Terrible story. Thank you for reporting it. But the telling of it needs some editing. When was Gall attacked? Was the "written account" published or an e-mail sent exclusively to ABC News? Why hasn't the NYT reported on this awful occurrence?

Dan Pearl was not beheaded by Paki special agents. This NYT stringer should watch her neck. I wonder if the NYT is holding back on this for a reason we can only guess, such as the Eason Jordan rule?

"Investigative journalists" are becoming an endangered species. If they were, in fact, getting ready to meet with the Taliban they should have been arrested. Just stick to reporting the news instead of creating a news event. You might live longer.

When will you liberals finally figure out that the Muslims want to kill you?

You're looking for real facts?
Good luck.

Pakistan is not a democracy..so this incident is nothing unusual.

Reporters without borders, what a laugh. They are working on the assumption they are saving lives, this is a joke, right?
If this happened? then the individual was being punished for showing no respect. Makes me wonder about the "times," are they really a professional org? No> I don't think so, else the reporting would be conducted in a manner that would really point out the abuses through video, stills and sound recordings, along with the printed word.
Their arrogance as shown once again they live in a gilted world, they think they are operating with in the bounds of America or England! Stupid!
W E Stewart

Serves her right for trying to meet with a sworn enemy of America. When will the NYT finally admit their treason?

Pakistan is the root of all evils, Mushraff seems to think he is in control! How long? We shall see! We ignore Pakistan at our own peril.

Killing and Assaulting reporters is nothing new here. The influence of Al-Queada and Taliban pemeates all branches of governement including foreign embassys.

They are bluffing us - hook, line and sinker. Creating uncertainity in Pakistan is vital; engineering the assassination of Mushraff will shakeout lots of lose ends. At least it will give us an option to watch them spill their guts. The enemies of Pakistan are also its neighbors, very little they can do at this point.

Glad to hear the Pakistani secret police are doing their jobs in silencing the Taliban and Al Queda propoganda arm AKA New York Times. Nice job guys, keep up the good work. Crack some more skulls at the NYT.

A New York Times reporter trying covertly to meet the Taliban? After everything else the Times has been doing lately, why is this absolutely NO surprise?

Doesn't Al-queda realize that the Al Jazeera Times is on their side? they should be throwing a party in her honor, not hurting her.

The NYT supports the destruction of the USA, what gives?

Sounds like she failed to obey a police officer to me, maybe she shouldn't have been punched in the face, but if the police were to ever knock on my door, I'd open it, and even if I didn't, I wouldn't try grabbing my laptop back from them once they stormed the room. The word 'assaulted' is too strong in the headline, something about a victim of excessive force is more appropriate.

Have these idiotic women ever heard of Daniel Pearl?

We ain't in Kansas no more.

I think it's wonderful that the NYT provides a voice for our enemies. What greater mark of a true reporter can their be than to help kill Americans in order to sell a newspaper. I didn't realize that freedom of the press covered treason.

You conservative nutjobs have no clue about what the role of the media is.

I guess they should just sit back and be spoonfed whatever the government wants us to know. Then everything would be great. There wouldn't be any more casualties in Iraq. Afghanistan would no doubt be at peace, and Pakistan would be loyal American allies if only the media would just quit writing stories to the contrary.

The New York Times should be applauded for having the intestinal fortitude to try to go beyond the government-issued pablum and find the truth.

Of course, the conservatives don't believe in talking to anyone they disagree with. It short-circuits their little brains to encounter a differing point of view.

NYT has done nothing to help our troops. I am all for free press; but if the NYT undermined our effort in WWII like they have in Iraq, our troops would have had much more significant morale problems. The NYT starts out with a left wing agenda and works backword. No sadness for NYT reporters.

Try this: Stay the hell out of the war zones and you wont get hurt. Often reporters believe they are doing good things but are just following up on their own ideals and trying to support their own agenda. there is a massive anti american world growing. Think: Why is this so? So many people leave their own countries to go seek a better life, and find that better life in America. I have traveled most of the world adn find this to be true: Outside of Spain, Germany, England, and Canada, and Australia, Japan and New Zealand I also do not wish to leave out the Nordic countries, where would anyone really want to live? Government problems, corruption, religious oppression, poverty, closed mindedness?
Look before it is too late. Hitler would have owned Europe if it werent for america. the middle east is a dangerous place-if you go there, you take your chances. Do not expect your government to save you...you deserve what you get. One side thought, doesnt it seem a bit odd that the world is being drawn into a total conflict where Muslims are the bad guys and Everyone else is the good guy? With all of our technology, we could feed everyone, and have schools and peace but soemone is adding gas to the fire...why is that?

New York Times! Pity

Liberalism is a mental disorder. The New York Times and the Anti-American culture they've developed within their shameful organization is proof. They are NOT on our side. I believe they are traitors hiding behind our sacred Constitution.

This reporter got what was comming to her, and she can whine and cry all she wants, but there is no ACLU to save her over there, the Pakastani government does not engage in liberal politically correct games.

Trying to muster some sympathy here..
Uhhhgh...nope can't do it. Couldn't have happened to a nicer 'news' source. Lucky you still have your stupid head.

I'm glad to see these Paki thugs are taking this "War on Terror" seriously and are busy adopting American values. Congratulations for being brave enough to punch a girl in the face.
Who at ABC wants to be the first to get a black eye? Anyone?

Without simple behavioral instructions, the New York Times sent her to the front line ill prepared. They are responsible for a misguided training that infused her with an above the law and country, attitude. She holds no allegiance except to the New York Times, what a schmuck.
Can you imagine brushing aside a State Trooper when he asks you for I.D.? Depending on his self control is where your fate would lie; you’d have to be out of your mind on drugs, arrogance, or stupidity, to ignore him. If cops knock on your door in Pakistan let them in and be nice. Otherwise they’re going to slap you around. This woman disrespected and challenged them, asking for their wrath, a masochist’s behavior. The secret police are among the intelligent ones, they have developing egos too.
The world is a real place, reap and sow, a lot different then the dreaming and scheming within the New York Times. She doesn’t belong on the front line trying to justify her hatred of Bush by endowing the enemy.
I spend many years travel in and out of Pakistan, and other third world countries, yes a few times I had late night knockings, along with months of torture and years of solitude in Syria, yet nobody ever slapped me in the face, or even punched me; the torture was controlled, handle-able. I didn’t give them reason to personally transfer hatred, so they could only do their job as enemy of U.S.A. The left is so filled with hatred and arrogance; an illness they must face.

The New York Times is responsible for sending her to the frontline without any protective armament, if you get my drift.

The NYT reporters are too naive to realize they aren't in America. In this country they can publicize secret plans designed to thwart terrorists and get a Nobel Prize for their "bravery". In Pakistan when they try to cavort with the enemy they get a punch in the mouth. Oh, the humanity!

This is a grim milestone. A quagmire for the NY Times.

o'well no big deal NYT is expendable

Some astonishingly ignorant responses here.

A western reporter in Pakistan risking her neck to discover what's going on over there - a matter of no small importance to your security here in America - is casually vilified as helping our enemies?

Is this knee-jerk, bellicose, us versus them gospel really where conservatism is now?

Pathetic.

NYT gets what they deserve

America gave the NYT free speech protections under the First Amendment, and the NYT has never forgiven them ever since.

So she is meeting with the Taliban to get their propaganda out for the NY Times and the government tried to stop her?

Sounds like she resisted to me. If she had nothing to hide then she should have cooperated.

Too many reporters now believe that they have been annointed to comment on our government and people while operating above the law, rather than just report the news. Goodness, I've just described the mindset of the NYT, The WP and the LA Times! What was I thinking?

P.L.P

Is there any chance we could just have the Special Branch agents sent directly to the NYT offices?

maybe she was dating one or more of the officials? and it was a domestic dispute

I read a lot of negative comments here about Gall and her talking to Taliban representative(s). More power to her for doing so. It serves not the interest of our nation to keep our heads buried in the sand, as made clear by some of these posts, because our only source of information is administrative friendly. A reasonable person would think that we would have gotten that idea by now. It pays to know your enemies, contrary to what many seem to believe. Gall’s reporting from the Pakistan - Afghanistan border has been an invaluable source of intelligence to our nation for years - and I guarantee that. And I thank her for her work.

Oh my goodness! We liberals just aren't safe anywhere! They need gun control, that's what they need.

"Is this knee-jerk, bellicose, us versus them gospel really where conservatism is now?"

APPLAUSE!!! Isn't it scary? I'm a conservative and no fan of the NTY by any means, however, suggesting that a NYT journalist was "getting what she deserved" when she was assaulted by government thugs is sickening.

Her previous reporting indicates she writes to only damage the U.S. It would be a useful journalistic enterprise, however, to determine who she was attempting to contact. I also wonder why no news article mentions that Gall is fluent in the languages of the area, worked in Moscow for a while.... So, how is the NYTimes stock doing lately?

I agree Coolfire, if it wasn't for this woman and others like her we would have no idea that the Taliban, Al Queda and the other dozen plus organizations want to kill westerners. Sure there are those suicide bombings and 9/11 but it took the savvy of a reporter to bring it into the light.
So when are all the reporters just going to cut to the chase, climb up on a cross and die for our sins?

She needs some cultural sensitivity training.

GREAT STORY!

And we should care about reporters…why again? If it isn’t CNN pushing the terrorists for their footage of them killing an American, it is the New York Times, and what appears to be a direct line of communications with the terrorists, reporting all bad all the time about the military, this administration, and this country.

The reporters are so full of themselves it is sickening. I remember the news briefing on the day this war started. Some of those useless reporters crossed over to Iraq on their own and lost contact with whoever they were suppose to call. The first questions out of their mouths were about when the Military were going to waste their time looking for those poor reporters.

Yes this country has enemies it is the terrorists and the media, and the military shouldn’t lift a finger to defend any reporter.

To all the Gall defenders here, a question. Just what on earth could Gall find out talking to the Taliban that the American people don't know already?

Some folks here like to spout about how necessary it is to know your enemy. Well yes and no. Yes, it is necessary to know how many soldiers your enemy has and where they are so you can bomb them into oblivion. No, it is not necessary to know that they still tuck their children in bed at night after beheading an infidel with a dull knife.

Why smart people have no sympathy for Gall is because, based on the NY Times track record of having sympathy for terrorists, ten to one says that Gall was out to put a human face on America's most sworn enemy.

"So Abdul, after American forces bombed your training ca...er, village in 2003, were you able to find a new school for your six children?"

Karl Rove must've had a hand in this -- I question the timing!

Good for you. NYT....what goes around comes around

I went into a snakepit to do a report...
I got BIT
Didn't they understand I was their friend??
DUH????

You know that this story was to say from the leftist NYT, "See I told you so" to Bush that even in Afghanistan the US will not win. Pure and simple, it was not a story to help the US win, it was ment to demoralize us and embolden the enemy. As far as the police goes, you can and should play that tough stance routine overseas like the reporter did, but when you do it against the cops thats where you pull back, she got some on the job training there. Just curious if we had some NYT interviews with the Kaiser, or Hitler, or Tojo, if that would have been helped us to win those past wars. I doubt it. Daniel Pearl was trying to expose the Taliban, this reporter was trying to promote them, big difference.

Spare me the 'know your enemy' bullshit. The NYT has a track record of treason and pathetic journalistic standards.

The Pakistani agency responsible for this should be commended

What scares me is all of these comments that seem to resent the media. Why are people so angered by people who seek to tell the truth of human affairs? Do people not realize that freedom of the press is our ONLY defense to tyranny? When did our society become so accepting of the 'party line' ??

I agree with Terry. What a fantastic statement. What we would do without the media enterpretting world events for us? I mean, we don't have the intellegence to think for ourselves, we need the media to think for us. Thank you NYT and ABC for feeding me your slant of the news. It's Wonderful!!!

"freedom of the press is our ONLY defense to tyranny?"

I was always taught that it was the U.S. Armed forces that put an end to tyranny and oppression of WWII.

I guess it was the NYT that destroyed Hitler, since the FoP is the only defense to tyranny and oppression.

WHAT A JOKE, GET OFF YOUR HIGH-HORSE!

freedom of the press should remain exactly that. You are free to express your view's. However
our press has endangered troops becuase they cant seem to keep their collective mouths shut when its nessasary or honor
agreements they'd made to get a story. Also rather than reporting facts theyd rather be partisian and trash those who dont agree.
The taliban has their own press to get their story out, they dont need any help. I supposed she thought shed make points feeding the voyours a look at the psycopaths that want to kill us. kinda like interviewing a serial killer in his home.The NYT's has a reputation as a liberals platform.
I'm not surprised those idiots would send a a reporter into that.
Looks like they found someone stupid enough to do it.

John G.
"The media" refered to, is a certain established media with an obvious 'party line' of its own.

It has its own defined 'truth', its own defined 'enemies', and its own defined 'allies'.

Why is their 'party line' true and correct, and alternate pespectives are wrong?

When you are in a foreign country and government agents bust down your door, let them have what they want and don't try and stop them. If you fight against the government in a country without a bill of rights, you get smacked. For that matter, even here if you resist police, you get smacked.

STUPID STUPID reporter... Cry me a river.

If they stayed home and minded their own business ,theywoulldnt have problems

How is it the party line when you look at this person's professional history? This whole idea that the boogie man (GOP) is going to bust down your door at 1am, raid your fridge and steal your Ipod is insane. Do you really see soldiers burning their mothers' homes down when you think party lines?
Some of you people need to get a grip.
This woman is helping to spread propaganda. When Al Queda comes out and says point blank that they can manipulate the media better than any political party, after they have proven it, do you still look at this women with such rose colored glasses?
The last thing anyone needs is a militant bible thumping party in the whitehose or a bunch of communists bent on appeasement.
I fail to see how so many people in office who come from such similar backgrounds can have such descenting opinions, not on such a scale.
Pointing fingers at one another as the ship goes down.

I have no sympathy to the police, but they're doing their jobs. She would know what she can not have any different treatment since she's not in the U.S. reporting. She should obey the law there. She definitely resisted and that's why. She should be considered herself lucky if not being captivated by Talibans.

Mr. Dukas,

You wrote:

"I spend many years travel in and out of Pakistan, and other third world countries, yes a few times I had late night knockings, along with months of torture and years of solitude in Syria, yet nobody ever slapped me in the face, or even punched me; the torture was controlled, handle-able."

Please add a few details to your story about being a captive of the Syrians. I googled your name, yet was unable to find any mention of your alledged ordeal. Were you water-boarded, subjected to loud music, had your genitals attached to an electrical device, threatened by dogs, etcetera?

If a NYT journalist had written about your predicament in Syria, I probably wouldn't have believed it, though.

Freedom of the press is not our only defense to tyranny. The Second Amendment is our defense against tyranny.

What the Paki security agents realize(d) is that liberal journalists are not there to report on happenings. They are there to report on something, anything that can make the US and by proxy Pakistan look like the bad guys. Having said this I never codone attacking a female.

Perhaps now the NY Times can begin to appreciate the Rights we enjoy in the United States. They were fought for, earned and defended by Americans willing to stand up, sacrifice and die. To assume those Rights follow you to a Foreign land is a little silly. The NY Times does not respect the law in the U.S. so for us to expect them to respect authority in another country is silly as well.

So all of you who think the New York Times shouldn't be trying to report the news in Pakistan - do you think Fox News should be there reporting?

The wider question is how you expect to learn what the enemy is doing if you don't have journalists on the ground reporting it?

wow. i had no idea that americans understood the nyt this well. maybe there is hope for us.could we ship some ACLU over to quetta too?

"So all of you who think the New York Times shouldn't be trying to report the news in Pakistan."

The NYTaliban has NEVER fairly reported on news in the middle east.

Reporting assumes that one is open-minded, reporting on what one sees. What is happening. Oblivious to one's own political standing.

This is NOT the case with the NYTaliban, they dictate the story, then fit the story into their own political agenda, and shove it down our throats. That is NOT reporting, it's propaganda - pure and simple. There is no TRUTH in the NYTaliban, only lies they spread.

Since when does meeting secretly with the enemy qualify as reporting, or even newsworthy. It's TREASON plain and simple.

Glad to hear they were not killed. They were lucky.

The people critical of the NYT suggest -- contrary to the tradition of the US -- that less information is better than more information. Judging by their uninformed comments they really mean this and live by their own values.

Well, I think it is a little whiny sounding. Like the guy said...."next time check in with us first." Why should Pakistani intelligence trust anyone>
How are they supposed to know the woman really works for the NY Times? How are they to know what her exact intentions are even if she does work for the NYT?
It isn't like reporters don't curry favor with bad guys by agreeing to courier materials or messages?
Most of the world's police operate differently than here in the USA. No reasonable cause, no Miranda rights. You can get your ass kicked for simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time and no one will care... even if they know you are an innocent bystander the rationale is that you need to learn a lesson on where not to be a bystander.
Everyone who visits the rest of the globe knows that.
The Pakistanis aren't be beating up many reporters (I hear reporters are swarming Quetta) but this one makes the news because it is a woman, and she works for NYT.
We'll never know why they smacked her around, and they don't have to tell us either..... by the way... this occurred under a secular Islamist regime... the Taliban would stone her to death once she ceased being useful.

I was wondering, how much research has 'the media' done on the governments role in the 1st WTC bombing (yes the one during Clinton's administration that your beloved media has forgotten about...)

I mean, it's the media spreading the idea of Bush's involvement in 9/11, why don't they do the spread false allegations about Clinton's pre-knowledge of the first WTC bombing? hmmm... party-line I believe...

To the leftist appeasers: Whose side are you on? This "reporter" does not want the truth. She wants to reward terrorists. Her "newspaper" printed classified documents, in a time of war, about our troops' missions.
The NYT cares nothing for our free country, they won't be happy until there is a burka in every home of the USA.

Hey lady, how's about you get the hell out of Paki while you can? Poor baby. (sarcasm intended)

-- that less information is better than more information--

The NYTaliban gives us NO information Hank. They only give the Taliban valuable information about top secret plans aimed at hindering their own terrorist organization. Thank you for playing.

Maybe the New York Times should stick to the types of articles Jayson Blair was writing... you know - outright lies - instead of digging up information that could hurt Americans and our troops in the future.

Oops, sorry, that's asking too much from the liberal agenda. Between the New York Times, the ACLU, the Democrats, and all the jihadists, it's sometimes dificult to figure out which of these groups truly poses the greatest long term threat to the US. After all, the NY Times, the ACLU, and the Democrats do everything they can to make life as easy on the Jihadists as possible. Traitors, the lot of them, in my humble opinion.

==> Judging by their uninformed comments they really mean this and live by their own values.

Are you calling us ignorant? Wow, name-calling is very mature. Sorry though man, my mother taught me better than to call people names.

The media, and you my friend, are only able to see what you wanna see.

Perhaps the NYT and it's agents will soon get the message that they are not above the laws and authority of any country other than the USA where they freely abuse freedoms of speech.

OMG!!! Call out the National Guard of the Taliban and AlQueda to protect these poor unfortunate reporters along with coming to the defense and honor NY TiddlyWinks Times....and by the way they need to fix their burqa's too......

Most everyone here sees the NYT for what it is. So why have we lost so bad this November?

Somehow, this story is strikingly familiar with another story. About a girl that was in a frat-house she shouldn't have been in. She said one thing happened, when in fact, nothing happened.

No sympathy from me for this little girl. Whether something happened or not, nobody cares about your patheic self when their are real soldiers out there sacrificing their lives for YOUR security.

Wake up to the real world darling.

Gee, another histrionic, "blame America first," pseudointellectual reporter is hassled trying to dig up more dirt against her country, or garner more sympathy for our enemies. I feel so distraught that she wasn't treated like the VIP she thinks she is. After all, the NYT has consistantly tried to present a fair and balanced view of world events, as long as any story that presents the US in a favorable light is buried.

Hey hankthemole "stole" my line.
Yep, the NYTaliban AND the Pakistani Gov't "don't need no stinkin' badges"! Oh, you poor naive reporters, ACTUALLY believing what they told you in journalism school, that if you had a press pass, you could always get a good table a the The Four Seasons:))

The Media has never won a war, NEVER.

All it can do is lose wars.

try going back and demanding an they traet you like a lawyer):):):)

I wonder if they really think that religious and political perspectives are relative? Determined by a groups actions in reality. Indiscriminate attacks, kidnappings, and infrastructure destruction are not the acts of "peaceful" and "religious" people. Words used to mean things, but today have become relative. Maybe it would help if this event led the NYT to view events and groups in a more objective and realistic manner.

this wishy washy wimp should have stayed in the safety of her "home" - she is not cut out for the rough and tumble. Also she is in a foreign country (see comment) above and is breaking a local law. She is also "giving aid and comfort" to our enemies. So too bad, little girl, stay away from things you are too gullible and silly to understand. Like, you're out of your element, go back to marching w. the libs.

I just wanted to address all of those gloating over the beating of a fellow American citizen - a woman - the day after Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you. True American patriots, one and all.

Today's politics are so slick and controlled and telegenic that we're normally denied any but the most inadvertent and fleeting glimpses into what's really going on at the core.

It's good that you talk openly and freely here; it allows your fellow voters to judge what you are from what they see, and ask themselves "do I share that vision of the future of America?".