greatest tool can be a translator. literally, they re the lifeline of communications. so why is a former employee of a company that supplies translators to the u.s. saying most translators aren t doing their jobs? brian ross investigates. reporter: a u.s. army unit from the 173rd airborne, on patrol in afghanistan, trying to track the source of a taliban rocket attack. the mission will end in a complete failure to communicate because of one member of the team. its translator, the man on the right. a british journalist caught it all on tape. 2008, as the patrol sergeant adams uses his translator, who asks a village elder about the taliban.
shift in their tactics. but what we know is that number one they cannot flee the area anymore. that is blocked. reporter: after a massive assault on what the u.s. says was the taliban s final stronghold in hulmond province, they re calling in meetings with local leaders, trying to persuade them to break with the taliban. some say their support is conditional. the solution to this fight is islamic government, this village elder says, brotherhood among all afghans from posh toons to hazari and bringing security to afghanistan as soon as possible and the withdrawal of foreigners. civil casualties remain a problem after anner artillery rocket killed civilians sunday, three were killed in shooting incidents monday. after big offensives in the past the taliban have often regrouped. this time the afghan government
what happened in that deadly ambush in niger, saying the intelligence they had did not indicate a significant threat. the assessment by our leaders on the ground at that time was that contact with the enemy was unlikely. reporter: but tonight, abc news is learning much more about what really happened in the ambush that killed four american special ops soldiers and what their mission really was. it was october 3rd when 12 u.s. soldiers and 30 nigerians set out on a reconnaissance mission to a remote village. but a senior intelligence official tells abc news, they were given a second mission. their new goal? to kill or capture a high value target. they were supposed to be joined by a second u.s. team that never made it, but they were told to proceed on their own. the official tells us that mission was unsuccessful, but exposed the americans to the enemy. the next morning, the americans are heading home when they sense something is off. a village elder is trying to stall them. suddenl
was somebody who was deserving of the justice he received. and i think americans and people around the world are glad that he is gone. but we don t need to spike the football. and i think that given the graphic nature of these photos, it would create some national security risks. adding to the points made by carney and the white house, republican house intelligence committee chair mike rogers brought up the security of the united states soldiers serving overseas. he did that during an interview with msnbc s lawrence o donnell last night. what value do we have in showing this photo versus what we know are soldiers who are in harm s way in places where we know some people i m not talking about people who are against us. they re going to be against us. but in a village in afghanistan there may be a village elder who s thinking, should i be for the united states or should i be for the taliban? i don t want any reason whatsoever for him to say, no, i ll be for the taliban. these guys
my concern, as i said earlier today, we don t want to treat osama bin laden like a trophy. i just talked to a soldier today who served after the abu ghraib pictures came out. their units right the day and the day subsequent were reminded that it s likely to get more dangerous. they had to double their first aid kits. they had to double their patrols. spend more time on patrols, and violence had an uptick. when you look at that and you say what value do we have in showing this photo versus what we know are soldiers who are in harm s way, in places that we know some people i m not talking about people who are against this, they re going to be against this. in a village say in ganzi, afghanistan, there may be a village elder who s wondering should i be for the united states or should i be for the taliban? i don t want any reason for him to say i will be for the taliban. these guys don t like muslims or offended me in some way. it s just we don t need to add to that soldier s difficult