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“Cover-up” Alleged Over U.K. Aid Worker's Death
American security forces in Afghanistan were on Monday facing accusations of a "cover-up" after it emerged that a young woman British aid worker who was earlier alleged to have been killed by her Taliban captors may have "accidentally" died in a grenade attack by U.S. forces during a botched rescue operation.
Cover-up? Linda Norgrove killed by US military in bungled rescue attempt. It had been earlier claimed that Linda Norgrove (36), who was seized by militants in Kunar province on September 26, died when one of her captors detonated a suicide vest as western security forces tried to rescue her.
But, on Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron said new details had emerged suggesting that she may have been killed in a U.S. grenade attack. Describing the development as "deeply distressing", he said he was told by General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander leading the NATO forces in Afghanistan, that the original claims were highly likely to have been incorrect.
The BBC quoted British officials as saying they were "dumbfounded" and that it raised "questions about the manner of the assault".
"It raises questions about the way in which the American media operation has disseminated this suggestion that she died at the hands of her captors quite unequivocally for 48 hours," said its correspondent in Kabul.
Mr. Cameron, however, defended the rescue mission and said it had full British support. He said an investigation had been launched to "get to the bottom of what happened" and its findings would be made public.
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69 Comments so far
Show AllThat tone of voice is really not appropriate.
That said, as a Brit, I have to say that the American forces have a terrible reputation here for poor fire discipline. As one British World War 2 veteran memorably put it a few years ago: "When we fired, the Germans ducked. When the Germans fired, we ducked. When the Americans fired, everybody ducked."
If I remember correctly, more British soldiers died in the 1991 Gulf War from US "friendly fire" (yes, it is an appalling phrase, weasliest of weasel words) than from Iraqi fire.
And the trouble British coroners' courts have had in obtaining information, cockpit recordings, etc., from our supposed allies has been a disgrace.
if you were a USAn you would find his bitter sarcasm quite appropriate.
You Europeans (if I may call Brits "Europeans") really need to consider organizing economic boycotts against the USA. For starters, please do NOT travel here and spend you money here, nor make business investments here. Flying across the Atlantic only generates a lot of greenhouse gases anyway.
An economic boycott was set up in the run-up to the Iraq invasion of 2003. And many Brits, including me, no longer travel to the US - I have no desire to visit a madhouse any more.
Well researched sir! That is the only recorded use of smallpox blankets in history and by a Brit to boot.
all that is actually on record is a suggestion to do such, contained within Amherst's correspondance.
14 Jun 2006 ... Letters by General Amherst and Colonel Bouquet mentioning spreading smallpox to Indians does not mean that this was ever carried out. ...
www.bluecorncomics.com/smallpox.htm
but it's most likely that it was...
"Ward Churchill's documentation"
link please.
May I suggest that rather than flying here to visit family, have them visit you. That would also add to the British economy while affording the family the opportunity to see how the better class lives. I'd like to come too, cousin.....we are all eventually and inevitably related on this planet. No sarcasm in that reality.
Is this your typical response when someone disagrees with you? Attack their nationality based on events that happened hundreds of years before they were born? What a cowardly sh*t you are.
Oisin
Very well said.
Too bad that didn't dissuade you Brits from joining the US in its current psychopathic anti-Muslim hysteria. If Blair hadn't joined and covered for Bush, we might not be in this quagmire.
The Iraq invasion probably had a lot to do with Saddam changing from dollars to Euros in petroleum deals
J..j.j ust an accident folks.
Sometimes happens when ham=fisted tactics are used rather than a more appropriate shoehorn or scalpel.
And of course, subsequent media manipulation(lies) is SOP for such events.
Rather like the old canard "the operation was a success, but the patient died."
Gee, the late Ms. Norgrove doesn't look like an ex-NFL Ranger.
>>he said he was told by General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander leading the NATO forces in Afghanistan, that the original claims were highly likely to have been incorrect
When has the US "version of events" ever been RELIABLE?
If I catalogued claims made by the US Government that later turned out to be "incorrect" starting from 9/11, it would take me the rest of my life to write all the of them down.
The thing that I don't understand is that the Brits, whose SAS have a very much better track record on this kind of operation, were seemingly uninvolved - why, when she was after all a British subject?
Because it was in the US zone of operations, not the British zone. But, it would not have been impossible to send in the SAS - I suspect the British probably asked for this, but it was turned down on the grounds that it would make US forces look inferior.
Darwin's theory works - how fit a brain could it be in a 36yr old civilian English woman's body that would decide to go to Afghanistan?
selfish gene theory works fine
Yes, only the fittest stand idly by
Yes. It's this defective trait called compassion for other humans.
Courage and conviction to right injustice is a defective trait too?
In the case of US cartoonist/journalist Ted Rall, who has risked his neck on several unescorted trips to Afghanistan, it is a desire to bring an uncensored account of horrible conditions caused by the invasion to the US public. I guess you think he was genetically defective too.
Will the U.S. media report the correct version as prominately as the lie?
spread the word to your e-friends.
copy and paste.
disseminate.
Don't believe Petraeus--lying scum. But isn't that typical for US soldiers to go in guns blazing and wipe out everything that breathes. We have a military of sociopaths.
Remember the US Army officer in Vietnam: "We had to destroy the village in order to save it."
And Jonathan Swift in "Gulliver's Travels": "Poor nations are hungry, and rich nations are proud; and pride and hunger will ever be at variance. For these reasons, the trade of a soldier is held the most honorable of all others; because a soldier is a Yahoo hired to kill in cold blood as many of his own species, who have never offended him, as possible."
And, finally, Dwight Eisenhower: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in a final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone; it is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."
"no gods, no masters" --m. sanger
Aa David Erdal and many others such as Andy Lane who back all employee owned companies would say what we need is a partnership of all for all.
We need an egalitarian, caring, and sharing world which throws nobody to the wolves. Neither British Labor nor the Tory and Lib Dem coalition parties of government are up to that in the least. All the British people should have voted Green in the last general election.
AD
Who disseminated the false information in the first place?
What punishment will they/it receive for fraud and lies?
And how many media outlets will print/broadcast the truth and apologise for spreading falsehoods?
Rhetorical questions, since most of us reading this know very well that the answers to the above questions are in the neighbourhood of few, little, zero, etc.
Mission accomplished, again.
What a lot of garbage spouted here when a dedicated Scots lassie is blown to pieces by a gung ho botched US Special Forces operation. Hearts and Minds. This lassie was doing just that and would probably be still alive had it been left to the Afghan Elders to sort matters out. I cannot believe the comments made here. If that is a an indication of the mindset of America then God help you. This bonny lassie was doing what the invading forces should be doing. Friendly fire my arse.
Right on Tatty!
Shame on the scumbags who commented before you.
Condolences to the Norgrove family and all of Linda's friends and co-workers.
My friend and I (we are seniors now) were in Afghanistan for four months when we were a bit younger than Linda Norgrove. We dove the country from west to east and sout to north. From my experiences there I know that invading Afghanistan was a lunatic idea.
Afghanistan is a big sinkhole. Whatever we pour into it - whether goods or money or ideas like democracy - disappears. The cultural differences are too great to shock and awe (remember that bit of nonsense) Afghan society into the 19th century, let alone the 21st.
I just heard on the BBC (I know... it's not Fox News) that the west has pissed away US$27,000,000,000 to create a stand-alone Afghan army. An army that cannot win in Afghanistan trains another army in its own image, so that one will not be able to win either. Brilliant!
Obama and NATO, get out NOW.
The unnecessary death of a young woman is not the occasion for sarcasm.
If I were you, I'd stop commenting on this article. I'm sure you can find something more at your level, WWE perhaps.
As an American, I'm ashamed of the hateful and just plain stupid remarks directed at this woman and British people in general by the goons commenting here. Secretary_bird (above) said he didn't want to come to the madhouse that the US has become. Presumably he was referring to our extreme right-wing wackos and hatemongers. Sad to see that there are plenty of hateful wackjobs on the left in this country as well.
http://www.google.com.au/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLL_enAU399AU399&q=smallpox+blankets+given+to+california
there are several, several records of the 'blanket' episode.
`sc
Ah, Godwin's Law. My cliche bingo card is almost complete...
Analytical skills? Sense of shame? I'm intrigued how you came to that judgement.
Or are you just making guesses about my ethnic origin that fit with your stereotype?
"It had been earlier claimed that Linda Norgrove (36), who was seized by militants in Kunar province on September 26, died when one of her captors detonated a suicide vest as western security forces tried to rescue her."
Really? Captured and tortured? It might have been found that she was there, with her simpering smile, to aid the enemy of that land... might talk. As could only be expected.. and it was imperative that if captured she wasn't given the chance to talk.
If you don't want to die in Afganistan - don't go to Afghanistn.. simple.
A bunch of aid workers in that torn land are red rags... Aid workers from the countries who are out to destroy their people and their land.... To bring succour to these people we have 'disrupted', would take soldiers ABLE to do so...
Of coure, we could drop aid all over the country, and keep out of their sight. A bunch of aid workers....jeez...they can do nothing but harm..... Afghanistan. One way or another.
~sc
Linda Norgrove worked for Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), which is one of the largest US government contractors providing services to the State Department, the Pentagon and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Over the years, DAI has been accused of being a front organisation for the CIA; as well as a front for US government political manipulation in former Soviet Republics working under the guise of "spreading Democracy".
Nothing conclusive here, and Linda Norgrove herself may be completely innocent of anything but trying to help people, still I wonder why an aid worker's capture suddenly brings the might of US forces into a botched rescue attempt. Up until now, many aid workers in Afghanistan have been kidnapped and ransomed (sometimes) after months of negotiations.
This is very unusual.
DAI's executive staff seems to be drawn primarily from former USAID/State Department employees and financial/business management types from major US banks such as Chase.
They are NOT a not-for-profit or an "aid agency": they are a very profitable US government contractor.
From DAI's website:
"As new democracies emerged in the region (ed: former Soviet Republics) in the 1990s, USAID saw the need for new programs in the key area of governance. From legislative strengthening assistance in Ukraine and Armenia to governance reform in Romania, DAI has been implementing these programs since 1996.
DAI has been active in agribusiness privatization, competitiveness, and policy reform in countries such as Croatia, Armenia, and Georgia, to create a new policy environment in which agribusinesses can thrive.
DAI has also consulted communities on the role of natural resource management in the region's development, particularly in the Central Asian Republics. The waters of the Kura-Aras river basin, for example, which encompasses Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, are vital for national and regional economic growth and could form the basis for future cooperation. DAI's USAID-funded project promoted community-based efforts to manage this important resource to the mutual benefit of all affected countries."
Hmmm....
oh dear, the venom of humans................
"oh dear, the venom of humans................"
Gotta say that reply rung pretty true for me regarding the comments on this article.
A compassionate woman from the UK gets killed and rather than talk about her or the good that she was trying to do you attack a poster who politely asks you to refrain from sarcasm about a really touchy subject. Congratulations on diluting the article in attempting to protect your poor pride.
And Readbetweenthelines- I find your constant use of the word "Gringo" etc. to be a pretty insulting racial remark that is pretty much a blanket attack on a people for their skin color when it seems like the actions of imperialists that you really have issues with.
I hope that people like the woman in the article can be remembered for the good that they tried to make out of this world, even if it was done in a way that ultimately led to their deaths. May we celebrate her life and compassion and not waste it arguing with and insulting each other.
and that's exactly what i was referring to.............
Linda Norgrove died at the hands of (US) terrorists.
An errant rocket strike on Monday hit a crowd of Afghan civilians in the last Taliban stronghold in Helmand province, killing at least 20 people, the Afghan Islamic Press reported.
...and so it goes...
As in Vietnam ("We had to destroy the village to save it"), so in Afghanistan ("We had to kill the woman to save her").
'lorenbliss October 12th, 2010 12:04 am
As in Vietnam ("We had to destroy the village to save it"), so in Afghanistan ("We had to kill the woman to save her").
You don't seem to have read any of the above posts, nor the article itself :
"Describing the development as "deeply distressing", he said he was told by General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander leading the NATO forces in Afghanistan, that the original claims were highly likely to have been incorrect.
The BBC quoted British officials as saying they were "dumbfounded" and that it raised "questions about the manner of the assault".
"It raises questions about the way in which the American media operation has disseminated this suggestion that she died at the hands of her captors quite unequivocally for 48 hours," said its correspondent in Kabul"
Her death had NOTHING to do with killling her to save her...
Jeez.
~sc
A former soldier, one of the things I learned in basic training is that fragmentation grenades are non-discriminatory: they kill everyone -- friend and foe alike -- within a radius of about 15 yards, and the fragments can mortally wound anyone within a radius of about 50 yards.
Flung into an enclosed space -- a room or a bunker -- fragmentation grenades typically kill everyone there, whether instantly or after a grotesque of terrified screaming and agonized convulsing, the swiftness of death's merciful release depending on the victims' distances from the explosion.
Nor is there any way a fragmentation grenade could have been mistaken for the sorts of stun grenades that sometimes are used in rescue missions.
In other words there is absolutely no justification for the use of fragmentation grenades in hostage rescue -- unless of course the intent is to kill the hostage, perhaps (not that we will ever be allowed to know), because during her captivity she had acquired knowledge embarrassing to the Empire.
Calisse! And they accuse the Tea Party of being racist? Indians insulting Brits and Americans, Americans insulting Brits, Brits insulting Americans and Indians... anyone other races want to get in on this? Nice to see a tragic event like this inspired so much hate and racism. I want to thank the commenters that criticized it because it was really getting disgusting.
Tragic event - however it came about, and I doubt we'll ever know the truth.
Your comment brought to mind an old song (written in the late 1950s by Sheldon Harnick and performed by The Kingston Trio)...some of the lyrics:
".....The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch.
And I don't like anybody very much!
But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud,
for man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud......
Just because this organization this woman belonged to might have been a front for the Central Intelligence Agency or even Mi6 doesn't at all say we shouldn't in the least care about what happened to her or the Afghans either. Pat Tillman was in the Rangers an elite US Army combat force, but we don't in the least have no concern for his death from "friendly fire" just because of this. That isn't even real. All these people are dying for no reason.
The time has come for us to stop as Martin Luther King Jr would say were he alive today. "Somehow this madness must cease. ."
as Dr King said in 1967 about the Vietnam War. The responsibility for stopping this lies with the West and especially the USA. This business of torturing, raping, pillaging, and killing these people is nothing less than the worst form of abnormal human behavior. The power elites directing this are more in need of therapy than any European Caucasian I've ever met.
AD
Linda Norgrove was from Scotland, and worked in Afghanistan since 2005. One of the programs she worked on was to help farmers to find alternatives to growing the poppy plant. She also had worked in Peru and Laos.
One article mentioned that her Muslim co-workers admired her because she respected them and their culture. They said she wore the traditional clothing too.
I hope her death wasn't caused by what she was wearing, for whoever killed her might have thought, that because of her clothing, that she was a citizen of Afghanistan, and therefore she became merely "collateral damage, or even more sad, " dressed to kill."
"stardust October 12th, 2010 2:14 am
Linda Norgrove was from Scotland, and worked in Afghanistan since 2005. One of the programs she worked on was to help farmers to find alternatives to growing the poppy plant. She also had worked in Peru and Laos.
One article mentioned that her Muslim co-workers admired her because she respected them and their culture. They said she wore the traditional clothing too.
I hope her death wasn't caused by what she was wearing, for whoever killed her might have thought, that because of her clothing, that she was a citizen of Afghanistan, and therefore she became merely "collateral damage, or even more sad, " dressed to kill."
The issue is : WHO KILLED HER..? If her own.. then why did they? Why did they toss a grenade 'at her' when she was being 'captured'..!! Jeez. Why was it reported she 'died at the hands of her captors'..
Did you read the article?
'But, on Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron said new details had emerged suggesting that she may have been killed in a U.S. grenade attack. Describing the development as "deeply distressing", he said he was told by General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander leading the NATO forces in Afghanistan, that the original claims were highly likely to have been incorrect.
The BBC quoted British officials as saying they were "dumbfounded" and that it raised "questions about the manner of the assault".
"It raises questions about the way in which the American media operation has disseminated this suggestion that she died at the hands of her captors quite unequivocally for 48 hours," said its correspondent in Kabul."
~sc
That is to ask... if she was killed by someone throwing a grenade AT her, right in front of 'his' nearby ready hand and eye..... WHY?
~sc
Great Plan...how do you rescue someone by throwing grenades at them?
You don't , which was the point.