Thomas Kasza

Green Beret turned Humanitarian. War non-profiteer. LA/DC/Oxford

Executive Director @1208Foundation

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

"Deploying was easy. Holding our government's moral failing at bay feels like running a relay with no one reaching for the baton. Our morality has been taken for granted and we are tired. Tired of swallowing our anger. Tired of an endless moral injury."

https://t.co/DBFSmMQS1C

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

Someone should ask about the $135,000 ($90k from Vanguard) that went unreported.

[Shawn VanDiver @shawnjvandiver]

Did you know that #AfghanEvac has been all volunteer since it's inception?

No one on the team has gotten paid to do this work.

We've all done it because it's the right thing to do and our national honor means something to us.

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

Turns out it wasn't just us at the @1208Foundation who were raising the alarms about @NatGeo and @Disney exposing vulnerable Afghans in the Retrograde documentary

@MattHeineman and his film crew knew the entire time.

https://t.co/OzCSwKkDNy

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

A man who served the US for five years in Afghanistan is dead, while witnesses are running scared because @SeanTeareHCDAO won't file charges against the shooter.

[The Daily Beast @thedailybeast]

Abdul Rahman Waziri put his life on the line in Afghanistan to save American soldiers. But when his life was cruelly taken in a random act of violence on U.S. soil, no one did anything.

https://t.co/ewnCLTnjbN

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

It has been over three weeks since Abdul Rahman Waziri was gunned down over a parking spot, and there are still no charges, or even acknowledgement from Houston DA @SeanTeareHCDAO

https://t.co/fbwk2p3AXX

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

@shawnjvandiver Just stop.

You have never seen combat, you have never touched Afghan ground, you do not speak for us.

All you are doing is hurting our cause with your undisciplined approach. There is a better way of doing this.

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

@shawnjvandiver Just stop.

You have never seen combat, you have never touched Afghan ground, you do not speak for us.

All you are doing is hurting our cause with your undisciplined approach. There is a better way of doing this.

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

There were no known instances of a Murrow Award being revoked in the 50+ year history of the @RTDNA- until now.

Will this spur @Disney, @NatGeo or @MattHeineman to finally render assistance to the widow and the remaining eight affected families?

@RoigFranzia @HopeSeck

[The Washington Post @washingtonpost]

The Radio Television Digital News Association on Friday rescinded its 2023 Edward R. Murrow Award to an acclaimed Afghanistan war documentary that has been criticized for allegedly endangering some of the Afghans who appear in the film. https://t.co/Bou3QANkX6

[Manuel Roig-Franzia @RoigFranzia]

NEWS: The Edward R. Murrow Award - one of most prestigious journalism honors - stripped from NatGeo/Matthew Heineman documentary in latest fallout from @washingtonpost investigation https://t.co/sLBI9njtC3

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

@Mohammad_BKLN You would also have to moderate or ban YouTube, Facebook, IG, Twitter, and others because it wasn't just on TikTok.

The distro platform is far less important than the source material.

Banning Retrograde in Afghanistan wouldn't be effective either, given workarounds like VPNs.

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

Why? That's a standard matter of users infringing on a copyright; happens all the time.

TikTok could not have stopped the Taliban from downloading Retrograde and then distributing the footage/images to their intelligence service.

[General Azad @Mohammad_BKLN]

@TKasza1208 @Variety @MattHeineman Should some responsibility also fall on tiktok?

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

@Mohammad_BKLN Not anymore.

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

@Variety Even had signed releases been secured, it would not have released @MattHeineman from an ethical responsibility to safeguard those who were filmed, as Retrograde was released a full 16 months after Kabul fell.

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

Where are the calls to hold @NatGeo or @Disney accountable, or the pleas to have them use their resources evacuate those who still in Afghanistan?

There are more than eight families affected: that figure is only NMRG. If Including Afghan soldiers, the number is multiplied.

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

I find the response from the documentary community underwhelming. They seem to not have grasped the immediacy of the situation, and are stuck in a filmmaker's mindset. There's too much focus on hypotheticals of what "could have" be done, and not on what "CAN" be done NOW.

[Variety @Variety]

Alex Gibney and Sebastian Junger Weigh in on Doc World Controversy About Death of Afghan Man That Appeared in NatGeo's 'Retrograde' https://t.co/1WcvImPwBG

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

@Variety There are far more than eight families still in Afghanistan: that figure is only the NMRG (Mine sweepers) who were shown in the 1/3 of the doc. When the Afghan soldiers and government officials from the last 2/3 are included, that number is multiplied several times over.

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

@Variety Where are the calls to hold Nat Geo or Disney accountable, or the pleas to have them use their resources get the remaining people out of Afghanistan?

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

@Variety I'm the guy who brought the situation behind Retrograde to the WaPo.

I find the response from the documentary community underwhelming. There is far too much focus on hypotheticals of what "COULD" be done, and not on what "CAN" be done. Those affected are still there NOW.

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

@evanscribe I'd also like to add that Matt Heineman was not in Afghanistan for the scene that got our guy killed.

It's more than a little ironic that someone who put such an emphasis on "the faces" never looked into the eyes of the people he exploited.

@RoigFranzia @HopeSeck

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

@evanscribe I'd also like to add that Matt Heineman was not in Afghanistan for the scene that got our guy killed.

It's more than a little ironic that someone who put such an emphasis on "the faces" never looked into the eyes of the people he exploited.

@RoigFranzia @HopeSeck

[Evan Wright @evanscribe]

I then found this first line from an Ebert review. CAPS are mine. "Retrograde" is about many things, but it's really about THE FACES."

[Thomas Kasza @TKasza1208]

There is a sick sort of irony to be asking for donations to support people placed in jeopardy by a multinational valued at over $180 billion...

Please consider donating to assist the NMRG affected by Retrograde.

https://t.co/6Zsq6I7z8K

[1208 Foundation @1208Foundation]

If Disney won't do the right thing, that leaves us.

Please consider donating to support Omar's family and the NMRG members who were exploited in National Geographic's Retrograde Documentary.

https://t.co/7LEtlPEqTU