General "Mike" Jackson is a fucking, lying 2 faced hypocrite.

Ex-British Army chief, General Sir Mike Jackson, has criticised the government of inadequately caring for the Armed Forces in war zones and slammed the MOD staff who don't understand soldiering.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, his remarks echoed those he made at the 31st annual Dimbleby lecture last night, blaming insufficient funding and strategic failings for making troops vulnerable.

He specified poor wages, accommodation and equipment as threatening the "ethos of soldiering", supposed to encourage troops into this risky line of work.

"The country owes them the tools to do that job," General Jackson said.

Seeking to offload the blame still further and exonerate the Army leadership - i.e him, he is reported in the Daily Telegraph (8/12/06)

Asked if Mr Reid was aware of this analysis at the time he signed Britain up to the mission, Sir Mike replied: "I'm sure that advice was given.

"It's for you to make a judgment on what Dr Reid said, not me. It's not misleading. It was perhaps not the full picture, I accept that. He expressed it as a hope." replied the two faced, duplicitous double dealing lying bastard.

There will be some who remember the ethos that General Sir Mike imbued ...which Lord Patel has written about before. The "SAS" duo, captured red handed in Basra, by the much criticised Iraqi Police doing a splendid job , the mechanised raid by six tanks on the Basra prison by the Army to release them, killing 7 Iraqis and injuring 47 - for which HMG paid compensation in double quick time.

They might also remember the man deputed to inquire into the event, Capt. Ken Masters who seen by General Jackson when he was in Basra to discuss the matter. 2 days later he committed suicide by strangling himself with a bootlace, as General Mike was whooping it up at Margaret Thatchers 80th Birthday Party and telling the Times and the world that ..." The Army looks after it's own".

General Jackson looks after himself as this contemporary photograph shows when he resigned shows - it is amusing to compared this public face with the craggy visage we ve all learnt to know and love. Truly a two faced Janus.

For full reports read Lord Patel's previous posts here ....

Where are they Now? Pt 341 General Sir "Mike" Jackson

"Let me make it clear that it was important to retrieve those two soldiers.The British Army looks after its own.” (General Sir Michael Jackson, Chief of the General Staff ,Basra S. Iraq quoted in the Times, 12 Oct 2005)

"There will be few who forget the curious incident when 2 allegedly undercover SAS men wearing comical Arab style clothing were arrested, photographed and imprisoned by Iraqi Police in Basra on September 19th 2005 driving a car loaded with weapons, ammunition and a brand new car jack.

They will also remember the derring do raid on the local prison involving 10 tanks and supporting helicopters to rescue them that night. The raid resulted in the death of 7 Iraqis and a further 43 injured.....

On the 14th October HMG formally almost apologized to Iraq and confirmed that it "will pay compensation for injuries and damage" (Times October 12th)"

Monday, October 17 A Death is Announced in Basra

"A spokesman for the British forces in Basra said: "The commanding officer of 61 Section, Special Investigations Branch, Capt Ken Masters (40), was found dead last night at a military establishment in Iraq, death was "not due to hostile action or natural causes", there was no suicide note.

An inquest at Swindon Coroner's Court, which was heard on 27th June 2006, found that Capt Ken Masters, a senior military police investigator in Iraq, took his own life. At the time he was
suffering from depression brought on by increasing workload and stress.

Warrant Officer Philip Floyd told the court: “He was very conscientious. He had a sense of frustration in that the procedures we had to conduct in the inquiries were hindered by forces outside of our control.”

" The Army looks after it's own". Could be Captain Master's' epitaph.

Maybe it will be carved on the tombstones of the soldiers casually killed in thewake of Tony Blair's distorted vision of a world changing political agenda and a lasting memorial for himself.

For the soldiers killed on Helmand ... of whom Lord Patel wrote

Friday, January 27 2006
Reid sends ill equipped troops to certain deaths in S Afghanistan

Defence Secretary "Dr" John Reid met some of the troops due to die (We expect to take casualties)in Afghanistan. In a nationwide 2 bases *(Salisbury Plain , Dittingham Norfolk, and Otterburn) exercise 3 Para are part of 3000 3,300 army personnel are due to go to the lawless southern region of the country.... read on ..

... the ultimate choking nastiness is that General Jackson , knew the hoplessness of the Afghan task, the lack of equipment, training, air support, the poor pay , the imprecise objectives, the havering of his NATO allies, the formidable foe, the devious political control , the duplicitous drug barons and war lords, the terrain, the sapping heat, searing dust, the cold, difficult supply lines .. and still he sent them... to please the politicians.

This latter day Hannibal, told the Today program.. "Mr Reid had been optimistic to hope troops might spend three years in southern Afghanistan without firing a shot", he said, "adding that it was obvious the Taliban would be resistant to Britain's increased military presence in the region earlier this year."

"He was entitled to his hope and he did express it as a hope, but I think the reality came as absolutely no surprise at all," General Jackson said."

This hand wringing is no good. It is the job of Generals to tell politicians what is possible and what is not. He didn't and the dead troopers, pilots, airmen, drivers, blindly followed .. and leave behind, parents. wives, sweethearts, children and communities bereaved and distraught and the remaining troops in a hopeless, hapless desert mired by ignorant politicians in Death Alley.

Many more will die because of this stupid, ignorant , arrogant, vain , pompous martinet who says, "" The Army looks after it's own".

Tell that to the widows and the orphans General "Mike" Jackson.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck 'im out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!

Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll-
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's " Thin red line of 'eroes," when the drums begin to roll.

Tommy Rudyard Kipling

Marines furious at front-line 'pay cut'

Daily Telegraph 30/11/2006

The morale of Royal Marines serving on the front line in Afghanistan has plummeted after a £3,000 allowance was deducted from their wages following a "dreadful blunder" by Royal Navy administrators.

Where are they Now? Pt 341 General Sir "Mike" Jackson

"Let me make it clear that it was important to retrieve those two soldiers.The British Army looks after its own.” (General Sir Michael Jackson, Chief of the General Staff ,Basra S. Iraq quoted in the Times, 12 Oct 2005)

There will be few who forget the curious incident when 2 allegedly undercover SAS men wearing comical Arab style clothing were arrested, photographed and imprisoned by Iraqi Police in Basra on September 19th 2005 driving a car loaded with weapons, ammunition and a brand new car jack.

They will also remember the derring do raid on the local prison involving 10 tanks and supporting helicopters to rescue them that night. The raid resulted in the death of 7 Iraqis and a further 43 injured.

On the 14th October HMG formally almost apologized to Iraq and confirmed that it "will pay compensation for injuries and damage" (Times October 12th)

In the same article John Reid, the Defence Minister,is quoted and insisted the Army’s actions had been “absolutely right” and declared: “When it is necessary to protect British servicemen, we will take that action. And by God it was effective.” Brigadier John Lorimer, the British commander in Basra, insisted that his forces “won’t hesitate” to act against those endangering coalition troops.

In the aftermath of these events, still unexplained and shrouded in military secrecy, Captain Ken Masters (40) Commanding Officer of the Special Investigation Branch of the Royal Military Police and "responsible for the investigation of all in-theatre serious incidents, plus investigations conducted by the General Police Duties element of the Theatre Investigation Group." (Statement of Britain's Ministry of Defense, 16 Oct 2005) undertook an investigation into circumstances of the arrest of two alleged undercover SAS men.

On that evening Capt Masters sent an e-mail sent to his wife (timed 5.20am 14 October) "U and the girls are keeping me going, I can tell you. Love you all very much. Daddy xxxooo."

On the day following the apology by HMG, and 2 weeks before he was due leave in the UK, Masters , a man who ran every morning, was found dead ... hanging by a bootlace in his barracks room. He had left two suicide notes: one to the Army, blaming himself for his death, and the other to his wife the inquest was later told. This was a few days after General Sir Michael Jackson, Chief of the General Staff was in Basra and met and discussed the matter with him.

"Let me make it clear that it was important to retrieve those two soldiers.The British Army looks after its own.” (General Sir Michael Jackson, Chief of the General Staff ,Basra S. Iraq quoted in the Times, 12 Oct 2005)

27/06/2006

An inquest at Swindon Coroner's Court, which was heard on 27th June 2006, found that Capt Ken Masters, a senior military police investigator in Iraq, took his own life. At the time he was
suffering from depression brought on by increasing workload and stress.

Warrant Officer Philip Floyd told the court: “He was very conscientious. He had a sense of frustration in that the procedures we had to conduct in the inquiries were hindered by
forces outside of our control.”

Further Refs re the Inquest
Independent

Suicide in Basra: The unravelling of a military man by Ian Herbert
Times
Stress of Army officer found hanged in Iraq By Michael Evans

Texts of e-mails Masters sent to his wife and shown at the inquest are available here.The "boss" mentioned in them is / was Lieutenant Colonel Ian Stenning, the Provost General who some will remember personally took charge of the investigation into the abuse by the Queens Lancashire Regiment (QLR) after photographs appeared in the Daily Mirror and General Sir
Michael Jackson, Chief of the General Staff appeared on UK TV the same night promising a full inquiry and when Lieutenant Colonel John Downham, regimental secretary of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment was gagged by the MOD. Curiously the investigation by Lieutenant Colonel Ian Stenning has yet to see the light of day. Neither has the Basra SAS investigation report been completed or published. The Editor of the Mirror lost his job.


General Sir Michael Jackson, Chief of the General Staff ? He has just retired and the CGS is chap called Sir Richard Dannatt. The Guradian report today in his first interview since taking up his post as chief of the general staff, General Dannatt warned: "We are running hot, certainly running hot." He added: "Can we cope? I pause. I say 'just'."

General Sir Mike Jackson was awarded the MBE in 1979, the CBE in 1992, the CB in 1996, the KCB in 1998, the DSO in 1999 and ADC Gen in 2001. He is married to Sarah, and has 2 sons, a daughter and three grandchildren. His interests include music, reading, travel, skiing and tennis. His predecessor Lord Guthrie joined the Board of Directors of military, aviation and law enforcement training solutions company Advanced Interactive Systems in May 2004.

The photograph of General Sir Mike Jackson is somewhat misleading, the prominent bags under his eyes have been removed by surgery.

General Sir Michael "Janus" Jackson - war criminal

Aangirfan brings to our attention the suggestion made by Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in a speech yesterday at Imperial College, London organised by the the Muslim group the Ramadhan Foundation that an international tribunal should be set up to try US President Bush and Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Howard.

If this eminently sensible suggestion is taken up Lord Patel would like to nominate, as head of the list of military war criminals this cunt.

General Sir Michael "Janus" Jackson, who took over the leadership of the British Army one month before the ilegal invasion of Iraq .

If only because of the way he happily accepted the deaths of UK soldiers in aid of prosecuting an illegal war .. "There is no such thing as a casualty-free military campaign," he growls. "Perhaps we understand that better now. The harsh reality is that there is risk, sooner or later tragically personified in soldiers being killed and wounded." Daily Telegraph

See also - Thursday, December 07, 2006 - General "Mike" Jackson is a fucking, lying 2 faced hypocrite. ..Let us not forget the family of Capt. Ken Masters who seen by General Jackson when he was in Basra to discuss the matter events leading up to the retreival from an Iraqi jail of the 2 SAS "heroes" by a platoon of 10 tanks and helicopetr gunships leaving many dead. 2 days later Masters committed suicide by strangling himself with a bootlace, as General Mike was whooping it up at Margaret Thatchers 80th Birthday Party and telling the Times and the world that ..." The Army looks after it's own".

An inquest at Swindon Coroner's Court, which was heard on 27th June 2006, found that Capt Ken Masters, a senior military police investigator in Iraq, took his own life. At the time he was suffering from depression brought on by increasing workload and stress.

Warrant Officer Philip Floyd told the court: “He was very conscientious. He had a sense of frustration in that the procedures we had to conduct in the inquiries were hindered by forces outside of our control.”

See also Friday, January 27 2006 Reid sends ill equipped troops to certain deaths in S Afghanistan ... ... the ultimate choking nastiness is that General Jackson , knew the hoplessness of the Afghan task, the lack of equipment, training, air support, the poor pay , the imprecise objectives, the havering of his NATO allies, the formidable foe, the devious political control , the duplicitous drug barons and war lords, the terrain, the sapping heat, searing dust, the cold, difficult supply lines .. and still he sent them... to please the politicians.

This latter day Hannibal, told the Today program.. "Mr Reid had been optimistic to hope troops might spend three years in southern Afghanistan without firing a shot", he said, "adding that it was obvious the Taliban would be resistant to Britain's increased military presence in the region earlier this year.""He was entitled to his hope and he did express it as a hope, but I think the reality came as absolutely no surprise at all," General Jackson said.

This hand wringing is no good. It is the job of Generals to tell politicians what is possible and what is not. He didn't and the dead troopers, pilots, airmen, drivers, blindly followed .. and leave behind, parents. wives, sweethearts, children and communities bereaved and distraught and the remaining troops in a hopeless, hapless desert mired by ignorant politicians in Death Alley.Many more will die because of this stupid, ignorant , arrogant, vain , pompous martinet who says, " The Army looks after it's own".

We won't even start on his role in Bloody Sunday. More links

Top of the UK civilan's list after Blair would be that cunt Jack Straw.

General Michael Janus Jackson - his failures in leading the Army are raised by ex Colonel Patrick Mercer MP

Tory MP, Patrick Mercer, (Con. Newark) 51, a former Colonel in the Sherwood Forester's (and also a reporter on BBC 4's Today programme) , who is now the Conservative Shadow Minister for Homeland Security has defended General Janus Jackson's interpretation of the post-war bungling in Iraq. He points out that Jackson has to bear responsibility himself for reduction in the size of the Army, which has left Britain less able to prosecute the war on terrorism by military means.

He said:

"What he says is right. The lack of post conflict planning is stunning. However, the reason that we haven't been able to prosecute either the Iraq or Afghanistan campaigns as effectively as we might is that we haven't concentrated our forces. We have a war on two fronts while cutting combat units as a peace dividend for pulling out of Northern Ireland. You can't get away from it: this happened on his watch."

"Before he resigned, General Jackson was instrumental in recommending a new structure for the Army, which led to reductions in the numbers of frontline troops."

Not forgetting a massive shortage of helicopters, WIKI Land Rovers, the appalling Bowman comms, shortages of almost everything,night goggles, sand goggles etc., etc., Troops carried in 42 year old VC 10's, massive logistical problems in theatre - food shortages, ammunition problems, slow medical evacuation, etc., etc.,

More here and here

Letter Daily Telegraph Dec 8th 2006

Sir - I am a Major in the Army who has served in Bosnia and more recently as a military assistant to the General Officer Commanding in Basra. General Sir Mike Jackson's comments in the Dimbleby lecture and his interview on Today left me seething (report, December 7).

If Sir Mike felt so strongly about the topics of over-stretch, equipment, accommodation and pay, why did he not do something about it when he was in a position to do so? If he thought that Afghanistan was going to be bloodier than it has turned out to be, why did he not restructure the fighting force at the time?

Why did he not just say "No" when faced with more deployments and the subsequent overstretch? His comments are an insult to those who have lost their lives in Afghanistan, a conflict he could have affected, but did not have the moral courage to do so.

A poor performance for the top general. If he was in the commercial world, he would not have been entertained for so long. I, like many of my fellow officers and soldiers, have decided to vote with my feet and have sadly resigned my commission after 10 years' service as I cannot see a turning point for the Army. Name and address supplied

General Jackson gets the thumbs up finger

General should have acted on his concerns before he retiredLetter Daily Telegraph Dec 8th 2006

Sir - I am a Major in the Army who has served in Bosnia and more recently as a military assistant to the General Officer Commanding in Basra. General Sir Mike Jackson's comments in the Dimbleby lecture and his interview on Today left me seething (report, December 7).

If Sir Mike felt so strongly about the topics of over-stretch, equipment, accommodation and pay, why did he not do something about it when he was in a position to do so? If he thought that Afghanistan was going to be bloodier than it has turned out to be, why did he not restructure the fighting force at the time? Why did he not just say "No" when faced with more deployments and the subsequent overstretch?

His comments are an insult to those who have lost their lives in Afghanistan, a conflict he could have affected, but did not have the moral courage to do so. A poor performance for the top general. If he was in the commercial world, he would not have been entertained for so long. I, like many of my fellow officers and soldiers, have decided to vote with my feet and have sadly resigned my commission after 10 years' service as I cannot see a turning point for the Army.

Name and address supplied

General Mike "Janus" Jackson - a bad case of Military Intelligence

In August 2003, Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, said "If you go back to what we achieved here, which was the liberation of 25 million people in less than three weeks, with fewer civilian casualties and less collateral damage than any war in history . . . the loss of innocent life is a tragedy for anyone involved in it but the numbers are really very low."

This is the detailed report from the latest figures released by the Iraq BodyCount.203 dead in 3 days.

General Sir Michael Jackson, who took over the leadership of the British Army one month before the ilegal invasion of Iraq was interviewed by Elizabeth Grice for the Daily Telegraph yesterday....

"Sir Mike is forceful about the need to accept casualties. "There is no such thing as a casualty-free military campaign," he growls. "Perhaps we understand that better now. The harsh reality is that there is risk, sooner or later tragically personified in soldiers being killed and wounded."

Bush's gang of mad beekeepers March 19, 2003 Canadian Spectator

It is pointless, it is obscene, for this Janus Jackson to be weeping and wailing, gnashing his teeth and blaming Donald Rumsfeld, or Tommy Franks. It was a collective failure of political and military leadership that got us here, which Janus Jackson cannot shrug off.

"A change of opinions is almost unknown in an elderly military man." - A Utopia of Usurers, G K Chesterton

General Mike "Janus" Jackson speaks to the Nation

"Let me make it clear that it was important to retrieve those two soldiers.The British Army looks after its own.” (General Sir Michael Jackson, Chief of the General Staff ,Basra S. Iraq quoted in the Times, 12 Oct 2005)

After spending £20 Mn the British Army has decided that the Commanding Officer of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment , Lt Col Mendonca (43) and 4 other members of the Regiment should be acquitted today, They were charged in relation to the detention of nine Iraqi civilians who had been arrested in September 2003 at Hotel Haitham in Basra during an arms raid when AK47 rifles were found. The Iraqis were beaten up over 36 hours, and Baha Musa, 26, died.

The judge ruled there was no case to answer against Colonel Mendonca, who had been charged with negligence for failing to ensure that the nine Iraqis detained and held at the QLR temporary detention centre in Basra in September 2003 were not ill treated ... even though they were held for 36 hours and Baha Musa when he died had 93 identifiable wounds on his body.

The Daily Torygraph print Col Mendonca' DSO citation in full today (15th February)..."His outstanding leadership, personal courage and incredible successes are worthy of national recognition."

Kosovo - Lesser Serbia (Prop. Uncle Sam) gets nearer

Mark Mardell on the BBC 4 World This Weekend does what the BBC can do very well - a serious, detailed, long and considered report on Martti Ahtisaari's UN report and the response in Kosovo to his plans for this beautiful relict of Ancient Illyria - Ἰλλυρία , the home of the flaxen haired Dardani, for a thinly veiled independence. Lord Patel posted about this on Friday (pic Illyrian Stater 250-350BC - From the Robert Schonwalter Collection.Triton V Sale, 16 Jan 2002, lot 1340.Lot sold for $2000, plus buyers fees.)

You can listen to the whole 25 minute BBC piece here or slect and listen on standalone Real Player - Listen now (it expires in 7 days) for a superb analysis on the ground in Prstina and elsewhere in Northern Kosovo. BBC at it's best.

The comedy element is provided by Mark's interview with gormlesss Jeff Hoon who tells us he is off next week to meet Serbian President Boris Tadić and Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica - they can hardly wait one supposes.

Boris Tadić is quoted as remarking to the dour Finn on Friday, "I told Mr. Ahtisaari that Serbia and I, as its president, will never accept Kosovo's independence."
"Imposing independence (for Kosovo) would violate the fundamental principles of international law and serve as a dangerous political and legal precedent," Tadić continued - a precedent the Basque separatists will be watching carefully, as well as a variety of Bulgarian, Romanian and fractions of the CSI States and the Northern (Turkish) Cypriots.

Kostunica, as predicted, refused to meet with Ahtisaari on Friday, he dismissed the U.N. envoy's proposal as "illegitimate" because it "violates the U.N. Charter ... by undermining sovereignty of U.N. member Serbia." He recently threatened to sever diplomatic ties with countries that might recognize Kosovo as a state - which will probably do more harm to Serbia than anyone else.

In London , Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett talked diplomatic bollocks as usual, she commended Ahtisaari and said his draft formed a basis for a "fair and sustainable settlement ... which will enhance regional stability and the region's Euro-Atlantic prospects." WTF are "Euro-Atlantic prospects" ?

A Serbian view of the "Kosovo Jihad" or as they see it, "The Muslim extermination of Kosovo Christians" can heard here

"KFOR will respond firmly to any attempts to use violence to disrupt the political process," threatened NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Brussels.

Sean McCormack at the US State Department called it "a fair and balanced plan" but he would wouldn't he ? he prattled on that this recipe for continuing ethnic cleansing and handing Kosovo on a plate to the Albanians ...""is a blueprint for a stable, prosperous and multi-ethnic Kosovo. The settlement proposal's broad provisions to protect the rights of all citizens will help advance Kosovo's democratic development."... simply extending the historic US view of ethnically cleansing Serbs - this time for the Albanians rather than the Bosnians.

Human sacrrifice played a major role in Illyria and historian Arrian that the the Illyrian King Kleitus (317 to 303 BC) sacrificed 3 boys, girls and rams setting out for battle with Alexander the Great (He lost and headed for the hills!) For Uncle Sam, human sacrifice, being driven from your homelands is no big deal.

What is there in it for Ahtisaari ? A senior Finnish diplomat in 1977 he was named the U.N. envoy for Namibia, where guerrillas were battling South African apartheid rule. Since then he has negotiated an end to a conflict between the Indonesian government and the leaders of the separatist guerrilla movement in Aceh. This conflict started 130 years ago where the once-powerful Sumatran sultanate have been fighting for independence intermittently since it was occupied by Dutch colonialists in the 1870s.

The Nobel Peace Prize nomination by the grateful and impatient Yanks ?

Meanwhile the Russians who liberated Pristina airport under Gen.Viktor Zavarzin, and so upset General Mike "Janus" Jackson in June 1999, are keeping quiet so far. No doubt they relished the clearing up the mess at the airport which the USAF / NATO had so successfully destroyed in the name of "peacekeeping". At the time General J said he had a "good relationship" with Zavarzin, a former Russian liaison officer to NATO. Ho.Ho.Ho.

G K Chesterton on democracy

Thought for the Day

"Nothing so much threatens the safety of democracy as assuming that democracy is safe. And that is another version of the same arrogant error; that, because you and I are democrats (if we are) we assume that all thinking people of all schools of thought must believe in democracy. If we go on assuming it much longer, there will be nobody left who does believe in democracy."

G. K. Chesterton, The Illustrated London News, August 29, 1931.

He also said (which bears remembering considering the outrageous lies from that Janus, lying cocksucker, General Sir Michael (you can call me Mike) Jackson well aired today..

"A change of opinions is almost unknown in an elderly military man." - A Utopia of Usurers,

We need more, newer helicopters, say stressed pilots (2006)

Here are some unedited excerpts from an article with the above headline from the Daily Telegraph on October 4th 2006 By Tom Coghlan, in Camp Bastion, Helmand

The acute shortage of Chinook helicopters available to British forces in Helmand is pushing pilots flying antiquated machines to the limits of their endurance in the face of increasingly determined efforts by Taliban insurgents to shoot them down.....

Eight Chinooks are flying in Helmand, although a proportion of that number is always being serviced because of the harsh conditions as well as the stresses to the machines from extreme flying and battle damage during resupply and evacuation missions....

Many are relics of a bygone era. A Chinook flying in Helmand and known by the call sign Bravo November ZA 718 served during the Falklands conflict some 25 years ago. ...

"The airframes are antiques," said Flt Lt Steve Hewer. "There are up-to-date versions of the Chinook but we don't have them. We do have the latest self-defence systems and we are grateful for that."....

RAF Chinook pilots based in the province have had their six-month tours divided into three two-month mini-tours because of the demands being placed upon them. "It is an issue of cumulative fatigue," said Flt Lt Hague. "No crew could cope with a six-month tour." .....

The six British forward operating bases in the province are too dangerous to supply by road, unless large numbers of troops are deployed as a protection force, so the resupply burden falls almost exclusively on the Chinooks. Four Lynx helicopters in the theatre have been unable to fly in daylight during the summer months because of the heat. .....

The risks were so extreme last month that the British commander, Brig Ed Butler, nearly withdrew helicopters from Musa Qala, where an uneasy ceasefire now holds with the Taliban. Although pilots will not say so explicitly, they are clearly alarmed that one of the helicopters could easily be shot down if and when full hostilities resume. ......

The pilots say taking small arms fire through the aircraft when flying into forward bases has now become so regular as to be unremarkable. ....

Even so, the Chinooks flying into the town of Musa Qala last month gave themselves a maximum 60 seconds on the ground. At least one soldier has been shot and wounded inside a Chinook.....

While flying under fire and at extreme low altitude into "hot" landing zones, the pilots must also contend with a wall of fine sand that builds up around the Chinooks in the seconds before they land. In the last 20ft of their decent the pilots are usually flying blind.....

"It is extremely challenging flying," said Flt Lt Hewer......

A year earlier General "Janus" Mike Jackson , war criminal and retired warrior was quoted , " The British Army looks after its own.” (Times, 12 Oct 2005).

German terrists released and Germans kidnapped in Iraq - was one a spy ?

As expected (see Lord Patel Jan 19th )the Stuttgart State Court has announced this morning the release of Brigitte Mohnhaupt, 57, on 5 years probation on March 27. One of the last jailed members of the Baader-Meinhof gang, she received 5 life sentences.

In anticipation, no doubt of widespread public objections, the court was anxious to point out that this was not a pardon and was a decision that is based on the specific legal consideration that no security risk exists.

President Horst Koehler is also considering a pardon for Mohnhaupt’s former RAF (Rote Army Fraktion) colleague Christian Klar, (pics from74 - he looks a litle like Matthew Parris, and today) who has also spent the past 24 years behind bars.

Their jailed colleagues Birgit Hogefeld (L) and E H Haule (R) remain in prison.



German victims of Terrorism in Iraq Today

The Berliner Morgenpost reported this weekend that two Germans (so far un-named) had been kidnapped in Baghdad. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says they were kidnapped last Tuesday and officials in Berlin as well as the German embassy in Baghdad have been working "hyperactively" on the problem.

On November 25th 2005 the Bavarian archaeologist Susanne Osthoff (45) was taken hostage with her driver at the end of 2005 - she had been working in Iraq since 1991 and was a convert to Islam and had been married to an Iraqi. An armed group kidnapped 2 engineers from Leipzig, Thomas Nitzschke and René Bräunlich, in January 2006. All 3 victims of terrorism three were eventually freed unharmed, but in Osthoff's case, who was returned after 3 weeks on December 18th 2005, it is alleged that Angela Merkel's German government paid a ransom of millions of euros and also traded her for a convicted terrorist named as Mohammed Ali Hamad. a Hezbollah militant serving a sentence for killing U.S. Navy diver Robert Dean Stethemin on a hijacked TWA jetliner in 1985 - he was apparently quietly shipped from Germany back to his native Lebanon after serving only 19 years of his life sentence.

The State government in North Rhine Westphalia, where he was being held, not the federal Government authorised his release because he had "had qualified for parole ".

There also reports that she worked for the German intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) , and had helped arrange a meeting with a top member of the terrorist organization al-Qaida, possibly Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi and had access to safe house run by BND.

The German magazine Focus also claimed that Osthoff was carrying several thousand dollars on her when released, that formed part of the ransom which were traceable from their numbers.(Reuters)

About 100 Germans now live in Iraq, according to the Ministry, including aid workers, employees of German security firms, and a number of German-Iraqis -- people with German passports who returned to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

UPDATE "Where are they now ?" No. 253 Susanne Osthoff

Curious, how picking over an old (?) story reveals some interesting nuggets. A video was released of the smart and savvy bone digger Susanna Osthoff when she was in captivity - see top of story. This was a short while after the SAS duo was picked up in Basra (Sept 18th 2005) that General Mad Bloody Sunday Bloody Sunday "Mike" Jackson was so anxious to recover.

On her return to Germany she appeared on a a German TV network ZNF in arab dress , and was highly confused and gave a cock and bull story of the abduction etc., which "official" sources said was due to "exhaustion"m "confusion".

Then some folks started comparing the videos about Nick Berg and the possibility that they were concocted - plastic chair the same as Abu Ghraib (and let's face it 50 Mn patios around the Mediterranean) , captors had trainers, unusual with Islamofascistjihadist heavy men etc., etc., - which brings to mind the DVD's allegedly found in the flat of Mr Hussein who decamped from the scene of 21/7 bombings via Eurostar to Italy when everyone was looking for him - but actually listening in to his mobile - wunnerful thing modern technology. DVD's which were shown to the jurors of the 21/7 bombers today (missing the actual beheadings out - (of which there wasn't actually one in the Berg video published)).

So here for those interested is the picture of these suspiciously large men holding Susanne Osthoff, no flags, no jihadist slogans , no insignia, no headbands. Just what was happening when Susanne Osthoff was "kidnapped" ?

A Death is Announced in Basra

A spokesman for the British forces in Basra said: "The commanding officer of 61 Section, Special Investigations Branch, Capt Ken Masters (40), was found dead last night at a military establishment in Iraq, death was "not due to hostile action or natural causes", there was no suicide note.

"The matter is now under investigation and until this is completed it will be inappropriate for me to make any further comment." The death is being investigated by the SIB.

The relatives can now brace themselves for lies, obfuscation, delay, official obstruction, concealment and disappearance of evidence, collective amnesia by those working with him, lost and falsified records.

Nor will they receive any satisfactory explanation why such a junior officer held such a senior position in dealing with the stockpile of criminal cases resulting from the Army occupation of Iraq including investigating the circumstances of the arrest of two undercover elite SAS men, wearing Arab clothing, by Iraqi police in Basra on September 19th 2005.

Interestingly General Sir Mike and Lady Jackson attended the 80th Birthday party for Mrs Thatcher, just after the General had returned from Basra to discuss the “SAS” men’s release with Capt. Masters. "Let me make it clear that it was important to retrieve those two soldiers.The British Army looks after its own.”
" (Times, 11th Oct 2005)

"dark actors playing dark games" Dr Kelly's final e-mail to journalist friend.

Recent blogs on same topic here

Who benefits from Mr Paulson's Lost Weekend ?

The top five foreign holders of Freddie and Fannie long-term debt are China, Japan, the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, and Belgium. In total foreign investors hold over $1.3 trillion in these agency bonds, according to the U.S. Treasury's most recent "Report on Foreign Portfolio Holdings of U.S. Securities. (see table at bottom of post) For detail on China see Holdings of U.S. Securities: Implications for the U.S. Economy - Updated May 19, 2008 latest figure = US$1 Trillion - note that Hong Kong + Macao also own US$200Bn of US securities

FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe commented (11/7/08), "The prospectus for every GSE bond clearly states that it is not backed by the United States government. That's why investors holding agency bonds already receive a significant risk premium over Treasuries.

"A bailout at this stage would be the worst possible outcome for American taxpayers and mortgage holders, who have been paying a risk premium to these foreign investors. It would change the rules of the game retroactively and would directly subsidize the risks taken by sophisticated foreign investors."

"A bailout of GSE bondholders would be perhaps the greatest taxpayer rip-off in American history. It is bad economics and you can be sure it is terrible politics."

Mike Steinhardt at (Desperately) Seeking Alpha points out a warning he made last July...

The Bush Administration via US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson is trying to get China to buy more government-backed mortgage bonds - specifically more Ginnie Mae offerings.

Bloomberg Josephine Lau - U.S. Urges China to Buy Mortgage-Backed Securities In an article that started "The Bush administration is urging China's central bank to buy more government-backed mortgage bonds in an effort to sustain financing for U.S. home loans." she pointed out that ...

"China held $107.5 billion in U.S. mortgage-backed securities as of June 2006, up from $3 billion three years earlier, according to HUD's Web site. The figures include securities offered by Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, HUD said, without detailing the holdings in each agency. "

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson was in Beijing to meet central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan and Minister of Construction Wang Guangtao in Peking apparently to "tap China's $1.33 trillion of foreign-currency reserves, the world's largest, after surging defaults on subprime mortgages caused the near-collapse last month of two hedge funds run by Bear Stearns Cos. "

On the back of this he advised folks (as does Lord Patel ) to read his comments on 3rd June 2008 at hedgefolios on what he calls The Ultimate Counterparty

It is copied here because it puts the finger on the spot. Now that Lord Patel's crack team of tea leaf and chicken entrail gazers finally unwound what the credit default swaps market is - basically a version of musical chairs paid with IOU's totalling US$45 trillion dollars in which he trick is to leave the game having milked the " false belief that the risks of default in the subprime tranche were compensated by the higher cash flows and the supposed certainty and smoothing provided by the Alt-A and prime tranches" just long enough to leave someone else holding the last IOU - who now the US public is discovering , very, very late in the game ,is the US taxpayer , who is rescuing, amongst many others, the Chinese Government from ill judged (?)investments in GSE bonds. (For a slightly more elaborate view (with pictures and graphs)of the irgins and growth of the CDS market see The Next Shoe to Drop: Credit Default Swaps (CDS) and Counterparty Risk - Beware what lies beneath!

It must have been evident that the decline in the value of the dollar is , as Mike Steinhardt says..." reflects investor confidence in our government and that it will be able to make good on its promises when needed."

Here is the piece to read and ruminate upon. Don't write and complain.Get in touch with your Congressman.

For far too long, Counterparty risk was ignored throughout the world’s fixed income and structured credit instruments. The markets expanded on this underlying concept of insurance where there were no limits to what could be created (or how much of it) so long as we could say that risk was mitigated. The CDO market could expand exponentially because of the false belief that the risks of default in the subprime tranche were compensated by the higher cash flows and the supposed certainty and smoothing provided by the Alt-A and prime tranches. And even if they were wrong, the bigger failsafe was said to be the monoline insurance that would make good on any payment disruptions in the underlying CDO. After all, the monoline had AAA ratings that would all but crush any hint of counterparty risk. We are paying the price for that ignorance now.

But that is not the only example. Just consider the counterparty effects on the municipal bond market. Additionally, there are elements of counterparty risk in the Asset Backed Commercial Paper market when the assumption that liquidity from investors would continue forever and that the big banks providing backup commercial paper lines of credit would soak up the volume if it ever would be needed. In a sense, those banks and their AAA ratings and backup facility were providing the role of counterparty that kept yields low and volume high. Can ABCP issuers still count on them being there? Can ABCP investors feel confident that they will be there to cover the rollover risk?

The biggest example that is still being ignored is the entire Credit Default Swap market. Every once in a while we see hints of the losses that will eventually hit, but they are always downplayed. Never mind that it is the embodiment of counterparty risk and has a notional amount of approximately $45 trillion. Somehow the lovers of CDS feel it is immune to loss simply because it is designed to counter counterparty risk. Eventually we will suffer from that ignorance.

There are multiple tiers where moral hazard meets counterparty ignorance. The higher it goes, the bigger the consequences. The ultimate counterparty? The United States Government.

Look at our currency. To me, the decline in the dollar reflects investor confidence in our government and that it will be able to make good on its promises when needed. More and more, our government is either called upon or volunteers to provide the ultimate insurance. When it comes to banks needing liquidity, the Fed makes sure they get as much as they need. Is there any reason to believe they will not continue to do so? After all, it is the lender of last resort. And if a bank fails? The FDIC supposedly insures that depositors will get their money back. Is there any reason to believe they won’t? If mortgages fail and foreclosures mount, we now have the Dems putting together a proposal for the government to create a new HOLC and provide the ultimate backstop. There may be no limit to what a government can do to prop up an economy but there are consequences for it.

When I see the problems with GSE debt now getting publicity, it really rests on the Ultimate Counterparty. If investors are losing their appetite for agency debt and need an assurance that they have the full faith and credit of our government before they will hold them, we are facing the Ultimate Counterparty risk.

Readers are advised, if they wish to pursue this further to read the notes "What If China Reduces its Holdings of U.S. Securities?" pages 12-16 this gives a flavour - and evidence that someone, somewhere in Washington has thought about this ....

"A potentially serious short-term problem would emerge if China decided to suddenly reduce their liquid U.S. financial assets significantly. The effect could be compounded if this action triggered a more general financial reaction (or panic), in which all foreigners responded by reducing their holdings of U.S. assets. The initial effect could be a sudden and large depreciation in the value of the dollar, as the supply of dollars on the foreign exchange market increased, and a sudden and large increase in U.S. interest rates, as an important funding source for investment and the budget deficit was withdrawn from the financial markets. The dollar depreciation would not cause a recession since it would ultimately lead to a trade surplus (or smaller deficit), which expands aggregate demand.(Empirical evidence suggests that the full effects of a change in the exchange rate on traded goods takes time, so the dollar may have to “overshoot” its eventual depreciation level in order to achieve a significant adjustment in trade flows in the short run.) However, a sudden increase in interest rates could swamp the trade effects and cause a recession. Large increases in interest rates could cause problems for the U.S. economy, as these increases reduce the market value of debt securities, cause prices on the stock market to fall, undermine efficient financial intermediation, and jeopardize the solvency of various debtors and creditors. Resources may not be able to shift quickly enough from interest-sensitive sectors to export sectors to make this transition fluid. The Federal Reserve could mitigate the interest rate spike by reducing short-term interest rates, although this reduction would influence long-term rates only indirectly, and could worsen the dollar depreciation and increase inflation."

Don't worry however(Page 17)they have an answer .... "In January 2007, Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson was asked at a Senate Banking Committee hearing *** whether or not he was concerned over China’s large ownership of U.S. debt. Paulson stated that the daily volume of trade in Treasury securities was larger than China’s total Treasury securities holdings and concluded: “given the size of our debt outstanding and the way it trades and the diversity and so on, that’s not at the top of the list.”

*** Congressional Transcripts, Congressional Hearings, Senate Banking, Housing and Urban
Affairs Committee, Hearing on U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, January 31, 2007.

PS : at market close US$ 1 = 1.5909 Euros