Posted on 12/27/2005 8:02:56 PM PST by jmc1969
WASHINGTON - Four years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, Taliban and al Qaeda fighters are showing renewed strength, using suicide bombs and rocket-propelled grenades. They are even training the next generation.
Since June 2005, 54 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan, by far the most lethal period since the U.S. invaded.
Behind some of the most deadly attacks is one man, a 35-year-old Afghan who calls himself “Commander Ismail.”
In his first interviews with Western media, Ismail brags about killing three Navy Seals this summer, then downing a Chinook helicopter that came to rescue them, killing another 16 Americans.
Commander Ismail says ousted Taliban leader Mullah Omar is alive and well and that the Mujahaddin are fighting under his command and control.
NBC News interviewed Ismail in August and again this month.
Ismail boasts that in June, he deliberately laid a trap for American forces.
Ismail: We certainly know that when the American army comes under pressure and they get hit, they will try to help their friends. It is the law of the battlefield.
A tape obtained by NBC News showed what appears to be some of the battle, and the terrorists’ unsuccessful attempt to coax a Navy Seal to surrender. When the U.S. military sent in a rescue team, Ismail’s men were waiting with a rocket-propelled grenade, downing the helicopter, and then spreading out recovered weapons and hi-tech equipment. Later, they displayed captured communications equipment and weapons.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Why can't we get an RFID tag on these reporters?
Funny* how it works out that way.
*Not funny ha ha, but funny as in to hell with the Country, let's get Bush, no matter who or what gets destroyed in the process.
Yeah, a real yuckfest.
I am really not surprised at the way the NBC handled it...
I you have watched anything from the News Division of NBC...they don't even pretend to be objective..check out Hardball and Meet the Press..for example..
but, I also remember hearing Peter Jennings, in a media roundtable, say that as a journalist, his loyalty is to the "story" and the "truth"...more than America...and admitted that if he were an imbed in Iraq...and saw an insurgent sneak up on an American troop...
he would "record" the event of the American being killed, rather that yell to warn the troop. He said to do otherwise, would make himself part of the story...instead of the "lense of the camera".
I have NEVER listened to a newsperson the same since.
LOL
Well, my glass IS half empty right now.
After reading this garbage, it's pretty obvious which side NBC is on. They even trumpet the deaths of 54 Americans. Bass Turds.
Even amking contact with them is treason, execute him.
you can almost sense their relief and joy in the first paragraph....
In the first place, the "NBC Producer" was, most likely, a Muslim or a "local hire". He probably carries Al Jazeera credentials, as well as those of NBC. His risk was minimal, at best. Taliban had a propaganda story to tell, NBC new that going in. Then NBC claimed that "intelligence analysts" had told them showing the video was a "good thing". Turns out the "intelligence analyst" was one of NBC's rent a soldiers, not someone from the US Government who probably has a different view of what NBC and "Lady HaHa (aka Lisa Myers) did.
I think there's value in knowing the enemy, and if the enemy wants to let the press in and give them video tapes that the American public can see, that suits me.
In particular here I found a couple of things worth noting: The way the guy poked the kid in the eye when he was teaching him how to shoot and the way they displayed the American soldiers' gear like trophies. Also, the fact that Ismail justified their actions by saying, "our enemy was coming to get us and we were fighting our enemy" but then admitting that they laid in ambush for the Chinook because they knew Americans would come to get Americans in trouble.
Fascinating stuff and I hope it is widely viewed by Americans. It is inflamatory, which is good. It also gives some insight into the nature of the enemy, which is good. We need more of that and less bashing the president or bashing the troops.
I've been wrong defending the media before, and maybe I'm wrong here. I think there needs to be more information in the press about who we're fighting. It's like O'Reilly interviewing the two former terrorists on last nights program. Does O'Reilly need to be executed now, too (realizing it was someone else who called for the execution of NBC's producer). Like I said, defending the media is a losing proposition and I'm reluctant to do it, but I think these kinds of stories are important because I think most Americans have forgotten who and what we're fighting.
The only way I like this is if Lisa had a bug planted under her skin so we knew where she went.
(Four years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, Taliban and al Qaeda fighters are showing renewed strength, using suicide bombs and rocket-propelled grenades. They are even training the next generation. )
The hopeful tinge of this paragraph makes me sick. As a matter of principle I no longer watch the MSM. Let them and their advertisers die on the vine.
Call me Ismael....
The NBC reporter should be tried for treason.
I hate these ****ing traitors.
NBC News interviewed Ismail in August and again this month.
Why don't they let us know where this SOB is? Does the NBC ENJOY knowing our guys are getting killed? Damn this makes me mad!
I didn't see Bill O'Reilly interviewing former terrorists, but maybe the operative word is former terrorists. So maybe O'Reilly can escape the death penalty in that regard. What you need to realize is that while watching enemy propaganda may be "fascinating" to the historian or the amateur "military analyst", it may also send the wrong message to the uninitiated and the unwashed. You spoke of "insight into the nature of the enemy", but I what I saw said: "we're just freedom fighters attacking only those who attack us"; "we tried to get the Navy Seal to surrender to our tender mercies, but the stubborn galoot wouldn't quit"; "here we are training our army of workers and peasants who want to give their all for Islam and Afghanistan". Where was the message: "we're a bunch of murdering thugs right out of the seventh century"? I missed that part. This is a "Taliban is back, with a vengeance" message, and it very much was US Military and Bush bashing. Sorry you're too "fascinated" to see that.
As much as I despise the MSM....and this is bordering on the Fonda treason...you make excellant points. There is very little in the MSM that shows the brutality and insane etermination of the terrorists.
Fine. I think it's vitally important that we get more information about our enemy. I think it is absolutely imperative to our national security that we are reminded constantly of who we are fighting and why. Certainly there is going to be a MSM filter on it, but I think most Americans are able to see through that. Certainly when terrorists grant interviews it's for propaganda purposes. Again, I think Americans are smart enough to see through that. I know you did, even if you won't admit it.
But if you have to turn personally spiteful toward me because I disagree with you, then clearly it's your way or the highway. No room for disagreement with you. So before you recommend that I be executed for treason too, I'll take the highway.
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