Linda Norgrove: how the rescue operation was bungled (Telegraph UK)
U.S. Navy Seal may have killed hostage (Telegraph UK)
British hostage killed during rescue bid (The Hindu)
Aid worker Linda Norgrove was close to freedom, Afghan tribal elders claim (Telegraph UK)
We can’t rely on American intelligence, so why entrust hostages’ lives to U.S. forces? (Tehran Times)
The purveyor of the “suicide vest” story should be named and questioned about what he hoped or expected to achieve by his lie.
Phi Beta Iota: It is with such sadness that we contemplate the demise of the US Government and US Armed Forces as effective vehicles for prosperity at home and peace abroad. A careful reading of all of the stories make it clear that “the system” failed at every level from the utterly stupid operational helicopter raids hampering elder negotiations down to the man that threw the grenade that killed the hostage. The death of Linda Norgrove and the lie that was immediately concocted are a fitting epitaph to Empire. We pray that 2012 brings us a restored US Congress and an honest President who can pick honest Cabinet officials who can actually act in the public interest. This is not about individual honor or intent–INTEGRITY is much more complex than that. This is about restoring the Constitutional integrity of the United STATES of America, and ending the inherent corruption at every level of the US Government (and Wall Street) in which humans don't matter and profits take precedence over potency.
