Fallen soldiers remembered

[CHIMO]

CFB TRENTON, Ont. — Four grief-stricken families received their fallen loved ones today during a military ceremony to mark the return of this country’s latest casualties in Afghanistan.

Four flag-draped caskets were loaded into four black hearses on the tarmac of this eastern Ontario military base as fathers, mothers, wives and children took comfort in each other’s embraces.

Each casket was removed from a military airbus in turn and escorted by military pallbearers led by a padre as a piper played the stirring lament “Flowers of the Forest.”

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1159011488233&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

http://www.english.emory.edu/LostPoets/McCrae.html

[Bragi]

1. Some questions...

When I first heard about the four soldiers killed by a suicide bomber when handing out candy etc to children in a public square, I wondered why they were doing this, given that it is known to be a dangerous thing to do not just for the soldiers, but also for anyone who accepts their gifts.

Why was awareness of this not part of the basic training received by our troops? Why were our troops doing this at all? Was this, in fact, a photo op being prepared as part of the Harper government's propaganda that went lethal? Is that what these troops died for?

And why hasn't a single Canadian reporter asked these questions?

(Okay, I know the answer to the last one, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway.)

- B

[CHIMO]

2. Initial

Report had them handing out candies. Don't know where it came from, or what the candies were. Some things can loose much in translation.

Awhile later, I read that they were also handing out paper and pencils, school supplies I suppose.

However, they were doing it, and from the reports that we hear from the military people they believe in what they are doing.

So one has to leave it to the witnesses to explain things.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

[daleo]

3. I believe Harper stated in Parliament that they were handing out candies

Along with other items, such as pencils and paper.

Furthermore, some later accounts that I read indicated that the "distribution event" had just broken up, and that the soldiers were beginning to leave the scene when an older man on a bicycle rode up and exploded his bomb.

[Bragi]

4. To be clear...

It doesn't matter to me what exactly they were handing out, what I wonder about is why they were doing street-level distributions of anything, since this is known to be a dangerous thing to do in these type of conflicts.

Does the fact the troops were doing this possibly reflect inadequate training, or was there some other reason that they were doing what they were doing? Was this, I wonder, a PR exercise/photo op to promote the Government's pro-war message that went deadly?

Obviously, media aren't asking this question, but I think we should know why these troops were apparently engaged in behaviour that was very dangerous for everyone, and that ended with significant loss of life for innocent civilians, and for our troops.

- B

[IntravenousDemilo]

5. "Handing out candies" sounds creepily innocuous. "Oh, why are they so mean

to our troops? They were just giving candy to children! What could be more innocent than that? Just the other day one of our men was attacked for helping a little old lady across the street. That's a really hazardous detail, 'cause you never know what's underneath those burqas."

Beware phrases like "handing out candies", or they become indelible memes for the right wing.

[MrPrax]

6. So what?

The soldiers -- your fellow countrymen that went throught he same public education as you, watched the same televisions shows as you, had the same Remembrance Day assemblies in school -- but nonetheless you give them a pass?

Is there a draft or something in this country?

What exactly does quoting Flanders Fields have to do with this topic?

Are you drawing an inference to an imperialist war from nearly a hundred years ago and this shameful episode that the majority of your fellow Canadians don't support?


Can you post up any evidence that handing out candy, roses or nylons ever actually did anything to win the hearts of minds of anyone?
Surely you can't expect everyone to believe that the feckless distribution of sweets and schoolbooks is a sound system to rebuild a country?

(A Hell of lot cheaper...maybe we should do that instead of building drug warlord's presidential palaces or support a country that pays it's Afghani soldiers 4 dollars US a day, knowing full well that the insurgents pay 8 American dollars a day)

Surely you can't ignore the fact that the military does this propaganda for domestic consumption?

If this war is so noble as to invoke Flanders Fields, then why the fuck does NEWSweek scrub their own featured story?

Shit...even the WP is blogging information we can't get in Canada...because we have citizens so piss scared of looking 'unpatriotic' -- fuck'em, they aren't protecting MY FREEDOM, they are threatening it...as yours.

Where the hell are our Batistes? Where the fuck are our Olbermanns?

rant off

[CHIMO]

7. Didn't Mean

For you to burst a blood vessel.

Perhaps rereading, and rereading, will the post will reduce your blood pressure.