Mercenaries grab tug-of-love girls

[mangda]

Mercenaries grab tug-of-love girls

* Martin Chulov and David Nason
* December 23, 2006

A FORMER Australian soldier and a New Zealander have been arrested in Lebanon on accusations they are part of a mercenary squad that seized the two daughters of Canadian Melissa Hawach from her estranged Australian husband north of Beirut.
Police identified the captured Australian last night as Brian Desmond Corrigan, and the New Zealander as David Bruce Pemberton, an ex-special forces member alleged to be the team leader.

The duo were hauled from a plane at Beirut's international airport on Wednesday afternoon and could face up to 15 years' jail on charges of kidnapping minors.

Another former Australian soldier, James Arak, and two more New Zealand mercenaries, Simon Dunn, 33, and Michael Douglas, 40, have fled the country.

Ms Hawach and her two daughters, Hannah, 5, and Cedar, 3, are also believed to be on the run but still in Lebanon.

Lebanese police claim all five men are ex-commandos who had staked out the girls' father, Joseph Hawach, for several days before launching the daring raid.

Police swooped after finding that one of the men had used his own name to rent a hire car.

A check of passport records revealed he had just passed through Customs at Beirut airport and he was arrested minutes before his plane departed.



http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20966797-601,00.html

[079E/R]

Corrigan was a radio technician in the Royal Australian Electrical Mechanical Engineers (RAEME) corp of the Australian Army. He was never a grunt although he was posted to 3RAR (parachute battalion). The papers originally said he was a Commando and now they claim he was a para-trooper, which he wasn't, he was a pogue working in support company. He plaigarised another guys CV to get work with OAM in Iraq in late 2004 and was subsequently fired in early 2005 for smashing up the bar in the restraunt in the terminal in BIAP with another oxygen-thief, as well as trying to take a weapon from a guard from Global after they were asked to leave. Bottom line he is a poser and it isn't suprising that he has ended up in his current situation, he would be loving the fact that he has gained notoriety now for being a 'hardened mercenary'. Keep your eyes open in bookstores in a few months for his book which is sure to come out......

[mangda]

Anyone know Mathew Stewart?


Al-Qa'ida trainee: AFP asks for help

* Mark Dodd
* January 06, 2007

HELP is being sought from foreign intelligence and security agencies to assist the Australian Federal Police in its investigation of suspected Australian al-Qa'ida terror trainee Mathew Stewart.
The AFP was investigating one unconfirmed report Mr Stewart might have died in Pakistan, Commissioner Mick Keelty said yesterday.

He said that the AFP was "actively pursuing allegations" Mr Stewart was one of 12 Western recruits training with al-Qa'ida in Pakistan's lawless northwest frontier province.

Mr Stewart was a former infantry soldier who was discharged from the service with psychological problems and had since disappeared, Chief of Army Lieutenant-General Peter Leahy said yesterday.

"I think he was a well-trained soldier. He was in one of the infantry battalions. He saw service in East Timor," he said.

The AFP said it did not know Mr Stewart's whereabouts and was investigating one unconfirmed report the Queenslander might have been killed in an attack last year.



Aussie arrested in Iraq

* Rebecca Weisser and Pia Akerman
* January 06, 2007

AN Australian citizen has been arrested by coalition forces in Iraq on suspicion of conspiring to commit terrorist acts.
Warya Kanie, 39, an Iraqi Kurd, came to Australia about three years ago with his young daughter as part of the humanitarian refugee program to join his three brothers, who were already living in Adelaide.

Mr Kanie, who had divorced his wife, was living in a housing trust apartment on unemployment benefits and receiving additional benefits as a single father.

A member of the Australian Iraqi community, who spoke to The Weekend Australian on condition of anonymity, said Mr Kanie was a Sunni and "had extremist views".

Mr Kanie left Adelaide about seven months ago, after gaining Australian citizenship, telling his family that he was going to look for a new wife in Iraq.

But he allegedly told a friend that he was leaving Australian "to go on jihad".


Combat death in Somalia

*
* January 06, 2007

AN Australian, believed to be a Muslim, has been killed fighting in war-torn Somalia.
The Melbourne man, 25, is thought to have died late last month during skirmishes with Ethiopian troops.

The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed the death yesterday. "Consular officials have been in touch with the man's family in Australia who confirm that the man was killed fighting in Somalia, but the circumstances are unclear," a spokesman said.

[079E/R]

There was a news story about Stewart on television the other night where his friends and family claimed that he was 'a changed man' after World War Timor and that he had been 'affected' by it.......:rolleyes:

It was peacekeeping operation......the horror, the horror......

If he had been in Pakistan training with the Mujj here's hoping that the news reports are true and that he bought it over there.........

[mangda]

Probably still getting his ADF PTSD pension paid into a waziristani bank account.

[mangda]

Contractor killed by Australians a war hero

Misha Schubert, Canberra
January 24, 2007
Other related coverage



THE American contractor shot and killed by Australian troops at a checkpoint near the Australian embassy in Baghdad was a decorated Vietnam veteran and father of a US marine, according to reports in his Texas home town.

Media outlets in San Antonio have named the dead man as Hector Patino, 58, and suggested that he was delivering water to the embassy when he died.

The San Antonio Express-News reported that Mr Patino had served two tours in Vietnam from 1968 to 1970. During that time he was awarded a Silver Star, the US military's third-highest decoration for valour, the report said.

His family said he took a risky job so he could retire in another year to the dream house he built on Canyon Lake.

The man's sister, Rosemary Patino, said Mr Patino supported America's efforts in Iraq and "was trying hard to serve his country in the capacity he was in".

Australian soldiers with the 110-person Security Detachment, which guards the Australian embassy in the Iraqi capital, sprayed Mr Patino's truck with machine-gun fire when they say it showed no sign of stopping for a vehicle search on January 13.

But troops found no explosives in the white garbage truck-sized vehicle after the fatal encounter, leaving officials puzzled as to why the man ignored directives to halt.

Mr Patino is survived by a son, Hector, a marine serving in California; a daughter, Priscilla , and a granddaughter, Mykala.

A memorial service for the dead contractor was held yesterday at the Mexican Christian Church in San Antonio.

[079E/R]

Mangda what the hell does the above post have to do with the original thread? :confused:

Either way, what happened is a tragedy. However those who have been to the vehicle entrance to the CHS/Australian Embassy in the IZ know that there are several signs indicating for drivers to stop as deadly force is authorised. I'm sure the same would have occured if someone failed to stop for the Jarheads who were manning the checkpoints out front of the US Embassy a couple of years ago.