Evidently my review of Carmela Baranowska's film Taliban Country, posted on Indymedia, was noticed by other than the usual Lefty suspects. I received this email from one David Tate:
I have read your comments... especially this one:
"An audience member (at the U. of MD screening), who said she and her husband worked for an aid organization in Kandahar, tried to convince the predominantly student audience that the film was an unfair treatment of the U.S. military, and that a tiny minority of U.S. troops engaged in this sort of behavior. I wondered, "Do you think your aid would be needed over there, if the U.S. hadn't gone in and destroyed that country in the first instance?" I politely remarked to her that wartime atrocities by occupying troops are statistically underreported, not over reported, and that the numbers were probably much higher. The bar on war crimes was set early on in the Afghan War, with the U.S. refusal to prosecute members of the Dostum militia who massacred prisoners in Mazar-e-Sharif; and the U.S. troops who murdered Taliban by suffocation in metal boxes. I commended Baranowska for her courage and integrity in reporting the reality of the situation in Afghanistan. U.S. presence in
Afghanistan violates the sovereignty of that country, and U.S. troops there, as in Iraq, are occupiers. Hence their behavior is not surprising."
You should have listened to these people. Not only was Carmela NOT the only journo in S. Oruzgan, but she wasn't even first. I, myself, got Carmela her embed... long after me. I left long after her and can tell you that her report is VERY one-sided. If you want to learn more, maybe I could come and present my film that shows a MUCH more complete picture regarding this issue.
Regards,
David Tate
http://battlefieldtourist.com
I checked with Baranowski, who was in E. Timor on a subsequent assignment, and she confirmed that Tate was U.S. military--a fact he'd conveniently omitted in his mail. So much for his "complete picture"....
