army

Fort Hood shoot-out: "I knew the killer"

Team Observers — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:16:00 +0100

On Wednesday a Muslim army psychiatrist shot and killed 13 soldiers in a Military Base in Fort Hood, Texas. Our Observer Ernesto Haibi knew the shooter: he worked as a medic in the same base.

Haibi was not on the premises when Major Nidal Malik Hasan went on rampage in the huge Texas base of Fort Hood, gunning down and killing 13 fellow soldiers and wounding 30 others. The killer himself was seriously injured, and is in intensive care at the base's hospital unit.

Hasan dealt with troops returning from combat and faced his own imminent deployment to Afghanistan. The shooter's cousin, who expressed shock and grief at the tragic attack, told the New York Times that his cousin was "mortified by the idea of having to deploy" and had been harassed by other soldiers for being a Muslim, particularly since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Ernesto Haibi, an army medic based at Fort Hood, regularly met Nidal Malik Hasan when he escorted wounded soldiers returning from combat to be examined at the psychiatric ward. He tell us his story.

Gay soldiers – why Obama can't do it alone

Team Observers — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:18:17 +0100

Obama reaffirmed his promise to repeal the US Army's ban on homosexual soldiers this month. But while gay activists across the country wait patiently for their right to serve in the army as openly homosexual, our Observer, a gay soldier who served in the sixties and seventies, explains why Obama needs the backing of Congress to fulfil his promise.

The "Don't ask don't tell" (DADT) legislation was pushed through by the Bill Clinton administration in 1993 after fierce opposition to a complete overturn of the ban. Although it meant that gay men could serve in the army, it did not allow them to be open about it, and intending to or actually engaging in sexual contact with members of the same sex remained a dischargeable offence, because "It would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability."

Since then, close to 14,000 gay soldiers have been discharged from the US Army after admitting to being gay or being denounced as gay.

During a dinner held by the Human Rights Campaign on 10 October, President Obama reaffirmed his wish to scrap the law. The Senate Committee on Armed Service will hold a hearing on the DADT in November.

IDF fails to contain rumour of kidnapped soldier

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:56:42 +0200

Screen grab from The Jerusalem Post.

On Thursday evening we were alerted to a story about an Israeli soldier having been kidnapped near Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport. Details of the incident were published online in an article by the Jerusalem Post. But a few minutes after it was published, the story was removed from the website.

The Israeli army dismissed the rumour shortly after the story broke, but only after it had put the secret services on high alert.

Military man-eating robots soon to be let loose?

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:11:26 +0200

Image taken from the Cyberpunk Review: "Hungry, Hungry Robots".

Web users managed to convince the world that a corpse-eating robot was about to be let loose last week after a robotics company announced the release of an android that was fuelled by biomass. Infuriated by the outrageous embellishment, the company released a sarcastic press release, maintaining that "This robot is strictly vegetarian".

Calling the robot the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot or "EATR" for short, was perhaps not the best idea. But creators Robotic Technology - which supplies the US Army - certainly didn't expect the online hullabaloo that took place after releasing news of their self-feeding robot on July 7. It was the following paragraph that seems to have been taken out of proportion:

"The system obtains its energy by foraging - engaging in biologically-inspired, organism-like, energy-harvesting behavior which is the equivalent of eating. It can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources)."

Nine days later and following dozens of headlines such as "Corpse-eating robot" (Wired), "Robot... to eat all life on Earth" (The Register), and "Sniper Bot Refuels by consuming human bodies" (OhGizmo!), the company was forced to release another statement in response to "Rumors about ‘Flesh Eating' Military robot":

"Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. and Robotic Technology Inc. would like to set the record straight: This robot is strictly vegetarian.(...) The Public can be assured that (...) the Eatr runs on fuel no scarier than twigs, grass clippings and wood chips. (...) Desecration of the dead is a war crime under Article 15 of the Geneva Conventions."

Iraqi police, a bunch of ‘cowards’ and ‘women’

Emmanuel F24 — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:48:49 +0200

A video showing a US instructor yelling at Iraqi police and calling them ‘a bunch of women’ and ‘cowards’ has caused a huge buzz on the Net. Our Observers take a look.

One of Barack Obama's objectives when he was elected to the White House was to pull all US troops out of Iraq as soon as possible. As Illinois senator, he had been one of the few to vote against the war. The withdrawal is to start in August 2010. After that date, Iraqi forces will be held responsible for the country's security. But until then, it is up to coalition forces to train them.

We don't know the exact date of the video, nor where it was filmed. We found out that it was posted for the first time on February 4, 2009. It became a hit when US link sharing website Digg published it.

The war injury photos you’re not allowed to see

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:03:07 +0100

A gruesome and fascinating collection of army photographs is to be made available online thanks to an American archivist.

The images date back to the American Civil War and cover the World Wars and the Vietnam War. Until now hidden in the depths of the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C., the photos are being digitized and published on Flickr by the museum's head archivist Mike Rhode . Not without problems, however: Rove and his colleaugues have been banned from uploading to Flickr by the army, and so have to do the work from home.

Grenade embedded in forehead. Vietnam war.

Patient rehabilitation baseball, 1919-1920.

Gasoline burns from latrine hole explosion. World War 2.

Woman's leg with trap holding healthy typhus lice for further testing. She was given extra rations during this experiment. World War 2 era.

Boy in Emerson respirator (iron lung) in Herman Keifer Hospital, Detroit, Michigan, due to polio.

Pvt. Benjamin Franklin, Company H, 2nd Regiment, Minnesota, Cavalry. Lost all four limbs to frostbite, December, 1865.

0.50 caliber bullet wound of the face. Injured while while manufacturing an ash tray. Eleven days after injury, patient began hemorrhaging; blood flow so profuse it was impossible to carry out emergency procedures. Patient deceased. World War 2. 4th General Hospital.

Delousing. World War 1.

Sign was posted at the 363rd Station Hospital. Atabrine is an anti-malaria drug. Image not dated.

The museum also has a blog: "A Repository for Bottled Monsters".

Is it extremist to call British soldiers 'butchers of Basra'?

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:08:10 +0100

Anti-war protestors dressed in Islamic clothing caused outrage on Tuesday when they marred an army homecoming ceremony by calling British troops "cowards, murderers, terrorists, butchers of Basra" and held up photos of Iraq war victims. The event provoked angry attacks from both bystanders and the tabloid press, raising concerns over the safety of the country's two million strong Muslim community.

Around 12 protestors turned up to object to 200 soldiers of The Royal Anglian Regiment marching through Luton (50 km north of London). While at first they were held back by police forces, the tide soon turned when angry union flag-waving bystanders turned upon the group shouting "scum" and "no surrender to the Taliban". Two people were arrested. The response to the protest was largely outrage with tabloid newspapers labelling the group "sick", "extremist" and a "mob". The Muslim Council of Britain said it was "appalled" by the media reaction and that the group was simply providing "fodder for Islamophobes keen to drive a wedge between Britons".

Guinea-Bissau leaderless after gangland killing

Team Observers — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:57:44 +0100

The presidential palace in Bissau. Posted on Flickr by Xavier Hinnekint.

Guinea-Bissau awoke on Monday morning without a president. Head of State Joao Bernando Vieira was gunned down as he tried to escape from a group of soldiers who attacked his home. Our Observers from Guinea-Bissau speak about the tragic events of the day.

President Vieira, nicknamed "Nino", had governed the country for 23 years. In 2005 he was re-elected as president of this tiny West African country, nine years after a military coup left him stranded and running for safety. For the past two days, an eerie atmosphere of gangland killing had reigned over the capital city of Bissau. The night before Vieira's assassination, the army's chief of staff - and long-time rival of President Vieira - General Tagme Na Waie, was killed in a bomb attack.

Supporters of President "Nino" in Guinea-Bissau. Photo Xavier Hinnekint posted on Flickr.

Guinea-Bissau is a small country of 1.7 million inhabitants. A former Portuguese colony that gained its independence in 1974, it remains very poor and heavily in debt. The country is also suspected of acting as a crossroads for drug traffic from South America. Yet, the country appeared to be on course for a transition towards democracy. Indeed, European Union observers deemed that the 2005 elections, which re-instated President Vieira, were "free" and "fair".

The Sri Lankan army shows off its 'feats' online

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:44:35 +0100

The Sri Lankan army captured a Tamil Tiger "hideout" last week. But in place of finding chief rebel Velupillai Prabhakaran, they came across a large stuffed tiger. It didn't stop them from boasting about the victory on the net, however.

According to the government, the Sri Lankan army is on the verge of eradicating the Tamil Tigers. But who's to know the truth? While the media is banned from entering combat zones, the only source of information is the army.

When the bunker was captured on Tuesday, the number one himself, who the organisation depends on completely, was not at home. According to the Ministry of Defence, the attack left 20 separatists dead. In the official photos however, there's no evidence of fighting; only some electricity generators, guns, a stuffed tiger and a framed photo of the tenant. The authorities say that the residence is certainly that of Prabhakaran because of insulin left in one of the rooms, and the fact that the building was so heavily guarded.

Al-Quds Brigades show off their conquests on the web

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:52:52 +0100

While Hamas is number one target in Israel's current offensive, there are other groups fighting in the streets of Gaza City too. Amongst them, the al-Quds Brigades, who are posting their IDF defeats online.

The militant we see in the video is a member of Saraya al-Quds, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an extremist group which aims to destroy the state of Israel in order to replace it with an Islamic, Palestinian state. We don't know if the information he gives in the video is correct.

"Our brigades have attacked an armoured vehicle which came in from the eastern town of Khan Younès [south of the Gaza Strip]. We hit the vehicle with an RPG. Here's a piece of the tank. One of our snipers, hidden in a house, also killed an Israeli soldier. We seized this LAW [bazooka] after it was abandoned by a Zionist being shot at by our militants."