Hawaiian

My time served in active military service was between the Korean and Viet Nam conflicts. So Mr. know-it-all you are right, I have no actual combat experience. I can only relate to experiences of the men and women who bravely served under fire. Until I lived with people with combat connected PTSD I never realized how it disrupts their daily lives. Every day is a personal battle fighting against suicidal tendencies.

My grandmother lost her husband and nearly everything else in the Russian Revolution. She managed to flee across Asia and eventually ended up in Japan where one of her two children succumbed from the ordeals of the journey. She was fortunate enough to obtain passage on a ship to Hawaii. There she met my grandfather. He came to Hawaii as a physician to tend to the medical needs of a ship full of indentured laborers from China. Because of his profession he was little more fortunate than his fellow countrymen. From my mother's parents I learned to be compassionate for those who lives are filled with daily struggles to survive. I also grew up knowing fully the realities of life. This means knowing when and how to separate fact from fiction or bluntly speaking, how recognize B.S. when I see it.

WAR IS HELL!

Some of my friends, Viet Nam Conflict veterans, suffer from PTSD. Their reoccurring nightmares are mostly reliving the horrors of war. Most don't want to talk about it because it brings back memories they wish they could forget.

After his first tour of duty, my brother-in-law volunteered for another tour. He went back for a second time and returned home very disappointed and disillusioned. He said he just didn't have the stomach for it anymore.

The majority of the U.S. military do not enjoy killing, especially innocent people. It is virtually impossible to weed out those who won't follow the rules of engagement and/or commit atrocities. Those that do are usually caught and prosecuted, sometimes years later.

WAR IS HELL!

As one poster mentioned, you have no idea what it is like until you have been there and experienced it. Talk is cheap!

It is inevitable that there will be civilian casualties when there is no defined battlefield and one side uses noncombatants as shields. Sooner or later there will be innocent lives lost.

Not easy to fight a war when the rules of war only apply to one side.

Harmid Karzai is upset because he and his henchmen have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar and have been told that this must stop. He is using this incident to bolster his waning support. He knows that when NATO forces are withdrawn he will have to deal with the Taliban and is trying to blame someone else for his double dealing.

Maybe the problem is that war was started against some terrorist group. They should have known beforehand that they will not met a 'regular' army.

Karzai is upset because he is an Afghani and for sure not happy about when the Americans killed young boys over there.

Once Kabul was taken from the Taliban and Karzai installed as president he personally invited NATO to Afghanistan to get rid of Al Queda. He knew what the risks were. He knew that there might be unintended consequences. Karzai is an opportunist and will join whichever camp that will keep him in power. Did he not recently threaten to forgo the political process and join the Taliban? Not once, but twice. Enough said.

"Thailand needs to grow up."

And pigs might fly.

I take this and other stuff in my stride.

Its a case of take it or leave it. Personally I really enjoy my time in Thailand, grown up or not.

I have always taken things in stride and enjoyed myself. As for departure, I have always been on time and have never missed a flight. When "experienced" and not constant whiners say it is a problem, then I listen up. While far from being disabled, I am having a problem with my knees and try to avoid standing in long lines if I can. My gripe is with the attitude of the people in charge.

I come from a place where tourism is a major part of the economy. While far from perfect our government agencies tend to go out of their way to accommodate visitors.

It is inevitable that there will be civilian casualties when there is no defined battlefield and one side uses noncombatants as shields. Sooner or later there will be innocent lives lost.

Not easy to fight a war when the rules of war only apply to one side.

Harmid Karzai is upset because he and his henchmen have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar and have been told that this must stop. He is using this incident to bolster his waning support. He knows that when NATO forces are withdrawn he will have to deal with the Taliban and is trying to blame someone else for his double dealing.

I've got an outbound long haul at 08:30 on Monday morning, what time would anyone advise I arrive for check-in, presumably 06:00 will be the earliest?

Unless you're willing to fork out for the Fast-Track option, it's best to be there the full three hours before departure. A friend just emailed he was among the first to check in when the counter opened at 5.30 am, but barely made an 8.30 am flight. He said it was total chaos inside and outside the Immigration Hall.

Evil

My last trip to Thailand was in August 2009. After experiencing the governments experiment on internet censorship, I vowed never to return until things improved. Then came the Bangkok riots and now the immigration delays at the airport. The wife still goes back to visit family, but I refuse to accompany her. I used to go there to relax. Now I go elsewhere where there isn't a lot of unnecessary B.S. to put up with. Thailand needs to grow up.

Seriously the states are extremely paranoid.

No

Have you looked into trying to take a Thai to the states. I have. It can be done but the bar is high.

I heard of one Lady from Lao who got her visa here before going and when she got there she was turned back.

I am a US citizen who chooses to live here rather than there or in Canada where I have immigration status. In the states the paranoia is high but it is covered up with a superiority complex. Most of the Americans are completely clue less as to the rest of the world. Every thing is wrong and they are always rite.

Don't get me wrong. I visit every year brothers and sisters in the states. Canada ex wife and kids. But the restrictions on living in the land of the free are to high. I like to live here in Thailand where people are free to enjoy life. They are not afraid of it.

The tens of thousands of travelers who went there on visitor/tourist visas and then subsequently overstayed is at the root cause of strict selectivity for granting of these visas. It's not paranoia.

It's not only the those that overstay, but also people that falsify information on their visa applications. I know of one Thai woman who has paid individuals to sponsor her relatives with K1 (Fiance/Fiancee) visas. Her success has emboldened her to find even more sponsors for more of her relatives. She even had the audacity to ask her sister's ex-husband to return the money after her sister was naturalized and subsequently divorced.

Sooner or later she will get busted by immigration for arranging these sham marriages.

Why doesn't the government go after real cost savings like reigning in Medicare fraud that costs an estimated $60 billion a year. Another area of huge cost savings would be tax reform.

The U.S. always like to point to corruption and the accompanying waste in other countries, but refuses to address the problem at home. All we get is a lot of talk and no action.

Big mistake. Probably just the excuse certain countries are looking for to justify foreign intervention. As the old saying goes, "If you are looking for an excuse you will find one."

Would not a simple solution such as armed security on board these commercial vessels deter the pirates, after the demise of a substantial number the message should sink in, the current message seems to be - we are SOFT - Please continue to steal, pillage and rape us at your leisure ! Little wonder these cretins continue to prosper, if the Maratime Insurance companies refused to cover any vessels entering the arena without an armed deterrent force, that may also help those Shipping Companies with this lack of coherent focus to get some ! After losing the odd hundred million from their own pockets. After all that it is just ludicrous and imbecilic for these dumb ass recreational sailors to have entered the arena of their own free will, perhaps they could be persuaded to reconvene the coliseum so we can all watch if they insist on committing suicide by Pirate. There exists the technology to place guided bombs through a house window yet there is no realistic plan being even talked up in this scenario - Why ?

The insurance premiums are adjusted to cover the claims. When premiums go up the cost is passed on to the consumer. The insurance carriers do not want to be accused of encouraging violence, then they will become targets for acts of terrorism. As long as the claims are at an "acceptable level" the insurance companies will stay neutral.

I notice that in this incident, 13 pirates were detained .

In my opinion, there should have been no survivors, all should have been killed in the action !

Back in the 50's i was on a naval ship ( will not disclose which navy) we departed Mogadishu, Somalia bnd for Colombo, then Ceylon. At sea 2 days we were informed that there might be 2 dhows in the area bound for the Persian Gulf from Zanzibar, which we were to stop and search as they were suspected of running slaves. We subsequently found and tracked 2 dhows for some time. As we closed on them in the early evening they proceeded to throw a number of persons overboard who were attacked by large sharks. We were unable to rescue these persons, all young boys and girls as the sharks had killed them . We were all incensed by the crew of the 2 dhows who just stood and grinned at our boarding parties. They told us that we had no right to board them as they had no slaves on board, the few girls they had ( about 14 yrs old) were wives of the crew. We subsequently took the girls away, eventually finding out that they were the choice slaves for the arab market. As we steamed away the arab crews turned their backs to us shouting and exposing their backsides. Our captain was so angry as we all were that we opened fire with our light AA guns and sank them. they soon found out about the sharks. I have never regretted this ocurrence but have no doubt that the "do gooders" would condemn us all to the gallows if they could. If this was done to these pirates a bit more often then things might be different.

Please do not ask me for more particulars as i am not going to say more. I am now in my mid 70's and still at peace with it when i think of what those animals did with those kids.

It was agreed that nothing more be said and to my knowledge nothing has.

I also served aboard ship during the 50's, but never had the experience of meting out that kind of justice. Must say that you sailed with an honorable crew for this to have been kept under wraps for all these years. Hats off to you and your comrades.

It's time for the USA and a "coalition of the willing" to just take over the coast of Somalia. It would be pretty easy to do. Put a fence around it like one giant military base. Deport ALL of the locals to the interior and bring in other nationalities to do any labor required like they do here in the Gulf with Indians and Filipinos. Problem solved.

why usa?

most of us could care less about pirates . for gods sake...............pirates!

These lowlifes are not just pirates. They are cold bloodied murderers. Why the U.S.? Because the U.S. has a huge military presence in the area and has the resources and intelligence apparatus necessary to stop these atrocities.

Useless as teats on a boar comes to mind. The plight of foreign workers in Libya is a disaster in the making and the best the U.N. can do is a slap on the wrist. Procrastination seems to be a trademark of this organization.

A minefield spanning Somali waters should do the trick.

This would create more problems with the possibility of mines breaking loosing from their moorings and straying into the busy shipping lanes. While I totally agree something needs to be done, this is not the answer.

People who are so convinced that this is the right thing to do should lead the troops into battle and put their own precious lives on the line. If there is one specific target this is what armed drones and short range missiles are for. Another strategy would be to offer Ghaddafi's hired guns a hefty reward to turn against him. Mercenaries' only loyalty is to the paymaster that provides the highest wages.

Bush Cheney & Rumsfeld knew what to do when they found a nest of snakes.

Afghanistan as headquarters of Al-Queida & the Taliban was unacceptable.

The Somali situation right now is unacceptable.

We need a multi-national force to go in there & kill every last pirate. Shoot first no questions asked. Not a law enforcement action.

Barack has no stomach for that. To him everyone deserves a lawyer.

It's amusing for me to be to the right of the right wing guys on the board for a change. I will savor the moment.

That is because in American political terms, both major political are into using force against countries without a declaration of war, meddling in other nations affairs, enforcing high import-tariffs and treat with the use of violence if things are not going their way.

Atleast the classical republicans wasn't so hungry for wars but that all changed when the neo-cons came over from the Dems and took over.

Now only alternative parties are against wars and expansionist intervention into situations not fully understood.

Name one country that doesn't meddle in other countries affairs? Or deal with trade in nationalistic ways?

Check out this article. It's a breath of fresh air:

Warning Against Wars Like Iraq and Afghanistan

WEST POINT, N.Y. — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates bluntly told an audience of West Point cadets on Friday that it would be unwise for the United States to ever fight another war like Iraq or Afghanistan, and that the chances of carrying out a change of government in that fashion again were slim.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/world/26gates.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=globasasa22

Gates is right. If the U.S. had waited long enough the rebellion virus circulating in the Middle East today would probably be caught by the Iraqis. Better only Iraqi lives lost than wasting the lives of American men and women. America should have let the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds fight it out. Bush, Cheney and Rummy Inc. thought all of the American lives sacrificed were enough to turn Iraq into a western style democracy. In return the Iraqi people would reward America with oil. What a sad fairytale.

Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black. I think Assange has exposed the blatant lies spread by the Bush administration which eventually caused unnecessary loss of lives and a lot of money pored down the drain. Wikileaks has also exposed how good the U.S. is at protecting classified information.

Seems like the authorities have enough evidence to put him away for life unless some judge decides otherwise. Must be a lot more of these dangerous guys out there. Good work by the FBI.

The U.S. is not going to take the threats by the pirates lying down. The U.S. special forces in Djibouti at Camp Lemonnier have been training for such a response and are just waiting for

the word go. I believe there will be some kind of direct intervention by the American military if their intelligence indicates such operation has a good chance for success. Yes, we all know about the results of faulty intelligence.

A warning should be made that if any more hostages are killed there will be hell to pay. And a demand should be made for serious negotiations for the release of all the hostages being held. No one wants the responsibility of endangering lives, but something needs to be done soon. Another situation of damned if do and damned if you don't.

I live on an island with 1 dormant and 3 active volcanoes. Kilauea, the volcano next to where I live is considered the "most studied" volcano in the world. There are monitors of all sorts

which measure swelling, movement of magma, composition of gasses and of course tremors. So far I don't think the geologist have 100% success rate of predictions. They are dam_n good at what they do, but they are the first to admit there can be false alarms. Hawaiian volcanoes are normally not explosive unless there is groundwater intrusion. Then you have a phreatic eruption which can be quite dangerous. Would be interesting to find out how accurate this new technique really is.

Very difficult to say what is on my mind without sounding revengeful. This is a situation where you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. Time for Plan B. More lives will be lost if bolder action is not taken. RIP.

Hawaiian, I understand your point, but up to this point we haven't been much of a deterrent when it comes to Pakistan and the nuclear weapons. And, some people seem quite enthusiatic for the Chinese or maybe the Indians to become world leaders. Very well, let them handle it and see if the world becomes a better place.

It's more of keeping tabs on the security of their weaponry than trying to stop them from making more. Evidently, the U.S. did not deter Pakistan from aiding Iran's nuclear program. I am quite sure that there would be direct intervention if the U.S. discovered that a terrorist group had gained possession of nuclear material.

India and China are having growing pains of their own. Feeding a billion plus people is becoming more challenging every day. Besides daily necessities these growing populations are demanding more and more of what others already have. It will be interesting to see how they will handle the coming food and energy shortages and the accompanying unrest.

I agree with you that America needs to put America first. America is not immune to the unrest and anarchy that is happening elsewhere.

[quote name='beechguy'

Given the track record of their security and military people working with the Taliban, it still doesn't mean the incident wasn't self defense. Personally, I would rather we take all of our people out of Pakistan and move them on the Afghanistan side, then suspend all aid. It's more diffcult to support the Taliban when they're digging out from under an earthquake or treading water from a flood.

Because Pakistan continues to add to its nuclear arsenal, the U.S. feels that it is important to have a presence there which includes covert activities. Military aid is the price we pay for this. However, I think that this incident will eventually play itself out and the cat and mouse game will go on.

As far as Afghanistan goes, the U.S. would have been better off with using hired guns instead of involving the U.N. If things don't go right it is easier to pull the plug by just cutting off funding and denying everything. According to Wikileaks deceit seems to be the name of the game. Even when the truth is told, few people believe it anyway.

At least thats 4000 Americans that will have a job.

That's if there are no false I-9's filed.