NBC Correspondent Takes Sides in Afghanistan Debate
EmailABC News' Jonathan Karl reports: NBC Correspondent Richard Engel is taking sides in the debate over what to do next in Afghanistan. Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” today, Engel declared, “I honestly think it’s probably time to start leaving the country. I really don’t see how this is going to end in anything but tears.” Engel’s comments — which came in response to the simple question, “What did you see in Afghanistan?” – have become part of the political debate. In an interview today on CNN, Senator Russ Feingold repeatedly quoted Engel in a making the case for a timetable for withdrawing US troops. Engel described the kind counter-insurgency effort advocated by General McChrystal as “a loser.” “The idea of going in to nation-build and win hearts and minds, I think, over the long term is kind of a loser,” Engel said. “Going in to try and convince the people that we're there to develop democracy and develop hearts and minds — the afghans don't want it, they don't want it from us. And I don't think that US troops pushing out into tiny villages to try and work with the Afghan people, holding their hands is something that is going to have a lot of long term resonance.” Oddly, Engel also said it may be necessary to send over more troops in the short-run to facilitate a withdrawal. “Think about moving out of your house,” he explained. “You need extra people to come in and help you do that.”
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Engel is not a correspondent. He does not have a journalistic bone in his body. I suspect he is in audition for one of those cable opinion and entertainment shows. Those people look like they make a lot of money, probably much too lucrative for him to pass up. He realized self-respect and dignity does not buy the luxuries.
Posted by: jerry | October 8, 2009, 6:54 pm 6:54 pm
Engel calls it like he sees it. His
time in Afghanistan gives him a much better view of the real situation going on there than Jonathan Karl will ever get from trolling around Washington D.C. looking for gossipy tidbits to regurgitate via the internet and probably his Childish Tweets.
Posted by: Leprkin | October 8, 2009, 7:31 pm 7:31 pm
8/29/2008, Nominee Obama,“I will end this war in Iraq responsibly and finish the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan,”.
Posted by: toby hill | October 8, 2009, 8:31 pm 8:31 pm
Murrow, Severied, etc often expressed opinions. And, famously -or infamously- Cronkite did so. Granted before Cronkite most US-based reporters were supportive of the troops and when imbedded or reporting from France, Britain, etc were respectful of on-going military occupations and supportive of the war. But they definitely expressed opinion.
I would say the reporters who claim they don’t express opinion are the ones who are deluded….it is much better to understand that everyone has opinions, prejudgices, beliefs and a good reporter recognizes that and tries to ensure impartiality- when possible. It sometimes not good to be impartial! Of course, the true problem is the seeming inability of the VIEWER to understand bais, perspective, propaganda, and marketing and seem to believe whatever the tv shows them!
Posted by: Ed | October 8, 2009, 8:39 pm 8:39 pm
“Engel calls it like he sees it.”
So does my 12 year-old daughter. Strangely enough, both she and Engel have the exact same amount of experience in leading men in battle or constructing military strategies – ZERO.
Engel should focus on his hair and lighting, and leave the “big thinking” to people who have a little experience in the field.
Posted by: Dworkin | October 8, 2009, 8:42 pm 8:42 pm
Dworkin sez, “So does my 12 year-old daughter. Strangely enough, both she and Engel have the exact same amount of experience in leading men in battle or constructing military strategies – ZERO.”
Actually, that is just the point. Engel has spent many years imbedded with the citizens and troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He immersed himself in their language and culture. He knows exactly how they feel about our occupation. I would wager he has a far better understanding of the situation on the ground than McChrystal. Correct me if I missed something. Please tell me how we attain victory as it has been described by the hawks in the last few days?
Posted by: SeattleGuy | October 9, 2009, 12:16 am 12:16 am
“Engel should focus on his hair and lighting, and leave the ‘big thinking’ to people who have a little experience in the field.”
You mean the people who would rather die than lose? I support keeping the troops there, but I am sick and tired of these military types who take this ridiculous Sparta “Death Before Dishonor” attitude toward war. Get over yourself.
Posted by: Mark | October 9, 2009, 1:01 pm 1:01 pm
Ed sez sometime it is not good to be impartial; when? Ed sez the VIEWER is responsible for discerning media bias and discarding when appropriate.
Apparently “journalists” have no obligation to be fair and balanced and there are times when they should not, and the Viewer is the one at fault if they believe this distorted representation of what happened.
I fear Ed may be an instructor at some school of Journalism.
Posted by: jerry | October 10, 2009, 6:51 am 6:51 am
There is disagreement as to whether we should send more troops to Afghanistan. The Soviet Union invaded
Afghanistan thirty years ago this December and stayed
ten years before being forced to withdraw. We spent
thirty years in Vietnam. The last ten from 1965-1975,
fighting the PAVN, (NVA), and the Vietcong, (Charlie),
and what happened? We had to withdraw. The last American to die in Vietnam was on April 30, 1975.
Counterinsurgency may work. It did in Iraq. Afghanistan’s NOT Iraq. Afghanistan, going back to the time of Alexander the Great, has, and always will be, a tribal society. Remember the 1975 movie
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING? It starred Sean Connery and Michael Caine. Sean Connery was one of two adventurers who tried to become king of Afghanistan. Christopher Plummer was Rudyard Kipling. The movie was based on Kipling’s book of the same name. The British tried, and failed, four times, to make Afghanistan part of the British Raj, the Soviet Union tried, and failed, to make it the ASSR, (Afghan Soviet Socialist Republic), and we’re trying, and failing, to make it into a Mini-Me of the United States. Why? Afghanistan doesn’t have a common language. It’s government, like that of the former South Vietnam, is corrupt. Corruption in the South Vietnamese government lost us Vietnam. Corruption in Afghanistan will lose us that war too.
Posted by: Blair | October 13, 2009, 9:27 am 9:27 am