Schlachthof Fünf

This is coolbert:

Here, from the collected works of the just recently deceased American author Kurt Vonnegut, is a letter, recently found, and placed into the public domain!

"The blood of Dresden"

"The author Kurt Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in Dresden during the allied bombing raids and was later forced to dig out bodies from the ruined city. In papers discovered by his son after his death last year, he provides a searing eyewitness account of the ‘obscene brutality’ that inspired his novel Slaughterhouse-Five"


Kurt Vonnegut. One of the most important 20th Century authors in the English language? I would think so. Prolific, writing in an unmistakable style, popular with high-school and college students. WAS ACTUALLY PRESENT [A AMERICAN SOLDIER, PRISONER OF WAR OF THE GERMAN] DURING THE SATURATION BOMBING OF DRESDEN [FEB. 1945]! WITNESSED THE SPECTACLE OF AN ENTIRE CITY BEING PUT TO THE TORCH!
"Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. . . . was a prolific and genre-bending American novelist known for works blending satire, black comedy and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five"

"Kurt Vonnegut's experience as a soldier and prisoner of war had a profound influence on his later work . . . Imprisoned in Dresden, Vonnegut witnessed the fire bombing of Dresden, a city nick-named 'Florence of the Elbe,' in February 1945"

"Vonnegut was one of a group of American prisoners of war to survive the attack in an underground slaughterhouse meat locker used by the Germans as an ad hoc detention facility. The Germans called the building Schlachthof Fünf (Slaughterhouse Five)"

The area bombing and destruction of Dresden has been referred to as an "allied war crime"! Excessive and unnecessary violence, in war time, a massacre, a slaughter, an atrocity, NOT REALLY CONTRIBUTING TO THE WAR EFFORT!

As first elaborated upon by David Irving in his book, "The Destruction of Dresden"

Download a freeware copy of the updated and annotated version of the 1960's classic! "Apocalypse 1945: The Destruction of Dresden"!

Much has been written since those terrible days of 1945 and the aftermath of the seminal work by David Irving. The consensus opinion is that the saturation bombing and mass casualties that occurred at Dresden WERE INDEED UNNECESSARY!!??

I do recall very well "Destruction of Dresden" when the book first hit the bookstalls [early 1960's]. Created a minor stir at the time, opening a "festering sore" that has NEVER properly healed.

As to the letter from the collected works of Kurt Vonnegut, long-lost letter recently discovered, my comments IN BOLD:

* "Thank heaven we’re in an ‘open city’,” we thought - - "Fortress Dresden fired a dozen shots at our [American] airmen. Once back at their bases and sipping hot coffee, they probably remarked: 'Flak unusually light tonight'."

The Open City. A concept, not heard of since the time of Manila, 1941 [1942?]? A city, DECLARED TO BE OF NO MILITARY VALUE, DEVOID OF MILITARY ACTIVITY, AND NO LONGER TO BE DEFENDED. A city declared "open" in the hope that it will be spared destruction.

"In war, in the event of the imminent capture of a city, the government/military structure of the nation that controls the city will sometimes declare it an open city, thus announcing that they have abandoned all defensive efforts. The attacking armies of the opposing military will then be expected not to bomb or otherwise attack the city, but simply to march in. The concept aims at protecting the historic landmarks and civilians who dwell in the city from an unnecessary battle"

The entire concept of an "open city' during a time of war has gone the way of the dodo? An anachronism, a legality not to be seen again?

It is crucial to remember, also, THAT DRESDEN DID NOT ENJOY THE STATUS OF OPEN CITY! NEITHER DID ANY OTHER GERMAN CITY FOR THAT MATTER! Hitler would not have allowed such a proclamation to be made, the German did have flak emplacements within the city [?], and during the actual air raid, squadrons of German night-fighters were stranded on the ground waiting orders to sortie and take on the allied bomber force. Orders that never came! The intent to defend Dresden WAS THERE, the lack thereof NOT being a sign that Dresden had been deemed an "open city"!

* "In February 1945, Dresden, Germany, was destroyed, and with it over 100,000 human beings [killed]." - - ”The only good German is a dead one: over 100,000 evil men, women, and children"

With regard to casualties at Dresden, all sorts of figures are bandied about. 250,000 dead, 100,000 dead, 50,000 to 100,000 dead, 20,000 dead. NO ONE has a handle on this or has conclusive evidence one way or the other.

* "In February 1945, American bombers reduced this treasure [Dresden]to crushed stone and embers; disemboweled her with high explosives and cremated her with incendiaries."

NO!! The initial night attack on Dresden was made by the British. A first and then second wave of bomber aircraft dropping incendiary and high explosive ordnance, area bombing, saturation bombing, designed to create a fire storm. The major damage done at Dresden was done by English Bomber Command!!

American B-17 bomber aircraft DID follow up with a daylight attack the next day, dropping primarily high explosive munitions, the target being so covered with an intense black cloud of smoke from the multitude of fires burning.

American efforts are what is called gratuitous violence. The major damage had already been done, further bombing efforts only exacerbating the situation for those on the ground.

* "To the people of Dresden: we were forced to bomb your city because of the heavy military traffic your railroad facilities have been carrying" - - "labour battalions had swarmed over the damaged rail yards and restored them to nearly normal service."

Heavy military traffic? Railroads? The allies had a means available to determine this was so? YES! German railroads did have their own version of the Enigma machine and used it extensively in radio traffic to coordinate the transport of war munitions via the railways. Encrypted radio traffic that could have been intercepted and deciphered. Dresden was crucial to the railways of Germany? Hard to say. And EVEN IF IT WAS SO, THE RAIL NETWORK WAS BACK UP AND RUNNING TWO DAYS LATER, MORE OR LESS NOT IMPEDED BY THE BOMBING!!

* "The occupying Russians, when they discovered that we were Americans, embraced us and congratulated us on the complete desolation our planes had wrought."

Dresden, the destruction thereof, was part of deal made at Yalta assist the Russians with their war effort on the Eastern Front? AND ALSO A MEANS TO INTIMIDATE, SCARE, "SHOCK AND AWE" THE RUSSIANS WITH THE CAPABILITY AND STRIKING POWER OF BOTH THE ENGLISH BOMBER COMMAND AND THE U.S. ARMY AIR CORPS?

* Strategic area and saturation bombing of this nature is NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN? Precision guided munitions have obviated the need for MASSES OF AIRCRAFT dropping MASSES of ordnance on a target all at once, devastating an entire city in the process. According to Christian teachings, the bombing of Dresden was disproportionate violence, NOT justified!?

Area and saturation bombing, along with the concept of the "open city", no longer has a relevancy in modern warfare!!??

coolbert.

Chivalry VIII.

This is coolbert:

For those that are interested, here is a series of entries from my previous blog, Military Thoughts, that deals with the topic of chivalry, modern and old. Even from the era of World War Two [WW2], there are some instances of chivalry? British naval personnel, vanquished in battle, on three occasions being awarded the Victoria Cross, UPON RECOMMENDATION OF THE GERMAN ADVERSARY, the latter observing and duly commenting upon!!

1. Chivalry I - - The Concept.

2. Chivalry II - - The Ideal.

3. Chivalry III - - Lewis.

4. Chivalry IV - - Saladin.

5. Chivalry V. - - The Thirty.

6. Chivalry VI - - Edward.

7. Chivalry VII - - Southerland/Sakai - - Conclusion.

coolbert.

Bangladesh.

This is coolbert:

From the Chicago Tribune today:

“NATION & WORLD”

“BANGLADESH - - Border guards relent, end insurrection”

“A Bangladeshi border guard stands inside the unit’s headquarters Thursday in the capital, Dhaka, before the mutinous border guards agreed to lay down their weapons and end a two-day rebellion. At least 18 people were killed in the insurrection after 2,000 guards opened fire on their senior officers and seized their headquarters to protest poor pay and conditions.”

The photograph accompanying this particular Tribune article shows a very sour looking “border guard”, wearing this camouflage uniform, holding his apparently loaded AK. NOT a person you want to get on the bad side of!

Some comments:

* This is typical 3rd World shenanigans. A para-military unit, “border guards”, shoot their officers, threaten the “central government, and more or less get what they want. I am not sure if the term “Third World” is still relevant? The paradigm of 1st world, 2nd world, 3rd world is no longer valid?

* I am not sure what exact border these “border guards” are guarding? That 4,000 kilometer [2,500 mile] double fence barrier between Indian and Bangladesh has more or less sealed the common border between those two countries? If anything, Bangladeshis would BE TRYING TO GET OUT OF BANGLADESH, SO GREAT IS THE POVERTY OF THAT NATION!

* 3rd World military or para-military units [such as these “border guards”] more than anything else are used primarily for internal control and repression of their own population. “Head knockers” accustomed to using force and having their way! When these guys get mad - - everyone had just better look out!!

[please do not think of these folks as being analogous to an American Border Patrol agent!]

* Bangladesh of course is the one place in the world where the British Admiral Parry contends is most susceptible to a societal and governmental breakdown that will spread worldwide. In such circumstance [societal and governmental breakdown], fully expect these “border guards” to exacerbate an already desperate situation. You can only sense the degree of indiscipline among such “troops”, “guards” that shoot their own officers and take over headquarters. If things get out of hand, there will be no controlling these guys!!

coolbert.

Nimrod.

This is coolbert:

“any person living under the protection of the Queen, owes allegiance to the Queen!! - - old English law.

From Afghan - - a very troubling development.

Instances of treasonous behavior, on the part of those that DO OWE allegiance to the Queen.

"British citizens, English passport holders, persons born and bred in England, taking up arms and fighting for the Taliban in Afghan!!"

"British soldiers are engaged in 'a surreal mini civil war' with growing numbers of home-grown jihadists who have travelled to Afghanistan to support the Taliban"

British Nimrod aircraft, intercepting Taliban radio transmissions of persons speaking with discernible English accents [Midlands and Yorkshire]!

"Interceptions of Taliban communications have shown that British jihadists – some 'speaking with West Midlands accents' – are active in Helmand and other parts of southern Afghanistan"

"it is in Afghanistan that British forces are now directly facing fellow Britons on the other side. RAF Nimrod aircraft flying over Afghanistan at up to 40,000ft have been picking up Taliban electronic 'chatter' in which voices can be heard in West Midlands and Yorkshire accents . . . showing the presence of more British voices in the Taliban front line."

British citizens, English passport holders, but NOT Englishmen in the generally understood, normal, and commonly accepted form of the term Englishman! FELLOW BRITONS, BUT NOT EXACTLY FELLOW BRITONS!!

Descendants of those immigrants from Pakistan and the British Raj that have been living in Great Britain for several generations now. Muslims, young men having dual and conflicting allegiances, “radicalized” and accepting the path of jihad! Young English Muslim men, willing and able to FIGHT AGAINST the British Army and their own fellow citizenry, having decided their real loyalty lies with the world-wide Islamic community [ummah]!!

This is treason! NO OTHER description suffices. The usual penalty for treason, the world-over, is death!! However, DO NOT expect to see, as in the old days, any of these turncoats hanging from Traitor’s Gate, or having their heads taken off and stuck on a pole! Britain is now ”civilized”, being a member of the EU. The death penalty if no longer an option!

There does exist, living in England, a LARGE number of disaffected and hate-filled angry young Muslim men. The British actually do run a risk of having a Second English Civil War occur? In particular, those young Somali refugees pose a most significant risk, 10 % of them being able to field strip an AK in less than a minute while blindfolded!!

Five [MI-5] and Six [MI-6] know who these bad guys are? If and when any of the traitors ever attempt to set foot on English soil again, measures will be taken against the miscreants? One would certainly hope so!

Religion as a motivation for treason is a phenomenon NOT SEEN in England since the Elizabethan era! Chapman Pincher in his book dealing with the motivations of traitors only mentions in passing religion as a motivating factor.

Was a non-entity, AT LEAST UNTIL NOW!!

coolbert.

Chivalry!

This is coolbert:

Here is another example of chivalry in modern times.

The senior German military commander [World War One] in German East Africa, upon hearing of the death of Frederick Selous, writes a letter of apology and condolence. Regrets the death and the manner of death of so noble an adversary on the battlefield.

"General von Lettow-Vorbeck, known as 'The Lion of Afrika,' the supreme commander of the German colonial army, himself an admirer of Selous, wrote a personal condolence note, apologizing for the 'ungentlemanly death' incurred by D.S.O. Captain Selous at the hand of the German Army."

Professional military men do take this sort of stuff seriously?

Please remember the precedent of the British commander, Ferguson, during the American Revolutionary War. When having the opportunity to snipe and kill George Washington, Ferguson declined. Ferguson, in a concealed position, awaiting an opportunity to kill an American rebel, had George Washington and perhaps Casimir Pulaski BOTH in his sights. But DID NOT FIRE! Reasons given by Ferguson were to include:

* The distance was too short to consider the venture “sporting”!! [Washington and Pulaski were only fifty yards away]

* The men were officers, not enlisted soldiers. [it was not the role of gentlemen to kill other gentlemen!]

* The two men were “brave men” comporting themselves in a valorous manner and did not deserve to die!

The nature of modern warfare, impersonal, mechanized, industrialized, by-the-numbers battle drill and bureaucracy has done away almost totally with the concept of chivalry! BUT NOT TOTALLY!

coolbert.

Al-Marri Again.

This is coolbert:

The case of Ali al-Marri is finally coming to a head?

The man, a terrorist, who entered the U.S. [as a legal resident], JUST ONE DAY BEFORE 9/11, is going to go on trial.

Will be tried [?], in an ordinary civilian criminal court, on charges of "giving material assistance to a terrorist organization"!

The same charges that were levied against Jose Padilla. Charges resulting in the conviction of Padilla, Padilla receiving an eighteen-year prison term.

The Obama administration has made the decision to conduct the war-on-terror as a criminal matter? It would seem so. We are in a state-of-war [as acknowledged by the Attorney General Holder], but will fight the war as if it was a civil criminal matter?

MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, THIS DECISION REGARDING AL-MARRI [AND OTHERS LIKE HIM] HAS BEEN MADE MERELY FOR THE SAKE OF RESOLVING OUTSTANDING QUESTIONS WITHOUT REGARD TO LONG-TERM RAMIFICATIONS??!!

Al-Marri at worst is a terrorist whose mission perhaps included the mass murder of American civilians. A mission to be accomplished in the manner of the UNLAWFUL ENEMY COMBATANT [the newspapers repeatedly refer to al-Marri as merely an enemy combatant, neglecting in a purposeful way to omit the word UNLAWFUL!!]!! At best, al-Marri is an enemy spy belonging to, adhering to, and owing allegiance to a terrorist organization whose stated purpose is to kill MILLIONS OF AMERICANS!!

In either case, al-Marri is a man who merits DEATH!!

Being prosecuted in a civil criminal court, charged with "giving material assistance to a terrorist organization" will result in a punishment that will be far less than death!!

Having been locked away in a military brig for over seven years now, al-Marri, even if found guilty [and there is no absolute certainty he will be found guilty], will be more or less immediately eligible for release!! This of course is all predicated on al-Marri receiving more or less the same sentence as Jose Padilla.

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, I doubt ANYONE WOULD HAVE BELIEVED THE CASE OF AL-MARRI WOULD EVENTUALLY TRANSPIRE AS IT HAS??!!

coolbert.

Messages?

This is coolbert:

The question has been asked: "Why do the bin laden's favor such a short barreled AK??"

We are speaking here about the snub-nosed version of the AK-74. The AKS-74U.

A weapon designed as a half-measure between an assault rifle and a sub-machine gun. A weapon originally intended to be used by armored vehicle crews, etc. For some reason, a favorite companion of the jihadi Al Qaeda villainous leadership of Osama, Zawahiri, etc.

"the AKS-74U . . . in terms of tactical deployment, bridges the gap between a submachine gun and assault rifle. It is intended for use mainly with special forces, airborne infantry, rear-echelon support units and armored vehicle crews."

A weapon, too, when displayed in the background during a visual communique from Al Qaeda leadership, functions as a signalling device of some sort? Allows operational units to know that secret messages have been forwarded to recipients, placed in a "lock box" and are now retrievable?

[this is all speculation on my part!!]

A signalling system relying upon the orientation of the AK in the image, with or without magazine! The AK is placed to either the right or left of Osama. The AK has an inserted magazine or is sans! The magazine, if inserted points to the right or left. Exact placement of the various elements has significance only discernible to the initiated? Jihadi operational units know the system and can readily determine if the message "lock box" needs to be emptied!

Secret messages sent via steganography [steg]. Secret messages embedded within an ordinary-appearing image, an image placed somewhere ["lock box"] on the Internet! Steganography, a cryptographic legacy of the Victorian era [used even before that too] long thought to be passe', outmoded, archaic and not even any longer worthy of consideration, NOW enjoying a remarkable comeback!!

"Steganography is the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no-one apart from the sender and intended recipient even realizes there is a hidden message, a form of security through obscurity"

"International interest in R&D for steganography technologies and their commercialization and application has exploded in recent years. These technologies pose a potential threat to national security. Because steganography secretly embeds additional, and nearly undetectable, information content in digital products, the potential for covert dissemination of malicious software, mobile code, or information is great."

A signalling system as exemplified by the examples below:

There was even before 9/11, speculation that Al Qaeda was using the Internet to send secret communications to operatives. And in the aftermath of 9/11, such speculation became even more of a concern.

"a captured terrorist training manual, the "Technical Mujahid, a Training Manual for Jihadis" contains a section entitled 'Covert Communications and Hiding Secrets Inside Images.'"

The 9/11 commission did look into this matter - - their conclusion being - - INCONCLUSIVE!!?? NO ONE HAS A GOOD HANDLE ON THIS??!!

Go here to see an interesting and very informative presentation on steganography, courtesy of the crypto guru Elonka.

Please note too that these various steganography algorithms not only hide the message, but most allow for encryption as well. An interceptor, knowing that an image contains a hidden message, is faced with a cryptanalytic problem as well!! Algorithms that are readily available from the Internet, freeware and shareware both!!

Personally, I am fairly impressed with the entire modern steg concept. With something like 28 billion images on the Internet, 1 billion or so being viewed daily, the task of EVEN LOCATING AND EMBEDDED SECRET MESSAGE AND DECRYPTING SAME IS NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE? Your average-everyday-jihadi has hit upon the "gold mine" of messaging that defies compromise? I fear so!

coolbert.