Updated 10/11
Despite local officials saying that they were extremely close to a deal to secure the release of a British aid worker Linda Norgrove, US Special Forces decided to launch an attack based on a tip regarding her whereabouts, sparking a gunbattle that left a number of people, including Norgrove dead.
Yet despite launching a rescue attempt that killed its rescue target, NATO officials are loudly defending the attack as a “valiant and courageous effort,” Incredibly, British Prime Minister David Cameron says the indications are that the US troops actually threw a grenade at the hostage, and that this is what killed her. Yesterday officials were speculating that it was something to do with a suicide vest going off by mistake.
“Responsibility for this tragic outcome rests squarely with the hostage-takers,” insisted British Foreign Secretary William Hague. General David Petraeus, the commander in Afghanistan, insisted that troops “did everything in their power to rescue Linda.”
Norgrove had been kidnapped in late September, along with three Afghan aid workers. The three others had already been released, while local elders had negotiated a meeting at which Norgrove’s release was to be agreed upon. She was working for a subcontractor for the US government’s USAID agency at the time.
Just reminds me of the story in Yvonne Ridleys book, about how she believes the UK/US military wanted the Taliban to kill her. They had furnished the Taliban with pictures,documents, etc that indicated she was a Mossad agent (which were all untrue).
she believes the US/UK military wanted her to be killed so that they could use the incident to further their propoganda war.
Thank You Plum… People like YOU who read and remember are our only hope… You didn't spend any time on an offshore place M.V. did you?? I knew a Plum there… Probably lots of them but you are the one who remembers..!! I'll be watching for your comments to keep me & us informed….
Proves how trigger-happy U.S. forces are in Afghanistan are and how incompetent the generals are who lead them. Incidents like this one also explains why th U.S is loosing (has lost ) the war..
The really sad part about this, aside from the unfortunate woman's untimely death, is that I am actually more inclined to believe her death was yet another case of 'friendly fire'. Officials can 'speculate' it was a suicide vest going off by mistake, but it's easy to say something like that when trying to forge a cover story and mislead people. I expect we'll have a made-for-tv movie within a few months, and of course the captors will be cast as her killers. We certainly can't have another over-hyped 'rescue story' like that of Jessica Lynch, can we? Yes, that one- the one that turned out to be a fabrication from first to last.