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Stephenson:neal:cryptonomicon:118:the good guys…(alan sinder)

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Bobby is wrong about it being where the war ends for him.

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From Cryptonomicon Chapter 9 GUADALCANAL

“Little hands roll him over onto his back. One of his eyes is frozen shut by sand. Peering through the other he sees a big fellow with a rifle slung over his shoulder standing over him. The fellow has a red beard, which makes it just a bit less probable that he is a Nipponese soldier. But what is he?

He prods like a doctor and prays like a priest -- in Latin, even. Silver hair buzzed close to a tanned skull. Shaftoe scans the fellow's clothing for some kind of insignia. He's hoping to see a Semper Fidelis but instead he reads: Societas Eruditorum and Ignoti et quasi occulti.

“Ignoti et.. . what the fuck does that mean?” he asks.

“Hidden and unknown -- more or less,” says the man. He's got a weird accent, sort of Australian, sort of German. He checks out Shaftoe's insignia in turn. “What's a Marine Raider? Some kind of new outfit?”

“Like a Marine, only more so,” Shaftoe says. Which might sound like bravado. Indeed it partly is. But this comment is as heavy laden with irony as Shaftoe's clothes are with sand, because at this particular moment in history, a Marine isn't just a tough s.o.b. He is a tough S.O.B. stuck out in the middle of nowhere (Guadalcanal) with no food or weapons (owing, as every Marine can tell you, to a sinister conspiracy between General MacArthur and the Nips) totally making everything up as he goes along, improvising weapons from found objects, addled, half the time, by disease and the drugs supplied to keep diseases at bay. And in every one of those senses, a Marine Raider is (as Shaftoe says) like a Marine, only more so.

“Are you some kind of commando or something?” Shaftoe asks, interrupting Red as he is mumbling.

“No. I live on the mountain.”

“Oh, yeah? What do you do up there, Red?”

“I watch. And talk on the radio, in code.” Then he goes back to mumbling.

“Who you talkin' to, Red?”

“Do you mean, just now in Latin, or on the radio in code?”

“Both I reckon.”

“On the radio in code, I talk to the good guys.

“Who are the good guys?”

“Long story. If you live, maybe I'll introduce you to some of them,” says Red.

“How about just now in Latin?”

“Talking to God,” Red says. “Last rites, in case you don't live.”

This makes him think of the others. He remembers why he made that insane decision to stand up in the first place. “Hey! Hey!” He tries to sit up, and finding that impossible, twists around. “Those bastards are looting the corpses!”

His eyes aren't focusing and he has to rub sand out of the one.

Actually, they are focusing just fine. What looked like steel drums strewn around the beach turn out to be -- steel drums strewn around the beach. The natives are pawing them out of the sucking sand, digging with their hands like dogs, rolling them up the beach and into the jungle.

Shaftoe blacks out.

When he wakes up there's a row of crosses on the beach -- sticks lashed together with vines, draped with jungle flowers. Red is pounding them in with the butt of his rifle. All the steel drums, and most of the natives, are gone. Shaftoe needs morphine. He says as much to Red.

“If you think you need it now,” Red says, “just wait.” He tosses his rifle to a native, strides up to Shaftoe, and heaves him up over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. Shaftoe screams. A couple of Zeroes fly overhead, as they stride into the jungle. “My name is Enoch Root,” says Red, “but you can call me Brother.” ...”

Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal, a 2510 square-mile island in the Pacific Ocean and a province of the Solomon Islands, is largely a jungle. The island became the scene of the important Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II. The island contains the national capital of Solomon Islands: Honiara.

A Spanish expedition discovered the island in 1568, but it later became part of the British Empire.

Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor and Singapore, the Japanese forces advanced into the South Pacific, reaching Guadalcanal in May 1942. United States forces chose Guadalcanal for their first major large-scale invasion of a Japanese-held island. Guadalcanal became a major turning-point in the war.

The Battle of Cape Esperance was fought on October 11, 1942 on the northwest coast of Guadalcanal. In the battle, United States Navy ships intercepted and defeated a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island. US forces reinvaded and, after six months of fighting, managed to halt the Japanese advance, driving Japan's troops into the sea on January 15, 1943.

The Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands are a nation in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea and is part of the British Commonwealth. It consists of more than 990 islands, which together cover a land mass of 28,000 square kilometres.

History of the Islands

The Spanish explorer Alvaro de Mendaña de Neyra discovered the islands in 1568. Spain lost its interest in the islands late in the 16th century, when one of Alvaro's ships was lost on a second visit to the area. Later, Dutch, French and British navigators visited the islands; their reception was often hostile.

Missionary activity started at the mid 19th century and European colonial ambitions led to the establishment of a German Protectorate over the Northern Solomons, following an Anglo-German Treaty of 1886. A British Solomon Islands Protectorate over the southern islands was proclaimed in 1893. German interests were transferred to Britain under the Samoa Tripartite Convention of 1899, in exchange for recognition of the German claim to Western Samoa.

World War II

Japanese forces occupied the Solomon Islands in January 1942. The counter-attack was led by the United States; the 1st Division of the US Marine Corps landed on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in August 1942. Some of the bitterest fighting of World War II took place on the islands for almost three years. Tulagi, the seat of the British administration on the island of Nggela Sule in Central Province was destroyed in the heavy fighting following landings by the US Marines. Then the tough battle for Guadalcanal, which was centred on the capture of the airfield led to the development of the adjacent town of Honiara as the United States logistics centre.

The impact of the war on islanders was profound. The destruction caused by the fighting and the longer-term consequences of the introduction of modern materials, machinery and western cultural artefacts, transformed traditional isolated island ways of life. The reconstruction was slow in the absence of war reparations and with the destruction of the pre-war plantations, formerly the mainstay of the economy.

Towards Independence

Stability was restored during the 1950s, as the colonial administration build a network of official local councils. On this platform Solomon Islanders with experience on the local councils started participation in central government. A Governing Council was set up in 1970, and in 1974 a new constitution was established which gave the islanders Prime Ministerial and Cabinet responsibilities. Self-government was achieved in 1975 and full independence was gained on 7 July 1978.

Cyclones

In 1992, Cyclone Tia struck the island of Tikopia, wiping out most housing and food crops.

In December 2002, Cyclone Zoe struck the island of Tikopia and Anuta, cutting off contact with the 3,000 inhabitants. Due to funding problems, the Solomon Islands government could not send relief until the Australian government provided funding.

Civil War

In early 1999 long-simmering tensions between the local Gwale people on Guadalcanal and more recent migrants from the neighbouring island of Malaita, erupted into violence. The ‘Guadalcanal Revolutionary Army’, later called Isatabu Freedom Movement (IFM), began terrorising Malaitans in the rural areas of the island, to make them leave their homes. About 20,000 Malaitans fled to the capital and others returned to their home island; Gwale residents of Honiara fled. The city became a Malaitan enclave.

Meanwhile, the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF) was formed to uphold Malaitan interests. The Government appealed to the Commonwealth Secretary General for assistance. The Honiara Peace Accord was agreed on 28 June 1999. Despite this apparent success the underlying problems remained unresolved. The accord soon broke down and fighting broke out again in June 2000.

Malaitans took over some armouries at their home island and Honiara and helped by that, on June 5 the MEF seized the parliament by force. They claimed that the government of the then Prime Minister, Bartholomew Ulufa’alu, had failed to secure compensation for loss of Malaitan life and property. Ulufa’alu was forced to step down. On 30 June Parliament elected by a narrow margin a new Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare. He established a Coalition for National Unity, Reconciliation and Peace, which released a program of action focused on resolving the ethnic conflict, restoring the economy and distributing the benefits of development more equally. However, Sogavare’s government was deeply corrupt and its actions led to the downward economic spiral and the deterioration of law and order.

The conflict was foremost about access to land and other resources and was centered around Honiara. Since the beginning of the civil war it is estimated that 100 have been killed. About 30,000 refugees, mainly Malaitans, had to leave their homes, and economic activity on Guadalcanal was severely disrupted.

Continuing civil unrest led to an almost complete breakdown in normal activity: civil servants remained unpaid for months at a time, and cabinet meetings had to be held in secret to prevent local warlords from interfering. The security forces were unable to reassert control, largely because many police and security personnel are associated with one or another of the rival gangs.

In July 2003 the Governor General of Solomon Islands issued an official request for international help, which was subsequently endorsed by a unanimous vote of the parliament. Technically, only the Governor General's request for troops was necessary. However, the government then passed legislation to provide the international force with greater powers and resolve some legal ambiguities.

On July 6, 2003, in response to a proposal to send 300 police and 2,000 troops from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea to Guadalcanal, warlord Harold Keke announced a ceasefire by faxing a signed copy of the annoucement to the Solomons Prime Minister, Allan Kemakeza. Keke ostensibly leads the Guadalcanal Liberation Front, but has been described as marauding bandit based on the isolated southwestern coast (Weather Coast) of Guadalcanal. Despite this ceasefire, on July 11, 2003 the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation broadcasted unconfirmed reports supporters of Harold Keke razed two villages.

In mid-July 2003, the Solomons parliament voted unamimously in favour of the proposed intervention. The international force began gathering at a training facility in Townsville and the first members are expected to arrive by air in the Solomons before the end of the month.

In August 2003, an international peacekeeping force, known as the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and Operation Helpem Fren, entered the islands. Australia committed the largest number of security personnel, but with substantial numbers also from other South Pacific Forum countries such as New Zealand, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea (PNG). It acts as an interim police force and is responsible for restoring law and order in the country because the Royal Solomon Islands Police force failed to do so for a variety of reasons. Peacekeeping forces have been successful in improving the country's overall security conditions, including brokering the surrender of a notorious warlord, Harold Keke in August 2003.

The government continues to face serious problems, including an uncertain economic outlook deforestation, and malaria control. At one point, prior to the deployment of RAMSI forces, the country was facing a serious financial crisis. While economic conditions are improving, the situation remains unstable.

Politics

The Solomon Islands is a parliamentary democracy within the Commonwealth of Nations, with a unicameral Parliament and a ministerial system of government. The British monarch is head of state and is represented by a governor general, chosen by the Parliament for a 5-year term. The national Parliament has 50 members, elected for 4-year terms. However, Parliament may be dissolved by majority vote of its members before the completion of its term. Parliamentary representation is based on single-member constituencies. Suffrage is universal for citizens over age 18. The prime minister, elected by Parliament, chooses the other members of the cabinet. Each ministry is headed by a cabinet member, who is assisted by a permanent secretary, a career public servant, who directs the staff of the ministry.

Solomon Islands governments are characterized by weak political parties and highly unstable parliamentary coalitions. They are subject to frequent votes of no confidence, and government leadership changes frequently as a result. Cabinet changes are common.

Geography

The Solomons Island are a wide island nation that lies East of Papua New Guinea and consists of many islands: Choiseul, the Shortland Islands, the New Georgia Islands, Santa Isabel, the Russel Islands, the Florida Islands, Malaita, Guadalcanal, Sikaiana, Maramasike, Ulawa, Uki, San Cristobal, Santa Ana, Rennell, Bellona and the Santa Cruz Islands. The distance between the most western and most eastern islands is about 1500 km. Especially the Santa Cruz Islands, North of Vanuatu, (of which Tikopia is part) are isolated at more than 200 km from the other islands. Volcanoes with varying degrees of activity are situated on some of the larger islands, while many of the smaller islands are simply tiny atolls covered in sand and palm trees.

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