Canada Bans Coverage of Returning War Dead

[katinmn]

Well now. That didn't take long.

Sorry, Canada.
:-(

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060425/ap_on_re_ca/canada_fallen_soldiers
By BETH DUFF-BROWN, Associated Press Writer

TORONTO - Canada's new Conservative government barred the media from covering the return Tuesday of the flag-draped coffins of four soldiers killed in Afghanistan, angering political opponents and some families.

The government also has stopped lowering flags to half-staff outside Parliament each time a Canadian soldier is killed, prompting Liberals to accuse Prime Minister Stephen Harper of trying to play down the growing human cost of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan.

Fifteen Canadians have been killed, including Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Cpl. Randy Payne and Lt. William Turner, who were slain in a roadside bomb blast Saturday in southern Afghanistan in the deadliest attack against Canadian forces since they deployed to Afghanistan in 2002.

snip

The media learned Monday that they would be barred from the evening ceremony, a move that mirrors Bush administration policy blocking media coverage of the coffins of slain service members arriving in the United States.

[derby378]

1. We tried to warn you, Canadians...

...but NOOOOOOOOOOO!! You had to put a Bushbot in the PM's office.

[Canuckistanian]

3. I didn't vote for the idiot

Canadians do these funny things once in a while. They'll elect the same party over and over again, then suddenly switch when they think a change is necessary. This is one of those times.

I think Canadians are waking up to the fact that these guys are serious Bush-suckers.

[derby378]

5. Present company excepted, of course...

:hi:

[Ecumenist]

2. Oh God, is this idiot trying to copy the grand idiot?

I hope that the Canadians don't accept that and I have a feeling that the won't.

[katinmn]

4. I think and hope they won't stand for it like Americans have

This makes me wonder if the election was rigged, too.

The neocons stop at nothing.

[Jim Warren]

6. Yeah, and this is the line I love

Like the Pentagon, Canadian Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor cited privacy concerns as a reason for the media ban.

Funny how they can get so selectively concerned for privacy.
:eyes:

[Spazito]

7. Harper's move is not going over well, no surprise there as he is

completely out of sync with how Canadians feel on issues like this.

Harper goes on the defensive

http://torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/04/25/1549387-sun.html

MPs, soldiers' families criticize media ban on return of dead soldiers

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=077c4a24-c89e-44c5-b87d-64926c00d37c&k=35135

[Kagemusha]

8. As the threads for this issue pile up, just to get this off my chest

Harper's doing this because he expects more coffins because of Canada's role in Afghanistan, playing the good international soldier in the War on Terror. He should expect more coffins.

[Spazito]

9. Yes, Canadians are already questioning the change in mission

from peace-keeping to combat and Harper thinks he can hide the dead by pretending it isn't happening. It won't work, imo, and he is putting another nail in his political coffin re the next election.

[katinmn]

10. Thanks. At least you have opposition with some power

to stop them.

[Divernan]

11. "The evening ceremony". . . in the U.S. it's a bare coffin on a forklift.

I still remember that awful picture, and how the dead soldiers' parents described their pain at seeing their dead son's body treated like a cargo crate.