Dangerous Magazine

In the fifth and final chapter of this saga we go deep inside the back room negotiations to release Bergdahl and the controversy that would await him after his release. by Robert Young Pelton By late 2013 Bowe Bergdahl had been a prisoner of the Haqqani’s in Pakistan for almost half a decade. According to Bergdahl’s account,  he fought back , he refused to convert, refused to eat cooked food (an insult to Pashtuns) and he refused to bathe. He escaped...

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By Robert Young Pelton Dirty wars attract a wide variety of odd types: Volunteers, journos, freedom fighters, NGOs, businessmen and even tourists. The traditional concept of war as one group of soldiers battling another until the other side surrenders or is vanquished is long outdated, as are many of the traditional roles associated with such a conflict. Among traditional wars have been the so-called neutrals—journalists, aid workers, NGOs and supposedly civilians protected in battle by The Hague or after capture...

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By Robert Young Pelton Eric Harroun is from Phoenix, Arizona. He served in the U.S. military from 2000 until a car accident that left him with a plate in his head. He was discharged with full disability in 2003. Around Christmas of 2010 he visited Egypt and Lebanon. Two years later in September 2012 he returned to Egypt were he got caught up in the celebrations in Tahrir Square. In June of 2012 he was determined to do something with...

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By Will Grant After a typically exhaustive five-year process, the Army may be ready to issue a new rifle to infantrymen for the first time in 50 years. Through what’s called the individual carbine competition, the Army is evaluating five rifles for widespread service as a replacement for the M4. The final product of that selection process will likely mean the end of the M16 family of weapons’ streak as the longest-running standard US infantry rifle. Of the five rifles...

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By Will Grant DENVER—On Saturday, gun-rights advocates turned out in 120 cities across the nation to rally in support of their Second Amendment rights—rights, they say, are being eroded by politicians presenting ill-founded solutions to problems that have nothing to do with assault weapons, magazine capacity or background checks. Colorado has found itself at the center of the nationwide gun-law debate due to a package of four bills, currently before the state Senate, that proposes some of the nation’s strictest...

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By Will Grant Exports from Afghanistan are few. Raisins, rugs, opium, wool, other dried fruit, and that’s about it. It is the world’s sixth largest exporter of raisins, according to the Export Promotion Agency of Afghanistan, and it’s in full control of the world’s opium market, but decades of war have all but killed the export business in most of the country. In the last five years, exports of Afghan rugs, which account for 47% of export earnings, have dropped...

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