Ex-hippie turns out to not be peacenik, picks up rifle, fights Taliban

[Johannes_Paulsen]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33530872...-today_people/

Hero contractor recounts fighting off Taliban

62-year-old ex-hippie saved the lives of 24, but refuses to be called a hero


For two hours, a civilian contractor held off Taliban commandos with an AK-47, saving the lives of 24 people in a Kabul, Afghanistan, guest house. But while others are praising Chris Turner’s courage, the 62-year-old former hippie refuses to be called a hero.

“The real heroes were the three U.N. guards and the Afghan guards who lost their lives defending all of us,” Turner told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Thursday from Kabul.


In the predawn darkness a day earlier, Turner and more than two dozen others who lived in a walled compound in Kabul were violently awakened by explosions and small-arms fire. The Taliban, who had been concentrating their attacks in the countryside outside the capital, had targeted the compound, where many United Nations workers were living while preparing to monitor a run-off presidential election.



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Before the carnage was over, eight people in the compound, including three U.N. guards and two Afghan guards, would be killed. Turner knew them all. “I lived with all those people,” he said.


But no one died among those Turner undertook to protect at the back of the compound.


Surprise attack
The attack came without warning. “We heard small gunfire, and then we took a bomb that set the guest house on fire. It was pretty quick. It filled with smoke almost immediately,” Turner said.


He grabbed his AK-47 assault rifle and ammunition and started getting everybody he could out of the four-story guest house. “We were able to get everybody out the back door that we could. There’s a washroom — actually, the maid’s quarters — and everybody was ushered into there,” Turner said.



Meanwhile, Turner stayed in a courtyard outside the room, hoping to keep the Taliban from killing everyone.


At one point, he saw a suicide bomber trying to climb over the compound wall. “He came over the top of the wall, and I was able to shoot at him and keep him at bay so that he turned around and went to the front of the building and exploded himself,” Turner said calmly.


Modest hero
The bearded American repeatedly rejected efforts to label his actions as extraordinary. The reason he was the one holding off the commandos was because he happened to be the one who had a gun, he said.
Turner first came to Afghanistan in the 1960s because that’s where the hashish was. He kept coming back because he came to love the country and its people. He even shot a documentary film there that he titled “Hashistan.”



His current job is working for an Afghan-American trucking company that delivers supplies to U.S. troops, work that he considers vital.
A native of Kansas City, Kan., Turner is described by his parents as a street-smart man whose actions were totally in character. “He always says, ‘I’ve got nine lives and I’ve only used seven.’ I think he knows when to back down and move forward,” said his mother, Helen Turner.



Politics, Afghanistan style
The bloody attack left the foreigners working for the U.N. in Afghanistan deeply shaken. They make up about 20 percent of the U.N.’s 4,500 employees in the country, and there was concern the incident might trigger at least a partial evacuation.


Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, reached by telephone from Kandahar, said the attack was meant to warn people away from the Nov. 7 presidential runoff between incumbent Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah.


The strike was the biggest on the United Nations in Afghanistan in its half-century of work there. It sent the organization into lockdown across the country. The U.N. is assisting the runoff vote, though not conducting it, and the attack raised questions about the already shaky preparations.
Among the dead was the brother-in-law of Gul Agha Sherzai, one of the country's most powerful governors. The man was killed by a stray bullet as he watched the gunfight from a nearby house, a government spokesman said.


Ever-mounting danger
Turner, who survived being shot and imprisoned by the Soviet Army when they occupied the country in 1985, said that Afghanistan has become more dangerous than ever.

"The security situation here has deteriorated terribly in the last six months, and I think we’re losing the minds and hearts of the people,” Turner told Vieira. “The Taliban seem to have control over the outlying areas and [are] brave enoughto come into Kabul and fight.”

But the danger isn’t chasing Turner out of town. He told Vieira he intends to stay where he is and to keep doing his job.


“This is my second home,” he said. “And I think I’m doing a valuable service, not only to the Afghan people but to the American military who need our supplies.”

[redeye202]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33530872...-today_people/

Hero contractor recounts fighting off Taliban

62-year-old ex-hippie saved the lives of 24, but refuses to be called a hero


For two hours, a civilian contractor held off Taliban commandos with an AK-47, saving the lives of 24 people in a Kabul, Afghanistan, guest house. But while others are praising Chris Turner’s courage, the 62-year-old former hippie refuses to be called a hero.

“The real heroes were the three U.N. guards and the Afghan guards who lost their lives defending all of us,” Turner told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Thursday from Kabul.


In the predawn darkness a day earlier, Turner and more than two dozen others who lived in a walled compound in Kabul were violently awakened by explosions and small-arms fire. The Taliban, who had been concentrating their attacks in the countryside outside the capital, had targeted the compound, where many United Nations workers were living while preparing to monitor a run-off presidential election.



Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here


Before the carnage was over, eight people in the compound, including three U.N. guards and two Afghan guards, would be killed. Turner knew them all. “I lived with all those people,” he said.


But no one died among those Turner undertook to protect at the back of the compound.


Surprise attack
The attack came without warning. “We heard small gunfire, and then we took a bomb that set the guest house on fire. It was pretty quick. It filled with smoke almost immediately,” Turner said.


He grabbed his AK-47 assault rifle and ammunition and started getting everybody he could out of the four-story guest house. “We were able to get everybody out the back door that we could. There’s a washroom — actually, the maid’s quarters — and everybody was ushered into there,” Turner said.



Meanwhile, Turner stayed in a courtyard outside the room, hoping to keep the Taliban from killing everyone.


At one point, he saw a suicide bomber trying to climb over the compound wall. “He came over the top of the wall, and I was able to shoot at him and keep him at bay so that he turned around and went to the front of the building and exploded himself,” Turner said calmly.


Modest hero
The bearded American repeatedly rejected efforts to label his actions as extraordinary. The reason he was the one holding off the commandos was because he happened to be the one who had a gun, he said.
Turner first came to Afghanistan in the 1960s because that’s where the hashish was. He kept coming back because he came to love the country and its people. He even shot a documentary film there that he titled “Hashistan.”



His current job is working for an Afghan-American trucking company that delivers supplies to U.S. troops, work that he considers vital.
A native of Kansas City, Kan., Turner is described by his parents as a street-smart man whose actions were totally in character. “He always says, ‘I’ve got nine lives and I’ve only used seven.’ I think he knows when to back down and move forward,” said his mother, Helen Turner.



Politics, Afghanistan style
The bloody attack left the foreigners working for the U.N. in Afghanistan deeply shaken. They make up about 20 percent of the U.N.’s 4,500 employees in the country, and there was concern the incident might trigger at least a partial evacuation.


Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, reached by telephone from Kandahar, said the attack was meant to warn people away from the Nov. 7 presidential runoff between incumbent Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah.


The strike was the biggest on the United Nations in Afghanistan in its half-century of work there. It sent the organization into lockdown across the country. The U.N. is assisting the runoff vote, though not conducting it, and the attack raised questions about the already shaky preparations.
Among the dead was the brother-in-law of Gul Agha Sherzai, one of the country's most powerful governors. The man was killed by a stray bullet as he watched the gunfight from a nearby house, a government spokesman said.


Ever-mounting danger
Turner, who survived being shot and imprisoned by the Soviet Army when they occupied the country in 1985, said that Afghanistan has become more dangerous than ever.

"The security situation here has deteriorated terribly in the last six months, and I think we’re losing the minds and hearts of the people,” Turner told Vieira. “The Taliban seem to have control over the outlying areas and [are] brave enoughto come into Kabul and fight.”

But the danger isn’t chasing Turner out of town. He told Vieira he intends to stay where he is and to keep doing his job.


“This is my second home,” he said. “And I think I’m doing a valuable service, not only to the Afghan people but to the American military who need our supplies.”

Chris Turner understands the difference between who is a hero and who is a survivor.

[marinakorp]

Chris Turner understands the difference between who is a hero and who is a survivor.

AND where the HASH is.... Hashistan... .got to look that up!

[Nic]

True survivor.

[Azzy]

Sounds like a good man who happened to have the wherewithal to make the right decisions in very little time, to defend human life.

Good man, good shoot. Lets hope he doesnt have to do it again.

[nlcrsn]

What amazes me is self proclaimed hippie, I believe they "WORSHIP" peace, that was there for the hash. Actually wised up/ grew up, whichever and saw the light, fight or die. Don't misunderstand me, I'm all for peace. In the event of violence being needed, I understand the need for returning the violence in a multiplied factor. I just thought "hippies" would rather die than fight.

[Paradigm]

It just goes to show that one ex-hippie American trumps dozens of UN "peacekeepers."

If the compound was overrun by naked children, the UN workers would have been more prepared...

[Lastdefender]

I wonder if "his AK-47" was on a Form 4?

[LittleRedToyota]

the guy should have been in prison...dang hashead--prolly smokes pot, too. he clearly should never be allowed to touch a gun.

we need to step up the war on drugs, gawdangit.

[/sarcasm]

[mikepro8]

"Modest hero
The bearded American repeatedly rejected efforts to label his actions as extraordinary. The reason he was the one holding off the commandos was because he happened to be the one who had a gun, he said.
Turner first came to Afghanistan in the 1960s because that’s where the hashish was. He kept coming back because he came to love the country and its people. He even shot a documentary film there that he titled “Hashistan.” "

Bold is mine...
Guns can be used for good and not slaughtering innocent mall goers and postal workers?? WHO KNEW!??!?!?