Category Archives: BBC World Have Your Say

Taliban ‘Spins’ Facts During 45-Minute Interview

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Yesterday, I published a post about plans of the BBC’s World Have Your Say radio program to broadcast a 45-minute recording of a question-and-answer session with a representative of the Taliban.  Today, I had a chance to listen to a podcast of the session and found it worth sharing if, for no other reason, to hear how the Taliban attempt to “spin” the facts.

Click to listen to BBC audio.

Click to listen to BBC audio.

According to BBC presenter Ros Atkins, the interview took place at an undisclosed location — but presumably inside Afghanistan — between BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner and Zabiullah Mujahid, a well-known Taliban spokesperson.

Topics covered include conditions for ending the war in Afghanistan, women’s rights, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the Taliban’s feelings about President-elect Barack Obama.  Unfortunately, Mujahid refused to provide honest answers to questions and, instead, couched most of his answers in claims that the Taliban is only concerned about Afghanistan, ridding the country of foreign influence and reimplementing Sharia Law.

To listen to the podcast, click here or click on the graphic at right.  After listening, please share your comments below.

BBC to Air Tape-Recorded Session With Taliban

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The BBC’s World Have Your Say will, according to this update, air 45 minutes of a Taliban spokesperson (a.k.a., “terrorist spin doctor”) answering questions from listeners to the radio program and others who posted questions in the comments section of the program’s blog.  This news comes 13 days after I published news about the internationally-broadcast program’s plan to offer listeners a chance to ‘Talk to the Taliban’.

As of yesterday, 107 comments — most of which featured questions for the radical Islamic extremists to answer — had appeared on the blog.  Below is the text of one of two comments I submitted Oct. 31 at 4:52 p.m:

So much for open dialogue. My comment / question was removed, apparently because it was politically incorrect. Fortunately, I saved a screenshot of it as it was awaiting “comment moderation.” You can view it at the following address: http://bobmccarty.com/2008/10/31/bbc-radio-offers-chance-to-talk-to-the-taliban/

The screenshot of the initial comment/question — referenced in the above comment — appears below:

Click image to see where it would have fit into the comment stream.

Click image to see where it would have fit into the comment stream.

It will be interesting to listen to World Have Your Say program and find out which way the show’s staff leans when it comes to dealing with the Taliban spokesperson.  I suspect, however, they will dodge any questions — including mine that didn’t survive their politically-correct “moderation” process — that hold potential to paint President-elect Barack Obama in a negative light.

World Have Your Say airs live at 11 a.m. CDT.

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UPDATE 11/14/08:  Taliban ‘Spins’ Facts During 45-Minute Interview (Podcast Here)

Obama Willing to Meet With Iran, Not Troops

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Yesterday, I had the opportunity to discuss questions of foreign policy with a former U.S. ambassador to Israel when I appeared as a guest on BBC Radio (see this post for details). Today, I’m interested in a rather simple question the folks at Vets For Freedom pose to Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama in the ad below:

“Senator Obama, if you are so willing to meet with Iran, why won’t you meet with our troops?”

Click here to make a donation to help get this ad on the air.

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit

Blogger Chats with Former Ambassador to Israel

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As promised in a post this morning, I made a guest appearance on BBC’s WORLD Have Your Say program at Noon (Central). To my surprise, the appearance afforded me the opportunity to exchange views on the subject of diplomacy versus appeasement with some real foreign affairs heavyweights, including Daniel C. Kurtzer, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel.

Sitting across a virtual table from Ambassador Kurtzer, I was able to offer several observations on the subject. Below are links to some of the web sites from which I drew several key points for the on-air discussion:

From the BarackObama.com section about Iran…

  • Diplomacy: Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions. Now is the time to pressure Iran directly to change their troubling behavior. Obama would offer the Iranian regime a choice. If Iran abandons its nuclear program and support for terrorism, we will offer incentives like membership in the World Trade Organization, economic investments, and a move toward normal diplomatic relations. If Iran continues its troubling behavior, we will step up our economic pressure and political isolation. Seeking this kind of comprehensive settlement with Iran is our best way to make progress.

From a Victor Davis Hanson article at NationalReview.com…

  • Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

From Jed Babbin’s article, The New Appeasers, at HumanEvents.com…

  • Diplomats buy and sell; appeasers just give things away. And that difference is something Barack Obama has yet to learn.
  • An appeaser is someone who is willing to compromise his nation’s interests without obtaining an equal or greater concession from the adversary. History’s most famous appeaser, Neville Chamberlain, gave the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in 1938 and received nothing in return. Having been appeased — and thus given time to further build his military might — Hitler attacked a year later, conquering Poland and igniting the largest and most murderous war in history.
  • In Churchill’s more literary definition, an appeaser is someone who feeds the crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.

To listen to the podcast of today’s program, visit this site.

Blogger to Make Guest Appearance on BBC

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A BBC Radio producer called this morning to invite me to appear as a guest during the first hour of today’s WORLD Have Your Say program that airs at Noon (Central) or 5 p.m. (GMT). Today’s topic: When does diplomacy become appeasement?

After turning down several invitations during the past year, I decided to accept today’s invitation because of the subject matter being discussed. This will mark my fourth appearance on the program in the past two years.

During my most-recent appearance in April 2007, I discussed the crisis in Darfur. Prior to that, show topics included Nancy Pelosi, and the case of the so-called “Haditha Marines.”

If you’re interested in participating in the program, there are several ways to do that:

Call: +44 20 70 83 72 72

Send a text message: +44 77 86 20 60 80

Send an e-mail message: worldhaveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

Listen live here.

Listen to the podcast here.

Check back this afternoon as I’ll be posting an update after the show.

Second Amendment Must Stay, Despite Tragedy

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I posted the following comment on the web site of the UK’s Daily Mail at the tail end of an article about today’s Virginia Tech shooting tragedy:

“I’m a frequent guest on BBC Radio’s World Have Your Say program and, on occasion, have heard contributors describe the States as a place where people begin using guns as early as five years of age. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I want people in the U.K. and elsewhere — including the USA — to refrain from characterizing the Virginia Tech tragedy as a reason to ban gun ownership in the States.

“Why? Because we have a saying in the States that the Second Amendment is critical to ensuring that the First Amendment remains in place.

“During the past several years, the majority of the 50 states have passed laws which allow individuals to carry concealed weapons. As a result, the rate of violent crimes in those states have dropped. You see, criminals aren’t so brave when they know their potential victims MIGHT be armed, too.”

If you have feedback for me, visit www.BobMcCarty.com.”

The same applies to you. Let me know what you think about the Second Amendment and the sure-to-surface call by liberals for a ban on gun ownership.

Blogger to Discuss ‘Crisis in Darfur’ on BBC Radio

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It has become a regular occurrence for me to appear as a guest on BBC Radio’s World Have Your Say, a program which airs weekdays at 5 p.m. CT in the U.S. Today’s topic is the Crisis in Darfur, a project being tackled jointly by Google Earth and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (See news release).

BBC Logo

In between writing posts on other topics this morning, I openedGoogle Earth, typed in “Sudan” and found a number of icons superimposed over the image of Sudan, a sign I had found the Crisis in Darfur site.

Below is a long version of the points I plan to make, if the opportunity arises, during today’s BBC broadcast:

Being only human, the information on this site made me feel badly for the people caught up in the strife of living that is Darfur. Likewise, it leads me to believe that anyone who has ever been inclined to contribute financially to rid the world of this type of human suffering will, after consuming the site’s information, feel obligated to give.

Being skeptical by nature, the result of my schooling as a journalist and years of experience as an Air Force public affairs officer, political campaign manager and nonprofit executive, I find myself not inclined to giving without learning more about the relief organizations whose names show up on “rollover” icons at the Google Earth site. Only when I learn how and where, exactly, the money will be spent — and if I learn that at least 80 percent of my gift will actually reach the people of Darfur — will I give.

Some people — myself included — are slower to respond than others, so it’s going to take a lot of immediate and prolonged exposure to generate for the Darfur crisis the same type of response generated by images from Thailand, Indonesia and other locations devastated by the 2004 earthquake-generated tsunami. Without an overwhelming and enduring effort, many will, figuratively, “change the channel” before the situation is turned around. After all, Darfur is competing for attention with the “social conscious” issues of the day, global warming and the War on Terror (If you want to know where I stand on those, take a look around this blog.).

Whether you or I give or not, there are other ways we can help the people of Darfur:

  • Contact members of the news media;
  • Contact your elected officials at the federal level;
  • Volunteer to help relief agencies with missions in Darfur; and
  • Share what you know about Darfur with others via your blogs, e-mails and web sites.

While a saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” comes to mind when I think about efforts like this, I offer a tip of my hat to the people at Google Earth, the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the relief organizations working in Darfur for their efforts aimed at bringing the atrocities in Sudan to the fore and, eventually, to an end.