A blog for all seasons; A blog for one; A blog for all. As the 11th most informative blog on the planet, I have a seared memory of throwing my Time 2006 Man of the Year Award over the railing at Time Warner Center.
Justice. Only Justice Shall Thou Pursue
Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta, left, kisses her girlfriend of two years, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell, at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach on Wednesday, Dec. 22. It's a tradition at Navy homecomings that one sailor is chosen by raffle to be first off the ship to kiss a loved one. Wednesday, for the first time, the reunited couple was same-sex.
That both of the people involved in the kiss are women makes it noteworthy, and instead of honoring the service of the Petty Officer, Free Republic posters are showing their pettiness and vindictiveness, to say nothing of their anti-gay and anti-Obama sentiment. Free Republic has a posting about the photo, which headlines at MSNBC. The comments are disgusting (and I've truncated for space):
First comment:
Awwww....isn’t that just precious?
(sickening sarcasm)
Second comment:
So it begins the total down hill turn for our nation and its military, glad I am out!
Down a bit:
Ok, well the US military it is no longer.
I’m, just going to go ahead and call it the US fagitary.
Nice going, president Ohomo.
This is the same forum that not long ago honored service in the military, and now they're disparaging a sailor who happens to be a woman kissing her partner, who also happens to be a woman.
Moreover, some of the same people who are registering their disgust over the policy would also be among those who would have no problems if this was a scenario playing out in a porno film.
These critics need to get over themselves; women are in the military and they are doing a service to the nation that we are indebted. There are gays who serve in the military and can now serve without fear that they would have to give up their commissions because they are openly gay. They too are people to whom all Americans are indebted since they're putting their lives on the line to protect the nation.
That someone who is a woman and happens to be gay is serving in the military should not be a shock, nor should a photo of their first kiss off the boat be cause for derision and anger.
The Chinese government purchased a former Soviet aircraft carrier that had never been completed (Varyag) and spent several years wondering what to do with it before deciding to refit it and prepare it to become the country's first aircraft carrier.
Experts have been hoping for months to get a glimpse of the aircraft carrier at sea. The former Soviet Union started building the ship, originally known as the Varyag, but never finished it. After the Soviet breakup, the Varyag ended up in the hands of the Ukrainian government. The ship was auctioned off to the Chinese in 1998. Since then, the Varyag, which has reportedly been rechristened the Shi Lang, has been under refurbishment for sea service.
The ship is slightly shorter than a typical US fleet carrier (Nimitz or improved Nimitz class) (1,000 feet as opposed to 1,092), has a significantly smaller displacement (30,000 tons versus 100,000+ tons, and it is conventionally powered as opposed to the nuclear powered US carriers; the conventionally powered ship required more frequent refueling and reduces its operational tempo). However, this gives the Chinese government the ability to learn how to utilize such ships going forward and may pave the way for additional carriers to be built in the future.
The carrier itself wouldn't pose much of a threat to the US Navy, but the Chinese buildup of submarines and long range cruise missiles does pose a threat to the US Navy should a confrontation arise.
However, the Chinese carrier does pose a more immediate threat to countries like Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, or India, each of which has regional interests that overlap China.
China is engaging in an ambitious expansion of its naval capabilities, and that includes the purchase and conversion of a former Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag. The ship, an Admiral Kuznetsov class multirole aircraft carrier, features a jump bow, enabling SVTOL aircraft, but doesn't feature catapults enabling heavier armed aircraft to be embarked. The ship is smaller than the American carriers, but it doesn't make the carrier any less dangerous as it could carry any number of Chinese anti-shipping missiles.
The main threat posed by the Chinese carrier is to Taiwan, which mainland China sees as a renegade province. The US policy recognizes both countries as independent of each other and the US has a close military relationship with Taiwan.
A Chinese carrier would require a readjustment to the US naval tactics and strategies, as the US would expect the Chinese to use the carrier to not only project its force forward, but could use it should the situation deteriorate between China and Taiwan.
Still, while the ship appears complete from outward appearances, it would be some time before the carrier is fully operational and capable of offensive operations since the Chinese Navy is building its carrier doctrine from scratch, including a corps of officers that would man the ship and its aircraft. Still, one would expect the Chinese to learn from known American, British, and Russian carrier tactics to speed the learning curve.
This carrier is likely to be used as a template for future Chinese carrier construction; the Chinese government has copied Russian aircraft and tank designs in building its own versions of advanced tanks and aircraft while putting its own spin on various components.
While the successful mission to kill Osama bin Laden rightfully gets tons of press, it was hardly the first time that the elite DEVGRU/SEAL Team 6 operated within Pakistan with orders to go after high value targets. In fact, two such missions were carried out during the Bush Administration, but they came away without getting their targets. In one instance, the target was Ayman al Zawahiri.
But what it reveals is that last Monday's operation, which has sparked ferocious debate in Pakistan over national sovereignty, is far from the first time that elite US forces have mounted military operations on the ground in the nuclear-armed nation.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was to address parliament last night to reiterate a message driven home last week by Pakistani military chiefs - that the country would not tolerate any further breaches of sovereignty by the US or any other nation.
He was also expected to announce a parliamentary inquiry into the intelligence services' failure to detect bin Laden, who lived for five years under their noses in the garrison town of Abbottabad.
Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani told senior Pakistani journalists last week that "certain red lines had been crossed" by the US military.
Several people present at that briefing have suggested the subtext of his message was that the US had crossed a line by carrying out an operation in an area where Pakistan's urban and increasingly anti-US population could bear witness to it.
The Navy SEAL operation in Bajaur Agency was first reported by The New York Times in 2008, which cited a former top CIA official as confirming the mission.
A former ISI station chief for Pakistan's Pashtun-dominated northwest and tribal areas from 2001 to 2003, Asad Munir, yesterday also confirmed the 2006 operation took place, and was different to the drone strike on a suspected Zawahiri compound in January of the same year that is said to have killed up to 25 civilians.
"They flew over in helicopters, people came out on ladders and searched the compound, found nothing, and flew back," Brigadier Munir told The Australian.
"It was known by the ISI, but not by the media, and never made it to the newspapers. It was a very low-profile operation, but I have no doubt that it occurred."
He said yet another operation occurred in 2008 just over the Afghan border in South Waziristan, in which three US special operations officers raided a madrassa suspected of being used as a base from which insurgents were firing on coalition forces.
Rustam Shah Mohmand, a former chief secretary of the northwest frontier province and Tribal Areas Commissioner, also confirmed the fact that last week's Navy SEALs raid was not the first on Pakistani soil.
What makes the bin Laden raid notable is that it was successful in getting the target - and it was as high profile a target as can be imagined. When the other raids didn't get their targets, the teams involved were able to slip away.
Moreover, it appears that the ISI and military were caught flat footed over the bin Laden raid, as compared to closer coordination in the prior raids. Considering how the ISI and military have their fingers in every aspect of the Pakistani economy and security apparatus, it's hard for some to believe that the ISI or military didn't know that bin Laden was living in Abbottabad. In many respects, the ISI and military operate in the same fashion as Iran's IRGC does - complete with its own economic support system outside that of the local economy.
The Pakistani leadership is clearly red-faced in public over the raid; and they are quick to lay blame on the US for carrying out the raid even though there are ongoing indications that a significant segment of the Pakistani public and military and ISI are predisposed to bin Laden's worldview and radicalization.
The United States repeatedly told Pakistan that Washington would send American forces into that country if it had evidence that Osama bin Laden was hiding there, according to current and former U.S. officials.
The message that the United States would not hesitate to send American operatives into Pakistan to get bin Laden was transmitted to top Pakistani officials on multiple occasions by the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, said a U.S. national security official who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information.
A former senior U.S. counter-terrorism official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was an "understanding" between Washington and Islamabad that amounted to an acknowledgment by Pakistani authorities that the United States would take unilateral action on Pakistani soil if it had intelligence on the al Qaeda leader's whereabouts.
Of course, the news of the secret deal has gotten the usual suspects in Pakistan upset. Even Musharraf originally stated that the US was in the wrong for going after bin Laden in Pakistan last week. Did anyone in the current government know about the deal, even as they were quick to blame the US for invading and violating their sovereignty. The nationalists in the Pakistani government are quick to blame the US, even though bin Laden was living under the Pakistani noses for years without anyone seeming to know anything about it.
Now, it's possible that Musharraf didn't inform the current Pakistani government or that the US didn't reiterate that understanding, but I find that hard to believe. Instead, it's much more likely that the Pakistanis wanted to find fault with the US actions because it shows just how little the US trusts the Pakistani ISI and military to keep a secret - and the possibility that the ISI/military could have been tipping off key al Qaeda/Taliban to avoid being captured/killed in these raids.
The question of Pakistani sovereignty is an odd one when one further considers that the Pakistanis can barely control their own territory - the frontier provinces are autonomous and Pakistani military forces operate there at their own risk because of Taliban and al Qaeda threats.
“When Osama did not resist, why wasn’t he arrested? After being killed, why didn’t the family get to identify him? Why was he buried at sea when that is against their Islamic beliefs?”
The questions were posted by Jean Sasson, an American writer, on her blog on Tuesday. Sasson helped bin Laden’s son Omar bin Laden write the memoir, “Growing Up bin Laden.” He has publicly denounced his father’s terrorism, but is still seeking answers to the circumstances around his death.
Sasson provided a further statement to the New York Times from Omar bin Laden, that said, “We maintain that arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems ... justice must be seen to be done.”
Cry me a river - bin Laden declared war on the US; he never gave any of his thousands of victims due process; and that he wasn't armed when the raid happened doesn't detract from the fact that he was a mass murderer who was essentially caught with his pants down (lacking weapons and inadequate security) when the SEAL team killed him.
US Special Forces from SEAL Team Six carried out a daring raid last night and killed Osama bin Laden in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan last night, which is located 30 miles north of the capital of Islamabad and 120 miles from the Afghan border. The news hits hard here in the New York City metro area where al Qaeda carried out the deadliest terror attack in history, murdering more than 3,000 people and destroying the World Trade Center. For the families of those killed or injured in the attacks, this is a bittersweet moment since they will never get closure - they will always be lacking their loved ones who were so cruelly taken from them on the orders of bin Laden.
Once the news was broadcast following President Obama's official announcement last night, the area around Ground Zero was one of jubilation and reflection (more here). This morning, broadcasters and hundreds of police were controlling the gathered crowds and those trying to make their way to jobs in and around Lower Manhattan.
A trusted courier of Osama bin Laden’s whom American spies had been hunting for years was finally located in a compound 35 miles north of the Pakistani capital, close to one of the hubs of American counterterrorism operations. The property was so secure, so large, that American officials guessed it was built to hide someone far more important than a mere courier.
What followed was eight months of painstaking intelligence work, culminating in a helicopter assault by American military and intelligence operatives that ended in the death of Bin Laden on Sunday and concluded one of history’s most extensive and frustrating manhunts.
American officials said that Bin Laden was shot in the head after he tried to resist the assault force, and that one of his sons died with him.
For nearly a decade, American military and intelligence forces had chased the specter of Bin Laden through Pakistan and Afghanistan, once coming agonizingly close and losing him in a pitched battle at Tora Bora, in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. As Obama administration officials described it, the real breakthrough came when they finally figured out the name and location of Bin Laden’s most trusted courier, whom the Qaeda chief appeared to rely on to maintain contacts with the outside world.
Detainees at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had given the courier’s pseudonym to American interrogators and said that the man was a protégé of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the confessed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
American intelligence officials said Sunday night that they finally learned the courier’s real name four years ago, but that it took another two years for them to learn the general region where he operated.
Still, it was not until August when they tracked him to the compound in Abbottabad, a medium-sized city about an hour’s drive north of Islamabad, the capital.
C.I.A. analysts spent the next several weeks examining satellite photos and intelligence reports to determine who might be living at the compound, and a senior administration official said that by September the C.I.A. had determined there was a “strong possibility” that Bin Laden himself was hiding there.
It was hardly the spartan cave in the mountains where many had envisioned Bin Laden to be hiding. Rather, it was a mansion on the outskirts of the town’s center, set on an imposing hilltop and ringed by 12-foot-high concrete walls topped with barbed wire.
The property was valued at $1 million, but it had neither a telephone nor an Internet connection. Its residents were so concerned about security that they burned their trash rather putting it on the street for collection like their neighbors.
American officials believed that the compound, built in 2005, was designed for the specific purpose of hiding Bin Laden.
Months more of intelligence work would follow before American spies felt highly confident that it was indeed Bin Laden and his family who were hiding in there — and before President Obama determined that the intelligence was solid enough to begin planning a mission to go after the Qaeda leader.
Bin Laden, however would not come quietly, and he returned fire. Members of the team killed bin Laden and extracted his body to a base in Afghanistan where he was positively identified with facial recognition software and other means. From there, his body was buried at sea.
Now, there was speculation that no country would accept his remains as being the reason that his body was buried at sea, but I think the more likely explanation is that the US simply didn't want his burial location to turn into a rallying cry for al Qaeda and those loyal to the jihad. A burial at sea wipes eliminates that possibility, but the ideology lives on.
Al Qaeda has been seriously damaged by the attack and death of bin Laden, but the group is far from defanged. Ayman al Zawahiri is still at large, and the terror group continues to receive shelter from Taliban and utilizes the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan as a base of operations.
The terror group will continue to attempt further attacks, and it's important to note that while bin Laden was the face and major fundraiser for the group and pressed home the notion of jihad, Zawahiri and others have been the more public figures in the past several years. Expect Zawahiri to take a more active role in leading al Qaeda and spreading the jihadist rhetoric and ideology, along with Anwar al-Awlaki. Both men have been spreading jihadi ideology online and rallying others to their cause.
As noted above, the US didn't let Pakistan's government know about the mission until it was completed. There's damned good reasons for that - the Pakistani government is far from reliable and the ISI is likely harboring further Taliban and al Qaeda within the country and not acting against the terror group whose leader lived in comfort just yards from Pakistan's army military academy where the country's army trains its cadre of leaders and in a city where many in the army go to retire. A Pakistani army division headquarters is located there as well, making this a major center for the Pakistani military.
Bin Laden's death doesn't mean the end of the conflict against al Qaeda and the Islamic extremists who justify attacks against the US and the West. It just means that there will be a new face associated with terror attacks to come. That doesn't mean that his death shouldn't be lauded for eliminating a scourge of humanity whose actions set in motion the worst terror attacks in history and tremendous bloodshed and misery for many throughout the world.
The successful raid also raises new questions about what the Pakistani intel service (ISI) knew, and how the Pakistanis were unable to located bin Laden when he was living so openly and so close to major Pakistani military installations.
Finally, I want to personally thank all those who stuggle to keep us safe and go after these terrorists, along with President Obama for green-lighting the mission and enabling the military and intel services to coordinate and execute the mission with precision and professionalism.
UPDATE:
Here's a map showing the final location of where bin Laden lived before the raid:
UPDATE:
This is perhaps the most poignant of all the photos taken in the past 48 hours and was captured by a NYT cameraman:
UPDATE: Pakistanis are both stunned by the news, and many are angered over the attack on bin Laden. Former Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf is angered at the violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. Considering that Pakistan's own ISI routinely ignores Afghanistan's sovereignty by providing aid and comfort to Taliban and al Qaeda, and refuses to deal with embedded Taliban and al Qaeda within Pakistan's own territory, they government in Islamabad is going to be on the hot seat to explain how they completely missed the fact that bin Laden was living large just yards from the Pakistani military academy.
Clearly, this is going to lead to a re-evaluation of US-Pakistani relations - both the public declarations and the private behind the scenes level discussions. Pakistan's ISI and military simply can't be trusted, especially with time sensitive information to maintain operational security, and that was a major reason that President Obama kept the mission close to the vest and didn't inform any US allies, lest any information leak before the mission was carried out.
This also means that the Islamists in Pakistan may carry out additional attacks against the US/NATO/ISAF supply lines, and perhaps the Pakistani military may no longer give NATO/US/ISAF forces the logistical support they have had in the past (although the Pakistani military hasn't exactly done a great job protecting those convoys in the past). President Obama must have weighed the potential repercussions of taking this action versus informing Pakistan, etc., and found that the benefits outweighed the potential fallout/blowback. I think that was the right move.
After bursts of fire over 40 minutes, 22 people were killed or captured. One of the dead was Osama bin Laden, done in by a double tap -- boom, boom -- to the left side of his face. His body was aboard the choppers that made the trip back. One had experienced mechanical failure and was destroyed by U.S. forces, military and White House officials tell National Journal.
So, who was captured along with who else was killed in the raid? That's going to make for some interesting reading down the line.
New video footage has been taken showing several of the damaged reactors at Fukushima from much closer than previous videos. It would seem that the footage was taken from the boom used to pour water on the damaged reactors:
High levels of radioactive materials have been found in groundwater below a stricken nuclear power station in north- eastern Japan, the plant's operator said Friday.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) confirmed that radioactivity in groundwater below the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant measured 10,000 times the legal threshold after the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said earlier in the day that part of the data had errors and ordered the operator to re-examine the figures.
The contaminated groundwater was detected around the turbine building of reactor number 1 at the plant, TEPCO said. The plant, 250 kilometres north-east of Tokyo, was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami and has been leaking radiation.
Further muddying the issue was the revelation from TEPCO late Friday that the computer monitoring radiation levels at reactor number 1 was not working properly, reported the NHK broadcaster.
Experts have criticized information from the plant, saying levels reported in the water tested at the plant were too high. The revelation adds to a long chain of concerns about TEPCO's reporting on the process to restore control at Fukushima.
The Health Ministry reported Thursday that beef in Fukushima prefecture contained radioactive material above the legal limit, the first such detection in beef.
But a re-examination showed Friday that no radioactive substances were found in beef, the ministry said. No explanation was offered for the change.
There's no explanation for how the water levels have become radioactive - whether that was due to the water being poured into the reactor complex to cool down the damaged reactors and spent fuel pools, or whether leaks in the reactor core containment and spent fuel pools is contributing to the problem. The solutions will depend greatly on determining the source of the radioactive water and how to limit its further spread (although radioactive water has been detected in the ocean nearby - sourced to the reactor complex).
A new aerial video survey was taken over the stricken Fukushima reactor complex, and you can see snow falling, but more ominously is the steam that continues belching from the damaged reactor buildings.
That compares with the video taken during the tsunami as it roared ashore:
Japan's government Friday urged residents living within 18 miles of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant to voluntarily leave their homes and suggested that officials could expand the mandatory evacuation zone.
People living within 12 miles of the plant have been evacuated, yet those living between 12 and 18 miles of the facility have been told it is safe to remain as long as they stay indoors. But two weeks after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the country and hobbled the plant, causing radiation to leak, the situation has yet to be resolved.
"It has become increasingly difficult for goods to arrive, and life has become harder," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a news conference. He called upon local governments in the zone near the plant to encourage people to leave. It was not immediately clear how many people remained within 18 miles of the plant.
The possible breach was suspected when two workers waded into water 10,000 times more radioactive than normal and suffered skin burns, according to the Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency.
"It is possible there may be damage somewhere in the reactor," spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said, adding that the cause of the burns still remains unclear.
Nishiyama said there is no data suggesting there were any cracks, and that a leak in the plumbing or the vents could be the cause.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Japan reached a milestone as NHK broadcasting reported the latest estimates of 10,175 people dead and more than 17,400 still missing since the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami rattled the country March 11.
The U.S. military is now taking a direct role in attempts to cool reactors at the damaged nuclear plant, according to U.S. and Japanese officials.
As a first step, the U.S. military plans to ship 525,000 gallons of fresh water on two U.S. Navy barges from a U.S. base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Forces Japan.
The move to ship fresh water is critical to restarting the coolant systems because the sea water contains salt that can gum up critical components and would need to be flushed out before they can be safely restarted.
Japan continues to be rocked by aftershocks and scientists are warning of the potential for an aftershock above magnitude 7 within the next week. Several hundred aftershocks have been recorded, and more than two dozen have been above magnitude 6.
With each strong aftershock, the potential for another tsunami exists, and rescue and relief efforts are trying to reach the hardest hit areas.
Entire towns were swept away, and the death toll is expected to rise sharply as estimates suggest the toll may exceed 10,000. Currently the official toll is 2,800 and bodies are being cremated where possible, but local officials are overwhelmed by the numbers.
The scenes of devastation harken back to the massive tsunami in South Asia in 2004, and that's despite Japan being among the most advanced technologically to deal with natural disasters. Even though towns had several minutes warning, the advancing wall of water was simply incredible and overwhelming.
Sea walls were clearly overtopped by the tsunami, but it does appear that they provided at least a momentary reprieve from the wall of water - giving precious minutes of time for people to attempt to flee.
The massive 8.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan caused tremendous damage and the tsunami spawned by the quake roared throughout the Pacific Ocean, causing damage as far away as Oregon and California. Hundreds are dead in Japan and thousands are missing, particularly in the city of Sendai.
Nuclear reactors are built to withstand earthquakes - but not necessarily to a quake the size of the one experienced yesterday, but the reactor that is the most likely to have been involved at the Fukushima plant was an older reactor and pressures within the reactor reached 2.1 times the design limit after initially rising 1.5 times. Add to the fact that the backup systems failed for a reason that has yet to be determined.
Yesterday, President Obama called the situation heartbreaking and pledged to provide all manner of humanitarian assistance:
To that end, the US has deployed a carrier task force to head to Japan to provide relief assistance, particularly helicopter assets that can help the Japanese reach hard hit areas that have seen roads, airports, and other infrastructure washed away.
UPDATE:
The Wall Street Journal reports that a building collapsed at the Fukushima power plant, but no indication on whether that was a reactor containment building or ancillary structure.
A portion of the reactor's fuel rods, which create heat through a nuclear reaction, had become exposed due to the cooling-system failure. The spokesman for Tepco said 1.5 meters of the 4.5 meter long fuel rods were exposed. It was unclear Saturday afternoon whether the water added by workers had re-covered the rods.
Loss of cooling water resulted in a near meltdown of the Three Mile Island reactor in Pennsylvania in 1979, the worst nuclear incident in U.S. history.
If coolant isn't restored, the result could be what's known as a meltdown -- extreme heat can melt through the reactor vessel and result in a radioactive release. Reactors have containment domes to catch any release. But there is always the chance that an earthquake could create cracks or other breaches in that containment system.
The Japanese government on Friday declared an emergency at the plant and ordered the evacuation of thousands of residents in the area. Officials steadily increased the evacuation perimeter Saturday, extending it to 20 kilometers Saturday evening.
By Saturday morning, some 20,000 people had been evacuated from the areas around the two troubled nuclear power plants in the Fukushima prefecture, according to Kyodo News.
Shortly after that, the government nuclear agency confirmed the radiation level at the gate of the plant was eight times as high as normal after some mildly radioactive vapor was released by the plant in an effort to ease pressure. Fukushima Daiichi has six reactors, all built in the 1970s, and three were operating when the quake happened. The No. 1 unit, the oldest and smallest of the reactors, appears to be the main source of the problems.
Asked about the impact of radiation at eight times higher than normal levels, Naoto Sekimura, a professor of quantum engineering at Tokyo University, said on national broadcaster NHK, "This is a minuscule amount. This is not going to have negative impact on the human body."
Inside the control room at Unit 1, the amount of radiation earlier Saturday reached around 1,000 times normal, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said, according to Kyodo.
Radiation levels aren't supposed to rise in a control room, which is designed to allow operators to continue working during emergencies and is equipped with filtration systems and other design features to protect workers from radiation exposure. Nevertheless, experts said that a level that is 1,000 times normal probably isn't immediately harmful.
UPDATE:
The explosion seriously damaged the containment building, but officials say that the inner reactor containment vessel was intact: Photos show the before and after view of the complex at Fukushima.
UPDATE:
More details emerging on why the explosion took place at Fukushima.
"At this point, there has been no major change to the level of radiation leakage outside (from before and after the explosion), so we'd like everyone to respond calmly," Edano said.
"We've decided to fill the reactor container with sea water. Trade minister Kaieda has instructed us to do so. By doing this, we will use boric acid to prevent criticality."
Edano said it would take about five to 10 hours to fill the reactor core with sea water and around 10 days to complete the process.
Edano said due to the falling level of cooling water, hydrogen was generated and that leaked to the space between the building and the container and the explosion happened when the hydrogen mixed with oxygen there.
One of the ongoing concerns is that the lack of water to act as a coolant allowed temperatures and pressure to rise. What water was available was turned to steam or broken down into oxygen and hydrogen, which could spark and set off an explosion - and that appears to be what happened.
Expect that future plant designs will incorporate the lessons learned from the Fukushima plant disaster. That will include more robust backup systems that allow the plant to shut down in an orderly and safe fashion.
UPDATE:
The death toll continues rising, and is currently ranging from 1,300 to 1,700. Most of those killed were from the effects of the massive tsunamis that roared ashore and swept several miles inland overtaking everything in its path and reducing the countryside to a jumbled mess of rubble and debris. Entire towns are still unaccounted for and communications remains troublesome.
Libyan forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi have captured three crew members of a Dutch naval helicopter who were rescuing European citizens, last Sunday, the Dutch Defense Ministry said on Thursday, the first report of foreigners being by held in Libya’s bloody and unfolding uprising.
Otte Beeksma, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry, said the pro-Qaddafi forces also captured two civilians being rescued — one Dutch, the other from an unspecified European country — who had since been released. Dutch officials decline to give personal details of the crew members while confidential negotiations for their release were underway.
The authorities had kept word of the capture a secret until a Dutch newspaper broke the story.
Mr. Beeksma, said the crew of a Lynx helicopter had landed in the coastal city of Sirte — a pro-Qaddafi stronghold — after flying from a navy ship, the HMS Tromp, anchored offshore. The helicopter was “surrounded by armed Libyan forces late on Sunday afternoon.”
The two people being evacuated were transferred to the Dutch Embassy in Tripoli on Sunday, but the crew and their helicopter were still being held. Mr. Beeksma did not identify the two people who were being rescued.
The use of military personnel in such operations is not limited to the Dutch authorities. Last weekend, British news reports said British special forces accompanied a rescue effort by the Royal Air Force to pluck oil workers to safety from remote desert encampments.
It's little wonder then that the US has moved its naval forces closer to Libya as I had noted yesterday. The US isn't likely to engage in military actions except if the humanitarian and relief flight crews come under attack. Capturing the three Dutch crewmembers who were conducting relief flights would qualify.
President Obama called again on Thursday for the immediate resignation of the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, and said he had authorized American military airlifts to help transport refugees fleeing from Libya back to their home countries in the region.
“The U.S. and the entire world continues to be outraged by the appalling violence against the Libyan people,” Mr. Obama said after a White House meeting with President Felipe Calderón of Mexico. “Muammar el-Qaddafi has lost the legitimacy to lead, and he must leave.”
Mr. Obama said he had directed the Pentagon to prepare for a full range of possible military options in connection with the crisis in Libya. Asked about whether the United States would support sending warplanes over the country to keep the Libyan air force from attacking rebels, creating what is known as a no-flight zone, the president said that was one of the options being considered.
Pirates versus a US Navy ship on patrol in the Indian Ocean looking for pirate vessels? The pirates never had a chance.
A group of suspected pirates was captured Thursday after attacking a U.S. Navy frigate in the Indian Ocean, according to a statement released by the U.S. Sixth Fleet.
The USS Nicholas reported taking fire from a suspected pirate skiff shortly after midnight local time west of the Seychelles, the statement said. The Nicholas quickly returned fire and began pursuing the skiff, which was eventually disabled. A boarding team from the Nicholas subsequently captured and detained three people, the statement said.
The team discovered ammunition and several cans of fuel aboard the skiff, which was later sunk by the Nicholas.
Two more suspected pirates were captured on a confiscated "mother ship," the statement said. The detainees will "remain in U.S. custody on board Nicholas until a determination is made regarding their disposition," it said.
The pirates remain a scourge in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, particularly around Somalia and extending out to the Seychelles. Showing the pirates that the risks of further attacks on shipping are too great versus the ransoms that are routinely paid out by shipping concerns will finally get piracy under control off the coast of Somalia. That means killing pirates attacking shipping and sinking their ships. Until that happens, the pirates will continue attacking shipping.
The F-35 inches closer to widespread deployment with the US Armed Forces and the US Marines specifically following tests of the VSTOL version of the craft that enable vertical or short take off and landings.
The F-35 would replace the A/V-8 Harrier jets, which were originated in the United Kingdom.
However, full deployment is going to be delayed after announcements made earlier this year. Costs have also more than doubled, which makes is a ripe candidate for further cuts.
The F-35 is supposed to have three variants - an Air Force version, a Navy carrier-based version that will fly beginning later this year, and the Marine Corps VSTOL version. The Air Force version has been in testing since 2006
The damage is widespread and efforts to provide relief are underway despite the serious obstacles that start with just how exactly all the material and equipment is going to get into Haiti.
Military and aid groups began to encounter huge obstacles getting relief into the country, less than two days after the earthquake killed an estimated 45,000 to 50,000 people. U.S. military specialists reestablished communications at the Port-au-Prince airport, but a lack of fuel and a crammed tarmac prompted the Haitian government to halt incoming flights. While one airport runway was usable, air-traffic control was limited, able to handle only four aircraft at a time, logistics companies said.
The quake also damaged Haiti's main port in Port-au-Prince. The port has "collapsed and is not operational," said Maersk Line's Mary Ann Kotlarich.
The disarray at the port stands to be a major obstacle to the relief effort, as the U.S. Navy and other ships carrying supplies have nowhere to dock. Numerous maritime companies are trying to devise stop-gap solutions, but nothing is in place yet.
Some reports indicate that thousands of Haitians have been buried in a mass grave, and many thousands more remain buried in the rubble. The situation is grim, and those responding to the crisis are facing an extremely difficult situation where the national government is basically non-existent; the Haitian national police is missing in action even as the Port au Prince police are trying to round up the remains of those killed and dropping them off at the overburdened morgue. One of the priorities will be to assist local authorities in accepting, identifying, and treating the remains of those killed, which disaster mortuary teams from the US are preparing to do. Many states are engaged in their own relief efforts, including Texas.
Moreover, it's going to be up to the NGOs and various countries, particularly the US, to get basic services up and running. That means that the US Marines and US Army soldiers are going to be doing quite a bit of the heavy lifting and coordinating with other countries that are preparing to send assistance.
Among their top priorities will be to get the port infrastructure to a point where they can accept shipping with the necessary equipment and relief supplies in sufficient quantities.
Donations continue pouring in from all over, and one of the easiest ways to donate is to text messages on mobile phones to any number of charities, including the American Red Cross:
While UN trucks patrol the streets handing out emergency biscuits and water-purification tablets, many residents complain that government and international relief workers seem unevenly dispersed.
“It seems that they are hiding,” says Paul Cormier, who runs an orphanage.
Assistance is pouring in from all over the world, but the distribution of aid and movement of aid workers, doctors, and rescue workers, have been stymied so far by the complete lack of infrastructure left in the wake of Tuesday's earthquake. Cellphone networks are still down, crippling crucial communication, and many roads are blocked by rubble or people left homeless.
"It's easy to wholesale [relief materials] to the ports," former Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN, "but how do you retail it out?"
It takes a virtual military operation to provide the kind of relief effort necessary, and that kind of manpower takes time to get on location even in the best of circumstances. Haiti's infrastructure and government capabilities were woeful to begin with, which means that aid workers will essentially be starting from scratch to provide everything necessary to those affected. For now, many Haitians are having to rely on each other to get through this most trying time.
Catholic Charities has donated $5 million towards the relief efforts. New York National Guard is prepared to fly relief efforts.
Those charities will likely direct funds to medical supplies and relief to provide basic sanitation and basic medications to prevent the spread of diseases that result from lack of sanitation, including cholera and diaharea. In fact, the health situation was so precarious before the quake, that experts expect to see a surge in cases of measles and other preventable diseases because of a low rate of vaccination:
“The health system has been eliminated, water and sanitation entirely knocked out,” Kirsch said in an interview today. “The chance of them recovering even to the low level that they were before is almost zero.”
No Basic Care
Half of the children in Haiti are unvaccinated and just 40 percent of the population had access to basic health care before the crisis, according to the Geneva-based WHO.
UPDATE:
The USS Carl Vinson is now on station off the coast of Haiti. It will provide humanitarian relief by shipping supplies by helicopter, and it will also help provide air traffic control functions. The USS Bataan amphibious assault carrier and her task force (USS Carter Hall and USS Fort McHenry) are on the way, and can provide helicopter support as well as utilize Landing Craft Air Cushions (LCAC) to ferry in heavy equipment to clear debris. Also, the USS Gunston Hall was diverted after the 7.0 magnitude quake from a planned mission to the African coast. The Bataan carries 3,200 Marines and will be critical to providing security and stability to relief efforts.
UPDATE: Here's an ongoing and developing list of nations providing assistance. There remains a paucity of countries from the Middle East that are providing aid. Besides Israel, only Iran, the UAE, and Turkey are providing any kind of assistance as of today. Lebanon promises that it would provide aid and called on its expat community to donate.
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm Mike Mullen, said a hospital ship and more helicopters would be sent in the coming days, and 9-10,000 troops would be in or off Haiti by Monday.
UPDATE:
The US Air Force has reopened the airport, bringing in the necessary equipment to get relief flights going, but there was some frustration that they weren't called upon sooner to prevent a logjam forcing the airport's closure at a critical juncture.
By daybreak, a 115-person Air Force team, which flew in five C-17 cargo planes of communications and air-traffic management equipment overnight, had undone most of the logjam. A hodgepodge group of fewer than a dozen planes were still lined up along the airport's concourse.
A steady stream of flights arrived and departed without difficulty even during the pre-dawn hours, the first time the airport was able to accept nighttime flights since the quake.
Despite the progress, members of the Air Force team – the 621st Contingency Response Wing, one of two Air Force units specifically designed to open distressed airstrips – expressed frustration that they had not been sent earlier to manage the flow of aid into the airport, saying Thursday's flight freeze may have been avoided.
"We would have liked to have been there a little bit sooner to unclog the airfield," said Col. Brian O'Connor, the wing's commander. "It makes me cringe, it's so disorderly."
The USS Carl Vinson is diverting to Haiti to render assistance; it was originally scheduled to relocate to San Diego from its homeport in Norfolk, but that relocation cruise has turned into a humanitarian relief effort. The ship can desalinate 400,000 gallons of water a day, which will be critical given the massive devastation to infrastructure throughout Port au Prince. It's flight deck will provide a launching point for helicopters to go into areas that can't be reached by land vehicles.
Also coming to Haiti's aid is a task force including a Marine Amphibious Unit from Camp Lejeune, which will also have helicopter capabilities.
Most importantly, the USNS Comfort will be arriving in Haiti within the next few days to deliver medical assistance and augment the devastated medical care system.
The Navy Twitter feed is providing constant updates as to what the Navy and other military units are doing to provide assistance. Already on the scene are several US Coast Guard ships, which are providing air traffic control and other essential services to prepare the port to accept larger ships and begin the process of assisting the people of Haiti.
The US Southern Command is in charge of the US military response to the disaster.
The streets of Port au Prince are lined with the dead. It's not for the faint of heart. (graphic video warning)
Google has before/after photos of Port au Prince so you can see just how badly the region has suffered from the quake. This video also shows a helicopter overflight of the devastation.
It's a race against time to rescue those still trapped in the ruins.
Expat communities of Haitians are devastated; Brooklyn has one of the largest Haitian communities outside the country, and people there are grasping at any shred of hope and word about loved ones and their former homes.
They don't get much press coverage in the US media, but Mexico has a very fast disaster response, honed by plenty of experience with hurricanes and earthquakes. Three Mexican Army airplanes carrying a team of disaster specialists has already landed in Port au Prince with 20 tons of supplies. The Mexican hospital ship El Huasteco left port today with more supplies and medical personnel. Another ship, the ARM Papaloapan, is expected to arrive in Haiti by the end of this week.
The personnel shipped out so far consist of about a hundred medical personnel, rescue specialists, engineers and technical personnel,and four rescue dogs and their handlers. These are probably from the Guadalajara Fire Department, the Mexican Red Cross, and Jalisco's Civil Defense Department. Other trained earthquake rescue teams are getting ready to go.
El Huasteco and 77 tons of desperately needed relief supplies was turned back from Haiti last May because of the Haitian government's fear about swine flu. I think they'll get a more enthusiastic reception this week.
Mexico's Recycled Relief Ship Rides Again
In 1992, the US Navy decommissioned the LSTUSS Newport. She was taken out of mothballs and refurbished for the Mexican Navy a few years later. Rechristened the ARM Papaloapan (P-411) in mid-2002, she carried relief supplies from Mexico to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. She is currently loading supplies and emergency personnel for the Haitian earthquake relief work.
An Air China flight landed in Port-au-Prince before daybreak, ferrying a Chinese search-and-rescue team, medical personnel and tons of food and medicine, the Associated Press reported.
Three French planes brought in supplies and a mobile hospital, the news agency reported, and British relief workers arrived next door in the Dominican Republic, an important relay point for the wave of assistance that the world pledged in the wake of Tuesday's magnitude 7.0 earthquake.
The party sent to set up the hospital will include 40 doctors and 24 nurses, and is scheduled to leave Thursday evening. The hospital, capable of treating 500 patients, will include an intensive care unit, two operating rooms, a pharmacy, and an X-ray lab.
Search and rescue agents from the Homefront Command will also be included in the party.
Levy said a Home front Command delegation was currently making its way from the Dominican Republic to the quake-struck country.
UPDATE: GM Foundation donating $100k to Haiti relief efforts via the ARC. Others donating include Wells Fargo, Publix, Coca Cola ($1 million), TD Bank, Go Daddy, Kellogg, and UPS, Bank of America, and Kraft.
UPDATE:
NYC Mayor Bloomberg talks about the crisis and relief efforts along with how best to render assistance. He warns of scammers trying to take advantage of the situation and to donate to reputable charities. He suggests that monetary donations are the best way to provide aid as the various relief organizations can then obtain the needed items in a more efficient manner:
UPDATE: CBS lists the national responses of various nations:
• The United Nations is releasing $10 million from its emergency funds.
• The United States is sending ships, helicopters, transport planes and a 2,000-member Marine unit.
• Canada is sending an immediate $5 million Canadian (US$4.8 million) to the Haitian government and has put transport planes, helicopters, a hospital ship and a disaster response team on standby.
• The Irish telecommunications company Digicel said it would donate $5 million to aid agencies and help repair the damaged phone network.
• The European Commission has approved euro3 million ($4.37 million), with more funds likely.
• Spain has pledged euro3 million ($4.37 million), and sent three planes with rescue teams and 100 tons of emergency relief equipment.
• The Netherlands has donated euro2 million ($2.91 million) and will send a 60-person search-and-rescue team.
• Germany gave euro1.5 million ($2.17 million) and sent an immediate response team. Another team with 20 rescue dogs is on standby.
• Denmark has donated 10 million kroner ($1.9 million).
• Italy is pledging euro1 million ($1.46 million).
• China will donate $1 million, according to Xinhua News Agency.
• Sweden has offered 6 million kronor ($850,000), along with tents, water purification equipment and medical aid.
• Venezuela has sent doctors, firefighters and rescue workers.
• Mexico will send doctors, search-and-rescue dogs and infrastructure damage experts.
• France is sending two planes with doctors, food and medical equipment.
• Britain has sent 64 firefighters with search-and-rescue dogs and 10 tons of equipment.
• Iceland is sending 37 search-and-rescue specialists.
• Taiwan is flying in 23 rescue personnel and 2 tons of aid and equipment.
• Israel is sending an elite army rescue unit, including engineers, rescue workers, doctors and medics.
• Cuba already had field hospitals on the ground when the quake struck.
Curiously, there are no Arab nations on the list of those providing monetary assistance or who have announced that they are sending rescue teams to the region. President Obama has increased the amount of relief aid to $100 million.
I'm also announcing an immediate investment of $100 million to support our relief efforts. This will mean more of the life-saving equipment, food, water and medicine that will be needed. This investment will grow over the coming year as we embark on the long-term recovery from this unimaginable tragedy.
The United States of America will also forge the partnerships that this undertaking demands. We will partner with the Haitian people. And that includes the government of Haiti, which needs our support as they recover from the devastation of this earthquake. It also includes the many Haitian Americans who are determined to help their friends and family. And I've asked Vice President Biden to meet in South Florida this weekend with members of the Haitian American community, and with responders who are mobilizing to help the Haitian people.
We will partner with the United Nations and its dedicated personnel and peacekeepers, especially those from Brazil, who are already on the ground due to their outstanding peacekeeping efforts there. And I want to say that our hearts go out to the United Nations, which has experienced one of the greatest losses in its history. We have no doubt that we can carry on the work that was done by so many of the U.N. effort that have been lost, and we see that their legacy is Haiti's hope for the future.
We will partner with other nations and organizations. And that's why I've been reaching out to leaders from across the Americas and beyond who are sending resources to support this effort. And we will join with the strong network of non-governmental organizations across the country who understand the daily struggles of the Haitian people.
UPDATE: MSNBC has an interactive map showing damage to certain key facilities. It shows that there's a toppled crane and other damage to port facilities that will make it difficult to get relief supplies in by sea. Expect the US Navy to have its engineering contingent work to get the port reopened as quickly as possible to enable larger supply convoys to enter the port. Air flights are also being suspended because of limited jet fuel on hand and the tarmac is full at the capital's airport. While the airport control tower was destroyed, the runway is intact, enabling some flights to get in.
The annual Fleet Week celebrations are almost upon us, and I want to take the opportunity to thank the men and women of the US Armed Services and the US Navy and Coast Guard for all their hard work and dedication. The same sentiment is also extended to our Canadian allies who have a contingent of ships here as well.
Also, be warned that there will be multiple aerial displays and flybys during the course of the week, so people should be aware that there will be low flying planes during the course of the week, particularly during this coming weekend.
The full list of ships involved: These ships will be docked at the piers adjacent to the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum: USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) USS Roosevelt (DDG 80) USCGC Spencer (WMEC 905)
These ships are berthed at the Staten Island Homeport: USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) USS Thunderbolt (PC 12) USS Tempest (PC 2) USS Hurricane (PC 3) HMCS Fredericton HMCS Athabaskan HMCS Preserver HMCS Montreal HMCS St. John's USCGC Katherine Walker (WLM 552)
They didn't use nonlethal systems like the long range acoustic device, which sends piercingly loud sounds at the attackers. They sent hot lead; as the pirates opened fire on the cruise ship as it was steaming near the Seychelles, an Israeli security team on board returned fire. The Italian cruise line issued a statement saying that the Israelis were hired because they were the best security available.
The ship, the MSC Melody, did take some damage as bullets broke windows and damaged a lifeboat. One crew and one passenger were injured in the encounter. The pirates continued firing on the ship for some 20 minutes after trying to board. The pirates were repelled by both Israeli security and crew manning a fire hose to prevent the pirates from boarding.
Separately Sunday, four Yemeni tankers escorted by a Yemeni coast guard boat on their way to Aden were attacked by pirates. Three of the ships escaped and coast guards captured five pirates and wounded two others, said Mohammed Abdul-Rahman, a senior official at the Overseas Shipping and Stevedoring Company. Pirates could only seize one of the tankers, the Qana. The Yemeni Interior Ministry said coast guards were trying to free it.
And the Turkish cruiser Ariva 3, with two British and four Japanese crew aboard, survived a pirate attack near the Yemeni island of Jabal Zuqar, said Ali el-Awlaqi, head of the Yemeni El-Awlaqi Marine company said.
"Pirates opened fire at the cruise ship for 15 minutes then stopped for no reason," he said, adding that the cruiser was heading to Aden, Yemen, to fix a broken engine.
International military forces have battled pirates, with U.S. Navy snipers killing three holding an American captain hostage in one of the highest-profile incidents.
But Saturday's exchange of fire between the Melody and pirates was one of the first reported between pirates and a nonmilitary ship. Civilian shipping and passenger ships have generally avoided arming crewmen or hiring armed security for reasons of safety, liability and compliance with the rules of the different countries where they dock.
Pellegrino said the pistols on board the Melody were available to the commander and security agents. He said they were used as a deterrent, "in an emergency operation."
It was not the first attack on a cruise liner. In November, pirates opened fire on a U.S.-operated ship, the M/S Nautica, which was taking 650 passengers and 400 crew members on a monthlong luxury cruise from Rome to Singapore. The cruise liner was able to outrun the pirates. In early April a tourist yacht was hijacked by Somali pirates near the Seychelles just after having dropped off its cargo of tourists.
The number of pirate attacks has doubled this year, and the payment of ransoms isn't helping matters. It might secure the release of the crews, but it incentivizes the taking of more ships.
This must stop, and fighting the pirates on the seas isn't going to end the piracy. Only taking out the safe havens onshore will. No one appears willing or able to do so. Instead, everyone will talk about having to conduct more patrols, all while the pirates continue their deadly business.
You don't say. Crew members of the Maersk Alabama have gone on the record saying that Wal-i-Musi (aka Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse), the Somali pirate captured by the US Navy in connection with the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips, was not merely some guy along for the ride, but was the leader of the group.
[ATM "Zahid"] Reza said he was steering the Maersk Alabama when it was attacked April 8.
"When I first saw him, he carried himself as the leader. He was asking for directions, how to start (the) engine, and asking for all the crew," Reza recalled of Muse.
Muse spoke in broken English, and mostly spoke to the captain, Reza said.
"He was surprised he was on a U.S. ship. He kept asking, 'You all come from America?' Then he claps and cheers and smiles," Reza said.
Reza, who immigrated to the U.S. from Bangladesh in 1999, said Muse was friendly and smiling at first.
"He was the one who was nice to us because two of the other pirates tried to shoot us and he stopped them from shooting," Reza said.
But Muse eventually lost his patience as other pirates failed to arrive, Reza said. Reza and his shipmates lured Muse into a darkened engine room.
During a noisy struggle there, Reza stabbed Muse in the hand with a knife.
Well, now we know how Muse got injured in the first place and why he was on board the USS Bainbridge when the snipers finally freed Capt. Phillips and killed three of the pirates holding him.
This is going to make it even more difficult for Ron Kuby to defend this guy. Kuby's a good lawyer, but Muse is not going to walk. He was caught literally red-handed.
Ron Kuby, a New York-based civil rights lawyer, said he has been in discussions about forming a legal team to represent the Somali.
"I think there's a grave question as to whether America was in violation of principles of truce in warfare on the high seas," said Kuby. "This man seemed to come on to the Bainbridge under a flag of truce to negotiate. He was then captured. There is a question whether he is lawfully in American custody and serious questions as to whether he can be prosecuted because of his age."
As noted yesterday, age is not a problem since it's been shown he was at least 18 years old. While Musi may have boarded under a flag of truce, his compatriots continued to threaten Capt. Phillips and the US Navy is obligated to protect the life of the American captain. The US Navy owes a pirate nothing but the business end of a gun or missile.
The United States captured a Somali pirate during the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama. The pirate, Abduhl Wal-i-Musi, was escorted back to the US to stand trial. He's now in New York standing trial on multiple charges stemming from his actions to attack the Maersk Alabama and taking the captain and crew hostage.
He was front-cuffed and chained to the agents. At first, he was stern-faced, before flashing a smile for the photographers.
His blue, rainproof jumpsuit hung baggy on his thin frame -- all in one piece, including the footies, like a child's pajamas.
He didn't answer questions.
Wal-i-Musi is expected to face a federal magistrate in Manhattan by this afternoon, according to official sources.
There, he will likely learn he faces kidnapping and other charges carrying a maximum of life in prison, the sources said.
He has a lawyer with the help of the Minneapolis-based Somali Justice Advocacy Center, its director, Omar Jamal, said today.
Jamal says Muse, whose parents say is 16, does not speak English and is confused at his circumstances.
Wal-i-Musi was the hapless pirate in the lot -- jumped, stabbed and tied up by his would-be captives in the early moments of the attack.
He's confused at his circumstances? I'd say that he got off lucky. He's lucky he wasn't killed along with the other three pirates holding Capt. Phillips because he sought medical attention for wounds on his hand courtesy of the USS Bainbridge. He's lucky that the US has a justice system far more compassionate than the Somali pirates, who repeatedly attack shipping with the intent to collect ransoms.
What exactly is Musi confused about? He was involved in piracy. Is the Somali Justice Advocacy Center claiming that Musi didn't know that he was engaging in piracy and violating international law? Ignorance of the law is no defense. It's basic common sense that you don't go and attack ships, threaten crews with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades and other weapons, and kidnap crews to hold them ransom. Yet, Musi was in with this particular crowd. It's what they do.
UPDATE: Apparently Musi isn't 16, but 18. The parents spoke with the judge by phone and said as much. Musi will be treated as an adult. So much for the claim that he was a juvenile.
