More info on my exciting day
Here are links to stories covering the S-VBIED incident that I was a witness to yesterday in Kandahar City and described in more detail in the previous post.
First, we have this gem from CBS News. It leads off with “Suicide Bomber Targets US-led Convoy”. This is lazy reporting at its worst. Firstly, I was the ranking US Officer in the convoy and I was manning an air sentry position on a Bison. I wasn’t leading anything! Next to me was a Canadian Army Major manning the other air sentry position and he wasn’t leading anything either. There was a Canadian Army Captain who was the actual patrol/convoy commander. The convoy consisted of Canadian vehicles commanded by Canadians. US led indeed.
Next we have this “in depth” story written by Carlotta Gall of the New York Times (you have to register with the NY Times to view the article). When you first read it you probably think that she did a great job getting all the facts and she must be really be on the ball. NOT! The last sentence of the first paragraph gives her spin away right off the bat. The following paragraphs have some good quotes from the locals but I view them with great suspicion. You see, she wasn’t there; she relies on stringers for her stories because the only times she ever leaves Kabul is when the Commanding General goes somewhere. Furthermore, we firmly believe that one of her stringers is a die hard Taliban because some of the info she has received was too damned coincidental and was spun. For example she received a tip that Canadians were using attack dogs to terrorize the residents of a village and were intimately searching the women. The Canadians did do a patrol in said village, the Canadians asked and were granted permission to use a BOMB sniffing dog to have a sniff around, and women and children were not bothered with. Anything she writes should be immediately made suspect.
Lastly we have this article written by Bob Weber. Pretty good article. It is detailed with facts, very little editorializing, and balanced. He was actually there.
CIAO’
CPT NightHawk
First, we have this gem from CBS News. It leads off with “Suicide Bomber Targets US-led Convoy”. This is lazy reporting at its worst. Firstly, I was the ranking US Officer in the convoy and I was manning an air sentry position on a Bison. I wasn’t leading anything! Next to me was a Canadian Army Major manning the other air sentry position and he wasn’t leading anything either. There was a Canadian Army Captain who was the actual patrol/convoy commander. The convoy consisted of Canadian vehicles commanded by Canadians. US led indeed.
Next we have this “in depth” story written by Carlotta Gall of the New York Times (you have to register with the NY Times to view the article). When you first read it you probably think that she did a great job getting all the facts and she must be really be on the ball. NOT! The last sentence of the first paragraph gives her spin away right off the bat. The following paragraphs have some good quotes from the locals but I view them with great suspicion. You see, she wasn’t there; she relies on stringers for her stories because the only times she ever leaves Kabul is when the Commanding General goes somewhere. Furthermore, we firmly believe that one of her stringers is a die hard Taliban because some of the info she has received was too damned coincidental and was spun. For example she received a tip that Canadians were using attack dogs to terrorize the residents of a village and were intimately searching the women. The Canadians did do a patrol in said village, the Canadians asked and were granted permission to use a BOMB sniffing dog to have a sniff around, and women and children were not bothered with. Anything she writes should be immediately made suspect.
Lastly we have this article written by Bob Weber. Pretty good article. It is detailed with facts, very little editorializing, and balanced. He was actually there.
CIAO’
CPT NightHawk
posted by CPT NightHawk at 11:07
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