The Freed Afghan Reporter

[Viking Warrior]

The story of MR Farrel reporter for the New York Times, being freed has annoyed me.

 

This reporter goes into the wilds of afghanistan to do a story ( Most likely to

discredit the military) over the kunduz tanker incident. He gets captured by the lovely taliban . gets rescued at the cost of another soldiers life, his colleague and a couple of of civilians just to score points against the military.

 

 

If reporters are doing there own thing in these hostile countries surely they cannot expect the military to keep putting themselves in danger rescuing these idiots. Its not the first time and it will not be the last time a reporter goes into no mans land. Now the media will paint him out as some sort of hero.

 

Mr Farrell the heroes are the soldiers who rescued you. !!!

[Baj]

The story of MR Farrel reporter for the New York Times, being freed has annoyed me.

 

This reporter goes into the wilds of afghanistan to do a story ( Most likely to

discredit the military) over the kunduz tanker incident. He gets captured by the lovely taliban . gets rescued at the cost of another soldiers life, his colleague and a couple of of civilians just to score points against the military.

 

 

If reporters are doing there own thing in these hostile countries surely they cannot expect the military to keep putting themselves in danger rescuing these idiots. Its not the first time and it will not be the last time a reporter goes into no mans land. Now the media will paint him out as some sort of hero.

 

Mr Farrell the heroes are the soldiers who rescued you. !!!

 

Without these "idiots" you wouldnt even know what the **** WAS going on out there...

[Saint George]

Without these "idiots" you wouldnt even know what the **** WAS going on out there...

 

That's probably not a bad thing....We would all be speaking German now if the media had been involved in WWII in the way they have been in more recent wars

 

War is horrific and brutal and there are some details the general public just don't need to know.....especially when its been presented with a lefty/liberal agenda.

[badgerx16]

He was previously held hostage in Iraq in 2004.

[badgerx16]

 

War is horrific and brutal and there are some details the general public just don't need to know....

But the people initiating the wars would expect us to keep supporting them, paying for them, and even signing up to be killed in them. Why can't we know what is being done in our name, with our money, and with the lives of our relatives and friends ?

Why can't we know exactly how much 'collateral damage' is being done ? How many innocent civilian deaths justify the extermination of one Taliban leader by a drone bomb or cruise missile ? Whe can't we be told that our troops are being sent out in 'snatch' landrovers in areas where the Yanks are using bomb proof vehicles ? Or that there are not enough helos to transport them safely, exposing them instead to the IEDs ?

[badgerx16]

We would all be speaking German now if the media had been involved in WWII in the way they have been in more recent wars

The media in the 30's & 40's was far more tightly state controlled, if not explicitly, them by the social 'norms' of that era.

[Viking Warrior]

Im not saying the media should be state controlled just that these reporters should not expect the military to always rescue them. It was their choice to go there. I bet they didnt let the authorities know about their movements.

 

Deserve all they get

[Saint George]

But the people initiating the wars would expect us to keep supporting them, paying for them, and even signing up to be killed in them. Why can't we know what is being done in our name, with our money, and with the lives of our relatives and friends ?

Why can't we know exactly how much 'collateral damage' is being done ? How many innocent civilian deaths justify the extermination of one Taliban leader by a drone bomb or cruise missile ? Whe can't we be told that our troops are being sent out in 'snatch' landrovers in areas where the Yanks are using bomb proof vehicles ? Or that there are not enough helos to transport them safely, exposing them instead to the IEDs ?

 

If the media had been able to report every little detail at Dunkirk in the same way they do today, The British public would never have had the stomach or resolve to tough it out with Hitler for the next 5 years....Normandy would never have happened.

 

Media highlighting lack of equipment etc is a whole different issue and was being done way back since the Crimean war and earlier...Its called responsible reporting....nothing like the agenda ridden trash that comes from most of the leftist media of today

 

America's use of bomb proof vehicles and top rate equipment comes from a nation wide culture of honoring and respect for its troops....totally different from the culture in the UK that for years has allowed its troops to be abused and disrespected from the Government to the public on the streets, and jobs worths in bars, cafe's and on the railways etc...although it seems things are starting change a little there now, but not before time

 

It was the lefty 'media' that led to the huge anti troop upsurge during the Vietnam war.....Thankfully the American public soon came to its senses......Hopefully you guys will too one day

[Baj]

If the media had been able to report every little detail at Dunkirk in the same way they do today, The British public would never have had the stomach or resolve to tough it out with Hitler for the next 5 years....Normandy would never have happened.

 

Yes, but equally if the means were able back then for indepedent journalism and investigation to leak the truths of a nations war faring, even the media genius that goebbels was wouldnt have been able to hide the truth from the German people, the support from the German people, and in particular the Vehrmacht would have been significantly damaged to the point that Hitlers position as Fuhrer would have been at repeated threats of murder, not just from those inside the Nazi party that were aware of the truth.

[benjii]

If the media had been able to report every little detail at Dunkirk in the same way they do today, The British public would never have had the stomach or resolve to tough it out with Hitler for the next 5 years....Normandy would never have happened.

 

Media highlighting lack of equipment etc is a whole different issue and was being done way back since the Crimean war and earlier...Its called responsible reporting....nothing like the agenda ridden trash that comes from most of the leftist media of today

 

America's use of bomb proof vehicles and top rate equipment comes from a nation wide culture of honoring and respect for its troops....totally different from the culture in the UK that for years has allowed its troops to be abused and disrespected from the Government to the public on the streets, and jobs worths in bars, cafe's and on the railways etc...although it seems things are starting change a little there now, but not before time

 

It was the lefty 'media' that led to the huge anti troop upsurge during the Vietnam war.....Thankfully the American public soon came to its senses......Hopefully you guys will too one day

 

Absolutely.

 

What we need is more Vietnam, Iraq etc...

[sperm_john]

The story of MR Farrel reporter for the New York Times, being freed has annoyed me.

 

This reporter goes into the wilds of afghanistan to do a story ( Most likely to

discredit the military) over the kunduz tanker incident. He gets captured by the lovely taliban . gets rescued at the cost of another soldiers life, his colleague and a couple of of civilians just to score points against the military.

 

 

If reporters are doing there own thing in these hostile countries surely they cannot expect the military to keep putting themselves in danger rescuing these idiots. Its not the first time and it will not be the last time a reporter goes into no mans land. Now the media will paint him out as some sort of hero.

 

Mr Farrell the heroes are the soldiers who rescued you. !!!

 

im with you on this one

[badgerx16]

If the media had been able to report every little detail at Dunkirk in the same way they do today, The British public would never have had the stomach or resolve to tough it out with Hitler for the next 5 years....Normandy would never have happened.

What complete and utter tripe. Over 300,000 troops came back from Dunkirk, let alone the naval, RAF, and even civilian crews involved. Do you think they all came back and kept shtum ? Of course some of them might have, but Joe Public isn't stupid; they saw the BEF go off to France, saw them come back with their tails between their legs, and then experienced the Luftwaffe bombs being dropped on them. Yet during that period, the 'Dunkirk Spirit' was followed by the 'Blitz Spirit', and civilian morale went up, exactly as it did in Germany 3 years later. Unless of course the media managed to completely suppress all news of the bombing to keep it out of the public mind.

 

People aren't as stupid or gullible as you assume, ( but then you do live in the US of A ).

[.comsaint]

If the media had been able to report every little detail at Dunkirk in the same way they do today, The British public would never have had the stomach or resolve to tough it out with Hitler for the next 5 years....

 

As someone with an interest in such matters - I can tell you that the biggest tragedy at Dunkirk was infact the incident involving the sinking of the Cunard liner RMS Lancastria. To this day - it remains the worst single loss of life in British maritime history and the bloodiest single engagement for UK forces (in terms of lives lost) in the whole conflict, claiming more lives than the combined losses on Titanic and Lusitania. Estimates on the death toll are anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000.

 

Churchill - fearing the morale of the country was at an all-time low anyway because of the retreat of the BEF to Dunkirk - decided to keep the news of the sinking & the huge loss of life away from the Press & banned all reporting of it in Britain. It was only when US newspapers reported it over a month later that the British papers ran their stories.

[badgerx16]

It was the lefty 'media' that led to the huge anti troop upsurge during the Vietnam war.....Thankfully the American public soon came to its senses....

Historically, there has been no better way to distract from domestic problems than having a 'foreign adventure'. After all, that's what led the Argies to invade the Falklands. Of course, the Yanks have, since Vietnam, tended to pick on the real 'big boys,; Panama, Grenada, Nicaragua, etc. Oh, but then they got their fingers burned in Somalia, didn't they.

[badgerx16]

As someone with an interest in such matters - I can tell you that the biggest tragedy at Dunkirk was infact the incident involving the sinking of the Cunard liner RMS Lancastria. To this day - it remains the worst single loss of life in British maritime history and the bloodiest single engagement for UK forces (in terms of lives lost) in the whole conflict, claiming more lives than the combined losses on Titanic and Lusitania. Estimates on the death toll are anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000.

 

Churchill - fearing the morale of the country was at an all-time low anyway because of the retreat of the BEF to Dunkirk - decided to keep the news of the sinking & the huge loss of life away from the Press & banned all reporting of it in Britain. It was only when US newspapers reported it over a month later that the British papers ran their stories.

Just for the sake of accuracy, the Lancastria was sunk on 17th June 1940, 2 weeks after the Dunkirk operations ended, and she went down off St Nazaire, on the French Atlantic coast. One telling quote from WSC is allegedly "The newspapers have got quite enough disaster for today, at least", presumably responding to the news that Marshall Petain had just ordered the French to sue for 'honourable peace terms'.

[EastleighSoulBoy]

That's probably not a bad thing....We would all be speaking German now if the media had been involved in WWII in the way they have been in more recent wars

 

War is horrific and brutal and there are some details the general public just don't need to know.....especially when its been presented with a lefty/liberal agenda.

 

Would you think that with a right wing/fascist agenda the presentation would be correct then?

[Wiltshire Saint]

That's probably not a bad thing....We would all be speaking German now if the media had been involved in WWII in the way they have been in more recent wars.

 

I speak German. I learnt it at school. I can ask the way to the post office.

[jeff leopard]

I speak German. I learnt it at school. I can ask the way to the post office.

 

 

Invade up the post office more like.

 

The whole Afghan situation is turning really nasty and the public opinion backlash is definitely on its way.

 

Most agree that the Taliban won't be defeated whilst so much heroin is still being produced and so much money is flowing into their pockets. There was a great programme on radio 4 about the Afghan anti-drug squad, how slowly but surely they've got their act together and actually started to convict the major drug barons. And then Mr Karzai went and pardoned a dozen or so of them. And then rigged an election that has cost hundreds of Western lives and thousands of Afghan lives. We can't just walk out on them, but at the same time we can't force our western values upon them, as pretty much every major empire of the last 200 years has tried to do and failed spectacularly.