Sapper Darren Smith and Herbie were both killed by an improvised bomb.
TWO young Australian combat engineers on their first deployment in Afghanistan have been killed by a bomb in the army’s worst combat loss in a single day since the Vietnam War.
A bomb detonated during a patrol on Monday morning, killing Sapper Jacob Moerland, 21, and Sapper Darren Smith, 26, both from the Brisbane-based 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment.
As a sad coincidence, to the best of my knowledge, the last time the ADF lost two troops on one day in action was in Vietnam on 1 Feb 1971 when Ray ‘General’ Patten and Alan Talbot, both of Recce Platoon 7RAR, were killed by a mine blast.
A CONVICTED West Australian killer is set to be released from a Bangkok prison after serving just over two years for gunning down an American in a Chiang Mai restaurant.
Vietnam veteran William Thomas Douglas, 62, was convicted of murdering US tourist Gary Booth Poretsky, 46, in March 2008 after the pair had an argument over Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
Douglas shot three bullets into Poretsky, including one to his head. Following the shooting, Douglas pleaded guilty to murder and reportedly told police he was doing work for the Thai Narcotics Suppression Bureau.
Douglas’s version of events was rejected by official sources, who said he was drunk. Douglas told the court at his sentencing he had lived in Thailand for almost 30 years. According to an Australian reporter in court at the time, Douglas said Poretsky had antagonised him by saying Australia was a tool of the US. “I pulled out my gun and shot him,” Douglas told the court.
I personally wouldn’t have shot the Yank but I can sympathize with the digger and the abiding lesson must be;
If you are a “tool” of the communists it’s best you don’t mention it to a drunk, armed digger.
According to the defense officials, the IDF has identified about 50 passengers on the ship who could have terrorist connections with global jihad-affiliated groups
The group of over 50 passengers with possible terror connections have refused to identify themselves and were not carrying passports. Many of them were carrying envelopes packed with thousands of dollars in cash.
Amongst the Humanitarian aid found on the Mavi Marmara was a cache of bulletproof vests and night-vision goggles, as well as gas masks.
…. Obama is now throwing his weight behind the frenzied attempt by the world’s tyrannies to wipe Israel off the map. And as the noose tightens round Israel, what is the response of the British government? Far from rethinking Foreign Secretary William Hague’s reproach to Israel for ‘lack of restraint’ (in not allowing its marine commandoes to be lynched, you understand) the Prime Minister David Cameron has joined in the onslaught, deploring the ‘heavy loss of life’ and telling Israel to lift the blockade of Gaza – which, let us remind ourselves once again, allows into Gaza tens of thousands of tons of aid per week and only stops weapons from being smuggled in that would be used to kill Israelis. Thus as the world starts to resemble a global pogrom in the making, Cameron has lined up Britain too on the side of the forces of darkness against their victims.
Meanwhile, back in the antipodes, our PM gets it right when he says;
“However, as I have seen them, let me say this very clearly, the Australian government condemns any use of violence under the sorts of circumstances that we have seen.”
Hang on, he’s actually talking about the Israelis being violent. For a moment there I thought he was the only western leader to get to the bottom of the fracas and was rightly condemning the Jihadists for attacking the Israelis as they landed on the deck.
Silly me!
Rudd demands the Israelis hold a comprehensive independent inquiry into the incident and forward the results to the UN Security Council.
Why would they do that? The UN Security Council has already condemned the Israeli commandos for lashing out to save their own lives so what would it achieve. With the Arabs running the show at the UN, condemnation of anything Israel does is guaranteed first response.
Still, Rudd’s predictable reaction follows his “I want a seat at the UN” form.
And just in case you are curious as to how much I care about the Australians on board the convoy, let me make it clear.
Zero..zip…zilch. If they want to actively support terrorists then let them wear the consequences.
Greg Sheridan at the Oz puts in his two bobs worth
The Jewish state was sucker-punched by demonstrators determined to provoke an ugly Israeli reaction and international PR disaster.
By beating Israeli sailors nearly to death as soon as they landed, the protesters made a violent reaction inevitable. You cannot attempt to kill armed soldiers without suffering casualties.
Here is some good shots of the peace activists delivering “humanitarian aid‘ to the Israelis.
The Armada, organized by the Turkish organisation for Human Rights, Liberties, and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), itself under investigation by the Turkish government for supporting Al-Qaida and Jihad generally, has succeded beyond their wildest dreams. The activists had iron bars, concussion grenades, tear gas and a host of other items of “humanitarian aid” on board the ship in preparation for the Israeli boarding parties they knew would come. There is mention of pistols as well but let’s wait for the full story to come out.
Had the role of the Armada been to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza they would have accepted Israelis offer of delivering it through the port of Ashdod. But no, that wasn’t their plan. They wanted confrontation and exposure on CNN and world media generally,and they got it.
The outnumbered, under-equipped and incorrectly prepared commandos found themselves not grappling with unruly peace activists or demonstrators, to whom they had been ordered to show “restraint,” but being viciously attacked before they had barely set foot on deck. The clips showed clusters of people swarming around each of the commandos, and beating them over and over with clubs and bars in scenes sickeningly reminiscent of the lynching of IDF reservists in the Ramallah police station 10 years ago.
The lead organisation involved in organising a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Palestinian Authority has itself been investigated by Turkish authorities for its involvement in terrorism, including the purchasing of weapons and financing of terror attacks.
Now back to the violence;
There was footage of one of the “activists” stabbing a soldier, of a petrol bomb being thrown at the troops, a stun grenade. And the troops themselves reported being sprayed with tear gas, attacked with iron bars, knives and sticks, and of efforts, reportedly successful in at least one case, to grab the pistols some were also carrying. There were reports of gunfire directed at the troops, and of soldiers jumping into the sea to escape attack.
Soldiers were fighting for their lives, said the IDF spokesman, Avi Benayahu (in Hebrew). “It was a lynch. It was an ambush.
As per standard procedures for any incident where Israel defends itself, the world will condemn them. The UN and most of Europe will take the activists side, all Arabs will go beserk with hatred and very few anywhere will believe anything Israel says.
