Free Republic

The birth-cry of America's armed forces by W. Thomas Smith Jr. April is a month chocked-full of American military anniversaries: The Continental Navy captured its first enemy warship in April 1776. Marines captured Tripoli, 1805. The Civil War began, 1861. Lee surrendered to Grant, 1865. The Spanish-American war began, 1898. The U.S. declared war on Germany, 1917. Doolittle raided Japan, 1942. American troops landed on Okinawa, 1945. The Bay of Pigs invasion was launched, 1961. The last American Marine left Saigon, 1975. The Air Force raided Libya, 1986. And Baghdad fell to U.S. forces, 2003. All are but a few...

SYDNEY, Australia -- Six men were convicted of a string of sex attacks on Pitcairn Island, the isolated Pacific territory that is home to descendants of the 18th century Bounty mutineers, after trials that exposed a culture of sex abuse in the tiny community, media on the island reported Monday. Among those convicted was the island's mayor, Steve Christian, who claims to be a direct descendant of mutiny leader Fletcher Christian. He was cleared of four indecent assaults and one rape but was convicted of five other rapes, New Zealand's TVNZ television network, which has a reporter covering the trials,...

ex-crime trials threaten to devastate the isolated colony on Pitcairn, as British authorities insist the 'island way' is criminal. Far from reach of law SYDNEY, Australia — When Fletcher Christian and his crew of Bounty mutineers landed 214 years ago on tiny Pitcairn Island, its remote location halfway between New Zealand and Peru made it the perfect place to hide. Its isolation has protected the little colony's customs — some quaint and some sinister — ever since. Now the Pitcairn way of life is under challenge by a modern world that believes basic legal standards, including laws against rape, sex...

    Half of the island's men are on trial Pitcairn Island Profile   PITCAIRN'S 'RAPE CULTURE' Pitcairn Island was dominated by a culture of rape, fear and sex abuse, one of the island's woman have told a court. Women were treated as "sex things" and forced to comply to men's sexual whims.    The trial on the South Pacific island has made headlines around the world.    It centres on descendants of the 18th century Bounty mutineers and a group of seven men - half of the island's population.    They are alleged to have raped and abused some of the...

  Longboats are vital to survival PITCAIRN CASE TO START Seven men who live in one of the most remote spots in the world are going on trial charged with a string of sex offences dating back more than 40 years.       Just 47 people live on Pitcairn Island, all descendents of the mutineers from HMS Bounty who arrived there in 1790. The seven accused men include the mayor of the island, Steve Christian, and his son Randy.       The court decided to reveal their identities because they were already known to residents of the island and had been widely published...

A LEADING member of the US-based Seventh Day Adventist Church called today for the immediate adjournment of a series of sex trials on the remote British Pacific colony of Pitcairn Island. The trials, in which seven men face 96 separate charges under Britain's Sexual Offences Act, start Monday on Pitcairn, a 50-strong community founded in 1790 by Fletcher Christian, leader of the infamous Mutiny on HMS Bounty. The Seventh Day Adventist Church has been the majority faith on the island since 1890 and its Pacific Union College in San Francisco hosts a Pitcairn Island Study Centre headed by former missionary...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Descendants of English mutineers living on remote Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific have been ordered to surrender their guns amid fears that a trial for alleged child sex offences could lead to violence. Tiny Pitcairn has a population of 45 people, who have about 20 guns between them. The deadline for them to surrender their weapons is Sept. 7. The island's governor, the British high commissioner in New Zealand, has ordered that the weapons be handed in to the British colony's two policemen, a commission spokesman said on Wednesday. "We thought it prudent to take the...

Residents of the remote island of Pitcairn have been asked to hand in their guns, amid fears of violence ahead of a forthcoming sex abuse trial. Seven men on the island face a total of 96 charges of sex abuse, some dating back more than 40 years. Their trial, which will take place under British law, is due to begin on 23 September and last about six weeks. The tiny South Pacific island has a population of 45 people, who have about 20 guns between them. Pitcairn's governor, the British High Commissioner to New Zealand, Richard Fell, has asked islanders...

'Sins of a few' trouble Pitcairn By Michael Brooke BBC Pitcairn was colonised by the Bounty mutineers A couple of months ago I was looking down into the blue waters of Bounty Bay. The leaves of the coconut palms rattled in the south-easterly breeze. Pure white tropicbirds rode the updrafts sweeping the cliffs, the better to show off their extravagant red tail plumes. A commemorative plaque, erected in 1990, recorded the arrival of the Bounty mutineers 200 years earlier. I was on Pitcairn, home to a distinct culture and language. Close community Idyllic? Scarcely, for I knew that a legal...

Up to 20 men from the tiny South Pacific island of Pitcairn - which has a total population of 44 - may face charges of sexually abusing girls on the island after a police investigation, a New Zealand radio station reported yesterday. Police from Kent in southern England, joined by New Zealand detectives, began investigating an alleged December 1999 rape on Pitcairn almost 18 months ago. Since then the New Zealand media have reported that the number of complaints has grown, and that about 20 former Pitcairn dwellers had been accused of sexually abusing girls on the island. The report...