Request for Help - Captive Soldier Appears on Taliban Video‎

kosai

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kosai
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Aug 19, 2005
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As most of you are probably aware, there's a new captured soldier propaganda video from the Taliban in Afghanistan which you can read more about here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090719/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_afghan_soldier_captured

This morning I got an email from my uncle, who runs a church, that it turns out the man pictured in the video is the son of 2 members of his congregation. Of course it had the usual request for prayers and I'll leave that up to you, it did however have an actionable request which I thought maybe some of the more internet savvy people here may be able to help with.

His parents would really like to obtain a copy of the full 28 minutes of video, the news stations have so far only released clips. I do have his name, however it hasn't been released by the State Dept. so I'd rather not post it publicly. If you think his name would assist you to find the full version of the video please PM me.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
 
I would imagine that this will be absolutely impossible until State/DoD releases it. The parents have probably been told as much as they can possibly be told at this moment.

You have to remember that this video is being combed intensely for any possible intelligence as to the whereabouts of his captivity. On top of that, State/DoD want to minimize its utility as a propaganda tool. I don't believe that news services have any more than the snippets they've been airing. So, long story short, trying to do an 'end around' official channels probably won't accomplish anything.

I know the guy's family is going through Hell right now, but seeing their son in a propaganda video is not going to help. The video gives them proof of life. That will have to be enough for now.
 
I would agree with JoeyDonuts. Right now, the best is to let the professionals handle it.
 
kosai - I think joey and skeptic have pretty much nailed any sort of response you are going to get. I think we all understand your desire to help, but sometimes it just cant be done.

However you and the rest of the congregation can play a part in supporting these folk during this dreadful time for them. Be there, let them know you are, and get out and start puting yellow ribbons around a few trees
 
If the enemy wants the public to view it, then it would be easy to watch it. Just go into google and put in the solder's name or other code words and it will come up. Maybe a phrase known only to the family.
 
Thanks to everyone for reading this over, I found a full copy of the video and sent it on to the parents. It was released by Al Jazeera TV in it's entirety last week so I knew it was available somehow, not asking anyone to break into government computers or anything. ;)

His name has now been released and it's Bowe R. Bergdahl.

Again thanks to anyone who put time into looking into this.
 
geni said:
The orginal was placed on some random website and I don't know which. A copy can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THmerXtKiqA

It looks very much as if he's speaking from a script.
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... Or at the very least he appears to be making general statements his captors ordered him to make ahead of time. For example, Bergdahl responds to questions about the mistreatment of captured Iraqis, including "rape", "beatings", etc. Bergdahl says "We have been ordered to gain information in whatever way we can." He goes on to say, "There are no rules to what they have us do". Sure does sound like his captors are in some way putting words into his mouth.
 
ProbeX said:
... Or at the very least he appears to be making general statements his captors ordered him to make ahead of time. For example, Bergdahl responds to questions about the mistreatment of captured Iraqis, including "rape", "beatings", etc. Bergdahl says "We have been ordered to gain information in whatever way we can." He goes on to say, "There are no rules to what they have us do". Sure does sound like his captors are in some way putting words into his mouth.
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I believe it is standing SOP for US troops caught in this situation to say whatever the captives want to hear. Everyone knows the solider does not mean it. Is probably in a pretty serious state of duress, and knows nothing worth getting themselves killed over
 
MG1962 said:
I believe it is standing SOP for US troops caught in this situation to say whatever the captives want to hear. Everyone knows the solider does not mean it. Is probably in a pretty serious state of duress, and knows nothing worth getting themselves killed over
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Was simply pointing out the fact that it was happening. Not so sure "everyone" knows this soldier didn't mean it. The Taliban is probably counting on a wide viewership (which they already have now on Youtube), some whom may or may not pick up on the deceitful nature of the interview.

Edited for correction of asinine grammatical error.
 
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ProbeX said:
Was simply pointing out the fact that it was happening. Not so sure "everyone" knows this soldier doesn't meant it. The Taliban is probably counting on a wide viewership (which they already have now on Youtube), some whom may or may not pick up on the deceitful nature of the interview.
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Oh I appreciate that. I just wanted to re-inforce for those that may not know, this lad is not doing anything wrong.
 
Right. We're on the same page. That was one of my intentions too.
 
ProbeX said:
... Or at the very least he appears to be making general statements his captors ordered him to make ahead of time.
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The lack of interjections and the pretty much pich perfect answers combiened with speed of reaction to questions very strongly suggests scripted rather than general statements.
 
geni said:
The lack of interjections and the pretty much pich perfect answers combiened with speed of reaction to questions very strongly suggests scripted rather than general statements.
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This is debatable. And I'm not sure to what degree it matters, but ...

I'm not interpreting the answers as "pitch perfect". Many of the questions are factual ones about himself that he would have known already, so it'd be easy to answer those ones quickly. And soldiers are trained to respond immediately when being questioned, and often do so without much inflection in their voices.

Also, the overall speed of his responses (generally slow) suggests he may have simply been coached ahead of time, rather than the interview being partially/fully scripted. Also, he doesn't appear (to me) to be reading off a script based on his general eye movements as he talks, except maybe at first.

Alas, you and I don't really know for sure right now, do we? What we agree on - a guess - is that this man seems to have been guided somehow as to what he should say.
 


A Fox News military analyst says Bowe probably deserted his post and that the Taliban could save the Army the trouble of trying him if that's the case.
 
boloboffin said:


A Fox News military analyst says Bowe probably deserted his post and that the Taliban could save the Army the trouble of trying him if that's the case.
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WTF?
Let's see, the guy is in Afghanistan, and he's just going to wander off, and ... chase chicks at the local disco?

Burkha Babes! Whooooo Hooooo!

Bolo, that Fox story seems a bit less than rational. Afghanistan is very much Injun Country. Peters is IMO jumping the gun. However, his comments on an 11B style mind set is sound, so at least he has that right.

But if Peters is right, and this guy did go AWOL in Afghanistan, for reasons that escape my imagination, then all I can say is

What the hell was he thinking?

DR
 
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I heard that we went off to go drinking with some of the LNP's to go drinking (which is against regs in theater). The Taliban claims he was drunk when they found him.

It would take some serious balls but I think I could sneak out of my base if I wanted to. Hell, one unit who i will not mention, accidentally left someone out in sector in Sadr City for about 40 minutes before they realized he was gone. They only saw he was missing after they had gotten back to their base. This same unit also shot a horse (a very stupid story) and a 10 year old boy on a roof. Yeah, they're filling a non-combat role now. We replaced them.

Anyway, people get left out and if someone really wanted to they could conceivably escape their base or FOB. It's guaranteed that you will be captured though.

Once a buddy of mine (who was also 11B) and I were breaking down a CHU and had to take about 16 mattresses over to the AHA dump. We loaded up a Gator with the mattress and headed out looking for the dump with very vague directions. We ended up out of sector somehow along the side of the Najaf-Rustimyia highway. We were both armed but had no armor, no radios, and no one knew where we were. We headed back into the gate and the guys at the gate couldn't believe it. We had somehow rolled out through the Iraqi Army gate. I guess they figured we knew what we were doing on an ATV stacked with mattresses stacked 12 feet high.
 
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