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This is how blowback happens...

There is a discrepency between the Canadian military's account of the events leading to the death of Nasrat ali Hasan on Tuesday and that of the man's family. According to the family, with no indication whether they were at the scene of the incident or were reporting second-hand, there were no warning shots fired and no medical attention offered by the Canadians, both of which were specifically mentioned in the Canadian reports. He was apparently taken to an Afghan hospital, where he later died, and not to the Canadian facility because Canadian medics didn't seem to think the wound was "very serious". Oops.

Whichever story is true really hardly matters, because we know which one is now spreading through the population. I'm not sure what to say about this, except that it worries me. It is exactly this kind of incident that can make enemies where none were before.

Posted by kevvyd on Thursday, March 16, 2006 at 4:26 PM |

Info from the Canadian Forces has suggested that the man was struck by one of the warning shots, i.e., the warning shots were fired too close to the vehicle.

So at least part of that story appears to be true.

Posted by Blogger AJSomerset | Thu Mar 16, 06:14:00 PM  

Interesting, thanks dog. Regardless of what really happened or what the cost, the time for an olive branch to this guy's whole extended family is *now*.

Posted by Blogger kevvyd | Thu Mar 16, 08:20:00 PM  

Well there seems to be some discrepancy - from the CBC report this morning - according to the Afghan police, who contacted the family - so we can assume they weren't present at the scene, the family accepted the account and asked the peacekeepers to be more careful. Now we're getting a different account. If this was happening in Canada with the RCMP in place of the soldiers, I'd suspect that the family got 'lawyered up' and were looking for a quick court settlement. I'll agree with you, however, that right now the medics' decisions look questionable.

Posted by Blogger Dan | Fri Mar 17, 12:28:00 AM  

I wasn't there so I'm hesitant to comment but I've been in similar situations (albeit with lots of motorboats instead of rickshaws)and have similar training so I'm willing to give the guy who fired the benefit of the doubt. They're in a situation that doesn't make much allowance for calm, well thought out decisions, and on a more basic level accurate shooting from a vehicle is difficult. If this is going to be decided on from the other side of the world then I think it's going to need a couple more days of intel and news reports to make an informed decision

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous | Fri Mar 17, 01:20:00 PM  

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