Hosilities Heat Up Territorial Waters of Lebanon

Israeli military denies warship violated Lebanese waters earlier this week


The Israeli military has denied claims by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) that one of the Jewish state's warships violated Lebanese territorial waters earlier this week.

The denial was carried late Tuesday evening by several Israeli Web sites, including those of the Haaretz and Jerusalem Post newspapers.

In a statement issued Tueday, the LAF said an Israeli warship briefly entered Lebanese waters on Monday but was intercepted by an Italian ship operating as part of the naval component of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).



"An Israeli Saar-class warship entered Lebanese territorial waters at 7:30 a.m. yesterday morning before being intercepted by the Italian Navy's Bettica, which is part of UNIFIL," an LAF spokesman told AFP.

The Israeli vessel traveled 5 kilometers before leaving, according to the LAF statement.

Israeli jets regularly violate Lebanese airspace, but it is rare for warships to enter Lebanese territorial waters.

Yasmina Bouziane, spokeswoman for UNIFIL said an investigation was under way.

"We received a report saying a ship coming from Israel entered the maritime area of operation without proper procedures, violating Lebanese territorial waters," she said.

"UNIFIL is investigating this issue and UNIFIL command has contacted the Israeli Army."

The overflights, which are in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 have drawn criticism from Lebanese authorities and the international community.

Tensions have risen along the Lebanese-Israeli border since Hizbullah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned that his group would "not remain silent" following the February 12 assassination of top Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh, which it blames on Israel. The Jewish state denies any involvement.

Wikipedia Info About These Forces




As usual peace keepers are targets. Use them to protect the general population in any capacity while the particular governments sort it out.

USS John S. McCain DDG 56 Rescues Korean Vessel

As Rough As It May Seem,It's Still Steady As You Go...


YELLOW SEA (Mar. 10, 2008) - Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) assisted in the rescue of eleven crew members of a Republic of Korea (ROK) fishing vessel off the Korean Peninsula.

At approximately 6:10 a.m. McCain’s bridge watch team observed a fire on a ship in the horizon and in response, maneuvered towards the burning vessel. Upon observing a life raft with eleven people on board drifting in the vicinity of the burning ship, McCain crew members immediately launched a RHIB (Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat)
to recover them from the raft.

The lifeboat occupants were then brought aboard the destroyer where they were provided blankets, hot food and beverages. A McCain Independent Duty Corpsman was on stand-by to provide medical assistance, but the Korean passengers reported no
injuries.

Following the rescue, several ROK vessels arrived on scene to extinguish the burning fishing vessel. The rescued crew members were then transported to an ROK Coast Guard vessel.

McCain had just recently completed participation in the U.S.-ROK exercise FOAL EAGLE and is assigned to Commander, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15 as part of the U.S. Navy’s forward deployed naval forces operating out of Yokosuka, Japan. USS John S. McCain is commanded by Cmdr. John Banigan.



Night Firing Missle Exercise aboard the USS John McCain DDG 56. Check it out. Some missle's have minds of their own.

Military Sees Fewer Sex Assault Reports

As Rough As It May Seem,It's Still Steady As You Go...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Reports of sexual assaults in the military declined last year, reversing a trend of significant increases over the past several years, according to draft documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

The number of sexual assaults reported by military members in 2007 was 2,688, compared with 2,947 in 2006, a decline of about 9 percent. Officials note, however, that some changes in the data-reporting make it difficult to compare numbers year to year. In 2005, there were about 2,400 sexual assaults reported.

The 2007 decline comes after sex assault reports jumped by about 24 percent in 2006 and nearly 40 percent in 2005 — increases military officials attributed in part to more aggressive efforts to encourage victims to come forward.

Information about the report was provided by officials on condition of anonymity because it was not scheduled to be made public until Friday afternoon.

This is the fourth year the military has compiled detailed statistics on sexual assaults. The reporting methods have changed each year, complicating efforts to evaluate progress, or to determine whether it is the actual assaults or the reporting that is going up or down.

The cases involved members of the military who were either victims or accused of the assaults. The military counts rape, nonconsensual sodomy, indecent assault and attempts to commit any of those as sexual assault.

According to the documents, 1,516 reports involved the Army; 565, the Air Force; 394, the Navy; and 213, the Marines. The active duty Army, which is by far the largest service with about 518,000 soldiers, also saw the highest rate of reported sexual assaults.

The Army had 2.6 reports per 1,000 soldiers; the Air Force, 1.6 reports per 1,000; the Marines, 1.1 per 1,000; and the Navy, 1 per 1,000 sailors. The average was 1.8 sexual assaults reported per 1,000 military members.

Also, this is only the second full year in which the military has included in the totals sexual assaults that are filed under a program that allows victims to report the incident and receive health care or counseling services but does not notify law enforcement or commanders.

Of the 2,688 reports filed last year, 705 were initially made under that restricted program. But victims are allowed to change their minds and pursue an investigation later, and that was done in 102 of those cases, thus 603 remain restricted.

Under congressional pressure, Pentagon officials have moved in recent years to improve the way the services handle sexual assaults, which historically were largely underreported. Efforts have also been made to increase training and awareness of the issue, so that military members were more comfortable coming forward to report the assaults.

Some of the changes came after problems with sexual abuse at the service academies came to light, as well as ongoing problems in units stationed overseas.

Navy under fire over death of lieutenant

· Officer left lying in coma on floor of her cabin
· Naval doctor failed to spot symptoms of diabetes

The Royal Navy was criticised by an inquest jury yesterday over the death of a lieutenant left lying in a coma on the floor of her cabin because shipmates thought she must be drunk.

Emma Douglas, 29, was seen collapsed on the floor, undressed from the waist down, but a rating shut the door and left her there, though she was not known to be a heavy drinker.

A navy doctor who saw Douglas four days earlier had failed to spot her symptoms of diabetes, and had thought that her constant vomiting was seasickness.

A postmortem examination showed that she had lost four stones in weight in the two months before her death, and doctors said her life could have been saved if she had been treated appropriately.

The inquest in Plymouth criticised the navy for missing opportunities to save her life.

The Plymouth coroner, Ian Arrow, is sending the jury's findings to the General Medical Council and the navy so they can consider disciplinary action.

Douglas's family are suing the Ministry of Defence and are considering appealing to the high court because they believe the coroner was wrong to rule that the jurors could not return a verdict of unlawful killing.

Her mother, Cynthia, said: "Sadly, we shall always believe she was badly let down by her naval colleagues. No one has accepted any responsibility or been held in any way accountable for Emma's death.

"This is something our family have found very disappointing."

The inquest heard that Douglas became ill with a stomach infection caused by an unclean ice cube while her frigate, HMS Cornwall, was on a goodwill visit to St Petersburg.

The infection may have hastened the onset of the diabetes which killed her but which was never diagnosed.

Four days before her death, she told a naval doctor she was worried about her health. She was diagnosed as having oral thrush by Surgeon Commander Marcus Evershed. He did not carry out a urine test, which would have revealed diabetes.

Douglas was declared fit for duty but advised to rest in her cabin, where she was seen naked from the waist down and gurgling by Petty Officer Gary Shuttlewood on the day before she died.

He reported it to Warrant Officer David Carter but he took no action because he believed she was sleeping.

A police inquiry found that Douglas had not been helped because she was thought to have been drunk.

Officers denied this at the inquest. They said it was common knowledge on board that she slept on the floor because she had a bad back, and so it was assumed she was resting.

Crown prosecutors in Devon recommended charging the navy or its staff with manslaughter due to gross negligence but a senior official in London decided there was not enough evidence to take the case to court.

The jury in Plymouth returned a narrative verdict in which it spelled out how Douglas had died from diabetic ketoacidosis, which can lead to confusion, coma and death.

On her being left, the jurors said: "Procedures would appear not to have been followed. Given the unusualness of her state of undress and the fact she was on the floor with noisy breathing, this should have triggered a greater response.

"The only action taken was to return and close the cabin door. This action was inappropriate as it conveyed to subsequent personnel she did not wish to be disturbed."

Douglas's mother added: "Emma achieved and accomplished more in her short life than I ever expected her to and made me extremely proud to be her mother.

"Emma was a vivacious young woman who loved life to the full. She was a truly wonderful human being. We all miss her terribly and think of her every day.

"We hope the evidence at this inquest and the findings of the jury will enable the Royal Navy to review its procedures to ensure nobody else loses their life in similar circumstances."

A navy spokesman said that lessons had been learned and procedures tightened.

Basic common sense would have been
1. Get multiple persons to help.
2. Cover the Lieut. up down below.
3. Check to see if she had a pulse.
4. Revive the Lieut. if necessary.

Russian bomber again intercepted near US Navy ship

As Rough As It May Seem,It's Still Steady As You Go...

A RUSSIAN bomber aircraft approached a US aircraft carrier off the Korean coast yesterday and was intercepted by American fighter jets -- the second such incident in less than a month, US defense officials said.

According to the US officials, a Russian bomber came within three to five nautical miles and flew 2,000 feet (610 meters) above the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and its accompanying ships.

Two US F/A-18 fighters were launched to intercept the Russian aircraft and escort it out of the area, according to one defense official.

Russian bombers over the past year have increased their flights near US territory and US naval assets, demonstrating their long-range strike capability.

In February, two Russian bombers approached the Nimitz near Japan and one flew over the carrier, escorted by a US fighter jet. That was the first Russian overflight of a US carrier since 2004.

Those operations come as Russian officials say they will revive some of the military power and reach allowed to collapse with the Soviet Union.

US defense officials yesterday said they did not consider the Russian bomber flight a threat or concern.