Posted on 09/09/2009 1:03:26 AM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
KABUL — British commandos freed a New York Times reporter early Wednesday from Taliban captives who kidnapped him over the weekend in northern Afghanistan, but one of the commandos and a Times' translator were killed in the rescue, officials said.
Reporter Stephen Farrell was taken hostage along with his translator in the northern province of Kunduz on Saturday. German commanders had ordered U.S. jets to drop bombs on two hijacked fuel tankers, causing a number of civilian casualties, and reporters traveled to the area to cover the story
Two military officials told The Associated Press that one British commando died during the early morning raid. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the death had not been officially announced.
The Times reported that Farrell's Afghan translator, Sultan Munadi, also was killed.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Totally tragic with no happy ending.
(With apologies to Kipling, but I think he'd understand.)
Why do I wonder if the loss of one commando was worth the rescue of one NYT reporter?
Now watch the NYT pour on appreciation and sorrow for the death of this soldier in saving one of their own. Watch very closely, or you might miss it.
TC
Thank you for the Kipling quote. I very much enjoyed that. I have Kipling's poem "If" in a little booklet that I keep by my computer. A friend gave it to me over 40 years ago. I am afraid I was too young to enjoy it at the time. I didn't care for poetry. But I kept the present all the same. I'm not even sure why. And it turns out that time has taught me a thing or two about the power of words. Some things can only be said well in a poem. I would like to quote the poem here:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
Talk about about a waste of a good man for a worthless POS!!! ANY NYT reporter[sic] should be on notice that if detained by a friend/source or group of friends/sources in the Taliban, Al Quaida or other rag-head group, depend on the HNIC (the N refers to Narcissist) for his release and certainly not members of the SAS, Seals, Marine Recon, etc. Maybe, Michelle “Big Arms” Obama will fly in for the rescue between dates in the Big Apple.
Hell no.
Seems strange the enemy would bother kidnapping their own propagandists.
Must have been some affirmative action Taliban.
We know that Farrell wasn’t just embedded with the Taliban how?
Serendipity! May I refer you to a post I wrote just yesterday.
What I've posted here is actually a slight adaptation of some lines of one of Kipling's poems - the reason I apologised although as I said, I'm sure he'd understand why I appropriated them. It's a poem that doesn't get quoted much any more, because of its racial overtones, but it rings true very much today. He wrote in 1899 directed at the United States - he foresaw that the United States was going to be put into the situation that the British Empire had found itself in - a nation that found itself having to save and protect others, but earning their contempt by doing so.
Was it worth his life to rescue a Timesman from his folly? Now, that's debatable. But actually there were two men kidnapped, including the Afghan driver, who was also killed.
Pres. Obama and co. are going to have to start listening to McChrystal very closely, and then implementing successfully. The Taliban and their loathesome friends started all this, from camps in Afghanistan. This is where the rubber meets the road.
Sorry about your countryman. I'm sure it looked like a good op going in .... if potentially a poor trade.
Wonder if the NY Slimes will be posting a photo of the dying British commando.
No reporter is worth a soldiers life.
I’ll slap my kids head silly if they ever dream of being a “reporter”. Totally sad.
No Greater Love.
God Bless them.
I wouldn’t worry about it, your kids are/will be capable enough not to have to go to journalism school. That’s for hoplophobes who can’t master the Frymaster 3000.
He should be made to apoligize to the soldiers family.
A parallel thread notes that the NY Slime didn’t mention the commando until paragraph 3 (although it seems the NYS is moving paragraphs around as folks complain):
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2335327/posts
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