"It is disgusting in the extreme and preposterous
for anyone to suggest morale here is low." Matthew Fisher, CanWest reporter with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, says in an interview this morning (audio at link) on CFRA, Ottawa. He is talking about media coverage of Cpl. Anthony Joseph Boneca's death.
You must listen to the whole thing. Two more samples:
You must listen to the whole thing. Two more samples:
This is real war...and then to be bogged down by the typical small-minded Canadian wishy-washy issues, I had hoped Canada was emerging from this period of self-doubt but apparently it isn't.And just at this moment the Globe's Margaret Wente gives up (full text not officially online). Not what one would expect of her. Pitiful.
...he received exactly the same infantry training as everyone else who came here.
Repairing Afghanistan is a noble cause. It's also mission impossible. I suspect that, before too long, more and more Canadians will decide that it's not our fight.Update: Cpl. Boneca's father has a different view from the negative one the media has been splashing around. How much prominence will his statements get?
The father of the Canadian soldier slain in a firefight in Afghanistan has denied media reports that his son felt ill-equipped and "hated" his military mission.The full text of Mr Boneca's statement is here. (via Army.ca)
Antonio Boneca, father of Corporal Anthony Boneca, said his son "knew what he was getting into" and "loved being in the Army."
"In all my conversations with my son, there was never any mention of him not being well enough or fit enough to carry out his military duties," Boneca said in a statement released Tuesday...
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 9:36 a.m.
4 Comments:
Wente's column really pissed me off, she knows nothing about Afghanistan. If you're up to it, Mark, I'd like to see you refute some of her quagmire-esque claims. Would be useful going forward.
Somebody -- the girlfriend & uncle, or the father -- is not playing straight with us here. I'm inclined to believe the father's account, but that's just me.
If his girlfriend really loved him, why is she doing her best to trash his reputation and sacrifice in the media? Doesn't like soldiering? Don't date a soldier, then. None of it really adds up.
The best thing either side of this equation can do right now is clam up and go through the funeral with some grace. Honour the man by honoring his open-eyed choice of profession, and his sacrifice in the line of duty.
If I had a penny, let alone a dime, for every time a soldier, sailor or airman bitched about their lot in the military, I wouldn't need to buy 649 tickets anymore. One of the most favourite pastimes in the military is bitching. It's a stress reliever, an exercise in bonding and many other things. "Oh yeah...,you think that's bad, we had this officer once who...."
The girlfriend and father, while suffereing grief, know not what they talk about.
One of the most favourite pastimes in the military is bitching.
Bingo. When I was in, calling someone "bitter & twisted" was a compliment - it meant he or she was a world champion snake-pit bitch-master.
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