August 28, 2021

"Get me out of Afghanistan with my staff and my animals. I served for 22 years in the Royal Marine Commandos. I am not taking this bollocks from people like you..."

"... who are blocking me. You’ve got ’til tomorrow morning. I’m on Sky News around about 7.45 and your name will be the only name people are talking about.... So here’s the deal, buddy. You either get me that f***ing Isaf number and you get me permission to get onto that f***ing airfield, or tomorrow morning I’m going to turn on you and the whole f***ing country, and everybody else who’s invested in this rescue, is going to know it’s you — YOU — blocking this f***ing move. Alright?"

25 comments:

Tom Grey said...

I was thinking today, not until today!, about how in The Empire Strikes back, the rebellion was able to get the women and children out first.
Civilians first.

Yes, it's an admission that you're preparing to lose. But for Christian civilization, it's the honorable, obvious thing to do.
Despite stupid and dishonest "feminism" (all are equal).

I don't think he's going to get more than one or two animals out - wasn't he warned earlier?

wildswan said...

I couldn't finish the story because it was behind a paywall but I'd like to know whether spaces were given to dogs and cats ahead of people.
I see also that two women Marines were killed. They were there to help with searching women, I think. I wonder if the bomber was also a woman - and if she killed a lot of other waiting women? and their children? I don't know what I think about the various possibilities except that things are getting brutal for the innocent, like pets and babies, and the guilty, like the Taliban at the checkpoint, and everyone in between, like the women Marines trying preserve Islamic women's rules. We aren't going to be rid of this war by this evacuation; the obvious cowardice and in competence shown at the top will just bring it back here.

Achilles said...

This is the end for the DC Regime. All of them.

The preference cascade has started.

I know Ann doesn't like disruptive outside sources of information. But foreign mainstream media right now is as brutal. Every TV around the world is tearing the Biden admin apart right now. The British Parliament passed a resolution destroying Biden and his junta with massive margins. 60+% of Americans think he should resign.

The only people that don't think Biden should resign immediately are a dwindling pool of idiots in the United States that get their information from US pravda.

There are still a bunch of 60 IQ mouth breathers on this site that still believe Trump was the one colluding with Russia in 2016.

Months ago I said the Biden regime would be the end of the democrat party.

It is all over now but for the crying.

The Vault Dweller said...

Reading your snippet, I could easily see how someone would act that way and I didn't hold much if anything against Mr. Farthing for making a demand like that given the situation. It is quite normal for a person to be concerned about themselves, their pets, and their staff. However when I clicked through to the article I saw that "his animals" were some 200 different dogs and cats and perhaps other pets. I couldn't read any further since the paper wished me to subscribe to read more and I did not want to, so I suppose there could have been an explanation that gave decent justification for prioritizing 200 animals in this situation but I doubt it.

cubanbob said...

A lesson yet again to be learned is kindness to the cruel is cruelty to the kind. This guy's demands are ridiculous but the real issue was that we should have treated all the captured terrorists as illegal combatants and interrogated them upon capture and then killed them.

Old and slow said...

Sentimentalism gone mad. What a wanker.

MikeD said...

Too bad about the paywall. However, a few months ago I watched a short series about Pen and his rescue group, Nowzad. You couldn't find a more committed and humanitarian staff. From what I've read Pen only got rescues out & not staff. I'll venture a SWAG his Afghani staff is more deserving of evacuation and re-settlement than 95% of the Afghani grifters who've left.

JPS said...

I understand anyone who thinks this is sentimentalism gone mad. Or that we shouldn't prioritize animals over people.

But here's the thing: Farthing, staff, and animals were to leave on a chartered cargo plane. You can't put people in the hold (not that there would have been any shortage of Afghans willing to take their chances), so the animals weren't displacing people. Is it a bit fuzzy-headed for donors to donate to this cause rather than saving people? Arguably, but the passengers on that privately paid-for plane were going to be people who wouldn't have made it out otherwise. People the military wouldn't have had to worry about getting out.

The infuriating thing is that the staff had their UK visas, but by then the fucking Taliban wouldn't let them through.

One more thing: I know our suicides were lower because of FOB dogs saved by Nowzad. And I know firsthand that one such dog ran off an insurgent about to take a weapon from an unwary Soldier and use it on us.

Tim said...

It is a shame about the animals. However, even one human life outweighs all 200 plus. That is the name of that game. If he cannot see than, then the British Army has fallen farther that I had realized.

Achilles said...

The point of this story is to make everyone who wants out of Afghanistan right now seem like a selfish jerk.

The NYTs just wants to ignore them all.

The Vault Dweller said...

Upon further thought it occurred to me that perhaps these animals wouldn't be taking up space that a human being could. Perhaps they would just be in cargo storage. But then again if they can safely store pets in cargo given the right preparations couldn't they transport people in cargo storage with some ad hoc modifications? Given that people were hanging onto planes as they took off, makes me think at least some would bear the risk of riding in cargo.
Makes me wonder how earnestly and to what degree people are trying to get people out of there.

Joe Smith said...

Maybe switch to decaf?

Yancey Ward said...

Some humor

MikeD said...

Further on Pen and the Nowzad: Paul ‘Pen’ Farthing and 79 cats and 94 dogs (no Nowzad staff) were evacuated from Kabul Airport at 4:30 PM Saturday 28th August.
“The whole team & dogs/cats were safely 300m inside the airport perimeter. We were turned away as @JoeBiden had changed paperwork rules just 2 hours earlier.”
As JPS commented earlier, it was a private charter. Most dogs were being held for the servicemen who'd rescued them to take home at end of tour.
And for the cries of "people before dogs", look in a mirror and ask yourself, "Which is more probable, an Afghani refugee in your home or a rescued Afghani canine?"

LA_Bob said...

I can't imagine this guy didn't know about the original May 1 deadline. He should have left the country a long time ago. Seems like a pretty inflated sense of entitlement.

Big Mike said...

I don’t know whether Pen Farthing got his demand or not, but earlier today the Brits announced that they have loaded the last of their people on a plane and it is out of Afghanistan’s airspace.

Michael K said...

The State Department retired FSO who blogs as Diplomad 2.0 has commented on how despicable the treatment of dogs is in Muslim countries. Specifically, Pakistan.

effinayright said...

He's not exactly arguing from a Position of Strength, is he....

If they don't get him and his critters out, he and they likely die.

So essentially he's making a "beyond the grave" threat. Not very compelling.

effinayright said...

cubanbob said...
A lesson yet again to be learned is kindness to the cruel is cruelty to the kind. This guy's demands are ridiculous but the real issue was that we should have treated all the captured terrorists as illegal combatants and interrogated them upon capture and then killed them.
*****************

That's not an "issue", it's your conclusion offered without a scintilla of supporting argument.

Got an argument to make and defend? Post it.

StephenFearby said...

More snippets from the London Times article:

'...Charlie Herbert, a former major general who commanded British forces in Afghanistan, said: “That dozens of interpreters and local staff ... appear to have been left behind while cats and dogs are evacuated is quite simply abhorrent.”'

'...Last night, a defence source described Farthing as a “bully and a total w***er”.

He has reportedly been dubbed the “pet dick” around Whitehall — an insult thrown at Jim Carrey’s character in the film Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.

Another senior official predicted the animals would have to be destroyed. “If they turn out to be riddled with disease, Defra will have to put them down. It will be Geronimo the alpaca on speed.”'


Dogs in religion

The majority of both Sunni and Shi'a Muslim jurists consider dogs ritually unclean. It is uncommon for practicing Muslims to keep dogs as pets. However, the majority of Muslims would touch and pet dogs as long as they are completely dry because touching dry dogs is believed to remove impurities from them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogs_in_religion


On the other hand:

According to many hadith, Muhammad prohibited the persecution and killing of cats.[1]

One of Muhammad's companions was known as Abu Hurairah (literally: "Father of the Kitten") for his attachment to cats.[3] Abu Hurairah claimed that he had heard Muhammad declare that a pious woman went to Hell after she had been annoyed by a female cat and neglected to provide her with food and water until she died.[4] According to legend, Abu Saeed's cat saved Muhammad from a snake.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_cats

Doug said...

There is no such thing as an 'ex-Marine'.

gspencer said...

Apparently never read How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Bob Boyd said...

The guy's rant almost sounds like a song. SubTaliban Homesick Blues

Get me out of Afghanistan
My Staff and critters too
22 years in the Royal Marines
I ain't taking this crap from you

Get me out of Afghanistan
You got 'till tomorrow morn
Get me an f-ing number
or you'll wish you'd never been born

Just get me out of Afghanistan
My staff and critters too
Don't want to hang with the Taliban, man
Ima dox you if don't come through
On Sky New......zz

Joe Smith said...

"There is no such thing as an 'ex-Marine'."

Not sure that applies to the Brits...

Marc in Eugene said...

It has been amusing, following the saga of Geronimo the alpaca. The animal's destruction still hasn't happened; I think he's got until sometime in the first week of September. The woman has spent more that $50,000 on the lawyers in her quest to keep him alive.

Someone on Twitter last week: "Has Geronimo become a sweater yet?"