Intrepid.

This is coolbert:

From a variety of sources today - - an item of interest. American sailors, casualties of the American war with the Barbary Pirates, over two hundred years ago now,  the repatriation of their remains a "hot-button" item, the death and burial of these brave men long thought forgotten - - BUT NOT SO!

1. From the Chicago Tribune today:

"Battle to bring home 13 buried sailors"

"N.J. city, lawmaker seek remains from 1804 blast in Libya"

"1804: In the fight against Tripoli, the USS Intrepid is sent on a mission to destroy the enemy fleet using a large explosive charge. During the attack, it is intercepted and destroyed in an explosion. The 13 men aboard are later buried by enemy forces in areas in and around Tripoli."

"Eight of the sailors' remains lie in an unmarked mass grave under Tripoli's Green Square, where supporters of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi frequently hold anti-American protests."

American sailors on a special operations type of mission, circa 1804, their ship and themselves blown up, all hands lost!

"The Intrepid blew up prematurely, however, and the sailors' bodies were dragged through the the streets of Tripoli and fed to a pack of dogs as U.S. prisoners begged the pirates to stop and were allowed to bury the sailors."

[how similar to Somalia and Fallujah - - is it not? ]

2. From the Time magazine on line blog "Battleland":

"Battleland - - Where military intelligence is not a contradiction in terms"

"Bringing the U.S. Sailors Home from Libya"

"13 U.S. Navy commandos remain interred on Libyan soil . . . the 13, led by Navy Master Commandant Richard Somers, were aboard the 'floating volcano' USS Intrepid, which was to move into Tripoli harbor to be blown up amid the pirate fleet there. But the vessel detonated prematurely on Sept. 4, 1804, killing them all."

3. From the William Kelly web site blog devoted to the USS Intrepid incident and the desire to repatriate the bodies of the American sailors:

"REMEMBER THE INTREPID"

"At the Grave of Richard Somers in Tripoli"

"200 years and thousands of miles away, Richard Somers is now closer to home than ever before."

"the remains of Lt. Richard Somers and the 12 man crew of the USS Intrepid are buried in a small park near Tripoli harbor where they died on September 4, 1804."

Gone but hardly forgotten, these brave American naval men, officers and enlisted alike, the casualties of a forgotten war from a forgotten time, but not forgotten by all!

The current situation in Libya, the Colonel in Tripoli feeling the heat, the remains Somers and his shipmates soon will be disinterred and returned to the U.S.? An opportunity that has not existed for over forty years now has been made manifest in an unanticipated manner!

coolbert.