Taliban video shows US soldier held in Afghanistan

Taliban video shows US soldier held in Afghanistan

www.rawstory.com

Taliban video show US soldier held in Afghanistan for nearly 18 months.

A new video released by the Taliban shows Spc. Bowe Bergdahl, the only known U.S. serviceman held captive in Afghanistan, with bags under his eyes and what appears to be an abrasion on his left cheek.

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We have got to get this soldier back. What are our leaders doing? We shouldn't allow them to take another "vacation" until everything is done to bring this soldier home. Our "elected" officials are the ones who sent us over there in the first place and while they are all cozy with their families and the extravagant comforts provided by the US tax-payer, this hero is held captive by our enemy.

I'm not a fan of either one of the wars, but I do support doing whatever it takes to get this soldier back home with his family. If that means invading Pakistan, then so be it. If that means another surge, then so be it. We at least owe it to this young man and I'm sure the vast majority of US and British soldiers would also support doing whatever it takes to bring him home.

What are our elected officials doing? Certainly not their jobs and certainly not what they should be doing. I'd go over there myself, if I could. It breaks my heart to think this young man has been a captive for so long, especially when our politicians are playing "footsie" with each other.

--airspoon

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I hope they send in the special OPS this guy is not in a good position not one bit..

Havn't heard this thanks for the thread....

I wonder if anyone can get to this guy?

He's screwed because no one is going to negotiate with them.... Not saying they should, this guy has family just like everyone else, he is being held by some mean people....

reply to post by thecinic


If I had to guess, he is being held as a POW, thus the only negotiations that his captors would accept, would be for a trade -or peace. The good thing is that he alive. Another good thing is that he is probably being treated according to the Geneva Conventions, more or less. That's a lot more than what we can say, at least of our own prisoners.

The Taliban are playing a game for the minds of the world and that's really their only hope for victory, thus there is a much better chance that this soldier is afforded the treatment of a POW, with practical limits. Or, they would at least try to make it look that way. Of course I could be wrong, but lets hope that I'm not.

For those that don't the difference between a hostage, a POW and a captive, a POW is afforded basic rights according to various treaties and precedences.



--airspoon

This is one of the biggest fears a soldier has when serving in the middle east, as there is a high risk you
will be beheaded by your captors.I served two tours of Iraq in the British army and besides being hit by Ied's this was the biggest worry i had.
I hope the American government and ISAF do everything in they're powers to get this soldier back home alive.
It was a shame the British aid worker who was captured in Afghan was killed whilst US special forces attempted a rescue but hey at least they tried,the poor lass would certainly have been executed if they hadn't of attempted some sort of rescue.

What an ordeal

My prayers are with him and his family. I feel so bad for kids who sign up thinking they are doing the right thing or escaping poverty only to find it's a whole war-for-profit scam. And then to have to endure something like this ... I would never let my kid join the military.

willing to bet they are treating him better than our America military is treating the prisoners we have. And they are the supposed "bad guys" yet they only cut heads off and get it over with quick. We ( the Americans) use dozens of torture methods. cause as much pain and fear possible with out killin.I would rather get beheaded than to be striped, attacked by dogs, almost drowned over and over again, locked in dark rooms not being left to sleep having ppl force me to do things that destroy my religious views and make me dishonorable in my gods eyes. . Being humiliated constantly. Im American and it hurts me to say i feel much worse for all the innocent ppl the US took as prisoners for little or no reason other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time than i do for the Americans taken prisioner, To be completely honest, if another country invaded America, i would be in the streets with home made IEDs and any guns i could get my hands on and be returning fire, thats all these ppl are doing at this point is defending there homes and there familys. We have no right to be on there land killing there ppl.

his hair is short and his beard is shaved though he was captured june 2009. the trees behind him seem out of place for afghanistan. there is always the possibility the taliban is a cia dress up and the prisoner may be an actor or held by the controlled op.

America has to negotiate after identifying who to talk with - imposters are available !

Wikileaks will show how American taxpayers funded the Taliban and thus the capture of this soldier. I would not worry too much about him. As a bargaining chip he is more valuable to the Taliban than he is as cannon fodder for the US army.

reply to post by filosophia

the trees behind him seem out of place for afghanistan.

No, those trees are indigenous to both Afghanistan and Pakistan, thus aren't out of place. If I had to guess, I would assume that his is in Pakistan, or at the very least, Taliban controlled Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan.

--airspoon

I expect that a lot of people are working very hard to get him back. There will have been dozens of intelligence gathering raids by this time, but it’s hit or miss and miss for the most part.

In the Christian Peacemaker crisis in Iraq, it took 118 days, 50 raids and 47 detained individuals, all to get to the one man who had what they wanted. They might have that guy already but he just isn’t talking, or they might have killed him a few times. There’s a lot of luck involved in this kind of thing and we can only wish them good luck.

reply to post by PApro


How many Taliban prisoners have been beheaded?

Special Forces should be sent in to retrieve this soldier.

reply to post by Freeborn


i don't know of any that have had there heads cut off. but instead they are given much more brutal and painful tactics. They suffer much more than anyone having there head cut from there body.

Originally posted by airspoon
reply to post by filosophia

 

the trees behind him seem out of place for afghanistan.

No, those trees are indigenous to both Afghanistan and Pakistan, thus aren't out of place. If I had to guess, I would assume that his is in Pakistan, or at the very least, Taliban controlled Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan.

--airspoon

What about his short hair and shaved face? That at least points out that this video is not new if he was captured in June 2009. I think there is a possibility this could be faked. The smile on the taliban face just seems like planted there to make the public angry. The CIA has played dress up before.

Originally posted by Freeborn
reply to post by PApro

 

How many Taliban prisoners have been beheaded?

Special Forces should be sent in to retrieve this soldier.

Plenty of prisoners have been beheaded by both the Afghanistan and Pakistani Taliban.
Journalists,Pakistan and afghan soldiers have all been beheaded by the Taliban.
You don't exactly have to look hard, just a simple Google search will give you a large list of all those executed by the Taliban,they even carry out mass executions and either throw all the bodies in a ditch or hang them in the streets to warn the civilians not to side with the Coalition.This is not western propaganda but FACT.

Originally posted by PApro
willing to bet they are treating him better than our America military is treating the prisoners we have. And they are the supposed "bad guys" yet they only cut heads off and get it over with quick. We ( the Americans) use dozens of torture methods. cause as much pain and fear possible with out killin.I would rather get beheaded than to be striped, attacked by dogs, almost drowned over and over again, locked in dark rooms not being left to sleep having ppl force me to do things that destroy my religious views and make me dishonorable in my gods eyes. . Being humiliated constantly. Im American and it hurts me to say i feel much worse for all the innocent ppl the US took as prisoners for little or no reason other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time than i do for the Americans taken prisioner, To be completely honest, if another country invaded America, i would be in the streets with home made IEDs and any guns i could get my hands on and be returning fire, thats all these ppl are doing at this point is defending there homes and there familys. We have no right to be on there land killing there ppl.

Stop trying to defend the Taliban they are Evil,a lot of them are not even from Afghanistan but are young Muslim extremists wanting to carry out they're own Jihad on the "Infidels".
The Coalition are not fighting the Afghanistan people as i am sure if this was the case they would have ousted the coalition forces long ago,no the coalition are fighting a bunch of Muslim extremist who will fight to the death to have their version of sharia law for Afghanistan

Get it over quick?Yea OK m8, because being pinned down by a bunch of masked men shouting and screaming whilst someone saws your head off with a rusty knife is quick.I think it is probably one of the worst ways to die and i also think you have to be pure evil to do that to another human being.

I am not saying that the Americans and they're allies are angels,far from it,i also don't agree with our armies being over there either, but i support are brave men and woman who are currently there sweating and bleeding for us.

reply to post by muzza1875


i was taking it that he was asking how many taliban had there heads taken off by the US. As far as Defending them, im not. im saying that we have no right to be on there land for any reason. Man does not have the right to judge who lives or dies. Beheading someone is alot more humane than the things our boys do to the prisoners they take. so again i say , i don't feel so bad for this guy if he gets his head cut off simply because its a hell of alot less painful that way. the choice between almost instant death and 10 years of starvation and tourture is an easy one.
im willing to bet this man killed at least half a dozen inocent ppl or more before capture. this is gods way of making things right. what goes around comes around. i can't feel bad for a murderer that got himself caught. do we cry for dethrow inmates? no. there bad ppl. and anyone that murders mass amounts of ppl just because someone with money and power tells them to is no better than someone who murders just because. hell when it comes down to it most of these guys only joined the military for that big fat check they promise. so there own greed is there ultimate undoing. in the end only god can seperate the good from the bad. everyone gets what they deserve.

reply to post by muzza1875


ok, maybe they do have to be pure evil to do such things but that don't mean every person the US captured and tortured were pure evil. most of them didn't even get a reason for being taken in. Also, is it not pure evil to run in to a familys house in the middle of the night with assult rifles pointed at little kids and drag them into the streets? is it not pure evil to shoot a mans children one by one than his wife just because he is unable to give the information you want? thats how the US goes about things... that my friend is just as evil if not more so. atleast the taliban is only cutting heads off the ppl that are there to try and kill them. and not innocent little girls. how many little US girls have the taliban raped and killed? now compare that to how many iraqi girls the US raped and murdered... about 10000 to none on the US side. thats even more monsterious. so from my view point no tears will be shed for any one fighting any war ever. you know what your getting into before you sign your life away.