Did they? Hey, they're just asking!
Headlines that consist of questions are among my biggest journalistic pet peeves. They convey no information whatsoever. Indeed, the only thing the question-headline tells you is that the journalist doesn't know anything. But if the journalist wants to convey an impression, even without the facts to ensure the impression is accurate, the question headline is gold.
And as we can see here, Time does not know the answer to its own question:
In a statement from Karzai’s National Security Council, the government said that, “It became clear that armed individuals named as U.S. special force stationed in Wardak province engage in harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people. A recent example in the province is an incident in which nine people were disappeared in an operation by this suspicious force and in a separate incident a student was taken away at night from his home, whose tortured body with throat cut was found two days laterunder a bridge. However, Americans reject having conducted any such operation and any involvement of their special force.”
The council stated that the Ministry of Defense would be responsible for ensuring that U.S. Special Forces are “out of the province within two weeks,” that Afghan forces would be responsible for “effectively stopping and bringing to justice any groups that enter peoples’ homes in the name of Special Forces” and that NATO would have to stop all its Special Forces operations in Wardak immediately.
In a hurriedly convened press conference after the meeting, government spokesman Aimal Faizi clarified that it was not specifically US Special Forces, saying that, “There are some individuals, some Afghans, who are working within these cells, within these [U.S.] Special Forces groups” in Wardak province. “But they are part of U.S. special forces according to our sources and according to our local officials working in the province,” he said.
The U.S. and NATO have denied any wrongdoing. NATO officials on Monday said they had found “no evidence connecting U.S. troops to allegations of abuse, torture, harassment and murder of innocent Afghans in the region,” while on Tuesday Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said that a joint commission made up of Afghan and NATO officials would be formed to review Kabul’s accusations.
Now, does that mean they shouldn't have covered this? Not necessarily. There would be nothing wrong with a headline that reads, "Afghan group accuses U.S. special forces of wrongdoing; U.S. and NATO deny charges"
That would be telling us what you know. But it's a lot more fun to imply that wrongdoing occurred, and the question headline is perfect for that.
Is Time Magazine a collection of journalistic buffoons and propagandists? Nah. I can't use that as a headline. Because I know the answer.
