Furor over pics of Taliban in dead soldiers' kit

[redtanker]

CNN) -- A magazine photo spread of Taliban fighters posing in the uniforms of 10 French soldiers killed last month has sparked an angry response.

The latest edition of Paris Match includes photos of the Taliban fighters and their commander, "Farouki," wearing French uniforms, helmets and using French assault rifles and walkie-talkies.

Farouki, aged 30-35, claims in the accompanying story to have led his group in the August 18 ambush which killed 10 French troops and injured a further 21 in the Sarobi District, 40 miles east of Kabul. It was the French army's single highest death toll in 25 years.

He said the area was "our territory" and the attack was a "legitimate" part of its defense.

Farouki said it did not need a lot of planning, with the French soldiers only spotted a short time before the assault.

He said the soldiers had died for "[George W.] Bush's" cause and that if France did not return the rest of its troops home they would all be killed.

Farouki said they would continue fighting till the last man.

French Defense Minister Herve Morin accused the magazine of helping the Taliban.

"Should we be doing the Taliban's promotion for them?" he asked in the French daily newspaper Liberation. See more on Paris Match's Web site

Joel Le Pahun, father of one of the killed soldiers, told the newspaper the pictures were "despicable."

Green MP Daniel Cohn-Bendit called them "voyeurism."

However, Paris Match editor Laurent Valdiguie defended the publication, saying it was "legitimate" given the importance of the story.

The story's author, Eric de Lavarène, said only he and photographer Véronique de Viguerie met the group and he asked his questions via their "fixer."

[Woodmonkey]

Posing in the uniforms of their dead enemy says a lot about the standards (extremely low) of the Taliban. What monsters.

Wonder what they'd have to say if our military did the same with their bloody uniforms?

[john mclaughlin]

Scottos nephew is probably hot on those f----rs trail.