RSS Feed MenuUPDATE 21 JUL 09: The captured American soldier depicted in this Taliban video has since been identified – Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, member of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. He is going through Hell, of course. While Bowe’s family and friends go through their personal sort of living Hell, the following stories of Americans held captive overseas have faded from the front pages.
By now most of you have seen the Taliban propaganda video of an unnamed American soldier, missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan June 30 and later confirmed captured. The soldier’s identity has not yet been confirmed by the Deptartment of Defense, pending notification of the soldier’s family. U.S. defense officials confirmed that the man in the video is the captured soldier.
Rest assured the United States is on a full-court press to recover our soldier. Think of him as you enjoy your Sunday morning round of golf, or fishing. Remember him in your prayers at church, or temple.
Our prayers are with him.
MEANWHILE . . .
Two American journalists are still being held by North Korea.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee work for Al Gore’s California-based Current TV media group.
The two Americans were detained near the North Korean border with China and were sentenced last month to 12 years of hard labor for entering the country illegally and for “hostile acts.” North Korean officials may have been angered at the journalists for trying to produce a program critical of North Korea.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, you are not forgotten.
North Korea may spare the US journalists from hard labor, but the two women still face awful conditions. Even if they have not yet been sent to a labor camp, they are no doubt being subjected to early morning wake up calls, daily interrogation / “re-education” sessions (that go on for unbelievable lengths of time, well into the night), minimal food of poor nutritional value, and having every facet of their daily lives controlled. The worst could possibly be the stress and anxiety accompanying the fear of the unknown.
News is difficult to get out of the world’s most isolated and repressed society. Their exact whereabouts remain unknown; the latest I was able to glean from open-source is that North Korea has delayed sending the two American journalists to a prison labor camp.
North Korean labor camps are notorious: the horrific conditions rival that of the Third Reich, or the torture factories of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. Possibly hundreds of thousands of North Koreans face starvation, filth, disease, hard labor, exposure to the elements, daily “re-education” torture sessions, summary executions and anonymous graves.
Click here to learn how you can help Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
Originally posted at Stormbringer.
barker13 // Jul 22, 2009 at 9:35 am
“…Bergdahl…”
Sean. Some (Ralph Peters) are saying that Bergdahl is anything but a hero “captured” by the Taliban; they’re saying he deliberately deserted – either that or he’s just a nut who “wandered off” into the bush.
What’s your take?
BILL
midcon // Jul 22, 2009 at 9:46 am
Sean, I am not comfortable with equating, in any manner, an American soldier who in defense of his country is in harm’s way, with the current predicament of two American citizens who apparently violated a nation’s sovereign territory. Even though in America, illegal entry into the country is means to obtain government services, support and welfare, other countries consider what it really is, a crime. Sure the punishment may not have fit the crime and yes, they were exposing an evil regime. So while one can admire their dedication to their principles, they committed an unlawful act and are paying a penalty. And while there may not be a significant effort on the part of the State Department to intercede, I would guess there is some effort, which of course is being paid for by you and me and other taxpayers. Additionally, their actions have exacerbated an already complex situation with N. Korea with their repressive regime and their efforts at becoming a nuclear power. The last thing we needed was to be giving them another bargaining chip.
ottovbvs // Jul 22, 2009 at 12:21 pm
“Some (Ralph Peters)”
……..But then Peters is hardly normal as anyone who has read any of is material would know……he suggested the Taliban should save us all a lot of legal trouble by killing this guy if he wandered off……Let’s hope the poor bastard makes it home……..god knows how we negotiate him out of there and we’ve lost any claim to the high ground through the actions of Bush, Cheney, Yoo, Addington and co…….As for the girls in Korea they must have been truly brain dead to have gone there…..again the best we can hope for is to negotiate them out of there with some help from maybe the Chinese but I’m opposed to paying substantive ransoms of any sort
Sean Linnane // Jul 22, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Heads up, Heroes.
I usually don’t reply to the comments – the template is to post, generate discussion and move on. But this issue is somewhat personal: I am a US Army soldier, retired, and half my family is Korean. Red, White & Blue trumps politics and opinions for all of us in situations like this. Bergdahl, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, myself – and I’m assuming most of the readership – we are all Americans; politics ends at the water’s edge.
It is not correct to armchair quarterback these situations.
I don’t know how or via what misadventure Bergdahl ended up in enemy hands; likewise for Laura Ling & Euna Lee. I have heard some scuttlebutt directly out of Afghanistan re Bergdahl but at this time it is impossible for us to know what is the truth of his situation. As for the girls yes it seems they are guilty of faulty judgment – but in both cases it is the height of poor taste to offer some of the opinions expressed above.
The Taliban are terrorist scum with a world view straight out of the 13th century. However Bergdahl arrived in his circumstances, it is not incorrect to hope & pray for his safe return.
The North Koreans are capable of unimaginable intolerance and harsh cruelty. Whether Laura Ling & Euna Lee are in a labor camp or a “guest house” in Pyongyang, their current circumstances make Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo look like a Sunday School picnic; of this I can assure you. They are American citizens, being held against their will in a hardcore Communist nation – the only people who regard them as “bargaining chips” are the insane savages who see fit starve & torture their own people into submission and to point nuclear-tipped missiles out in all directions toward the Pacific Rim nations.
Re: the Taliban – the official policy of the United States is that we do not negotiate with terrorists, on the grounds that it only encourages them to kidnap more Americans. As for the thought that the Taliban possess some kind of moral high ground over us; this is laughable and only shows how way out of touch with reality you are Otto.
LINNANE SENDS
ottovbvs // Jul 23, 2009 at 7:22 am
sean linnane // Jul 22, 2009 at 10:46 pm
” As for the thought that the Taliban possess some kind of moral high ground over us; this is laughable and only shows how way out of touch with reality you are Otto.”
………Well that would be because you have a completely un nuanced view of the world……once you start torturing people the rest of the world outside of those who view things through a single prism as you admit to doing tend to see little difference between us and the Taliban…….I’m no fan of the Taliban but I’m not stupid enough to think they are without support in either in Afghanistan or the wider muslim world
barker13 // Jul 23, 2009 at 10:55 am
Re: Sean linnane // Jul 22, 2009 at 10:46 pm –
“…the template is to post, generate discussion and move on.”
It’s a lousy template. (*SHRUG*)
“It is not correct to armchair quarterback these situations.”
Umm… with respect… it wouldn’t be much of a “discussion” absent the “armchairing.” (*SHRUG*)
“I don’t know how or via what misadventure Bergdahl ended up in enemy hands…”
Fair enough. That answers my question. (*SMILE*)
BILL (Not a hero, but a reasonable guy.) (*WINK*)