Lara Logan speech at BGA says US Government lying on Afghanistan

Cork boy 55

60 minutes CBS Reporter Lara Logan gives speech at BGA attacking Obama
administration, Pakistan and media

“I chose this subject because, one, I can’t stand, that there is a major lie being propagated…” Logan announced. The lie is that the U.S. military has tamed the Taliban.
“There is this narrative coming out of Washington for the last two years,” Logan said. It is driven in part by “Taliban apologists,” who claim “they are just the poor moderate, gentler, kinder Taliban,” she added sarcastically. “It’s such nonsense!”
Logan stepped way out of the “objective,” journalistic role. The audience was riveted as she told of plowing through reams of documents, and interviewing John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan; Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and a Taliban commander trained by al-Qaida. The Taliban and al-Qaida are teaming up and recruiting new terrorists to do us deadly harm, she reports.
She made a passionate case that our government is downplaying the strength of our enemies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as a rationale of getting us out of the longest war. We have been lulled into believing that the perils are in the past: “You’re not listening to what the people who are fighting you say about this fight. In your arrogance, you think you write the script.”

http://www.suntimes.com/news/washington/15581902-452/reporter-lara-logan-brings-ominous-news-from-middle-east.html

She criticized the Obama administration and others for both underestimating the Taliban’s(and al Qaeda and its proxies) strength in Afghanistan and for tolerating Pakistan’s obvious coddling of terrorists killing American soldiers. she also spoke out about
Obama administration reaction to Libya attack(2012).
She also attacks many journalists for going along with government and military spin.
Quite unusually for a network journalists to give such a provocative speech
is she right or has she been scared by her experience. and become biased.
Coming a day after Mitt foreign policy speech it is well timed.



The first 19 minutes of the speech here at youtube link
Lara Logan 2012 BGA Annual Luncheon Keynote Speech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BD7CYLTndk

nagilum2

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

60 minutes CBS Reporter Lara Logan gives speech at BGA attacking Obama
administration, Pakistan and media

Thanks for this. I have the utmost respect for Lara Logan as a journalist. It's a great talk.

Not to beat a dead horse from other discussions weeks ago, but you simply cannot superimpose democracy on societies and cultures that do not respect humanity. Lara clearly understands this, and understands the that the narrative being pushed is farcical. Of course this isn't unique to Obama. Who can forget Bush's "mission accomplished" banner?

Bush thought the Iraqi people would love America for bringing them "democracy" and killing their dictator. Obama thought he could bring a barbaric society forward in time by being a nice guy and reaching out to them on behalf of America. Both of them were utterly naive. And both of them find it politically expedient to ignore reality. Lara is having none of it.

Lara Logan wrote:

• To think there is any similarity between this and Viet Nam is ridiculous. The Viet Cong didn't care what you did when you went back to America. The Viet Cong weren't fighting for an Islamic caliphate. The Viet Cong didn't have a global struggle. And it's amazing to me that we constantly ignore what Al-Qaeda and the Taliban and [...] all these groups tell us every day in their own newspapers, in their own statements.
• This is a completely and utterly different fight than anything we've ever faced in our history. ... US Ambassador Ryan Crocker said, `We think we've won the campaign when they haven't even begun to fight`
• When I look at what's happening in Libya, there's a big song and dance about whether this was a terrorist attack or a protest. And you just want to scream, "For God's sake! Are you kidding me?" The last time we were attacked like this was the USS Cole, which was a prelude to the 1998 embassy bombings, which was a prelude to 9/11."
• If you fail to identify the ideological component to this fight, if you fail to identify what your enemy is really fighting for, if you lie about who they really are, I don't see how you could possible have the right strategy.

Lara Logan understands that the West is going to be waging this struggle with Islamic extremists for a very long time.

Chuck Stone

And then you have someone who doesn't begin narratives where it suits him and underscores the real reasons why US personnel are vulnerable.

It’s easy to blame someone else, like a civil servant at the State Department. We all know the game. It’s harder to acknowledge that decades of American foreign policy have directly contributed to regional instability and the rise of armed militias around the world. It’s even harder to acknowledge Congress’ role and the failure to stop the war in Libya, the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Pakistan, the war in Yemen, the war in Somalia and who knows where else. It’s harder to recognize Congress’ role and the failure to stop the drone attacks that are still killing innocent civilians and strengthening radical elements abroad.

We want to stop attacks on our embassies? Let’s stop trying to overthrow governments. This should not be a partisan issue. Let’s avoid the hype. Let’s look at the real situation here. Interventions do not make us safer. They do not protect our nation. They are themselves a threat to America.

Dennis Kucinich

Source

Edit.

Just did a little digging around on Lara Logan and turned up some interesting opinions.

Lara Logan, You Suck

Anyone who wants to know why network television news hasn't mattered since the seventies just needs to check out this appearance by Logan. Here's CBS's chief foreign correspondent saying out loud on TV that when the man running a war that's killing thousands of young men and women every year steps on his own dick in front of a journalist, that journalist is supposed to eat the story so as not to embarrass the flag.

<snip>

And true, most of the major TV outlets are completely in the bag for the Pentagon, with two of them (NBC/GE and Logan's own CBS, until recently owned by Westinghouse, one of the world's largest nuclear weapons manufacturers) having operated for years as leaders in both the broadcast media and weapons-making businesses.