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Silent Men Speak to a U.S. Presence in Afghanistan [Hugh Hewitt: TREASON=revealing military secrets]
www.LATimes.com ^ | 11/05/2001 | Paul Watson

Posted on 11/05/2001 3:32:37 PM PST by RonDog

Edited on 09/03/2002 4:49:30 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

GULBAHAR, Afghanistan -- Four Western men in wraparound sunglasses and U.S. sportswear were on the sidelines watching and videotaping as anti-Taliban troops practiced for battle on a barren hillside Sunday.

When a journalist asked who they were and what they were doing, the men went deeper under cover of their Afghan head scarves and refused to speak. They ducked into a white van with blue curtains and sped off, and the Northern Alliance's military maneuvers went on without them.


(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
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To: abner
LOL!!! No; I'm from Tucson; I'm a D-Back fan; Only a Minnesota fan can be "Sven".
21 posted on 11/05/2001 4:33:27 PM PST by DLfromthedesert
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To: RonDog
Hey, Ron.....Simon vs Riordan.....what say you?
22 posted on 11/05/2001 4:34:29 PM PST by DLfromthedesert
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To: RonDog
Although it seems that THIS reporter, Paul Watson, is working from a rather SEVERE deficit that will be difficult to overcome.

From Democracy NOW! - August 19, 1999 :

Story: WITNESS TO A WAR

Almost five months ago, on March 23, NATO airplanes dropped their first bomb on Kosovo. A few days after that, thousands of Kosovar Albanians began to be expelled from their homes by Serb forces and paramilitary troops; others were jailed or massacred. With all international humanitarian observers and journalists expelled from Kosovo, there were few witnesses to these crimes.

One of the few foreign journalists, and the only North American, who stayed in Kosovo throughout the NATO bombings was Paul Watson, reporter for the Los Angeles Times. When his colleagues were expelled from the province after the allied attacks began, he turned around at the border and went back into Kosovo, convincing Serb soldiers at every checkpoint that he had the authorization to remain. He closely escaped several bombings, was under constant threat and was arrested three times. From his hotel window in Pristina, the Kosovar capital, he watched as columns of Kosovar Albanians were marched out of their homes. His remarkable story was published on June 20, entitled "A Witness to War." He has continued to report from Yugoslavia for the Los Angeles Times.

Guest:

Related link: Los Angeles Times - To read Paul Watson's articles on Kosovo and on Yugoslavia, including "A Witness to a War," go to today's complete newspaper and click on "NATO Crisis in Yugoslavia."

23 posted on 11/05/2001 4:40:05 PM PST by RonDog
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To: DLfromthedesert
Hey, Ron.....Simon vs Riordan.....what say you?

Anybody but Davis. (But of these two, I greatly prefer Simon.)

24 posted on 11/05/2001 4:43:22 PM PST by RonDog
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To: DLfromthedesert
What is the purpose of that article?What purpose does it serve? Why do we need to know it? I recognize that the government has done things in the past and that the media helped uncover the misdeeds but, *&&%%#($(@)($($)#)#@(@(@, we don't need to hear about manuevers that are taking place in an action to KILL bin laden and the Taliban.

I hope that some lamehead asks about the Spanish speakers tomorrow in the DOD press briefing and I hope Rumsfield is there.

25 posted on 11/05/2001 4:44:50 PM PST by RummyChick
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To: RonDog
I think someone should have shot this idiot reporter and the staff of the Left Angeles Slimes should be dropped from a B-52 on the Talaban. Chutes! they don't need no stinking chutes!
26 posted on 11/05/2001 4:51:04 PM PST by gc4nra
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To: RonDog
Evening Bump!

g

27 posted on 11/05/2001 4:55:16 PM PST by Geezerette
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To: RonDog
Treason meter's a great idea...clear consequences for thoughtless actions. They might even get it.

Journalism students are taught to criticize and mistrust their own country. I see them as dogs trained to sniff out nail clippers when the real monsters are pointing Uzis at their heads and they haven't a clue, because they were never trained to look at the big picture, only to question the US government.

Oct. 2000, Durham City News-

Education: HERSCH, AT DUKE, TELLS ETHICS STUDENTS: BE CYNICAL BUT ETHICAL Pulitzer prize-winning author and journalist Seymour Hersch spoke to students and members of the public last night at the Terry Sanford Institute at Duke on the subject of ethics in journalism. Using his own experiences in the investigation and breaking of the My Lai story in 1969, Hersch employed a relentless, challenging approach to jolt attendees into talking about the ethical issues involved in "getting the story." The essence of his advice: when dealing with government sources, be monumentally sceptical - assume untruth until proven otherwise. Never violate ethical and legal requirements - it damages journalistic credibility immensely. Look to the Internet as the redeemer of aggressive investigative journalism, which is essentially in hibernation right now because of the expense. --- He also predicted that the Cole warship bombing story would take a new twist - with emphasis shifting to the negligence of Navy brass in entering the port in unsecured fashion, without establishing a proper "perimeter," thereby inviting assault. (His prediction is already coming to pass, as CNN is reporting the new inquiry this morning....)

28 posted on 11/05/2001 5:02:28 PM PST by Ragtime Cowgirl
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To: Geezerette
Hey, lady, how 'bout those D-Backs!!! :-)
29 posted on 11/05/2001 5:03:25 PM PST by DLfromthedesert
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To: RonDog
Hewitt is right and was excellent !!!!!

Thanks for the ping.

30 posted on 11/05/2001 5:31:21 PM PST by Snow Bunny
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To: RonDog
Combined treason score for each newspaper? EXCELLENT idea!

Here is how Hugh could do it: he needs a voting area on his website for articles (unfortunately, not all could be done, but 5 or 6 of the top culprits could be used). Results could be posted after 24 hours, and then move on to the next group. A simple program could do the cumulative averages.

I am quite interested: which paper would get the highest TI score...LA Times, NY Times, or Washington Post? Which reporter would fare the worst? Conversely, we could also run stories from the Washington Times and New York Post.

In my dreams, I see ads which say "The LA Times, with a treason index of 9.5, has attacked our President..."

31 posted on 11/05/2001 5:35:15 PM PST by Miss Marple
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To: RonDog
The choir is listening!...thank anywho.
32 posted on 11/05/2001 5:49:08 PM PST by Outraged
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To: DLfromthedesert
LOL!!! No; I'm from Tucson; I'm a D-Back fan; Only a Minnesota fan can be "Sven".

I'm near Philly, originally from Minneapolis, but I remember the Homer Hankies from the Twins. I don't follow sports much, but the Twins hold a soft spot in my heart.

33 posted on 11/05/2001 5:58:46 PM PST by abner
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To: RonDog
I just pray for the safety of our American troops over there.
34 posted on 11/05/2001 6:00:28 PM PST by goldilucky
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To: RonDog
Treasonous folks that need to be strung up...
35 posted on 11/05/2001 6:02:00 PM PST by StoneColdGOP
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To: RonDog
I would like to be on your list for Hugh Hewitt please. Thanks. Love this guy.
36 posted on 11/05/2001 6:09:58 PM PST by ladyinred
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To: goldilucky
I just pray for the safety of our American troops over there.

That, of course, is the point.
ALL Americans - all people of goodwill from ANYWHERE in the civilized world, for that matter - should be concerned for the safety of our men and women in harm's way.

Apparently, the folks at the L.A. Times feel otherwise - if MILITARY personnel are at risk. THEY seem to be expendable.

Poking around Google provides some interesting insight into the editorial policy of the L.A. Times - particularly about the "rules of the game" when the shoe was on the OTHER foot, and Watson himself was in harm's way. Check out this quote from a story in the Village Voice in the "Week of April 7 - 13, 1999" called Kosovo to Hell:

"Two weeks ago, most of the foreign press corps stationed in Pristina, Kosovo, fled en masse, after Serb police pounded on some of their hotel doors with the butts of their AK-47s and ordered them out. Hacks on the run included correspondents from CNN, the BBC, and The New York Times, but when they were gone, one man was left standing: Paul Watson, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times.

Last week, Watson gave the L.A. Times the honor of publishing dispatches under an exclusive dateline: Pristina, where he witnessed the evictions of ethnic Albanians firsthand. The New York Times covered the gap in its reporting by stationing journalists in Macedonia and Albania, where they could document the evictions through interviews with newly arrived refugees. Meanwhile, only two major U.S. papers, The Washington Post and Newsday, acknowledged the L.A. Times's exclusive by reprinting stories under Watson's byline.

By staying in Kosovo, Watson was privileged to all kinds of riveting details. For example, after Serb police killed human rights lawyer Bajram Kelmendi, the lawyer's widow talked to Watson at length, explaining how five uniformed men broke into her house and pointed rifles at her children's heads, before taking her husband and two sons away to be shot point-blank in the street. At the end of last week, when TV networks were showing footage of the U.S. POWs, Watson was offering expert analysis on how the Serbs had won the propaganda war so far.

Simon K.C. Li, foreign editor at the Los Angeles Times, declined to discuss the logistics of Watson's situation, saying that to do so would only "raise his profile" and further expose him to danger..."

How could the L.A. Times POSSIBLY justify what did in today's article - putting the lives of Americans at extreme risk by disclosing the "logistics of their situation" - when they exhibited CONSIDERABLY more discretion back then?

Oh, that's right. This time the people at risk are SOLDIERS, not journalists.

FYI, Simon.Li@latimes.com

37 posted on 11/05/2001 6:45:14 PM PST by RonDog
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To: ladyinred
I would like to be on your list for Hugh Hewitt please. Thanks. Love this guy.

You already ARE! Do a "Self-Search", and look for this thread.
The "New Style" format only displays the FIRST 97 characters of what is now virtually an unlimited "To:" list.

For ALL of the names in the current Hugh Hewitt ping list, check out the "To:" list in the "Old Style" version of my post #6 on this thread.

38 posted on 11/05/2001 6:52:31 PM PST by RonDog
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To: RonDog
Excellent post, RonDog!

"Apparently, the folks at the L.A. Times feel otherwise - if MILITARY personnel are at risk. THEY seem to be expendable."

For the L.A. Times folks to feel that way about the military personnel being expendable. They forget that they are too! Just as the WTC was done in, terrorists activity can strike anywhere and at any time.

39 posted on 11/05/2001 6:55:11 PM PST by goldilucky
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To: RonDog
I listened to Hugh today and I think he's right-on (as usual) I mean always!
40 posted on 11/05/2001 6:57:16 PM PST by onyx
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