Tweet

@ABC

More from @meekwire

James Gordon Meek

@meekwire

30 Aug

“Where there is hope there is life.” A kid named Anne Frank wrote that.
Sometimes hope fades. On my phone all weekend, the last bitter hours of America’s longest war were personified by a young mom in a dusty black abaya with her two young children sleeping in rubble.

A thread.

Moving along the Kabul airport perimeter to attempt entry on Saturday, this Afghan wife of a former US Army interpreter in the American South faced a hard fact. He is a US citizen but she is not. She and her kids are “USPERS” but to Taliban guards, they were just in the way.

This strong mom had a clutch — her Afghan passport in her hand. And a paper copy of her husband’s American passport. She and the kids waited and waited in the heat, as a platoon of Americans in an encrypted chatroom called members of Congress, Green Berets and US Embassy contacts

Read 9 tweets

James Gordon Meek

@meekwire

27 Aug

@ABC

BREAKING @ABC — US special operations vets carried out daring mission to save Afghan allies — 500 smuggled into Kabul Airport on Weds night in complex, heart-pounding op by Americans determined not to leave comrades behind
abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-sp…

abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-sp…

@RooftopLeader

With no money or no authority, 50 Americans who served in Afghanistan in military, intel and other roles formed up to get Afghan special forces out. Led by @RooftopLeader a retired Green Beret, #TaskForcePineapple got more than 630 to safety since 8/15
abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-sp…

The most daring and ambitious op was by a ground team led by ex-SF CPT Zac Lois coordinating dozens of movements by individual families thru dark streets of Kabul to rallypoints. He modeled the “Pineapple Express” on Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad
abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-sp…

Read 17 tweets

James Gordon Meek

@meekwire

30 Jun

Thread: A very stressful June for a few US spec ops vets & me. Our dear brother, an Afghan special immigrant visa applicant—who hasn’t heard from the US emb despite 12 years fighting alongside US commandos—was trapped in a tiny base surrounded by Taliban texting him death threats

We heard from him around the clock for weeks as Taliban closed in, seizing Afghan govt checkpoints near his tiny outpost—many surrendering without a shot fired—surrounding his base where he was a contractor directing security for civil infrastructure

The alarming fragility of the Afghan government’s armed forces, which the United States and NATO allies spent two decades forming, forging and arming was acute to our friend, who was not an interpreter but an operator who worked with Green Berets and a tier 1 national asset

Read 11 tweets

James Gordon Meek

@meekwire

11 Jan

My first story about US Capitol security was published for UPI 23 years ago. I interviewed lawmakers five months before gunman Russell Weston’s July 24, 1998 crazed attack which left 2 USCP officers dead. The issue was how to secure Congress and maintain public accessibility. 1/9

"The barricades give some amount of protection, but there's little protection against a determined terrorist," the late Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO) told me in February 1998. (I’d known Ike since childhood.) "Americans should be able to visit their capital, and do it safely." 2/9

"The tragedy is that America's capital is subject to such threats," Ike continued in the interview 23 years ago. He was to become Armed Services Committee chairman before his 2013 death. "But we're blessed with excellent Capitol Police. I don't think you can do any better." 3/9

Read 10 tweets

James Gordon Meek

@meekwire

31 Oct 20

@ABC

BREAKING @ABC — American citizen kidnapped last Monday in Niger has been rescued by a US special mission unit in neighboring Nigeria, US and Nigerien officials tell @ABC

abcnews.go.com/International/…

By @meekwire @AichaEHC @cjf39

@ABC

BREAKING @ABC — US citizen Philip Walton rescued by SEAL Team Six, who killed all but one captor in Nigeria, officials say. Walton, 27, was abducted by suspected criminals in Niger on Monday. Concern he’d end up in hands of terrorists drove urgency of op.
abcnews.go.com/International/…

@realDonaldTrump

Hostages freed are good for @realDonaldTrump who has made the issue a hallmark of his administration and highlighted it with several former hostages appearing at his convention, along with Kayla Mueller’s parents. This case has unfolded fast since Monday.
abcnews.go.com/International/…

Read 7 tweets

James Gordon Meek

@meekwire

9 Oct 20

@kmdday

After the death in ISIS captivity of Kayla Mueller, her parents Carl and Marsha and Rev. @kmdday advised me to speak to two women in Turkey who were friends of Kayla’s and tried in vain to get the attention of US officials after she was kidnapped in 2013.
abcn.ws/3jKW0RL

When I called young American journalist Halla Barakat and her Syrian activist mom Dr. Orouba in 2015, I was stunned to learn they made repeated calls to US diplomats in Turkey and no one gave them the time of day, even though they had the most knowledge about Kayla’s kidnapping.

At FBI request, the Muellers recorded calls about Kayla. In their first call with Halla Barakat in 2015, she told them Syrians “hurt” when they don’t know how a loved one has died. “Kayla's one of these people. Her truth, I think just unfortunately died with her." Haunting words.

Read 10 tweets

Share this page!

James Gordon Meek

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @meekwire

James Gordon Meek

James Gordon Meek

James Gordon Meek

James Gordon Meek

James Gordon Meek

James Gordon Meek

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Like this author's thread?