17 October 2017

Unrefrigerated fish?

Okay, I am a cynic. Blame it on the tidal wave of contrived news, lies, and fakery coming out of our government lately. So if the following report seems like I have finally gone around the bend, have pity. Anyway, here's my take on a story in the news. (No, not Harvey Weinstein. Another story.)

A couple backpacking through a Taliban controlled area of Afghanistan while she is "heavily pregnant." Hmm. Hubby was formerly married to a woman who applauded the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11, and whose family was buddies with Osama bin Laden. Double hmmmm. Then the Boyle couple is "kidnapped" by the Taliban and get to live "in captivity" in Taliban-controlled territory, as a family, for five years, where they raise three healthy-looking children and lose a fourth in childbirth. After their remarkable rescue (I'm getting to that, I promise!) hubby tells the press that he and his wife decided to have children even while held captive because they always planned to have a big family and decided, "Hey, let's make the best of this and at least go home with a larger start on our dream family."

Your nose twitching yet? There's more.


When the Afghan government captured a Taliban commander, and sentenced him to death, the Boyle captors threatened to kill the the entire family unless the convicted Taliban commander were freed. No surprise, a chubby-cheeked Mrs. Boyle then appeared in a video in which she urged the Afghans to "Just give her captors something," and an equally well-fed Mr. Boyle chimed in, "They will not settle this until they get what they are demanding." The NY Times, in the understatement of the year, wrote "The motivation behind the release of the video, and the timing, remain unclear." 


​Now for the denouement: last week, the Pakistani military proudly announced that

i) working with US intelligence sources, they recently discovered the entire Boyle family was being moved, all five of them crammed into the back seat of an automobile, then

ii) the Pakistani soldiers surrounded the car, then


iii) the tires of the vehicle were blown out in the ensuing firefight, then



​iv) ​the captors shouted, "kill the hostages," but



v)​ the hostages were nevertheless miraculously saved unharmed, and


​vi) the bad guys "fled on foot," also apparently unharmed.

(Mr. Boyle, in a post-release press conference, said the commendable Pakistani military "got between the car and the criminals to make sure the prisoners were safe and that my family was safe.'' How they could do that with the bad guys in the front seat and the the entire family in the back seat of the vehicle was not explained.)

Wow.

After the family is rescued and transported to the U.S. embassy in Islamabad (she is an American citizen, he is Canadian), hubby announces that despite the key role the United States played in his liberation, he refuses to be transported to our shores as a matter of principle. Arrangements are then made to take them to Canada, and President Trump announces, ​“This is a positive moment for our country’s relationship with Pakistan.''

Why does this tale bring to mind the films, "Wag The Dog," and "Argo?"


Question: If they put this ​story up on the silver screen, would the audience,

a) applaud, or 
b)​ hold their noses while booing​, and escape the theatre unharmed?

A  bientot.