Saving Journalists?

[Lonestar]

Failure of the mission. Yes. A topic Americans strangely don't talk about. 2 threads a day on Iraq and squat on Afghanistan.

Uhhh...rumor has it we're using the drawdown in Iraq to fix that problem? If you're telling me that we've bungled Afghanistan, well, I would be the choir

No, you're the one running in with unprovoked insults. I've always been told Texans were polite.

I was born in San Diego.

[Dinner]

[C0ckney]

sloww and lonestar are right on the money here.

i wonder if people's reactions would be different if, for example, an aid worker was kidnapped working in a dangerous area. although it's obviously tragic when someone dies, the forces have a duty to assist citizens of their countries when they are in peril.

[Straybow]

No, if journalists or aid workers were foolish enough to go to a place like that, against warnings, they're on their own. They can buy private kidnapping insurance (doesn't cost an arm and a leg, one or the other will do) and the insurers will arrange rescue missions, etc. Or they can wait for military operations to reach them in the course of time.

[BeBMan]

Saving journalists early means you'll have more later.

[Wezil]

Uhhh...rumor has it we're using the drawdown in Iraq to fix that problem? If you're telling me that we've bungled Afghanistan, well, I would be the choir

Not sure why the laughing smilie since we seem to be in agreement.

I was born in San Diego.

Then my apologies to all the Texans on the forum.

[Wezil]

No, if journalists or aid workers were foolish enough to go to a place like that, against warnings, they're on their own. They can buy private kidnapping insurance (doesn't cost an arm and a leg, one or the other will do) and the insurers will arrange rescue missions, etc. Or they can wait for military operations to reach them in the course of time.

Of course.


Lonestar - You mentioned North Korea and the arrest of the US "journalists" there recently. If NK did not release these people under political pressure would you have supported a military mission to rescue them? Or would that have been "too gosh darn hard"?

[Lonestar]

Lonestar - You mentioned North Korea and the arrest of the US "journalists" there recently. If NK did not release these people under political pressure would you have supported a military mission to rescue them? Or would that have been "too gosh darn hard"?

(1)False Dilemma. It assumes that the only way to get them out would have been through coercive measures.

(2)False Analogy, A bunch of dudes in the Boonies and a nationstate are two different animals.

(3)My parents are Texan and I went to college in Texas, which is why I (on occasion) claim it.

[Wezil]

You brought it up.

I guess those journos who got kidnapped into North Korea should have been left to their own fate then?

If your position is that you can only do something if it is not a Nation state then you are obviously thinking there is a limit to how far you will go. It is apparently okay for several people to die rescuing a journalist (as in this case). Is 20 acceptable? 50? 100? At what point does it become "too gosh darn hard" for you?

[Lonestar]

You brought it up.

Fair enough.

If your position is that you can only do something if it is not a Nation state then you are obviously thinking there is a limit to how far you will go. It is apparently okay for several people to die rescuing a journalist (as in this case). Is 20 acceptable? 50? 100? At what point does it become "too gosh darn hard" for you?

Hmm. That was a bad analogy I made because North Korea doesn't have a track record of keeping(Americans) indefinitely after they've been captured, so long as the U.S. swallows it's pride and lies about feeling sorry(mind you, LBJ would have been happy to let the crew of the Pueblo languish forever).

As for the launching a military operation? If I knew where the person or persons were, I totally would do it. And there are Presidents who agree with me.

You don't leave a man behind.

[Wezil]

Operation Eagle Claw was aimed at rescuing embassy personnel (a little different than a journalist going into an area known to be unsafe) and ultimately failed.

How many lives is a journalist worth Lonestar?

[Lonestar]

Operation Eagle Claw was aimed at rescuing embassy personnel (a little different than a journalist going into an area known to be unsafe) and ultimately failed.

How many lives is a journalist worth Lonestar?

If he is an American citizen, and we know where he is, it is our duty to rescue him.

You seem to be missing the keyword in this argument. The #1 job of a government is to protect it's citizens.

[Wezil]

Alright then, any citizen.

So your position is that you will pay any cost, including military actions against nation states (you previously were leary about but then cited as an example with Eagle Claw) if a single US citizen is being held unjustly? No limits?

[BeBMan]

Re saving journalists, the guy who was throwing shoes after GWB has been released from prison after 9 months of pressure by the intl community incl the current US administration - FACT

[Lonestar]

Alright then, any citizen.

So your position is that you will pay any cost, including military actions against nation states (you previously were leary about but then cited as an example with Eagle Claw) if a single US citizen is being held unjustly? No limits?

If I knew where he was and thought I could successfully extract him, sure.

Which was the case of the Journo in the OP(and even during Eagle Claw). .