Outrage mounts over report Russia offered bounties to Afghanistan militants for killing US soldiers
Outrage has greeted media reports that say American intelligence officials believe a Russian military intelligence unit offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing foreign soldiers in Afghanistan, including targeting Americans.
The story first appeared in the New York Times, citing its sources as unnamed officials briefed on the matter, and followed up by the Washington Post. The reports said that the US had come to the conclusion about the operation several months ago and offered rewards for successful attacks last year.
The Times wrote: "The intelligence finding was briefed to Trump, and the White House's National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March." White House officials apparently drew up several possible options to retaliate against the Kremlin, ranging from a diplomatic reprimand right through to fresh sanctions. However, the White House has so far not taken any action.
It is not clear if bounties were ever paid out for successfully killing American soldiers.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by leon_the_cat on Sunday June 28 2020, @03:06PM (7 children)
are these unnamed officials actually the guys who wrote the article? Seems you need three people to write an article based on hearsay and then pad it out with your own brand of political propaganda.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2020, @03:39PM (3 children)
People are so quick to forget Irrefutable [washingtonpost.com] and the NYTimes going one step further with Irrefutable and Undeniable [nytimes.com].
Those were the headlines for articles from WaPo and NYTimes describing the entirely fabricated, and mostly quite poorly so, evidence presented by Colin Powell to justify our completely misguided invasion of Iraq ostensibly in pursuit of nonexistent WMD. Those eerily similar articles were both posted on February 6th, beating the wardrums as hard as they possibly could. About 6 weeks later we would start the invasion that persists to this day, 17 years later. Our media, for whatever reason, seem to be very much in bed with the Military Industrial Complex. When they start jamming articles clearly angling for the increase of geopolitical tensions which could trend towards war - it should very much be taken with a grain of salt. And if you think people will buy into it, then at least hedge that disappointment in society with some stock investment in Raytheon/Boeing/Lockheed Martin.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2020, @08:36PM (2 children)
The NYT's link puts "Irrefutable and Undeniable" in quotes, but does not say who said those words. The Bezos Post link says "Powerful and irrefutable" was said by no one else than: Joe Biden.
This hawk got us into a disastrous war that is still costing us today.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2020, @10:07PM (1 child)
Biden got us into the Afghanistan war? Boy, you'll believe ANYTHING you hear on Fox, won't you?
Are you that same guy who complains that Obama didn't do enough to stop 9/11 because he was out playing golf at the time [youtube.com]?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2020, @10:33PM
These stories were about getting us into the Iraq war, you dumb fuck idiot.
(Score: 2, Informative) by hemocyanin on Sunday June 28 2020, @05:59PM (2 children)
Post above is not a Troll. The thought that the MSM would try to gaslight people into a war footing is not even remotely disputable.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2020, @06:17PM (1 child)
Most of us middle aged people remember getting taught in History class about the Spanish American War, and how the press empires of Hearst and Pulitzer pushed us into a war to steal a run-down empire's colonies from them.
120 years later we have media companies, formerly holding a quite respectable reputation, living off their brands to stoke the flames of war. Any regular guy sitting at home needs to keep in mind that the interests of media owners probably do not intersect with his own, no matter how soothing their output strokes whatever prejudices he may have.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Sunday June 28 2020, @07:06PM
Stoking the flames of war? Maybe it's the other way around [youtube.com], as Hoffman and DeNiro tried to portray.