Linda Norgrove Case - It's Not The Failure, It's The Lies

William Hague, describing the bungled rescue of Linda Norgrove said yesterday: “It is a matter of concern that the facts of how Linda Norgrove died were not made clear immediately after the operation was carried out. “Although the US soldiers did report their own use of a grenade, this was not immediately reported up the military chain of command. It was only on later examination of the video footage that the possibility that a grenade was thrown became known to more senior officers.” Hague said a soldier threw the grenade after “fearing his own life was in danger”. A common phrase used by American military when they kill innocent people in Afghanistan in Iraq. Indeed, in Afghanistan, the lies and the spin follow just about every action NATO/ISAF are involved in. Many MSM sources report their statements as if they were factual. They rarely, if ever, are. Even in the case of Pat Tillman, killed by incompetent friendly fire, and an all-Amrican hero. His case is only a prominent one of hundreds of episodes where the spin flies almost as fast as the bullets or drones.

Hague also said aerial surveillance had led the helicopter-borne troops to believe incorrectly that Ms Norgrove was being held in a building some distance away. Like many Afghan victims of US night raids, Miss Norgrove paid the price of this incompetence.
In response to questioning from Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, he said it was “not the normal practice” of special forces to use grenades in hostage rescues.

The US military will now 'review their hostage rescue tactics', Mr Hague said. Of course they will.