Lara Logan sexually assaulted...
 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...xpected-100276

I like this gal and it's really sad to hear this happen to her...........:(

Big Teddy :munchin

F'ing savages :mad: that's just sickening.

I hope Ms. Logan has a speedy recovery.

I am sorry it happened as well, but if you went to the wrong part of town during a riot just to talk to people and see what was going on, and got your ass beat, whose fault would it be?

The media seems to think that they are immune from their environment.

TR

Is it horrible? Yes. Are they animals? Yes. But I agree with The Reaper... I mean really, she's a blond white American girl in the middle of a week long riot in Egypt... Maybe she wasn't expecting that particular thing to happen, but she had to have expected that something might happen... The US state dept was advising our citizens to exit the country, yeah? So what makes anybody think that Egypt would be a safe place to be, especially for a woman that looks like that? I think this simply illustrates that, apparently, there is still a price to be paid for stupidity.

The MSM

1. stir it up,
2. make it stink,
3. then walk in it,
4. get awards for writing about it,

and still think it can't stick to them??


Would not wish it on anyone,, but she went looking...

Same goes for the dummies that got beat up..

:mad:

Ms. Logan, 39, is a citizen of the Republic of South Africa. Her bio is here.

I stand corrected.

Still not a good place for a blond white girl to be.

DJ--

You're missing my point so I'll be a bit more direct.

A seasoned professional journalist has paid the price for a calculated risk. For that risk, she's nothing more than "a blond white girl" guilty of her own "stupidity."

She's got cajones(?).....I saw her on 60 Minutes where she was embedded and went out on a mission with the 101st into a very hot zone and they got pinned down and had to fight their way out...... She just hung in there and showed no sign of being scared just kept on reporting and stating "these guys are going to get us out of here,I know it,I just know they will"............:) Not too bad for a reporter with that kind of guts..........;) She had an interview with a reporter from Esquire who said does CBS insure this kind of sh*t..... Her answer was,"it goes with the job"............;)

Big Teddy :munchin

A more detailed review of the situation:

Lara Logan, the CBS News correspondent, was attacked and sexually assaulted by a mob in Cairo on Feb. 11, the day that the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was forced from power, the network said Tuesday.

After the mob surrounded her, Ms. Logan “suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers,” the network said in a statement. Ms. Logan is recovering at a hospital in the United States.

The evening of the attack, Ms. Logan, 39, the network’s chief foreign affairs correspondent, was covering the celebrations in Tahrir Square in central Cairo with a camera crew and an unknown number of security staff members. The CBS team was enveloped by “a dangerous element” within the crowd, CBS said, that numbered more than 200 people. That mob separated Ms. Logan from her team and then attacked her.

Once she was rescued, CBS said she “reconnected” with the team and returned to the United States on Feb. 12.

The CBS statement mentioned nothing more about the attackers. It also said that there would be “no further comment from CBS News, and correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time.”

Before she returned to Cairo on Feb. 10, she told the Web site of Esquire magazine that she thought her team included one security staff member. Equipped with expensive cameras and bright lights, television news crews regularly travel with security experts who assess threats in dangerous locations.

The trip was Ms. Logan’s second to Egypt to cover the protests that have roiled the country in January and February. On her first trip, she was detained and interrogated overnight by security authorities.

During the protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists registered 53 assaults on journalists. It did not delineate the genders of the people affected. There were also dozens of cases of harassment during the weeks of protests, and some female journalists complained about being singled out by crowds. There were no other known sexual assaults.

The committee, whose board includes Ms. Logan, said Tuesday evening in a statement: “We have seen Lara’s compassion at work while helping journalists who have faced brutal aggression while doing their jobs. She is a brilliant, courageous, and committed reporter. Our thoughts are with Lara as she recovers.”

There is little information available about instances of sexual assault affecting journalists. In an article for the Columbia Journalism Review in 2007, the writer, Judith Matloff, wrote that foreign correspondents rarely tell anyone, “even when the abuse is rape.”

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.co...20logan&st=cse

Over 350 Egyptians were killed in the protests against Mubarak; Ms Logan, a veteran and extremely experienced ME reporter, and her news and security team took a calculated risk - obviously, they misjudged the heightened level of the risks they were assuming.

Richard :munchin

If I, a bald white dude, go walking down the street in 5th Ward TX or Compton CA, I shouldn't be surprised if a group of fine young men decide they want to try and play whack-a-mole with my head, because in going to these places, I've made myself a target.

That's what Ms. Logan did. Just the simple fact that she was there made her a target. And something terrible happened to her. That sucks. I think the guys that perpetrated that disgusting act should be strung up and subjected to Leng-Tche. But it doesn't change the fact that maybe, just maybe, it was a poor decision for her to be there.

Skydiving is a calculated risk. Scuba diving is a calculated risk. Serving on an ODA with your teammates is a calculated risk. Being a white girl and walking into the middle of a massive riot in Egypt, when citizens of other countries are fleeing the region, a region with a strong radical element where women tend to not be respected as they are in other cultures, I call that poor decision making. Frenzied crowds of people tend to do bad things, and journalists, seasoned or not, are ill equipped to deal with situations like that. I'd like to think a seasoned journalist would recognize that fact. But apparently, some don't.

How do you defend yourself against a crowd of 200, frantic, determined people? You can't. The best way to avoid an attack is to not be there.

It is noteworthy that you insist on calling an adult who is your age a 'girl.' So when you speak of regions where "women tend not to be respected as they are in other cultures" are you including your own among those "other cultures"? Or does that respect only apply to 'girls' who behave as you see fit?

The fact that you equate Compton to Egypt is, bluntly, instructive. Doubtlessly, she, and you, would be perfectly safe in South Boston.

Because as a civilian, you can always choose to vote with your feet and refuse a job, but in the military, that will land you in jail, except at certain windows of opportunity when a contract ends.

I would rather make 100 jumps than to wade into that crowd unarmed as a foreigner, a female, and an infidel. It is just a better risk.

Frankly, not to take anything away from Ms. Logan, but whover decided that she needed to be in that crowd on foot (after other media personnel were assaulted starting several days before) is IMHO, culpable. Maybe it was her boss, maybe it was her. Poor decisions (and sometimes good ones) have consequences.

TR

Very well said, TR Sir.

WTF were her or her employer thinking? Stupidity, and manipulation on the part of those in charge of her little "mission." At least to some extent, IMVHO.

Holly:munchin

IMO, the issue with Mrs. Logan is not that she wasn't doing her job, but that she allowed her desire to get "inside" override logic and put herself in harm's way. With today's technology, she could have been in a safe place with a telescopic lens that would of allowed her to see a gnat a half mile away. Many other reporters were doing their stories from various points of safety and I don't think any less of them than I would of her.

Again, IMO, reporters, not just her, tend to put their safety aside at times to jockey the "best story and perspective" from certain events. I think they all, at times, put their safety aside in order to not only provide us with the news, but to get a better story than the "other guys", even at the risk of their own safety.

With that said, I think their desire for the story intentionally puts them in harm's way and they don't think about it until they find themselves on the wrong end of a bad situation.

CBS has been pretty silent about this. I think there is going to be a back lash. Even thou she wanted to do it. Somebody gave her the green light to go there.
They are savages who have to keep their own woman wrapped in sheets. Because they have no self control. Let alone a good looking Blond Woman. I have seen this woman in person. She is head turning good looking. I am sure the plan to grab her started as soon as she stepped out on the street.

550,

I must disagree with you on this one, and especially as a woman! The folks who are paid to deliver the news are well-known by their corporate higher ups. They are known for their personality traits, their carrer goals, and their tolerance for the uncomfortable.

Am 100% SURE OF THIS FACTOR, AS THE $$$ BACKING THESE EXCURSIONS IS PAID FOR BY SOMEONE...AND THAT SOMEONE WANTS TO GET WHAT THEY PAY FOR.:munchin

It's about the particular subset of risk. There is a world of difference risk-wise between being trained to jump out of an airplane and walking out into a riot. You can't even begin to compare the two. Crowds of people are unpredictable at best. Look at what LA natives do when the Lakers win. And that's when they're happy!

Nowhere did I suggest that she was looking for sympathy.

We can call her courageous and ballsy all we want. But I'm sure that she and her team had access to the info that Richard just posted. To look at that intel, at those facts, and chose to ignore them just for the sake of getting the scoop? That's stupid. Now, she and her family are going to be dealing with the repercussions of that traumatic event for the rest of their lives. An event that could have been avoided if just one person in that group had exercised some common sense.

The facts of the matter were (based just on what I gleaned from Richard's post):

Before she re-entered the country, she told Esquire mag that she thought her team had one security advisor. She thought? Really? I'd think she'd want to be damn sure about something like that. Do we have a security adviser? I think we do...

On her first trip to Egypt at the onset of the riots, she was detained and interrogated by security officials. Detained and interrogated.

During the protests, there were 53 registered assaults on journalists. 53. And those are just the ones that were reported. Not to mention what was happening to non-journalists, but there probably wasn't an organization to keep track of that.

There were dozens of cases of harassment.

Women were singled out.

To me, there is a difference between courage and stupidity. She may be a hyper intelligent person, but even smart people do dumb things. I'm not trying to be a dick or offensive or insensitive about this. I'm trying to be real.

Everybody has decisions to make. Nobody is responsible for your personal safety but you. It was Ms. Logan's decision to board a plane, go to Egypt, disregard available intel, and wander around on the street in a riot with a camera crew. The nail that sticks out is the one that gets hammered. And just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should. I maintain that it was a stupid decision. Armed with the facts I just presented, I don't think there's a soul among us who would have said "It's not that bad out there, Ms. Logan. Let's go on out into the crowd."

Hurricane Season
 

Hurricane Season is coming this summer. Get a big one hit the coast how many reporters will be standing out in the wind and the rain struggling to stay upright and hang onto a pole and the Mic?

They could just crack the door, point the camera outside and say "See!".

Get the story is just what reporters do. Being the firstest, mostest, closest - it's just what they do. To get the scoop.

I'm not saying it's smart - it just ain't going to change.

Large, unruly crowds are dangerous.
Don't be in one if it isn't necessary.

If a problem starts, "defense" isn't a solution.
There is a word for someone who isn't capable of effective offensive action in that circumstance: target.

I don't think I appreciate your superior tone.

Last I heard, there were two genders. Guys and girls. Dudes and chicks. There's no need to get all hypersensitive.

What I said about me going for a walk in Compton is figurative, not literal. I said that to illustrate a point. "One of these things is not like the other..." I believe I suggested as much above when I said that the nail that sticks out gets hammered. The irony that, in this very thread, I might be the nail, is not lost on me.

I have read many of your posts. It seems to me that you are a reasonable and intelligent person. So why the acrimony and hair splitting?

If I run into a pack of hungry Lions and get killed. Who's fault is it.
She probably thought they would act like German Caucasians, when the Wall came down. Nope, just sub Humans all of them.

Am a woman, and could not have surmised the the situation any better.

Spot on, IMHO!

Sigaba,

What in the world are you saying??? Seriously????:rolleyes:

HOlly

Two connections to this story
 

I have two interesting connections which may shed some light on this.

A coworker is good friends with Lara Logan, and I had the opportunity to meet her and sit in on a several hour discussion on Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East about a year ago before she went on air that day. Obviously, she is very aggressive, and based on the stories she told about working in Afghanistan and interviewing Taliban, she is clearly not someone who is most concerned with her safety. I was impressed and surprised by her, but she clearly took her job more seriously than her safety. What was surprising is what she wore to the meeting and in public. I do not know if she dressed like that in Cairo, but I imagine given her personality as I witnessed, heard from her, and saw her picture several minutes before the incident, she was not appropriately dressed and drew a bunch of unecessary attention to her. In a protest where probably over 40% of the people in the city live on $2 a day (the turnout of poor in these protests was most likely proportionaly much higher), have been repressed by their government and are sexually repressed, this is not only surprising but likely. There is a reason Egyptian women were very cautious in turning out to these protests, and this is one reason.

Second, I studied at the American University in Cairo for seven months where I regularly interacted with the rich and poor there. My sister and my mother visited me there, and I incidentally had to give them instructions on how to prepare and interact. This required me to learn a little about this - they had no problems while there, and both are blondes. My sister and I were out past 2 AM walking the streets several times without problem.

There seems to be in some of the prior posts an intimation that this incident is tied to the religion and the high levels of religiousity, but this really can't be further from the truth. Egypt is a religiously mixed society and a particularly mysogynistic society, and the public women hating comes primarily from the less religious. These are the particularly uneducated and poor who are sexually frustrated. One example: A cab driver showed a blond friend of mine in the cab sexual images on his cell phone when in a ride - he didn't do this out of religiousity, but because he is sexually frustrated. I was very close friends with three women in Cairo (varying religiousity, including one Coptic). They experienced little problems because they dressed appropriately, didn't show their arms, and had dark hair. One friend of mine with blond hair died it dark to draw less attention. Many women wear sunglasses to avoid eye contact etc. There are a lot of discussions in Cairo about it being unfair that they need to dress a certain way to avoid harrassment, but the point is that it exists, and more so and in a very different form than other more conservative Arab countries or Liberal countries like Lebanon.

Logan needed to not only be aware of these norms, but attempt to meet them. She put herself in an unfortunate position, and the result should not surprise any resident of Cairo, although I'm sure it dissapoints many.

Stu

I'm not terribly popular right now. And I don't care. If someone told me to go into an angry mob, with or without whatever they deemed "ok" for protection, I'd tell them to pound sand. There is my career/job and then there is MY LIFE.

There is, IMNSHO, a huge difference between this reporter going in to a war zone embedded with Military members and this situation.

Situational awareness, it's not just for Soldiers. I don't think she deserves what happened at all. And I'm not saying she "asked for it" by being there. But damn, where is your brain?

I've been waiting for something like this to happen, all you have to do is put 2 and 2 together. Volatile area + raging angry men in a culture that hate/disdain women at best = big trouble. Huge.

If Danica Patrick crashes, it's not the car's fault.

*

The woman is an intelligent and dedicated professional - she and those who advise and support her made a grievous error. It could have been worse and will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the future.

Richard :munchin

Religiously motivated? Why would anyone want to lunge at anything labeled Jew:confused:

Source: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/interna...IDdCrbD95ybD5N

What if she was perceived to have been Muslim?


ETA
An Egyptian attorney encourages the rape of Jewish Women:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAbYodZ7Fp4

In this lies my biggest question...

While none of my business certainly and I extend EVERY courtesy and right to provacy to Ms. Logan - If MSM is reporting that Ms. Logan was sexually assaulted (as they are), what EXACTLY was the extent of that assault?

Was it verbal slurs or were they pulling a train in the middle of the friggin' square?

Was she being physically groped and "manhandled" or simply taunted (while neither is acceptable and certainly can cause lasting emotional trauma - I am NOT condoning either action or diminishing the importance of either individual act).

The infamous "WE" has been sensitized to the point of idiocy over what is and is not an "assault". In DoD EO classes we are taught that women are assaulted routinely by SEXUAL THOUGHTS of MEN and that it is the right of women to punish those men for such thoughts. Try as you might - do not hijack the thread on this statement...stay focused...

I do sincerely hope that Ms. Logan was not physically molested / assaulted / scarred in ANY way...but if all of this is over some glorified cat-calls the MEDIA should be held accountable (again - NOT taking away from the threat [real or perceived] Ms. Logan may have felt at the time) for yet more misinformation to glorify their story at the expense of Ms. Logan.

That being said - if it were physical, am I the ONLY one that would expect just a HINT of ANYTHING MORE from Pennsylvania Avenue? Track record to this point notwithstanding?

I wager you're right about this. Egypt is well known for its harassment of women, and from what I had read it was a particular point of pride amongst the people that this had not occurred during the protests. Found an article that talks about it, seems like its well done...

DJ--

BLUF, I take umbrage with the "she asked for it"/"savages will be savages" theme of your posts in this thread.

As for the hair splitting and 'superior tone', I say turn things around. Let's say there was a news story about a highly skilled artisan suffering some misfortune while plying his craft. Would you be pleased if people jumped to conclusions without checking their facts and said "Look at that [so and so]--he was stupid." Or would it be better if people understood that professionals take risks to make a living? That's not what she says <<LINK>>:rolleyes:

You would lose that bet.

Moreover, your remark clearly indicates that you think members of this BB do not have the maturity to discuss opposing points of view without losing their tempers and turning to violence.

Wow, just wow.

To say that I am saddened by some of the posts I have read here, is truly an understatement. As an officer and a woman.

Ms. Logan is a professional in a dangerous line of work. She CHOSE that profession, just as those of us in the military CHOSE a dangerous profession. My bet is for many of the same reasons, mainly that chosen profession being a calling.

When one of us is hurt or killed in the line of duty, it is very rare to see any comments on this site about how that person should have never been there in the first place. We honor their service because they are fighting for something we all believe in. Why should that be any different for Ms. Logan?

Being the professional she is, she went were she was sent by her bosses. Most of you don't agree with that choice. But where would we be without people like Ms. Logan?

Granted the MSM is not the pillar of society some of us would like. But one of the great things about this country is our press. We may not always liike the things some of them say, but we PROTECT their right to say whatever they want. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong. But where would we be as a country without them? The press is ingrained in what we are as a country, and what we stand for.

Would we rather have had the reports coming out of the Middle East come solely from Middle Eastern media outlets because it was too dangerous for any western journalists to be there? Or maybe it should just be male reporters because we know none of them were hurt reporting on Egypt (Anderson Cooper anyone?) Someone has to take the risk to go into dangerous places, and report what is going on. You may not like that it was a woman who was sent, but it was.

Who of us matures in this world, by only staying where we are safe, or only doing things that are safe? If that were the case we would all be locked in a bedroom in our parents house, never to venture out into the world to find our calling. If we avoid risk, what can we ever hope to gain?

I guess we could get into further discussions about what are appropriate professions for women, and what are not, but I guess we can save that for another day. Ms. Logan did her job, and for that I am greatful. I am sorry this happened to her, but as I am sure she will learn, as I did, a sexual assault even as brutal as this one was, does not define who you are, unless you let it!

I will lay money down that she comes out a stronger woman, and a better reporter because of it.

And what if her attackers were all Christian? Egypt doesnt just have one religion within the country. Muslims and Christians were protesting as one within the square so using those facts we can only assume that it was both groups who committed this atrocity.

In Lara Logan's defense can we remember that Katie Couric was also on the ground and while she was swarmed and pushed many times, she was able to complete her assignment without a problem. She as well is a white blonde haired woman.

Video of Couric...
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7310052n

You're right! :D

IMO folks that are taking the attitude that she is "stupid" and put herself in that position are showing poor taste at best. This is a woman who had a dangerous job and is a victim of a crime. I blame none but the men who committed this act and those who watched it happen. Cowards all.

Egypt has not been kind to the members of 60 minutes. First Anderson Cooper and now Lara Logan.

She could probably have had a better security detail.

Glad that she's recovering well.

Kinda makes me wonder why people provide links to articles/docs or post them in these threads if nobody is going to review them before offering up an opinion.

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin