what on earth is wrong with our intelligence? this is disturbing, to type the least:
The US military in Afghanistan has apologised for detaining a BBC World Service reporter and interrogating him at its Bagram air base near Kabul. Kamal Sadat, an Afghan who also worked for Reuters, was taken from his home in eastern Afghanistan by US soldiers late on Wednesday.
…Mr Sadat is a well-known reporter in Afghanistan for the BBC’s Pashto and Dari language services.
Based in the province of Khost near the Afghan-Pakistan border, he has worked for the corporation for almost two years.
…Speaking after his release, the reporter said he was never told where he was.
He said he was kept in a small, windowless cell, blindfolded most of the time and interrogated by an American official about his work.
if this is a “well-known” reporter, why are we behaving like this? oh, right. it’s because we probably don’t have any pashto or dari speakers paying attention to such figures. i’m no expert, (have a field day with that admission in comments, why don’t you) but that seems like poor “strategery”, to me.
if indeed that WAS the case, then honestly, is it THAT hard to ring up the beeb and ask, “yo, is this terrorist a reporter like he says he is? oh, word? all right-y then…our bad.”
it’s fine to be vigilant, but please, do your homework. breaking down someone’s door, displaying menacing behaviour towards their innocent family members and confiscating the tools of their trade…that’s a fine way to treat a journalist who works for the largest press-outfit of our most beleaguered “ally”.
