Afghanistan

One book I asked you to read for Thursday's class, "Afghanistan, war and the media: deadlines and frontlines", can be read online here.

This story on the Telegraph website is a fantastic account of how Lance Corporal Andrew Wardle was awarded the Military Cross, after a selfless act of bravery.

The 22 year-old risked life and limb in January, to grab a young Afghan child, who was under enemy fire. 

 Afghanistan, War and the Media: Frontlines and Deadlines (Abramis 2010) is a new book about journalism and the Afghan War. It contains essays by top war correspondents including Allan Little of the BBC, Stewart Ramsay of Sky News, Alex Thompson of Channel 4 and Vaughan Smith of Frontline News. The practitioners' impressions are mixed with commentary and analysis by academics including the excellent editors, Richard Lance Keeble and John Mair. Huw Edwards wrote the introduction.  I contributed Compromising the First Draft? - an essay covering the history, rules and challenges of embedded reporting.

On Monday Wikileaks released a mountain of documents on the war in Afghanistan through the Guardian, the New York Times and German weekly Der Spiegel.

The picture painted is chaotic: failed attempts to win the 'hearts and minds' of the Afghan people, numerous incidences of civilian casualties and evidence that both Iran and Pakistan are helping the Taliban.

The volcanic eruption in Iceland didn't just disrupt flights across Europe for a few weeks in April, it also played a role in the downfall of the commander of the United States' operation in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal.

President Obama yesterday sacked the four star general after comments in a Rolling Stone profile piece came to light. (By the way, here's the full article).

Germany’s meteorological office had warned of severe rainfalls for today.
And while the rain was indeed pouring down outside all day, no one would have expected the political thunderstorm that hit newsrooms across the country just after the lunch break – including the one where I am on work experience at the moment.

Federal president Horst Köhler announced that he will step down, only a year after he was re-elected.
He says his decision is a consequence of the comments he recently made about the German mission in Afghanistan.

Operation Moshtarak may have sounded good on paper, but as McChrystal knows - and is at pains to point out - it's no good if civilians keep getting killed. Bad PR for NATO.

Amongst the hustle and bustle of a typically busy Monday morning shift at ASDA Ipswich, I uncovered an unexpected and truly heart warming story which I wanted to share with you all. A man came through my till, having laden the conveyor belt with an extraordinary amount of packets of super noodles, all in different flavours. Naturally I was both bemused and a little bit intrigued. Surely one man couldn’t love noodles that much.

 ...is the utterly compelling story of Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, the British bomb disposal expert who died in Helmand Province last week while attempting to defuse his 65th Taliban improvised explosive device. Freelance reporter Miles Amoore spent time with Schmid in Helmand in the weeks before his death. In his piece for Sunday Times News Review, Amoore captures compelling detail that makes plainly apparent the intensity of Shmid's heroism.

There are fewer than 100 Al Qaeda insurgents in Afghanistan, with "no ability to launch attacks on either us or our allies", according to Obama's national security advisor. This was brought to my attention by a column in the NYT by Frank Rich.