American Photojournalist Killed in Failed Rescue Attempt

American Photojournalist and Al-Qaeda hostage, Luke Somers, has been killed in a failed rescue attempt, his sister has said. The specific details are not known at this time as Washington has not yet made a statement.

It is believed that the USA had sought to rescue Somers last month in an operation which resulted in the hostage not being at the site.

goo.gl...

This is sad news, especially considering the USA had twice tried to rescue Mr Somers to no avail. May he rest in peace.

a reply to: daaskapital

I heard on the radio of an attempted rescue but no more info than that , this is sad news but at least they tried to get him out.
RiP

Some more info.....joint rescue attempt apparently, SEALs and Yemen troops..

news.sky.com...

CX.

Hmmm...I'm wondering about this one. Drones are used for observation during rescue attempts, not a strike package. I had heard earlier that it was a boots on the ground raid but the hostages had been already moved with the exception of the Yemeni hostages.

www.reuters.com...

The Yemeni defense ministry's 26sept.net website later quoted a soldier who had participated in the rescue as saying an American, a Briton and a South African held there had been moved elsewhere two days earlier.

Now it's being put out that they were killed in the raid. If a drone was used as a strike package, I don't wonder at all how they were killed. A Hellfire, while being pretty accurate, does have a large blast radius. The White House has also acknowledged authorizing the mission.

I think that there is more to this story.

a reply to: TDawgRex

I've been looking all over local South African news sites,
and I can't even find any reports of the hostages being moved.
It's strange, our media has bouts of reporting the incident of
their capture to the point of sensationalism then nothing for
months.

If what you're suggesting is true, what would it mean
if United States forces killed a South African national,
I realise no one cares about white South Africans,
but this would be the murder of a civillian member
of the BRICS alliance. My guess is, my government
says nothing about it so long as the money keeps
flowing in from Washington and Beijing.

Please don't mistake what I say for "anti-American"
rhetoric, i'm just as pissed off that our own government
hasn't mounted rescue attempts with our own special forces,
but I guess our army isn't what it once was.

What's just as disgusting is Hillary Clinton wants us all to "empathize" and "show respect" for these terrorists. Maybe we can sing kum-bah-yah around our kitchen tables and hope the good will feelings miraculously travel through space and suddenly harbor a change of heart in these people who hate us, and have practiced war for thousands of years amongst themselves.

It's very sad this man died as well as another American in the rescue attempt. These ME people say what they mean and mean what they say.

a reply to: daaskapital

Just a guess here, but it seems that the western journalists that go missing and or end up dead, probably stumbled across something they shouldn't have seen like CIA transfer of arms or money. Why would AQ or any other terrorist organization kill off the only means of PR and access to main stream media they have? Doesn't make sense. These journalists, if they're really dead and or missing, obtained info or saw something that would reveal the charade. JMO

When are we as Americans going to learn to stay out of there? Nobody likes us there. I'm sad for his family, but he should have known the dangers he put himself in. Then we have to risk more lives to get him out....unsuccessfully. The same goes for the idiots that want to visit North Korea and other dangerous countries.

Maybe I'm looking at it different but hey this is ATS after all ...

Reading through the sky news article it mentions that other hostages were freed but the American wasn't. As someone stated the US forces pretty much have everything at their disposal as in terms of technology. Now considering this rescue attempt was planned would it of not made sense before attempting the rescue they would of gained information regarding the the where abouts of the U.S. hostage. Instead of attempting the raid and turning up and finding out the hostage wasn't there surely they must of had eyes on the building or area where they assumed the US hostage would of been.

Another thing I wanted to point out, again could be nothing but we are on ATS after all. The sky news article says other hostages were freed. Now first off who were these hostages, why do we never hear about them? (I could be wrong as I'm not that good at searching for info) ... But I was thinking how come they can save other hostages but the American gets killed? Is this a way to gain support from US citizens to put boots on the ground ? Or is it all a lie, 'oh we saved other foreign hostages but not the American' was there actually any hope of saving the American?

Just find it out that other hostages were freed but an American (and America is learning the fight against ISIS) happened to be the only one who was killed. Just seems a good way of persuading the American people to put boots on the ground.
Hope this makes sense

a reply to: jtrenthacker
What can do you do though if you're an American and as a personal belief you wanted to go and help in the situation.

Like Alan henning (not sure on the surname) the Brit hostage recently killed a few months back. He was an aid worker, he couldn't sit back and watch the refugees have no hope, he wanted to go and help the people who were affected by the wars. What can you say to man that has a passion in helping people and that wants to go to war zones to help. Only to get caught up in all this mess

a reply to: DelegateZero88

I am as offended by such callous use of force as well,in fact I would suggest they just GOT rid of the reporter so SOMEONE wouldn't look bad for NOT trying to rescue. Those who perform such missions,emphatically the SEALs DO NOT trust the POTUS to run an op.
DESERVEDLY so when it would get OUR guys killed over a naive plan devised by politicians.

originally posted by: Bilk22
a reply to: daaskapital

Just a guess here, but it seems that the western journalists that go missing and or end up dead, probably stumbled across something they shouldn't have seen like CIA transfer of arms or money. Why would AQ or any other terrorist organization kill off the only means of PR and access to main stream media they have? Doesn't make sense. These journalists, if they're really dead and or missing, obtained info or saw something that would reveal the charade. JMO

Because they are crazy bastards? Just saying...

It seems you think these people have value for life outside of their own, and so it would be illogical to kill in such a way without a reason. Well they do not have any value, at all, none... How they think and see the world is so alien to us that we can not truly understand why they do this, or kill entire villages, or destroy 1000 year old sites etc. Everything they do is so extreme and chaotic that it becomes unfathomable for most.

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Bilk22
a reply to: daaskapital

Just a guess here, but it seems that the western journalists that go missing and or end up dead, probably stumbled across something they shouldn't have seen like CIA transfer of arms or money. Why would AQ or any other terrorist organization kill off the only means of PR and access to main stream media they have? Doesn't make sense. These journalists, if they're really dead and or missing, obtained info or saw something that would reveal the charade. JMO

Because they are crazy bastards? Just saying...

It seems you think these people have value for life outside of their own, and so it would be illogical to kill in such a way without a reason. Well they do not have any value, at all, none... How they think and see the world is so alien to us that we can not truly understand why they do this, or kill entire villages, or destroy 1000 year old sites etc. Everything they do is so extreme and chaotic that it becomes unfathomable for most.

Yeah that's what our fearless leaders want us to believe and what we're fed via the MSM. Ain't buying it.

originally posted by: Bilk22

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Bilk22
a reply to: daaskapital

Just a guess here, but it seems that the western journalists that go missing and or end up dead, probably stumbled across something they shouldn't have seen like CIA transfer of arms or money. Why would AQ or any other terrorist organization kill off the only means of PR and access to main stream media they have? Doesn't make sense. These journalists, if they're really dead and or missing, obtained info or saw something that would reveal the charade. JMO

Because they are crazy bastards? Just saying...

It seems you think these people have value for life outside of their own, and so it would be illogical to kill in such a way without a reason. Well they do not have any value, at all, none... How they think and see the world is so alien to us that we can not truly understand why they do this, or kill entire villages, or destroy 1000 year old sites etc. Everything they do is so extreme and chaotic that it becomes unfathomable for most.

Yeah that's what our fearless leaders want us to believe and what we're fed via the MSM. Ain't buying it.

They are crazy bastards...when was the last time you were over there, for me it has been 4 months. Do your armchair quarterback review.. give me a break ...

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Bilk22

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: Bilk22
a reply to: daaskapital

Just a guess here, but it seems that the western journalists that go missing and or end up dead, probably stumbled across something they shouldn't have seen like CIA transfer of arms or money. Why would AQ or any other terrorist organization kill off the only means of PR and access to main stream media they have? Doesn't make sense. These journalists, if they're really dead and or missing, obtained info or saw something that would reveal the charade. JMO

Because they are crazy bastards? Just saying...

It seems you think these people have value for life outside of their own, and so it would be illogical to kill in such a way without a reason. Well they do not have any value, at all, none... How they think and see the world is so alien to us that we can not truly understand why they do this, or kill entire villages, or destroy 1000 year old sites etc. Everything they do is so extreme and chaotic that it becomes unfathomable for most.

Yeah that's what our fearless leaders want us to believe and what we're fed via the MSM. Ain't buying it.

They are crazy bastards...when was the last time you were over there, for me it has been 4 months. Do your armchair quarterback review.. give me a break ...

Yeah everyone is an armchair, wartime hero on the internet

originally posted by: Bilk22

Yeah everyone is an armchair, wartime hero on the internet

Don't forget everyone of them has an opinion too... hehe