Reporter freed, captivity reported

NY Times: Seized Times Reporter Is Freed in Afghan Raid That Kills Aide

Stephen Farrell, whose captivity Western media refused to acknowledge (and news of which the New York Times actively suppressed), was rescued today by men whose deaths must be photographed and displayed worldwide to show Americans the true cost of war.

A British commando was killed in the raid, The Associated Press quoted a military official as saying.

In fact, this detail from the AP should come as no surprise:

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.

Even in reporting the rescue of a reporter whose captivity they'd helped cover up they couldn't resist announcing the death of one of the rescuers before the families had been notified. I guess they know a "scoop" when they see one; it's been repeated, with credit to the AP, in every other report on this story - including the New York Times.

Farrell told the New York Times "he had been "extracted" by a commando raid carried out by "a lot of soldiers" in a fierce firefight with his captors."

In a second phone call to a New York Times reporter in Kabul, Mr. Farrell gave this account of what happened when he and his captors heard the thump-thumping of approaching helicopters.

"We were all in a room, the Talibs all ran, it was obviously a raid," Mr. Farrell said. "We thought they would kill us. We thought should we go out."

Mr. Farrell said as he and Mr. Munadi ran outside, he heard voices. "There were bullets all around us. I could hear British and Afghan voices."

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."

Apparently Farrell left his colleague's corpse at the scene (see Reuters report in update below).

"Last night in a US special forces operation in Chardara district, they managed to free Stephen Farrell but the Afghan journalist Sultan Mohammad was killed by Taliban during the operation," said Kunduz governor Mohammad Omar.

Although the story of Farrell's capture by the Taliban was well known and widely reported in the region, the New York Times had effectively suppressed reporting in the Western media. "We feared that media attention would raise the temperature and increase the risk to the captives," said Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times.

In spite of those efforts, however, the news was reported outside central Asia. A South African news source had an English language report on the situation by Saturday evening, although that report has subsequently been deleted from the web. (Google cache here.)

"The journalist, who works for New York Times, and his translator were blindfolded by the militants and taken to unknown location" the governor said, adding that Afghan security forces have began a search operation in the area to track down the kidnappers.
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A Taliban commander in Chardarah district confirmed to dpa that their fighters caught the journalist along with his translator in Easakhel village of the district on Saturday morning.

According to reports from Afghanistan, New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell and his driver/interpreter have been kidnapped while attempting to cover the story of the NATO airstrike on the two Taliban-hijacked tankers in Kunduz, Afghanistan.
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Multiple sources in Afghanistan tell me that The New York Times is attempting to suppress the reporting on Farrell's kidnapping.

We've been reporting the situation here, too. (Links below.)

Even as they successfully kept the American public ignorant of Farrell's captivity, the New York Times did publish an AP photo of the death of 21-year old U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard on their web site, under the (obviously answered) headline: "Behind the Scenes: To Publish or Not?." Corporal Bernard's father had requested the photo not be used (audio interview with John Bernard here).

And credit yet again the great work of those rough men, who once more rode while America slept.

The final word (for now) goes to the New York Times:

An Afghan journalist who spoke to villagers in the area said that civilians, including women and children, were also killed in the firefight to free the journalists.

Update: The New York Times report of children killed may be premature - see Reuters report below. (Update to update - the New York Times has now changed their story to read "..said that civilians were also killed..." - "women and children" have been deleted.)

Bill Roggio reports "Last weekend The New York Times requested the report of Farrell's kidnapping be removed from Threat Matrix. We did not honor the request."

And at Patterico's Pontifications, a reminder that PFC Bowe Bergdahl didn't get quite the same consideration from the press that a NYT reporter did.

This certainly seems worth revisiting:

Moderator: Colonel Connell, I can see the venomous reaction you are having in hearing all this.

Colonel Connell: (Angrily) I feel utter contempt. Two days later they (the reporters - Jennings and Wallace) are both walking off my hilltop and they get ambushed and they're lying there wounded. And they're going to expect I'm going to send Marines up there to get them. They're just journalists. They're not Americans. Is that a fair reaction? You can't have it both ways. But I'll do it. And that's what makes me so contemptuous of them. Marines will die going to get (grippingly) a couple of journalists.

Read the whole thing.

"We regret to announce that a British soldier has been killed on operations in Afghanistan," an MoD spokesman said.

The number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since the start of operations in 2001 now stands at 213, with 41 having died in July and August.

A spokesman for Gordon Brown said the prime minister had spoken to the UK's leading military commander in Afghanistan, General Jim Dutton, "to thank the [rescue] team for the tremendous effort".

In a statement, the prime minister paid tribute to the courage of the British soldier who was killed in the raid. "His family has been informed, and our immediate thoughts are with them. His bravery will not be forgotten," said Brown.

More:

Farrell describes how he survived his previous capture in Iraq - by revealing he was a journalist:

"There is just no point in panicking in those circumstances. You deal with them one at a time.

"You hope you don't say the wrong thing for the next eight hours, two weeks, whatever you're facing."

He said they told the truth about who they were, and "became slightly nuisance journalists".

"Fortunately, as we were able to turn the kidnap into an interview and ask them what message do you have for [former US President George] Bush, what message do you have for [former UK Prime Minister Tony] Blair.

"They seemed to think they could use us this way and gave us an interview and let us go."

NY Times At War blog: Hell No. I Won't Go (by Sultan M. Munadi)

I was maybe four or five years old when we went from my village into the mountains and the caves to hide, because the Soviets were bombing. I have passed those times, and the time of the Taliban when I could not even go to Kabul, inside my country. It was like being in a prison.

Those times are past now. Now I am hopeful of a better situation. And if I leave this country, if other people like me leave this country, who will come to Afghanistan? Will it be the Taliban who come to govern this country? That is why I want to come back, even if it means cleaning the streets of Kabul. That would be a better job for me, rather than working, for example, in a restaurant in Germany.

The BBC:

Some reports from Afghanistan suggest that British special forces were involved in the rescue.

But a UK defence ministry spokeswoman told the BBC: "It was a Nato operation, we do not comment on special forces."

Reuters:

Mohammad Nabi, a resident of the district, said Taliban fighters holding the two captives had stayed at his house Tuesday night after demanding shelter. He said NATO forces arrived by helicopter and killed his sister-in-law during their raid.

The troops left with Farrell, but not his Afghan colleague, whose body was found outside the house in the morning, Nabi told Reuters.

"Last night, a group of Taliban in two vehicles came to my house saying they needed shelter. We took them to our guest house. There was a foreign journalist and an Afghan translator with them," Nabi said.

"At midnight, U.S. helicopters came, dropping off soldiers. A clash broke out and then the soldiers blew open the door of my house, killing my sister-in-law, and took the reporter away with them."

If that's the full story, it would appear the New York Times report of children killed could be premature.

The Guardian:

The kidnap and deaths underscore the increasing danger of reporting in Afghanistan, where another New York Times journalist, David Rohde, was kidnapped last November.

Others:

Andrew Exum, Abu Muqawama: A Freed Reporter -- and Blogging Ethics

Josh Foust, Registan Excellent News

Nathan Hodge, Danger Room Of Kidnapping, Milblogs and Blackouts

In other news from Afghanistan not making the major papers:

Kabul, Afghanistan - An Afghan-international security force killed Taliban militants in Kandahar Province near the village of Hajji Mohammad Karam, southwest of Kandahar City.

During the operation, the joint force received hostile fire from a nearby building, identified as a mosque, and returned fire, killing one enemy militant. The force called upon the militants to exit the mosque peacefully. However, the militants remained non-compliant and continued in their unlawful use of the mosque as a fighting position, and an Afghan National Security Force member was wounded by hostile fire.

Left with no option, the force used escalation of force measures to remove the entrenched militants from the mosque. A militant charged from the mosque and displayed hostile intent - he was engaged and killed. The dead militants were found with AK-47s and chest racks.

The force contacted a village elder and explained the situation to him. The elder did not recognize the militants and confirmed that they were not from the village. The force compensated the elder for minor damages done to the mosque as a result of the militants' engagement with the joint force.

No local Afghan civilians were injured during this operation.

KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (Sept. 8) --In 1995, it took two tons of ammonium nitrate to destroy the Oklahoma City Federal building. On Sept. 8, Afghan Commandos, assisted by Coalition forces, found more than five tons of the explosive material during a search near Kandahar.

In total, the joint forces found and destroyed 820 pounds of opium and 1,080 pounds of poppy seeds; 24 rocket-propelled-grenade rounds and seven mortar rounds; and IED components including bulk electronics, 25 ball bearing pressure plates, 800 pounds of aluminum powder, 150 pounds of bulk explosives and over five tons of ammonium nitrate.

The search was conducted over several hours in the Ghorak district. The 3rd Kandak Commandos first searched a bazaar seeking insurgents known for storing weapons, bomb-making materials and drugs. At the bazaar, the Commandos discovered nearly 600 lbs of opium and over 1,000 lbs of poppy seeds.

Several hours into the search, the forces observed armed men moving around the compound, and a truck approached the joint forces at a high speed. After many attempts to get the driver to halt, Commandos engaged the truck with small arms fire, disabling the truck and killing the driver. Commandos inspected the truck and found 264 pounds of opium stored in the back. While inspecting the vehicle, both Commandos and Coalition forces took small arms fire from several armed men. Commandos returned fire, killing one enemy fighter.

Searching the village, Commandos and Coalition detained several men who tested positive for explosive residue. In addition, the force discovered three caches of ammonium nitrate, which totalled 5,000 pounds, and fifteen RPG rounds.

Commandos also discovered a bunker in a graveyard containing radios and money. Additional weapons were discovered in another location.

All confiscated materials were destroyed on site. No civilians were harmed in the operation.

KABUL, Afghanistan (Sept. 9)--An Afghan-international security force killed a group of eight Taliban militants in Zabul Province today during a search of a compound known to be used by a Taliban commander responsible for ambushes and improvised explosive device attacks in the region.

The joint force searched the compound near the village of Gagezi Kalay in the Qalat District after intelligence reports indicated the presence of militant activity. During the search, the force engaged a small militant element, killing several.

The force continued its search of the compound without further incident and recovered four AK-47s.

An element of the joint force that remained outside of the compound interdicted and killed several other militants who attempted to escape by motorcycle and displayed hostile intent. The force recovered one PKM machine gun, one Soviet light machine gun, two AK-47s, ammunition and communication gear.

Previous reports:

A chance to listen

Revisiting Ethics in America (and elsewhere)

Echoes from the blast

News and No News

NYT reporter kidnapped in Afghanistan