier Pleads Guilty

Updated: 22:12, Monday May 02, 2005

An American soldier accused of abusing Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison has
pleaded guilty at a court-martial in Texas.

Private Lynndie England was infamously photographed holding a leash attached
to the neck of a naked Iraqi inmate.

The 22-year-old mother is one of seven junior soldiers who were charged with
mistreating captives at the Baghdad prison in 2003.

She has pleaded guilty to seven of the nine charges and has asked to be
sentenced by a special military panel.

Jail For Abu Ghraib Abuser

Updated: 16:06, Saturday February 05, 2005

A US soldier who admitted stepping on the hands and feet of handcuffed
detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq has been sentenced to six months
in jail.

Sergeant Javal Davis was also given a dishonourable discharge.

Other guards later stripped the seven hooded prisoners and stacked them into
a naked human pyramid.

Soldier Guilty Of Murder

Updated: 08:44, Saturday January 15, 2005

An American soldier has been sentenced to just one year in jail for the
murder of a severly wounded Iraqi teenager.

He shot the severely wounded teenager in a Baghdad slum district last year.

The US military said: "Staff Sergeant Cardenas Alban was convicted on one
count of murder and one count of conspiracy to murder."

The court martial took place at the 1st Cavalry Division courthouse at Camp
Liberty.

Besides his jail term, he has been sentenced to a reduction in rank to
private and a bad-conduct discharge.

'Bodies For Porn' Probe

Updated: 14:11, Wednesday September 28, 2005

The Pentagon is investigating claims American soldiers posted pictures of
dead Iraqis on the internet in return for access to pornography.

A message board appears to show American soldiers laughing and joking beside
Iraqi corpses.

It is alleged the soldiers who posted the pictures were then allowed to view
pornographic pictures.

The owner of the website said he had offered soldiers free access to the
pornography if they could prove they were members of the American military.

Some soldiers had sent in pictures of Iraqi landmarks while others had sent
in pictures of corpses.

Jan 06

US sailor held over Japan death A US sailor in Japan is being held on
suspicion of involvement in a local woman's death, the US Navy has said.

The sailor is being held in US custody near where the incident took place,
in Yokosuka - where the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier is based.

Yoshie Sato died on Tuesday, after being found beaten and unconscious.

Incidents involving US troops and local Japanese are particularly sensitive
because of a 1995 case when three US servicemen raped a schoolgirl.

14 Jan 2006 US aircraft attack a village in friendly allied nation Pakistan,
killing 18 people including many women and children, they claimed they were
seeking the second in command of Al Quaeda, but that is still not good
reason to invade the airspace of an allied nation and bomb one of its
villages, naturally the target the yanks were hunting was not killed in the
attack

US officer guilty of Iraqi death A US officer has been found guilty of the
negligent homicide of an Iraqi general who was being held in custody.

But a jury of six army officers found Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer
Jr not guilty of the murder of Maj-Gen Abed Hamed Mowhoush in 2003.

The officer now faces up to three years in jail for homicide. He was also
convicted of dereliction of duty.

Prosecutors say Gen Mowhoush was bound, placed headfirst in a sleeping bag
and died with an officer sitting on him.

It was one of a number of deaths of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan under
investigation by the US military.

At the beginning of the trial, defence lawyers called a witness who claimed
he had overheard a juror coming under pressure from a senior officer, and
applied for the case to be dismissed because of "unlawful command
influence".

But the judge rejected the request.

Gen Mowhoush died while being held at al-Qaim in Iraq, near the Syrian
border.

A death certificate published by the Pentagon gave the cause as asphyxia due
to smothering and chest compression.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/4636344.stm

Published: 2006/01/22 06:48:57 GMT

© BBC MMVI

Near-miss US jet crews criticised Two US fighter crews and ground control
staff have been criticised in a report after a near-miss with a civilian
aircraft over Bedfordshire.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch said there was "general confusion"
when the F-15E Eagles from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk passed close to the
aircraft.

They were at 21,000ft and above the level to which they were cleared to fly
on 27 January 2005.

There were 35 passengers on board the British Airways regional flight.

The captain of BA CitiExpress (now BA Connect) aircraft told air traffic
control he had just seen an F15 pass about 100ft below the nose of the
Embraer 145 and "no more than about 200 yards ahead, descending," said the
report.

    Also poor use was made of the highly sophisticated aids available
     AAIB report

The report said the fighters passed within about 1,000 yards of the Embraer.

The AAIB report went on: "Inadequate transmission and acknowledgements of
clearances within the formation plus the crews' inability to fly either as a
coherent formation or as two independent aircraft during the diversion were
major contributory factors to the ensuing general confusion.

"Also poor use was made of the highly sophisticated aids available to the
crews in monitoring fuel loads, monitoring ground position and using
airborne radar."

The report was also critical of air traffic control at Lakenheath in Suffolk
for a communication failure which "contributed to the subsequent radar
identification problems".

The two fighter planes were flying from RAF Lakenheath for a close air
support training sortie at Otterburn Range near Newcastle upon Tyne.

During the training exercise, both aircraft became low on fuel and decided
to divert due to poor weather and air traffic delays at Lakenheath.

'Critically short of fuel'

It was some time after this that the Embraer captain reported to
London-based air traffic controllers that a military fighter aircraft had
passed close in front of him.

Eventually the two fighter planes landed safely at RAF Valley at Holyhead in
Anglesey.

The AAIB report said the decision to divert was left too late.

The report went on: "Because they were critically short of fuel, the (US)
aircraft climbed through their cleared flight level, without transponding,
entered controlled airspace and conflicted with the Embraer 145."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/4694932.stm

Published: 2006/02/09 00:33:49 GMT

© BBC MMVI 12 Feb 2006

US army to probe NFL star's death The US army is to launch a criminal
investigation into the death of a former American football star who was
killed in Afghanistan.

Pat Tillman gave up his professional contract to join the army after the 11
September 2001 attacks on the US.

It took some time for the US military to admit he had been killed by US
fire, drawing criticism from his family.

The US military has always said his shooting was accidental, but conceded
that a criminal inquiry was warranted.

"We are obligated to answer the family's questions, as we are with all
grieving families," Colonel Joseph Curtin, an Army spokesman said.

He said the scope of the investigation had still to be determined.

'Cover-up'

An unnamed army official quoted by Reuters said the inquiry would seek to
determine whether one of the troops involved in the shooting committed
negligent homicide or another crime.

He said "no one soldier" was the subject of the investigation.

Tillman was 27 when he was hit by gunfire on 22 April, 2004 on a road near
the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. At the time the army said blamed enemy
fire.

The truth did not come out until after his funeral.

His family claims the story was manipulated by the Pentagon to turn Tillman
into a hero of the war on terror.

The footballer had been hailed as a role model when he walked away from his
multi-million dollar Cardinals contract to serve his country.

His father, Pat Tillman Sr, has called the army inquiries so far "shams" and
alleges a cover-up.

The army has admitted that some evidence - including Tillman's uniform and
armour - was destroyed.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/4775362.stm

Published: 2006/03/05 02:07:08 GMT

© BBC MMVI

US soldier abused Iraq prisoners A US army dog handler has been found guilty
of abusing detainees in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison from 2003-2004.

A Maryland court martial convicted Sgt Michael Smith on six out of 13
charges including maltreating detainees, dereliction of duty and assault.

Prosecutors said Smith, 24, used his black Belgian shepherd to menace
prisoners for his own amusement. He will be sentenced later on Tuesday.

He is the 10th US soldier to be convicted over the abuse scandal.

In one case, prosecutors at the court martial in Fort Meade said Smith
competed with another dog handler to see who could make a detainee defecate
out of fear.

One of the photographs to emerge from Abu Ghraib prison depicts Smith
holding his dog inches from the face of a detainee who appears to be
cowering in terror.

The prosecution said he had violated rules on treating prisoners humanely
and using the minimum amount of force.

The defence had argued that rules governing the use of dogs were unclear.
They said Smith was a good soldier who had done what he was supposed to do
by having his dog bark at prisoners in what it described as dangerous
environment.

The military jury announced its verdict after deliberating for about 18
hours over a period of three days.

Smith was found guilty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice with two
counts of maltreatment, one count of conspiring to make a contest of making
detainees soil themselves, dereliction of duty, assault and an indecent act.

Nine other soldiers have been convicted of abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
Charles Graner received the stiffest sentence - 10 years in jail.

Another dog handler, Sgt Santos Cardona, is to stand trial on 22 May.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/4830362.stm

Published: 2006/03/21 18:17:05 GMT

© BBC MMVI

So when is the USA going to war against the UK? Should this unlikely
event happen, the Typhoon is an aircraft still very capable of taking
on all comers.

--

Julian Richards
medieval "at" richardsuk.f9.co.uk

www.richardsuk.f9.co.uk
Website of "Robot Wars" middleweight "Broadsword IV"

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