June 20, 2007
Taliban "Graduation" Leader Swapped for Italian Hostage
ABCNews.com's The Blotter has an update on their exclusive story of the recent Taliban "graduation ceremony":
The Taliban military commander [Mansoor Dadullah] who led the "graduation ceremony" for 300 suicide bombers was one of five men released from an Afghanistan prison earlier this year in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist.
[...]
Journalist Daniel Mastrogiacomo was kidnapped along with his interpreter and driver by Taliban fighters in early March.
A hostage trade was negotiated, in part by an Italian-run hospital organization, for his release in exchange for the release of five senior Taliban commanders that were in the custody of the Afghan federal government.
As Noel Sheppard noted, this story has gotten short shrift from the rest of the mainstream media.
Meanwhile, there continues to be plenty of coverage of the unfortunate deaths of seven children in Afghanistan during a US-led airstrike aimed at killing al-Qaeda operatives.
Cross-posted to Newsbusters
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Is it possible that the Afghan children were killed because the Taliban purposely used them as human shields? Why isn't it commonly realized that these Muslim Extremists surround themselves with innocent civilians when they fight?
Posted by: Phil O. Vance at June 20, 2007 03:09 PMOf course it's possible...in fact, I'd bet on it. But that sort of possibility is not generally considered in elite media circles. It just wouldn't support their agenda.
Posted by: Pam at June 20, 2007 03:17 PMA graduation? Aww, how cute! Let's send them a graduation present! Like, perhaps, a neutron bomb?
Posted by: Reverse_Vampyr at June 21, 2007 11:42 AM
