Posted on 09/08/2009 9:30:55 PM PDT by james500
NATO troops released a kidnapped New York Times reporter in Northern Afghanistan in a raid before dawn on Wednesday, after he had been held for four days, an Afghan district chief said.
Reporter Stephen Farrell, who is British, was abducted on Saturday along with his Afghan interpreter while attempting to visit the scene of a NATO air strike.
(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...
GOOD! Just in time for the them to give him his pink slip and lay him off.
Now now. The last couple of days have been hell for him.
Are they sure he was being held?
Why would the Taliban hold one of their own?
He was identified as a reporter by his bag of lies.
Thats a total Waste of Energy and Risk Taking! Hopefully No Soldiers were Hurt in this Rescue of an Obvious Buffoon..:-)
Now I'm sure he wants to hurry back to the office so he can write an article about how the evil soldiers kidnapped him from the Taliban "freedom fighters".
Sheesh, I'm tired of our troops having to put themselves in harms way to rescue these leftist boneheads. A NYT reporter should probably be considered an enemy combatant anyway.
Was it worth the time and energy?
They can keep the SOB..
I hope the interpreter is OK.
Given the quick release of 4 days, they most likely discovered he was working for NYT and....
1). Looked at the NYT stock price and knew a ransom paid was not likely.
2). Traded him for a bag of rice and a virginal goat.
3). That he is a member of their propaganda division.
4). 4 days with a NYT reporter and the Taliban was already experiencing swine flu like sickness.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g8-DEMtAE9q4i4ySQ0eV_qZefmRQD9AJKC9O0
Western military officials in Afghanistan say a British commando was killed during a raid early Wednesday that freed a New York Times reporter from his Taliban captors.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6826974.ece
A British journalist kidnapped by the Taleban has been freed by British Special Forces in a pre-dawn raid in northern Afghanistan – but his Afghan colleague was killed in the operation.
...
His Afghan colleague, Mohammad Sultan Munadi, was killed in the crossfire, officials said today.
Moments after the raid Mr Farrell told his American colleagues: “We were all in a room, the Talebs all ran, it was obviously a raid. We thought they would kill us. We thought should we go out.”
The two hostages ran outside. “There were bullets all around us. I could hear British and Afghan voices,” he added.
At the end of a wall, Mr Farrell said Mr Munadi went forward, shouting: “Journalist! Journalist!” but dropped in a hail of bullets. “I dived in a ditch,” said Mr Farrell, who said he did not know whether the shots had come from allied or militant fire.
After a minute or two, Mr Farrell, who holds dual Irish-British citizenship, said he heard more British voices and shouted, “British hostage!” The British voices told him to come over. As he did, Mr Farrell said he saw Mr Munadi.
“He was lying in the same position as he fell,” Mr Farrell said. “That’s all I know. I saw him go down in front of me. He did not move. He’s dead. He was so close, he was just two feet in front of me when he dropped.”
“He was lying in the same position as he fell,” Mr Farrell said. “That’s all I know. I saw him go down in front of me. He did not move. He’s dead. He was so close, he was just two feet in front of me when he dropped.”
yeah, and a british commando died too. just so this guy could peddle his walter mitty fantasies.
Will be interesting to see how the NYT writes this one up.
Does anyone remember the movie "The Killing Fields?" The NYT reporter, Syndey Schanberg, abandoned his Cambodian friend, Dith Pran, at the US Embassy. Schanberg beat feet out of there on US military aircraft, while Pran suffered under the Communists in labor camps and witnessed mass murder and torture.
In real life, Schanberg was a Communist apologist, and this made it all a bit embarrassing for the NYT.
In the move, the NYT scumbag needs to shed a few tears for his friend. So, instead of blaming the Communists, the screenplay (which Schanberg was a consultant on), show him playing a video tape of stock footage showing evil American B-52 bombers, supposedly bombing women and children. He plays it to classical music. Then, he cries some more, and slams his fist down to protest the evil American military. Later on in the plot, he gives it to an American General, but good! Boy, does he lay him out in a liberal tantrum of self righteousness!
The liberal media cannot see evil from good. They cannot blame Muslims who capture, behead, and torture, because that would make the military and Conservatives look too good.
NATO troops free kidnapped NY Times reporter
why?
Reminds me of the Ethics in America program from the 80’s.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/press/vanities/fallows.html
A few minutes later Ogletree turned to George M. Connell, a Marine colonel in full uniform, jaw muscles flexing in anger, with stress on each word, Connell looked at the TV stars and said, “I feel utter . . . contempt. “ Two days after this hypothetical episode, Connell Jennings or Wallace might be back with the American forces—and could be wounded by stray fire, as combat journalists often had been before. The instant that happened he said, they wouldn’t be “just journalists” any more. Then they would drag them back, rather than leaving them to bleed to death on the battlefield. “We’ll do it!” Connell said. “And that is what makes me so contemptuous of them. Marines will die going to get ... a couple of journalists.”
The British commando who DIED rescuing him thought it was worth the risk.
The Taliban don’t discriminate who is a reporter or not.
That hatred is going to eat you up.
“Western military officials in Afghanistan say a British commando was killed during a raid early Wednesday that freed a New York Times reporter from his Taliban captors.”
Poor trade.
Will be interesting to see how he spins his first column. Men died so this vermin can live to write lies another day.
Those reporters are nothing but trouble....Paton thought them ccntemptible.
The hallmark of the American military is taht you can rely on them, no matter who you are, no matter what your politics, and no matter how you view the world. They may not approve of you, but they value American livesm, and other lives, and will come to help when they can.
Thank you to the troops, even though I do not agree with the man’s politics. He is a child of God, as are we all.
Great work troops! I hope he is grateful.
I know Stephen Farrell’s family must be very thankful he is alive and safe.
A British soldier and Farrell’s Afghan interpreter died during the rescue. Sadly, it’s almost as if two lives were exchanged for one.
Prayers for the families of the two men who died.
What is a NATO troops? I did not know that NATO had its own standing army. Or does this mean that several countries did it together or the USA did it and NATO gets the credit?
Given that a Brit paratrooper died and that Brit Marines were also involved, it looks like this was a UK operation. No idea why they use the NATO designation in the press - but then I don’t know why the press does a lot of stuff.
Word is it was a UK led op. SBS apparently.
A NY Times reporter?
Will someone please apologize for military action now?
Why did the NATO troops take him hostage? /sarc
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