Outrage: Marines Object to Putting John Murtha's Name on Amphibious Warship

John Murtha is an “unindicted co-conspirator” in 1980′s FBI-run Abscam sting who once claimed that Marines in the Iraqi city of Haditha “killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” The only thing Murtha should have named after him is a federal prison.

Time reported:

And that isn’t the worst of it, according to sailors and Marines: putting Murtha’s name on an amphibious warship designed to carry 700 Marines is outrageous, they maintain, given Murtha’s 2006 charge that Marines in the Iraqi city of Haditha “killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” (One of the eight Marines charged in the case still faces trial; six have had their charges dismissed and one was acquitted.) “Name a ship after a congressman who disgraced himself by rushing to judge that fellow Marines had committed murder in Iraq?”  Thomas Wilkerson, a retired Marine major general who now heads the non-profit U.S. Naval Institute, which advocates for the military’s maritime services, said Sunday. “Can you be serious?”

Bangladesh asks for US help getting Somali pirate hostages released. State Department suggests they pay the ransom.

The US State Department has become an embarrassment under President Obama and Hillary Clinton. Bangladesh asked for help getting hostages released from Somali pirates. They were told to pay the ransom!

(bdnews.24) — The US government has suggested that the government should negotiate with the Somali pirates by paying ransom for the release of 26 Bangladeshis on board the hijacked ship MV Jahan Moni.

The state department also told Dhaka that the Somali pirates would be interested in releasing the captives with comparatively less amount of money as it’s a “lean season” for the captors.

Washington also revealed that “money was the sole objective” behind the hostage taking.
The state department made the suggestions as Bangladesh government sought US support for the release of the hostages.

UN Fail: UN Condemns Sinking of South Korean Ship, but Fails to Mention North Korea Was Responsible

Why we bother to continue participation in the UN is beyond me. The UN has condemned the sinking of a South Korean warship by a torpedo fire by North Korea, but they fail to blame North Korea for the action. North Korea called this, “our great diplomatic victory.” Of course, President Obama wants a new era of engagement with the corrupt and ineffective UN.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday condemned a deadly attack on a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors and pointed a finger toward North Korea but didn’t directly blame the reclusive communist nation.

North Korea’s U.N. Ambassador Sin Son Ho called it “our great diplomatic victory,” stressing again that his country had nothing to do with the sinking of the 1,200-ton Cheonan on March 26. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said he wouldn’t react “to overblown rhetoric.”

North Korea previously warned that its military forces would respond if the council questioned or condemned the country...

The statement about the ship sinking, approved by all 15 council members, expressed “deep concern”...

South Korea Believes North Korea Torpedoed South Korean Ship

This report is sure to heat up tensions on the Korean peninsula.

South Korea's military believes a torpedo fired from a North Korean submarine sank its navy ship last month, based on intelligence gathered jointly with the United States, a news report said on Thursday.

UAE Seizes Explosives Laden N. Korean Arms Ship Heading to Iran

Sanctions against North Korea were ramped up after there last round of missile firing.
This is the first seizure under the stiffer sanctions, which prohibit North Korea fron selling any conventional weapons.

From Fox News:

UNITED NATIONS — The United Arab Emirates has seized a cargo ship bound for Iran with a cache of banned rocket-propelled grenades and other arms from North Korea, the first such seizure since sanctions against North Korea were ramped up, diplomats and officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

The seizure earlier this month was carried out in accordance with tough new U.N. Security Council sanctions meant to derail North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but which also ban the North's sale of any conventional arms.

Diplomats identified the vessel as a Bahamas-flagged cargo vessel, the ANL Australia. The diplomats and officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

"We can confirm that the UAE detained a North Korean vessel containing illicit cargo," a Western diplomat told the AP.

Turkey's deputy U.N. ambassador, Fazli Corman, who chairs the Security Council's sanctions panel, also confirmed the incident without providing details and said council members are examining the seriousness of it.

The UAE, a hub for Iranian goods, seized the ship earlier in August. The ship is registered in the Bahamas, a common country of registry for vessels, but it wasn't immediately clear who owns it nor where the owner is based.

The Security Council's latest resolution came in the wake of North Korea's second nuclear test in May and firing of six short-range rockets.

Iranian arms ship sunk by missiles from unknown force

An Iranian arms ship has been sunk by missiles from an unknown boat. The Iranian ship was suspected of carrying weapons to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Although the missile firer is unknown, my money is on the Israelis. President Obama does not have the "cahones" to authorize this kind of attack. Reported by Ynet.

Report: Iranian arms ship sunk off Sudan coast

Egyptian weekly says missiles fired by 'unidentified boat which may have been Israeli or American'
Ynet


An Egyptian weekly reported Sunday that an Iranian ship carrying weapons traveling en route to the Gaza Strip has been sunk in the Red Sea, off the coast of Sudan.


Al-Usbua's report quotes sources from Sudan's capitol Khartoum, who say missiles were fired towards the ship from "an unidentified boat, which may be Israeli or American."


The report says the Iranian ship was headed for Sudan in order to unload the weapons, which would then travel by land to the Gaza Strip. But the ship was sunk by the missiles, along with its crew.