So we've seen that the attack on the Bridge over the River Tarnak was semi-successful, not significantly surprising, and mildly irritating. So, who broke the story and how did it become an all out international brawl, with allied citizens taking sides, and American Veterans divided? How did it become the battle cry of a Journalist for the heads of Generals?
From the beginning, the story was distorted and blown out of proportion and claims later would not match the claims of the first days. The initial report was made by the ABC news, Australia. It was inaccurate, with Taliban quotes typical of their wild propaganda claims. It would be days before the closest "war correspondent" would report his findings, but minutes before he looked for a scapegoat. To the right is the first account I find of Michael Yon's reporting on the bridge attack. But it's not much of a report from him, so much as a bit of sniping at the ABC report.
Again, he links to the MSM, Associated Press this time to report on the events "a bicycle ride away." He still, with all of his "high level sources," and contacts up to, and including, the Secretary of Defense hasn't been able to muster the resources to get down to the bridge and report for himself, what has occurred in his own backyard.
Notice that while the AP reports 6 KIA on that day, Yon only focuses on one. He'll later tell us as much as he can about that Soldier, while he will also ignore all other Troop Deaths. This Soldier will be his rally cry. This bridge will be blown out of proportion, but by this point, Yon already knows who his target will be, and he'll introduce him bit by bit, beginning only with calling for the head of "A General Officer" and about 12 hours later, "the Task Force Kandahar General." At the 24 hour mark of this story, he should know what unit is responsible for the Bridge (Afghan Security Forces) and who the Task Force-Kandahar Commander is. The parts of the story that aren't "a bike ride away" are literally under his nose. The Generals, and much of the forces they command, sleep on the same base as Yon. It certainly isn't difficult for him to walk over and find the answers. Or perhaps, the Troops he was asking were a bit more leary of the journalist and a bit more conscious of OPSEC, than Yon would prove to be.
He complains instead about Troops who have access to morale building/maintaining activities, while they are not on duty, implying that Troops were having fun in place of their duties. Yon has been around the military long enough, including in combat zones, to know those Troops at the concert, those that had earlier watched a hockey game, and those that had been entertained by the few that dared travel to Kandahar to do so, were not tasked with guarding that bridge. He knows their jobs are to do other things, like paperwork, like refueling, like QRF, and that they weren't scheduled for duty that morning.
And he knows Generals don't pull guard duty. At this point, he may or may not know that TF-Kandahar is tasked with re-inforcing other elements in contact, but he should know that TF-Kandahar is not tasked with with responsibility of that bridge. He certainly should know that the General that does have that AOR (Area of Responsibility) would have subtasked it down several levels, and wouldn't even be making regular inspections of the bridge. At best, a Battalion Commander might be making monthly or quarterly visits to it.
So, a day and a half into his commentary, still citing outside sources, because he still hasn't done a report of his own, on what happened "a bicycle ride away," he tells us it was a "Canadian" General, and what his real beef is. His issue is not that the enemy got lucky in a minor success, but that the Canadian Politicians had decided after 8 1/2 years of war, that they had done their part and were going home.
Now, this isn't the first time Yon has offended an ally, but the Canadians are some of the best allies America has. Their Troops are great Warriors. Our Nations have fought side by side in many wars. In Afghanistan, the Canadians volunteered for some of the most dangerous territory, and many Canadians made the ultimate sacrifice, in this war. Canadians may not like the best compliment we often give them, but they are very much like us. Sure, there are differences, and sometimes I'll kid my Canadian friends about being the 10 Northern States, but the fact is you'd be hard pressed to find better neighbors or better allies, than Canada.
As soon as he makes it an American-Canadian thing, he receives resistance, but even in his denials, he shows his true beefs.
Yon is playing on an American sentiment, that doesn't apply in this case. During the 90's, Americans became very sensitive to Americans commanded by 3rd World UN Generals, because of the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia, and UN missions in Bosnia. Yon plays on the sentiment, despite the facts he knows: The Canadian General orders American Officers, and reports to American Officers, through a British General. This is not a UN mission, but a NATO mission. And this NATO mission occurred because an enemy attacked a member state of NATO, the United States.
Yon will play up the fact that many Troops, not on duty, watched an Olympic Hockey game the night before, but he won't tell his readers the game was over and no one on guard duty of the bridge were watching that game. Yon will deny that he's focusing on a Canadian, while continously complaining that it was a Canadian commanding US Troops that dropped the ball. Eventually, he'll admit that General Menard didn't have the reponsibility, but he won't withdraw his calls for his head. Eventually, it'll take other turns as well, but for now, I'll leave you with the evidence:
So after 5 days of citing MSM sources on the bridge, Yon finally admits he's been spouting assumptions, but he is now worried that others are making assumptions about his assumptions. After 5 days, he has fired off a couple of emails but written NO actual article about an event that was "a bicycle ride away," nor has come up with a concrete answer of who is actually responsible, though he has admitted it wasn't his target, Task Force Kandahar.
One thing is very clear, he has decided to target the Canadians, and he's not backing off that, even if there were no Canadian involved.
The Tarnak Saga:
1) The Bridge Over the River Tarnak Looking at Fact and Fiction of the incident
2) From Tarnak Bridge to Bruhaha Looking at Yon's obsession for Menard
3) The Tarnak Scalp That Wasn't Looking at Yon's claims of scalping Menard
4) The Yon Conspiracy Over Tarnak: Looking at Yon's Conspiracy Theory Origins
5) Overview of the Michael Yon Saga
Deviant Behavior
1) Yon OPSEC Violations: It can't be more blatant but some are in disbelief
2) Yon Publicizes Video of American Soldier Losing Legs.
3) Banned By Yon!
4) Yon's Attack on PTSD as insanity
5) The Banning of an Angel
Stumble It!
