re: "William F. Buckley, Jr, RIP"

Dr. Pournelle, on the passing of William F. Buckley, Jr., notes:

"We had similarly disagreed about the First Gulf War, which I opposed on the grounds that which gang of thugs possessed Kuwait was not of great interest to the United States; but that was different. I believe that the First Gulf War came about because of affirmative action: a career state department FSO was made ambassador to Iraq and failed to make Saddam aware of the stakes in his planned invasion. Indeed, her silly memo could be construed as giving him permission! But I wander." (Bold type added for emphasis. - CAA)

Bandit Waiting to Deploy

Taken at Fort Dix, New Jersey, on March 26, 2003.

Bravo Company (not yet knicknamed "The Bandits") and the rest of the battalion are packed, all wearing Desert Camouflage Uniform (DCU), and waiting for the call to begin staging their way to the air base and a flight to Kuwait. The Invasion of Iraq hasn't yet begun, but the Bandits are going to war.

Featured Vendor: Alibris

Featured Vendor: Alibris used books.

Sometimes the biggies (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, &tc.) just don't have or can't find the book you need. That's when Alibris can "get 'er done." For all your out-of-print needs....

JG - Johnson to focus on US/Jamaica trade

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

Johnson to focus on US/Jamaica trade

published: Wednesday December 26, 2007

Johnson

Jamaica's newly appointed Ambassador to the United States, Anthony Johnson, believes the improvement of trade between the two nations will be the most critical area of focus during his tenure in office, beginning early next year.

The appointment of Mr. Johnson, a former Jamaica Labour Party senator and Member of Parliament, was officially announced on Monday. He had for some time been rumoured to be the new government's pick for the job vacated by Ambassador Gordon Shirley in August.
"The United States is Jamaica's largest trading partner at over 50 per cent," Mr. Johnson told The Gleaner yesterday, while also pointing out that more than half the island's visitors come from that nation.

In addition to the focus on trade, Mr. Johnson stressed that the Jamaican Embassy in Washington will have to grapple with issues related to immigration, tourism and the diaspora, as well as the Caribbean Community (Caricom) on a whole.

Tradition

"Jamaica's mission plays a pivotal role with Caricom," he said. "They expect us to constantly look out for their interests, and I certainly will carry on that tradition."

Mr. Johnson, a senior lecturer in the Department of Management Studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona, served as Minister of State in the 1980s with the ministries of Industry and Commerce, and Agriculture during his time as Member of Parliament from 1983-1993.

He has also taken the role of Opposition spokesman on areas including education, agriculture, mining, energy and technology. He served as senator from 1980 to 1983 and 1993 to 2007 and as minority leader of the Senate during the last five years.

A graduate of Kingston College, Johnson holds an MA in International Trade and Finance and a BA in economics from the University of California where he was named an outstanding scholar. He is the only Jamaican to serve as director of parliamentarians for Global Action, and has represented Jamaica at several conferences covering a wide range of subjects.

Mr. Johnson and his wife, Pamela, have four children.

re: "Saturday Evening Post"

Thanks to Michael at Supply Side Politics 2.0 ("Converting Republicans to Conservatism since about 4 o'clock last Friday.....now celebrating 15+ years of 'Clinton Fatigue' ") for the mention.

re: "New York Times Apparently To Run Story About McCain’s Citizenship Status"

Rob at the Say Anything Blog notes this story is about to emerge from the blogosphere, where it was discussed thoroughly several weeks ago and appear in the New York Times.

Quote(s):

"The Constitution isn’t clear about citizens who are born abroad, and the Supreme Court has never ruled on it, but there is a lengthy precedent of people in McCain’s situation being granted birthright citizenship."

Unfortunately, this question isn’t exactly a matter of settled law.

The U.S. Constitution’s requirements that presidents must meet include that he/she be a “natural born citizen.”

Sen. McCain is unquestionably a U.S. citizen since birth, under the provisions of the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA). He probably qualifies more than one way in that regard.

It’s not a matter of settled constitutional law that a U.S. citizen from birth is the same as a “natural born citizen.”

For some reason, the Federal Election Commission has let Sen. McCain file, so I’m reluctant to second guess them. However, this could conceivably go to the U.S. Supreme Court to settle.

Incidentally, this question was raised weeks ago in various web logs; it’s not much of surprise that it took the NYT this long to catch up with the “amateurs.”

Lastly, being born on a U.S. base doesn’t make on a U.S. citizen, although a lot of people seem to think it does. It matters where one is born, whether in the U.S. or not, or it matters who one’s parents are.

Some earlier CAA posts on this were:

Jan. 16th

Feb. 5th

re: "Clothes Make the Man"

Steve at Dead Men Working ("Prohibited from bidding on any normal job in the State Department, often prohibited from working in the field of our specialization and expertise, unable to leave until our cases are resolved, we are the zombies of the State Department, the dead men (and women) working.") comments on this non-scandal.

Money quote(s):

"My concern is the idea that "clothes make the man," and that somehow, being photographed in the national costume of another country or culture can be seen as unpatriotic.

As a Foreign Service Officer, the very idea seems ludicrous. It is extremely common for a foreign diplomat (read, in this context, an American diplomat) to be honored in some ceremonial way with a gift of traditional clothes. I have seen pictures of foreign visitors to Texas receiving ten-gallon hats from state officials. And I have participated in many ceremonies overseas where an American ambassador or a visiting senior official (including, on several occasions, a sitting President of the United States) has been presented with such a gift of clothes. It is not rare for that American official to then don the gifted clothes for a photo opportunity.

Nor, frankly, is it all that rare for an American or other diplomat, or any other expat, for that matter, to adopt a local mode of dress while residing in a foreign country. In many cases, local garb is more comfortable in the local climate than American clothes. In many cases, dressing in local garb identifies a person as someone who is not a tourist, resulting in better prices at the market and greater respect on the street.

And in some cases, it is a matter of security. I have travelled, for example, to Peshawar, in Pakistan. Not only did I, based on past experience, don local garb for that trip, but I also noted that every single Westerner on my plane stepped into the mens or ladies room at the airport and changed into local garb before beginning the final leg of the journey. In Peshawar, as in a number of other places, dressing as a Westerner does not merely get you higher prices and a long line of beggars following you around. It can get you killed.

Every Foreign Service Officer, White House travel official, Congressional staffer, or American businessman who has ever worked in a country where locals dress significantly differently than Americans do knows these things to be true." (Bold type added for emphasis. - CAA)

Prague Street Scenery (XII)

Taken in Prague, Czech Republic, on September 8, 2006.

Featured Comic: The Devil's Panties

Featured Comic: The Devil's Panties.

Lots of inside humor for those who go to "cons." I think.

That's not the consular kind of "cons," it's the SF convention sort of "cons."

And that's not the Special Forces kind of SF either.

If you don't get it, you just don't get it.

Remind me to go to one of them thar cons someday when I'm in the States for longer than a coupla months.

S&S - Skeleton crew handles light Space-A schedule at Ramstein

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

Skeleton crew handles light Space-A schedule at Ramstein

By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes

European edition, Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Ben Bloker / S&S A security worker gazes out a large glass overlook to the flight line as a cargo plane taxis in on a relatively slow Christmas day at the Ramstein passenger terminal. A handful of wounded servicemembers and space-available travelers made their way through the 723rd Air Mobility Squadron’s aero medical facility and passenger terminal during the holiday.

Ben Bloker / S&S Air Force Capt. Juan Carlos Gonzalez, accompanied by children Aimee, 13, and Aaron, 9, gets a free flight to the States for Christmas as Airman 1st Class Michael Page, a passenger service agent with the 723rd Air Mobility Squadron, issues tickets at Ramstein’s passenger terminal Christmas Day. Gonzalez and his kids flew “Space A” a couple days ago from the States for a surprise European vacation. Thinking it would take all day to get a flight back to the U.S., they were excited to get a flight to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., after waiting a little over an hour at Ramstein.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Easter and Willie Lewis haven’t spent Christmas at home in six years.

And this year was no different.

The North Carolina couple has made a tradition out of celebrating Christmas a little early with family and then catching a flight overseas with the military’s space-available, or Space-A, travel program.

It allows active-duty and retired servicemembers and their dependents to fly for free on military aircraft.

En route to Paris, the couple arrived at Ramstein’s Passenger Terminal Tuesday afternoon along with a handful of other holiday travelers.

“It can be a little hectic to get where you’re going but once you do everything is great,” said Willie, a retired Army sergeant first class who now teaches ROTC.

“We’ve trained our family to miss us at Christmas because we’re usually away.”
While flight hoppers like the Lewis’ were planning excursions to the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, others like Kristy Schoch were just trying to get home.

After visiting family in the States for two weeks, Schoch was ready to spend the second half of Christmas Day in Germany with her husband, Air Force Staff Sgt. Larry Schoch, and their 14-month-old daughter, Peyton.

“Being with my husband and daughter feels more like home than anywhere else,” she said.

The usually bustling passenger terminal was mostly deserted on Christmas Day.
Only 14 flights were scheduled, though between two and three times as many come in and out on average day, said Col. Kyle Garland, commander of the 723rd Air Mobility Squadron, which oversees the Space-A program. Garland and Lt. Col. Vernon Lucas, along with their wives and Lucas’ two children, delivered homemade goodies bags to travelers and those working the holiday shift.

“We wanted to take the opportunity to bring them a little holiday spirit,” Garland said. “Thankfully this was a light day so we’re able to release a lot of people early.”

Airman 1st Class Joseph Fisher, like most others who worked Tuesday, had a shorter shift than usual. The 21-year-old spent his first Christmas away from home operating the terminal’s customer service counter.

“I’ve got to be here to man the phones and help people even though there aren’t so many people around,” said Fisher, who was looking forward to calling his family back home in Washington after having dinner with friends.

Of all the comforts of home, “just being around my family for Christmas is probably what I miss the most.”

RCP - Rewarding Separatists Will Haunt the West

Be sure to read this article by David Warren at RealClearPolitics:

Rewarding Separatists Will Haunt the West

Money quote(s):

"My rule of thumb, on wars, is to fight them with your enemies, when absolutely necessary; but never with your friends, and in particular, never in order to create new enemies. True, as we all know from personal experience, sometimes your friends are more irritating than your enemies, and the temptation to bomb them is always there. It is a temptation that must be resisted, however."

" "ethnic cleansing," also known as the massacre of innocents."

&

"(T)he fact that Kosovo had a significant ethnic majority of Albanian Muslims over Serbian Christians was not, in itself, sufficient argument to detach it from Serbia by main force. For if that is the argument, the state system which provides the only order the planet currently enjoys will tend to disintegrate.

Strange to say, I am with Vladimir Putin on this one, and against George W. Bush. Mr. Putin's remarks on the inspiration that Kosovo's independence has given to violent separatists in Chechnya, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and elsewhere, are entirely to the point.

Indeed, driving the Serbian government and Serbian people into the protective embrace of ex-Soviet Russia, and ultimately her ex-KGB strongman, was among several counter-productive dimensions in the war that Madeleine Albright organized, along with other ruinous Clinton interventions in areas of peripheral interest to the U.S. (Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia).

The NATO action in Kosovo brought Mr. Putin -- the hammer of the Chechens -- to power, by demonstrating that force and force alone will decide secession struggles, East or West. It restored anti-Americanism to its place in the Russian national security consensus, indirectly bringing an end to the Yeltsin reform era.

It was an incredibly stupid war to wage, and the product was on display in Brussels yesterday where the Russian ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogovin, actually threatened the use of force to prevent Kosovo's declaration of independence from going any farther.

President Bush, who was prompted to recognize the self-declared Kosovar state (together with most European powers), feels obliged to accept the fait accompli he inherited from the preceding administration. He, or his successor, will then try to resist the next stage of demands, for a Greater Albania in which Kosovo attempts to merge with Albania, and the Muslim majorities in adjoining districts of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Greece begin insurrections to join them. By recognizing Kosovo, Bush et al. have validated exactly that: a deadly new round of Balkan troubles, ripe for Islamicization.

We cannot afford to validate the principle of armed insurrection, whether in Kosovo or Chechnya or Palestine or Kashmir or northern Sri Lanka or southern Thailand or the southern Philippines or in any of the many other places where terrorism demands to be rewarded with an independent state."


Hat tip to Dymphna at Gates of Vienna ("At the siege of Vienna in 1683 Islam seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe. We are in a new phase of a very old war.").

re: "I Was Just Saying... "

Samantha West at Samantha Speaks ("The United States Marine Corps has always supported us in our time of need. Read their history and see how they have unfailingly stood at the edge of freedom and sacrificed so much so we can live free.") has the coolest, tear-jerker story for us dog-lovers and Iraq vets. Madam-at-Arms was weeping.

Re-Americanization (L)

A gentleman's bed.

Taken at Jamestown Settlement, Virginia, on June 30, 2007.

United Nations Journal: A Delegate's Odyssey, by William F. Buckley, Jr., 258 pp.

United Nations Journal: A Delegate's Odyssey, by William F. Buckley, Jr., 258 pp.

Foreword by Daniel P. Moynihan

Paperback. Anchor Books, Anchor Press/Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1977

Originally published in hardcover by G.P. Putnam's Sons in 1974.

ISBN: 0-385-12695-6

Foreword copyright (c) 1977 by Doubleday & Company, Inc.

Text copyright (c) 1974 by William F. Buckley, Jr.

Printed in the United States of America

"William F. Buckley, Jr. is the founder of National Review and has contributed articles to most other American publications ranging from Motor Boating to The New Yorker. Author of over a dozen books beginning with God and Man at Yale, he has recently written his first novel, Saving the Queen. Mr. Buckley is perhaps best-known for his association with the weekly television show "Firing Line," which he began hosting in 1966. In 1973, William Buckley spent three months at the United Nations as the Public Member of the United States delegation to the 28th General Assembly. It is from this experience that he wrote United Nations Journal."

Obviously, the above, being written in 1977, leaves out quite a bit.

William F. Buckley, Jr. passed away yesterday at age 82.

I first read this book of his only a few years after he wrote it, while still in high school, participating in model United Nations and while doing research for a long-forgotten paper.

I believe that this book, along with Amb. Moynihan's book A Dangerous Place and Amb. Bolton's Surrender Is Not An Option, are essential reading for any American seeking understanding of American foreign policy goals and the realities our diplomatic mission faces at Turtle Bay.

S&S - A very Kenyan Christmas. Soldiers in Africa cope with distance from family by sharing stories.

From my archive of press clippings:

Stars and Stripes

A very Kenyan Christmas

Soldiers in Africa cope with distance from family by sharing stories

By Zeke Minaya, Stars and Stripes

Mideast edition, Monday and Tuesday, December 24 and 25, 2007

By Zeke Minaya / S&S U.S. Navy Captain Tom Broderick of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa addresses members of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 based in Shant Abaq, Kenya, on Saturday. Broderick traveled to the remote location to remind the Seabees that they are not forgotten and to wish them happy holidays.

By Zeke Minaya / S&S Navy Seabee Chad Wescott, 29, of Valentine, Neb., hung a Christmas stocking along with his uniform in Shant Abaq, Kenya.

By Zeke Minaya / S&S Brice Nash, a 25-year-old native of East Wenatchee, Wash., eats a slim jim as his Christmas stocking hangs nearby in Shant Abaq, Kenya, on Dec 21. Nash is a member of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40, out of Port Hueneme, Calif.

SHANT ABAQ, Kenya — Until about two weeks ago, the view from the Seabee camp here was of hard-packed, parched countryside and some of the worse roads in Kenya.

Since then, rainfall has left fine green grass that has brightened the flat, bleak landscape and attracted a herd of braying and grazing donkeys from a nearby village. But the unpaved roads turned into clayish mud, separating the men and women of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 that much more from the outside world.

“We don’t get many visitors out here,” said Curtis Lovejoy, 33, chief construction mechanic and a native of New Boston, N.H.

This corner of the North Eastern Province of Kenya may seem like an unlikely place to celebrate Christmas. But deployments to far-flung locations are part of military life. And like many in the military this holiday season, the Seabees in Africa will spend Christmas with a surrogate family – their fellow service members.

“Everybody makes the best of it,” said Chad Wescott, 29, construction mechanic 1st class from Valentine, Neb. “It ends up being a good time.”

The construction battalion is building wells in Kenya as part of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. The task force hopes to prevent anti-American extremism from getting a foothold in the region by promoting stability and good will through joint military exercises, the building of water wells and schools, and medical and veterinary assistance.

While most of the task force’s roughly 2,000 personnel are stationed on Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, the 26 members of the battalion in Africa are based hundreds of miles away in Kenya.

“We don’t get much attention out here,” Wescott said. “Not too many people know what we do.” The sense of isolation was exacerbated by the remoteness of Shant Abaq, thanks to the rugged roads, and the initial suspicions of the locals toward the Americans.

The Seabees had to dispel rumors that they were dumping toxic waste and poisoning the local water supply. “It was a little tough at first,” Lovejoy said. “(Local residents) were misinformed. They had preconceived notions of Americans. We have tried to reach out to them as much as we can.” Relations have warmed recently with the completion of two wells.

Life far from the amenities of a big base and near a less-than-friendly community would seem to provide ideal conditions for cabin fever. But that hasn’t happened, members of the battalion said.

“You have your minor squabbles,” Lovejoy said, “but this is without a doubt one of the best crews I have ever worked with.” The isolated outpost has brought an already tight-knit group closer together, battalion members said.

Nearing Christmas, “that’s when you start thinking about home and family,” said Robert Steere, 23, steel worker 2nd class, from Michigan. “But that’s when you start talking to the guys and start telling stories and feel better.”

Steere’s mother sent Christmas stockings and gifts to her son and several other Seabees in his tent. The familiar red and white adornments were hung over their cots. “We already opened most of the presents,” he said laughing. This will be Steere’s third Christmas away from home and “it doesn’t get any harder, but it doesn’t get any easier, either,” he said.

Brice Nash, 25, equipment operator 2nd class from East Wenatchee, Wash., said even small reminders from home mean a great deal during the holidays.

“My wife sent me a Hershey bar (in a care package),” he said. “I can’t believe how excited I got over a chocolate bar.”

Nash said that his wife and their 14-month-old daughter are staying with family members while he is away. He said his daughter runs around the house pointing at pictures of her father. “I have missed birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. But that’s the job. I wouldn’t change this job for the world,” he said.

The task force’s senior leadership has visited several outposts across Africa in the days leading up to Christmas, bringing care packages and newspapers from home.
U.S. Navy Capt. Tom Broderick braved a four-hour, teeth-rattling drive out to Shant Abaq recently to stay a night.

He spent much of the evening talking to the Seabees, laughing along with their stories and listening to their concerns. At breakfast, the next day he stood up and said a few words.

“You are not forgotten,” he told the gathering. “This mission is very important. I hope you find it rewarding. I wish you all a very, very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.”

re: "Why the AFSA Survey Is Right: Favoritism Charge is Real"

PHK at WhirledView ("A Look at World Politics & Most Everything Else") provides an educated interpretation of the recent AFSA survey results.

Money quote(s):

"(T)he major issue affecting Foreign Service members was the perception – at least - of undue favoritism in the State Department that benefited far too few individuals. Such charges can be part and parcel of any organization – but when they are believed by so many people on the inside they need additional investigation to help separate fact from fiction."

"Maybe this is simply the sign of the times in these United States – the widening division between the haves and the have nots. Maybe it is the result of an excessively hierarchical system worsened by, in my view, an unnecessary division into two classes of professional US Foreign Service employees: the Senior Foreign Service and the regular services, a divided and unnecessarily divisive system that since it’s inception almost 30 years ago has over-compensated a few at the expense of too many. This is one reason why today the Foreign Service lacks enough qualified officers trained in Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Russian and other difficult languages."

"(T)he AFSA survey hit - with its very high response rate - a raw nerve among State Department higher ups and resulted in denials by several. Those who most vociferously objected to the survey’s veracity, of course, were a few of the very people who have also most benefited from the system the way it is."

"(T)he survey results appear to have correctly identified two key issues that should demand the Department’s attention now, not later. Unlike the quagmire that is Iraq, these inequities can, and should, be easily resolved.

They are as follows:

1) Senior Foreign Service Officers as well as all other US government employees assigned overseas by other departments except the FBI are able to keep their Washington, DC locality pay boost when assigned abroad – a salary increase now over 20%. The Foreign Service generalists and specialists, however, cannot: this means they need to serve at 20% hardship (or greater) differential posts just to make up for what they lose leaving Washington to serve overseas. These are the very people who are paid less to begin with. There are far more of them. These professional staffers make US Embassies and Consulates abroad tick.

2) The second issue is the perception of abject favoritism in State’s assignments, promotions and special awards system. I reviewed the biographic information on the appointments of career U.S. Ambassadorial assignments for the years 2006-8. This information is readily available through the Internet. The data I used comes from the Ambassadorial biographies found on the State Department, White House and/or Senate Foreign Relations Committee websites. It didn’t take long to discover that what smelled like favoritism and walked like favoritism also talked like the favoritism highlighted in the AFSA survey."

"(T)oo high a percentage of Senior Foreign Service Officers who held or hold positions in Human Resources were or are being nominated for Ambassadorial positions than should have been nominated if there had been a level playing field for Ambassadorial nominations among all those eligible to be considered for them. What is even more striking is that none of those nominated for Ambassadorships between 2006-8 from positions in Human Resources had served in Iraq since the invasion in 2003 – or for that matter had ever served in Iraq. Period."

In what industry, aside perhaps from the headhunting or temporary services firms, do the top jobs go to a higher percentage of human resources persons than, say, almost any other field of endeavor? This sort of insular feedback loop gives the self-licking ice cream cone a bad name!

Further:

"(A) number of Iraq Senior Foreign Service alumni did become Ambassadors after their service in the Iraq war zone – about 14 percent of the total career Ambassadorial assignments versus approximately 11 percent from Human Resources. But there were far more Senior Foreign Service Officers who served in Iraq during the same time frame than in Human Resources so there should have been a significantly greater number of Senior Foreign Service Officers who had served in Iraq awarded Ambassadorships than those in Human Resources. This was not the case. Perhaps the Department and/or AFSA should be asking why."

re: "Leftists and Their Hating of America"

A nod of thanks to Samantha West at Samantha Speaks ("The United States Marine Corps has always supported us in our time of need. Read their history and see how they have unfailingly stood at the edge of freedom and sacrificed so much so we can live free.") for the mention.

re: "Winning and losing"

Lex at Neptunus Lex ("The unbearable lightness of Lex. Enjoy.") says there's a choice.

Money quote(s):

"(T)he US and its coalition allies are in the rare and enviable position of deciding whether or not to win the wars they find themselves embroiled in - the social costs of wartime defeat are historically so burdensome that it is far more often imposed than chosen."

"From a purely pragmatic perspective, there are still those holes in the New York city skyline bearing mute witness to the fact that permitting toxic forms of repression to take root inside failed states encourages the eventual export of their barbarisms abroad. Not to mention the loss of strategic influence in a critical part of the world, nor the price of letting implacable enemies fill the vacuum left by our retreat."

&

"(W)e will have enemies, whether we need them or not."

Postcard From Kuwait (II)

War Memorial, Kuwait City

Surrender Is Not An Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad, by John Bolton

Now reading: Surrender Is Not An Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad, by Amb. John Bolton, 486 pp.

"With no-holds-barred candor, the straight-talking former ambassador to the United Nations takes readers behind the scenes at the UN and the U.S. State Department and reveals why his efforts to defend American interests and reform the UN resulted in controversy. A veteran of three Republican administrations and a nominee for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, Bolton shows how the U.S. can lead the way to a more realistic global security arrangement for the twenty-first century and identifies the next generation of threats to America."

First Thresholds Editions hardcover edition November 2007

Copyright (c) 2007 by John R. Bolton.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5284-0
ISBN-10: 1-4165-5284-7

Manufactured in the United States of America

LSN - Passport requirements to enter USA delayed

From my archive of press clippings:

Lake Superior News

Passport requirements to enter USA delayed

December 26, 2007 — Ottawa The Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, issued the following statement in response to the decision by the United States to delay until June 1, 2009, at the earliest, implementation of passport requirements for travel by land and sea under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). The 18-month delay of the passport requirement was contained in the budgetary spending bill passed last week by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Bush today. “I am pleased that the U.S. has decided to delay the implementation of the WHTI for travel by land and sea. However, I remain concerned about the impact the United States' WHTI will have on the economy and border communities of both countries.

WHTI is a new U.S. law, now in place for air travel, which will eventually require all Canadians (and Americans) who are entering the U.S. to have a passport or other secure identity document.

In my meetings with Secretary Chertoff and members of Congress, I have been steadfast in underlining the importance of taking the time needed to get this right. I will continue to work with Secretary Chertoff to confirm that alternative secure documents, such as enhanced driver's licences, will be accepted to enter the United States across the land border instead of a passport. Our government's efforts have generated considerable support for such alternative documents. In particular, I am pleased that our government's efforts have resulted in youth aged 18 and under being allowed to present only a birth certificate to enter the United States by land or water.

While the government's efforts have produced results, we continue to encourage all Canadians to get a passport if they plan to travel to the United States.
This delay in WHTI implementation only applies to Canadians traveling by land and sea. Canadians flying to or through the U.S. must present a valid Canadian passport or a valid NEXUS card when used at a NEXUS kiosk at participating airports.”

Prague Street Scenery (XI)

Taken in Prague, Czech Republic, on September 8, 2006.

Blog Roll & Links Update: Alexandria Scottish Heritage Fair (2)

Something for you calendar of upcoming events: The Alexandria Scottish Heritage Fair.

Their website hasn't been update to show next year's date yet, but it was a one-day event last held Sunday, October 7, 2007 at Fort Ward Park, 4301 W. Braddock RoadAlexandria, Virginia.

Alexandria is a very Scottish-friendly city, with several such events each year.

(2)

JG - US$100m in fines against firms for foreign bribery

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

US$100m in fines against firms for foreign bribery

published: Wednesday December 26, 2007

Companies paying foreign government officials in a bid to secure contracts has emerged as one of the fastest growing targets for prosecutors and stock market regulators in the hunt for fraud, according to Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission officials.

This year the U.S. government has collected more than US$100 million in penalties from oil, chemical and telecommunications companies and secured five guilty pleas from corporate executives. The number of foreign bribery cases filed by criminal and civil investigators in the United States has more than doubled since 2004.

"There's been more prosecutions in the last three years than probably the history of the statute," said Joseph Warin, a longtime Washington corporate defence lawyer and former prosecutor.

Among the forces fuelling the trend are the increasingly global reach of business and reforms ushered in after the last round of U.S. corporate scandals, which are prompting executives to dig deeper into their operations to find wrongdoing and turn themselves in, hoping for leniency. U.S. law enforcement, meanwhile, is marshalling more resources in a bid to level the playing field for companies competing against foreign rivals.

An industrywide probe

Nearly a dozen energy companies are under investigation for alleged payoffs to Nigerian customs officials, and the giant insurance broker Aon recently told investors it had received a subpoena seeking information about its foreign operations, part of what it called an industry-wide probe.

Authorities in the United States and Germany are negotiating with Daimler to resolve allegations that the automaker paid foreign officials to win business in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.

In all, nearly 60 more federal cases are in the pipeline, according to defence lawyers who make a living by fending off such inquiries the numbers remain small as a percentage of the government's corporate fraud case list, they represent a significant increase in the number of new cases and have become a priority of top law enforcers.

For the first time, the FBI is devoting five agents in the Washington field office solely to enforce the Watergate-era law called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, noted Mark F. Mendelsohn, the prosecutor who oversees the initiative.

The law gives prosecutors the authority to target U.S. companies and their subsidiaries, as well as foreign businesses whose stock trades on American exchanges. In a recent speech, Assistant U.S. Attorney-General Alice S. Fisher said th oversight is part of a "strategic and deliberate plan" to intensify scrutiny of improper business tactics that can breed corruption and even political unrest.

The issue has been sensitive for American companies because other countries, including France, Japan and Italy, only recently began prosecuting corporate bribes to foreign officials. Until a decade ago, bribes were tax deductible in many European countries.

Britain a source of contention

Britain has yet to bring a successful bribery prosecution, a source of contention for U.S. executives and government leaders. The country has dropped a hot-potato case involving decades of allegedly improper payments by defence contractor BAE Systems to Saudi officials.

Amid the outcry, the U.S. Justice Department opened its own probe of BAE. Among the items in investigators' sights is a Washington bank account controlled by former ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, according to lawyers following the case.

But if Britain has yet to throw its weight behind anti-bribery efforts, the same cannot be said for Germany. A massive, ongoing investigation by German authorities of more than $1 billion in allegedly improper payments by the engineering conglomerate Siemens means "the risk of prosecution has expanded greatly because it's not just the U.S.," said Philip Urofsky, a Washington defence lawyer who prosecuted such cases during his stint at the Justice Department in the 1990s.

Lawyers involved in the cases attribute the growth spurt to a steep increase in companies that are turning themselves in to prosecutors when employees or auditors flag questionable overseas payments. Companies that cooperate with prosecutors are supposed to receive leniency - an incentive for them to come forward. One was Tyco International, which last year agreed to pay $50 million to settle a civil case over cash and gifts its Brazilian and South Korean employees lavished on authorities to win construction and water business.

LA Times - Washington Post

re: " "For the first time... I am proud of my country..." "

Philippines Phil ("Now lives in the Philippines, aka "Paradise!" ") shares his thoughts on the arrested political maturity of our ideological adolescents.

Money quote(s):

"It’s no secret that Americans who choose to be on “the left,” especially those who have attended and are products of our universities, have developed a huge distaste for their own country.

For these folks, nothing we’ve ever done as a nation is legitimate. In fact, to them, starting from day one, we are anything but legit. I’ve had conversations with these types and their drumbeat is we are “bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad… and anyone who believes otherwise is stupidly dim-witted or “uneducated.”

When I’ve debated these “lefties” it hasn’t mattered what I might bring up that we as a nation have accomplished, they pick it apart, trivialize it and in a loud snooty voice declare it foul. They look at the broad picture of our history and find it nothing but wicked. It’s truly amazing. I call it the “throw the baby out with the bathwater” syndrome.

Bring up the loftiness of Washington and Jefferson and they hold their noses and shout slavery. Point out the hundreds of thousands of valiant Americans maimed and killed for freedom, including the white men who died ending slavery, and still they cry out that war is not the answer and describe those who gave “the last full measure” as misguided racist pawns. Point out our scientific and technological advances and breakthroughs and they scream global warming while venting their spleen on the evils of globalization. It goes on and on. When it comes to the United States their views are forever jaundiced.

The framework of this self-hatred is learned from professors at first and later reinforced from each other at cocktail parties and in their blogs."

"When I first came across this sort of liberal mindset in my teen years I was totally bewildered by the deep down disgust that fills these people. Some of them. . . . really have to control themselves to keep their deep feelings under control—and at times, hidden. But then, thinking back, it begins to make sense why and how they got this way. I remember when I too almost fell under the sway of America-bashing.

In junior high school I read a series of books deemed essential reading by several of my teachers. To name a few, they were paperbacks like “The Jungle,” “Black Like Me,” “Slaughter House Five,” and “I Buried my Heart at Wounded Knee.” Each time I finished another, I couldn’t believe those things happened in my country, that Americans could do such mean things.

Also, about the same time I was reading these controversial tomes, the Vietnam War was in its final throes. Our environment was in tatters as could visibly be seen by looking into the bilge-like waters of any river running through any US city at the time. It seemed that everything I heard and read and was told in class was a condemnation of my country.
Combine this with normal teenage angst and youthful idealism and you have a witch’s brew of self-condemnation.

Now, whenever I come across a blog written by a USA-flagellating progressive, wherein they basically claim that nearly every problem in the world today is our fault, I recognize myself in my development years. And that is my point; these American hating liberals. . . . are adults that never outgrew their teenage angst. They sucked up all the negativity and internalized it into their adult psyche. It’s who they are now and most cannot change."

&

"How did I escape the liberal trap that is our education system? For one thing, I grew up and realized that there were other books and views out there that didn’t concentrate ONLY on the ugliness. I traveled the world and was able to compare American culture and our mindset to how the rest of mankind sees things and does things; and believe it or not, our way really is not all that bad. I realized that the kind of ugliness I learned from my grade school teachers about the United States exists in ALL societies; that ALL nations have their historical skeletons in the closet."

re: "Is this crazy, or is this crazy?"

More on the downside to independence in Kosovo, brought to you by Melanie Phillips in a column in The Spectator ("Champagne for the brain").

Quote(s):

"The decision by Britain, America and certain other European countries to recognise Kosovo as an independent state is mind-blowingly stupid and suicidal and of a piece with their obvious determination to capitulate in the war for civilisation. It is a rotten decision for the following reasons:

1) It endorses a breach of a country's right to maintain its own integrity. Serbia is a properly constituted democratic country. To recognise the validity of such a secession is to undermine the principle of a country's right to determine its own composition. It puts up two fingers to international law, which explicitly recognises Serbian authority over Kosovo and upholds a state’s right to its own sovereignty. It opens the way for any other breakaway movement to do the same, both in the Balkans and around the world. So Tamils can now claim a precedent for seceding from Sri Lanka, Corsicans from France, Basques from Spain. And after Kosovo, can Scotland be far behind?

2) It asserts that religion matters more than nationality. This is multiculturalism taken to its lunatic natural conclusion. It says in effect that nationality is not the glue that must bind people of different creeds together, but religion or ethnicity can be allowed to break the nation apart. Every nation with restive ethnic minorities will now be undermined by this endorsement of illegal Balkanisation. Serbians will now find themselves foreigners in their own country."

"3) It gives victory to the forces of ethnic cleansing. Although the Serbs under Milosevic committed atrocities, the Kosovars started the killing in their revolt against a sovereign country and drove out between 150,000 and 200,000 Serbs. In the past eight years 1,248 non-Albanians have been killed, with many more kidnapped, now presumed dead. 151 spiritual and cultural monuments in Kosovo have been destroyed by Albanians and 213 mosques built with money from Saudi Arabia. Eighty per cent of graveyards have been destroyed or desecrated, with no response from the international community. The Albanians have turned Christian graveyards into car parks, playgrounds and rubbish dumps. Anything relating to Serbia or Christianity libraries, public records, books, names of places and even towns have been wiped out.

4) Most important of all, an independent Muslim Kosovo is a beachhead for radical Islam in Europe. Al Qaeda has been operating in Kosovo since the early 1990s. Jihadis from Yemen and Chechnya have been fighting with the Kosovo Liberation Army and Saudi is pouring money into the Kosovo mosques thus turning them into Wahhabi hotbeds of radicalism."

&

"Russia’s President Putin has warned that recognising Kosovo will rebound very badly upon the countries who have blundered into endorsing it. The fact that this outcome is merely the inevitable consequence of the war so unwisely prosecuted by those countries against Serbia does not soften its deeply alarming implications. Putin is warning only too correctly of the dangers to the west of this development and the supreme folly of endorsing it.

For once, Putin is on the right side and Britain and America are utterly wrong. That is the measure of this debacle."

re: "Tuesday, February 19, 2008"

Jerry Pournelle at Chaos Manor Musings ("A View from at Chaos Manor") touches on the independence of Kosovo.

Money quote(s):

"I see we rushed to recognize Kosovo. Understand that Kosovo was majority Serbian in World War I, and there has never been a legal Albanian immigrant into Kosovo. Now the Albanians have declared Kosovo independent. Russia, whom we need as an ally in our engagement with China, and China, are standing together against our recognition of Kosovo.

When San Antonio, Texas, declares independence, what will happen? We do live in interesting times.

Do I mean any of the above? Only to the extent that it's stuff to think about. But the facts are clear: illegal immigration was, in this case, indistinguishable from invasion."


Hat tip to Tim Covington of The Ravings of a Mad Bear in the comments at this recent post by Just A Decurion at The Marching Camp ("A lonely castrum in the midst of the Barbarians.").

re: "A Tribute to Ambassors with Muddy Boots"

xformed at Chaotic Synaptic Activity ("It's Not Random, It's Chaos!") notes an Iraqi who believes in the mission.

Quoting a Yahoo!News article:

"LEWISTON, Maine - Safaa Wadi moved to this former mill city after his life was threatened in his native Iraq while serving as an interpreter for the U.S. Army. He expects to soon head back to Iraq — not as a civilian interpreter, but as a U.S. soldier.

Wadi arrived in the United States in September with a special immigrant visa for Iraqi and Afghan interpreters. But with his savings nearly depleted and unable to land a decent job, Wadi enlisted in the Army. He begins training in South Carolina on Monday."

For those readers who don't know, under normal circumstances only U.S. citizens and Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs, a.k.a. "green card holders") may enlist in the U.S. military.

Here we see someone who served successfully (or he wouldn't have qualified for the Special Immigrant Visa) as an interpreter for the U.S. Army, received his immigrant visa, and subsequent to getting his "green card," joined the U.S. Army as a soldier.

The mere fact that he needed a job (who doesn't?) doesn't detract from the dignity of his enlistment. Lots of us were "between jobs" when we "jined-up." During ordinary times, it'd be rather odd of someone to leave a good-paying job to join the military.

His military service puts him on the fast track for U.S. citizenship as well.

re: "EU withdraws from Northern Kosovo"

WretchardTheCat at The Belmont Club ("History and History in the Making") relays this bit of news.

Money quote(s):

"The wider impact of the Kosovo crisis is the precedent that it sets for many of the "frozen conflicts" of the world, ranging from Azerbaijan to the Basque region. Remarkably, many Muslim countries have refused to recognize Kosovo. And their reluctance is fueled in part by the desire to avoid stirring up separatism. Therefore Kosovo has been sold by the EU and the US as an "exception" to the general rule.

The problem is that the Serbs are taking the cue from the Kosovars. If Kosovo can split from Serbia why can't Serbian regions split from Kosovo? The EU believed that by throwing a protective blanket of "suits" around the Serbs in the north that Kosovo might be held together. But as the experience of Iraq shows, stabilization can only occur where security is guaranteed. The crisis that will face Western policy in Kosovo is whether they are up to providing "security" which is another word for military force, to back up their "army of suits". The suits can't deploy without the uniforms."

re: "Don't know much about history... "

hfs at Homefront Six ("The nitty-gritty, down-and-dirty details of life as an Army wife...") had a great post this weekend.

Money quote(s):

"Sitting with the teens that I work with at church, one of them asked me why we have to go to school and learn things. Specifically things that she knew she was never going to have a need for later in life, such as history, literature, and algebra. We spent several minutes discussing the need for each of these subjects in life but there is something else to it.

Have you ever met someone that you truly admire and, upon spending any amount of time with them, realized that they are so much smarter than you?

There are several people in my life who I admire greatly...people whose thoughts, opinions, and company I feel like I cannot get enough of. I am drawn to them much like a moth is drawn to a flame. They fascinate me, intrigue me, and make me THINK. I love to think. I love to stretch my mind. I love to consider the opposing side of an argument simply because it forces my mind to go in directions it would not usually go. I enjoy spending time with people who make me think as it is like spending time getting a really good massage. Relaxing, refreshing, and invigorating.

They also cause me to feel regret…regret that I was not more diligent in school; regret that I haven’t read more, comprehended more, thought more. DONE more. These people who I admire are intelligent people who have been all over the world, experienced incredible things, thought incredible things, and seen incredible sights."

&

"(E)ducation is not just about taking a test or graduating from high school. It’s about using your brain to its fullest extent. It’s about filling it with as much as possible and stretching it in as many directions as possible so that you may participate in society fully and not just as a spectator. I tried to explain to them the feelings I felt when in conversation with someone much smarter than me that I admired and how frustrating it was not to have the depth of knowledge on subjects that they did."

Re-Americanization (XLIX)

An early colonial fireplace.

Taken at Jamestown Settlement, Virginia, on June 30, 2007.

Featured Music: Eddie From Ohio

Featured Music: Eddie From Ohio.

CAA is an "EddHead" from waaaaaaaaaaay back.

JG - Occupied Somalia

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

Occupied Somalia

published: Wednesday December 26, 2007


Gwynne Dyer, Contributor


It is exactly a year since Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, fell to Ethiopian troops (28 December), and the occupation has been one of the most brutal on record. The resistance started at once, and Ethiopian counter-insurgency tactics are not gentle.

As early as last April, Germany's ambassador to Somalia, Walter Lindner, wrote a public letter condemning the indiscriminate use of air strikes and heavy artillery in densely populated parts of Mogadishu, the systematic rape of women, and even the bombing of hospitals. By now, the Ethiopian army's attempts to terrorise the residents of Mogadishu into submission have driven 600,000 of them - 60 per cent of the population - to flee the city.

You will notice that some of the phrases used above do not appear in the agency reports about Somalia. The wire services do not talk about an Ethiopian occupation of Somalia, and they refer to the local Somali collaborators as the "transitional federal government" (TFG). This is mainly in deference to the United States, which organised and backed the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia.

Curse of the clan system

The curse of Somalia is the clan system. It is the main point of reference for most Somalis, and it really became a crippling burden when long-ruling dictator Mohammed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. In the pre-independence days and the early years afterwards, the clans were able to unite against their Italian and British colonial rulers, but in 1991 they had to create a new government without an external enemy. They couldn't do it.

As the clans fought it out in the streets, the whole infrastructure of an organised state collapsed. By 1992, American and United Nations forces arrived to help the millions of famine-stricken refugees, but they were only drawn into the inter-clan fighting as well, and by 1994, they had all withdrawn, leaving Somalia to anarchy and civil war for the next decade.

But in fact, most of the country was fairly stable under the control of one clan or another, with only the Mogadishu area still a battleground between rival clan warlords.

This did not greatly inconvenience the United States, which developed a keen interest in the politics of the region after the atrocities of 9/11. At first, the U.S. just made deals with the various warlords to ensure that no jihadi fanatics created a base there. But it got more upset when an organisation called the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) drove all the warlords out of Mogadishu in 2006 and gave the capital its first taste of peace and good government since 1991.

First taste of normality

The people of Mogadishu, enjoying their first taste of normality in 15 years, overwhelmingly supported the UIC, but the United States decided it must be overthrown. To do the job, Washington turned to its close ally Ethiopia, Somalia's perennial enemy. The Ethiopians, who have no interest in a stable and strong Somalia, were happy to oblige - and for diplomatic cover, the U.S. could use the "transitional federal government" of Somalia.
The TFG set up in the town of Baidoa in early 2006, and promptly went to war with the Union of Islamic Courts that controlled the capital.

Since it had only about 5,000 soldiers of its own, the TFG depended from the start on far larger numbers of Ethiopian troops to do the actual fighting. Large numbers of government members resigned as it became clear that the TFG had fallen into the hands of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Ethiopians, but a force of about 20,000 Ethiopian troops (with some U.S. air support) fought its way into Mogadishu a year ago.

With the occupation of Mogadishu, the interval of peace ended, and the past year's fighting has driven more than half the city's population into flight. The TFG has been permanently discredited by its link to the hated Ethiopians, but it will probably take more years of war to end the occupation, and a lot more Somalis will die. All because they called it the Union of Islamic Courts.

If only they had called it the Union of Buddhist Courts. Or Protestant Courts. Anything but the 'I' word.

Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

re: "Obama's Captain Speaks"

Ace at Ace of Spades HQ (" "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken") takes us through some the questioned/questionable points of this story.

Quote(s):

"Milbloggers say the platoon is the basic organic unit of the army, and troops are never picked out of a platoon to serve elsewhere -- if more troops are needed elsewhere, a whole platoon goes, not just Ronny, Bobby, Ricky and Mike.

I'm not in the military, but everyone who is seems to be in firm agreement on this point."

I'm no longer military and I have to differ on this point. Perhaps infantry platoons are somehow treated differently from the rest of the military, but when a deploying unit is short of, for instance, infantrymen, then that number of infantrymen are re-assigned to the deploying unit, making up its personnel shortfalls in a process sometimes called "cross-leveling."

Is it ideal to break-up a platoon team that has worked and trained well together? Absolutely not. Is it important that deploying units be as up-to-strength as possible so that breaking up the teams of non-deploying units is the lesser evil? Yes, it is.

Does the military's personnel management system occasionally fail to grasp that it is intended to serve the military's needs rather than the reverse? You betcha.

What I find odd, no, unconscionable, is that this would be done to a platoon that was itself deploying. WTF?

"The source himself denies he had to "capture" enemy weapons and equipment to fight -- he is claiming that he did in fact use such weapons on occasion, but that is different than warfare generally... how?"

This seems to get the sequence of events wrong. Would a local commander, at the far end of a very, very long supply chain ever use captured weapons and ammunition to supplement, augment, or make-up shortfalls in his own unit's armament? Regulations Be Damned, you can bet your next paycheck he would (or he should find another line of work, where his overscrupulous attention to regulations written far from the battleground can be indulged without being to the detriment of his soldiers).

"As for not having the weapons to train with at home -- well, that sounds like bullshit too. Tapper thinks his job is done if he merely talks to a guy making these claims; but perhaps he should actually do some actual reporting and find out if our army is being denied key ammunition in training."

This isn't as far-fetched as perhaps it might sound. Is the provision of the range-time, weaponry, and appropriate stocks of ammunition for troops preparing to deploy a priority? Yes, it is. Is providing those same items to units already in the field a somewhat higher priority? Yes, again. Does this (or other factors, to include negligence or incompetence up the chain of command all the way to the House Appropriations Committee) sometimes mean that units don't get all the necessary (nay, required) training resources before deploying? Yup. That happens. It was downright notorious, especially for deploying Reserve and Guard units leading up to OIF1, so I'm unsurprised that it could still be happening. No enough heads (if any) were made to roll for these failings back in 2002-3, so there's apparently no downside. After all, once the troops are deployed, they're no longer the concern of the commander of the Stateside training base.

S&S - Marines at embassy in Belgrade hunker down, wait out chaos

Stars and Stripes

Marines at embassy in Belgrade hunker down, wait out chaos

By Charlie Coon, and Kent Harris

Mideast edition, Saturday, February 23, 2008

STUTTGART, Germany — The torched section of the U.S. Embassy had been extinguished on Friday and calm prevailed in Belgrade, Serbia, but NATO forces and U.S. military planners continued to scrutinize the volatile region.

About 6,000 rioters in the Serbian capital broke away from a larger, peaceful demonstration on Thursday and set fire to the U.S. Embassy, forcing a group of Marines to hunker down inside and wait out the chaos.

One person died and more than 150 people were injured in the unrest in central Belgrade, police said. Nearly 200 people were arrested and 90 shops ransacked, officials said.

Serbs protesting Kosovo’s independence for a fifth-straight day on Friday attacked U.N. police guarding a key bridge in Mitrovica, northern Kosovo, with stones, glass, bottles and firecrackers.
NATO troops in the former province, 200 miles south of Belgrade, were standing by if they needed to come to the aid of police, said French Navy Capt. Bertrand Bonneau, spokesman for the NATO-led Kosovo Force.

Bonneau said the situation remained tense in Mitrovica, the most volatile area. Thousands of residents from Serbia were reportedly set to join Friday with Kosovo Serb students who have been protesting daily in the city.

“We are monitoring the situation very carefully,” Bonneau said.

In Stuttgart, Germany, troops at the European Plans and Operations Center, part of the U.S. European Command headquarters, opened communications lines with their security counterparts in the Balkans, including in Belgrade.

The command has not been asked to provide additional troops or aircraft in response to the crisis, said Lt. Col. John Dorrian. The situation in Belgrade, he noted, was being handled by Serbian authorities while U.S. forces attached to the NATO mission were far removed from the Belgrade unrest.

Dorrian said he did not know if the military readied aircraft in case an evacuation of embassy personnel was needed, adding “it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s on somebody’s checklist.”

“We did notify people who might be required to respond in event this escalated to a larger-scale emergency,” Dorrian said. “But that’s part of our normal operating procedure in case something significant happens in our area of responsibility.”

The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade had closed at noon Thursday in anticipation of the demonstration, according to Master Sgt. John Finnegan of Marine Security Guard Detachment Belgrade.

The group of Marines and security personnel who remained passed the time until the situation escalated later in the day.

Finnegan said a group of rioters, which later grew to an estimated 6,000, had broken away from the peaceful, main group of demonstrators and converged outside the embassy.

“There were too many for the police to handle and a whole lot more were on the way,” Finnegan said. “The police couldn’t help us out and (rioters) had free access to the embassy.

“We made the call to pull everybody back. We got everybody to a safe area and hunkered down.”

The Marines monitored the situation from their safe area inside the embassy by using computers and watching CNN, Finnegan said.

“It was a little tense,” Finnegan said.

The Marines’ priorities were to protect classified material and State Department personnel and facilities, Finnegan said.

“They did an outstanding job,” he said. “There’s a standard that we train to and they pulled it off. Nobody whined or complained. Everybody did exactly what they needed to do when they needed to do it.”

The embassy was scheduled to remain closed through Monday.

At the sprawling Camp Bondsteel compound in Kosovo, part of the NATO-led Kosovo Forces mission, or KFOR, calm prevailed in the U.S.-led eastern sector, said Capt. Jeff Blowers in a telephone interview.

Blowers is commander of Company B, 34th Infantry Division from the Minnesota National Guard.

Blowers said that the battalion’s Company A is stationed at Camp Nothing Hill, a multinational facility near the border with Serbia in the French-led sector.

Troops from that base were called to the border earlier this week after a post manned by police was attacked. Blowers said he couldn’t talk about what kind of operations that company had performed, but said no U.S. forces were wounded.

The Associated Press contributed to this report]