NYT Reporter Freed In Raid

[Richard]

A fair piece of work - and so it goes...

Richard's $.02

NYT Reporter Freed In Raid
Rahim Faiez, AP, 9 Sep 2009

British commandos freed a New York Times reporter early Wednesday from Taliban captors who kidnapped him over the weekend in northern Afghanistan, but one of the troops and a Times translator were killed in the rescue.

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.

Afghan officials over the weekend said about 70 people died when U.S. jets dropped two bombs on the tankers, igniting them in a massive explosion. There were reports that villagers who had come to collect fuel from the tankers were among the dead, and Farrell wanted to interview villagers.

The Times kept the kidnappings quiet out of concern for the men's safety, and other media outlets, including The Associated Press, did not report the abductions following a request from the Times.

A story posted on the Times' Web site quoted Farrell saying he had been "extracted" by a commando raid carried out by "a lot of soldiers" in a firefight.

Mohammad Sami Yowar, a spokesman for the Kunduz governor, said British Special Forces dropped down from helicopters early Wednesday onto the house where the two were being kept, and a gunbattle ensued.

A Taliban commander who was in the house was killed, along with the owner of the house and a woman who was inside, Yowar said. He said Sultan was killed in the midst of the firefight.

Farrell, a dual Irish-British citizen, told the Times that he saw Munadi step forward shouting "Journalist! Journalist!" but he then fell in a volley of bullets. Farrell said he did not know if the shots came from militants or the rescuing forces.

Moments later, Farrell said he heard British voices and shouted, "British hostage!" The British voices told him to come over. As he did, Mr. Farrell said he saw Mr. Munadi.

Munadi, in his early 30s, was employed by The New York Times starting in 2002, according to his colleagues. He left the company a few years later to work for a local radio station.

He left Afghanistan last year to study for a master's degree in Germany. He came back to Kabul last month for a holiday and to see his family, and agreed to accompany Farrell to Kunduz on a freelance basis. He was married and had two young sons.

U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker confirmed the operation by NATO and Afghan forces, but did not provide further details.

Farrell, 46, is a dual British-Irish national who joined the Times in 2007 in Baghdad. He has covered both the Afghan and Iraq conflicts for the paper. He told the paper that he was not hurt in the rescue operation.

Farrell was the second Times journalist to be kidnapped in Afghanistan in a year.

In June, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Rohde and his Afghan colleague Tahir Ludin escaped from their Taliban captors in northwestern Pakistan. They had been abducted Nov. 10 south of the Afghan capital of Kabul and were moved across the border.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090909/...fghanistan_377

[Ret10Echo]

Congratulations to the Brits...

Condolences to the family of the fallen commando.


Will the Times change their spin....hmmm....

[PRB]

Shouldn't they have whacked the NY Times guy, what's with their target ID skills.

[jw74]

"British commandos freed a New York Times reporter early Wednesday from Taliban captors who kidnapped him"

Are we sure he wasn't going village to village selling subscriptions? I know the NYT's numbers are down.

[TOMAHAWK9521]

Originally Posted by jw74

"British commandos freed a New York Times reporter early Wednesday from Taliban captors who kidnapped him"

Are we sure he wasn't going village to village selling subscriptions? I know the NYT's numbers are down.

Are they sure he wasn't embedded with them?

[TrapLine]

Nice work by the Brits. I apologize if I am out of line to point this out here, but reading the article it struck me that the AP was willing to hold the story at the request of the Times, yet ignored the wishes of the family of Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard.

[Ret10Echo]

And a life was lost for this guy??

The first time Stephen Farrell was kidnapped was in Iraq in 2004. It was a thankfully brief affair that ended – with typical persistence from the then Times reporter – with him negotiating the return of his armoured car and most of his equipment. He went on to write up his encounter as an interview, casting light on Iraqi attitudes towards George Bush.

Story link is

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009...st-afghanistan

[jw74]

Originally Posted by Ret10Echo

And a life was lost for this guy??

That is unbelievable. His life was not worth that Brit's. I would rather leave these reporters to their fates so that they can reconsider the risk/reward of covering Afghanistan.

[Gypsy]

Kidnapped twice, hmmm.

[echoes]

Originally Posted by TrapLine

Nice work by the Brits. I apologize if I am out of line to point this out here, but reading the article it struck me that the AP was willing to hold the story at the request of the Times, yet ignored the wishes of the family of Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard.

EXACTLY!

Holly

[Maytime]

I hope Farrell realizes that he is directly responsible for the commando's death. Was the story worth it? Douchebag.

[Utah Bob]

Kidnap me once shame on you.
Kidnap me twice..........

[Richard]

MOO - it is what it is - and for anyone who has never pulled BRIGHT LIGHT/CSAR rotation - you have no idea what a mission like this entails and your opinions (IMO) add nothing to this discussion.

RIP for a job well done, young soldier. Zum wohl!

Richard's $.02

[Utah Bob]

I wonder why CNN said it was NATO commandos??

[Richard]

I wonder why CNN said it was NATO commandos??

UK is a NATO commitment to the theater - maybe there were other NATO forces supporting the op.

Richard's $.02