Dissonance And Disrespect: The Soldier’s Complaint

Loyalist, over at Dissonance And Disrespect today notes how the media has jumped all over comments that the late Anthony Boneca made regarding the Canadian mission in Afghanistan and his role in it. I agree that it is a shame that on the day that his body is returning home we have to read about a low-level squabble involving his own family that is playing out in media releases and interviews that he might or might not have been disillusioned by his role in the mission. Right now, they should be looking inwards to help one another and not to the media to defend him or the military, or the mission, or whatever it is they feel that they have to do right now.

For those that haven’t seen the reports, shortly after his death his girlfriend and other friends were interviewed and they told the media that he wasn’t happy over there, that he felt unprepared for the situation, and that he was going to leave the Reserves when he returned home. Yesterday, his father, in a press release, told the opposite – that his son was proud to be helping out the people of Afghanistan and that he loved being in the army. The media has even gone so far as to use this to question the role of the Reserve troops in the mission, prompting response from the military and the Minister of Defense. Perhaps this is a question that should be asked, but does it have to come up now?

That this has made the news has mostly to do with the fact that we are divided as a nation over the mission and anything to do with it is deemed inherently newsworthy. Of course, there is also the press’ fixation with all things dead (“if it bleeds, it leads”).

As for Cpl. Boneca’s views of the war and his role in it – who knows? It is entirely possible that he told different things to his father and his girlfriend, in fact, it is entirely likely. And it is equally possible that he was telling the truth to both of them – fear, pride, and feelings of inadequacy can go hand-in-hand when someone is placed in a stressful situation.

Who knows, and really, why is it our business? If this is a prelude to a discussion on the value and importance of the mission, or the role of the Reserves in it, then fine – but give the family some space and time. The media needs to stop trying to get the scoop sometimes, IMO.

A bushel of bad apples

Civilian deaths are worth whatnow?

The link above presents some interesting math:

The next day Redam Jassim was summoned to a local police station. “The Americans offered me 5,000 dollars, and told me it wasn’t compensation but because of tradition,” Jassim told IPS. The U.S. military pays usually 2,500 dollars compensation for killing an Iraqi. Jassim says he refused the payment.

The U.S. military recently announced in a Defence Department report provided to Congress that it paid out 19 million dollars in compensation to Iraqis last year — half of which paid out by Marines in al-Anbar province west of Baghdad.

The military claimed the amount was paid in 600 separate incidents, but it is common knowledge in Iraq that the usual payout for a non-combat civilian death is 2,500 dollars.

A payment of 19 million dollars compensation at 2,500 dollars a person would suggest such killings in thousands.

7600 civilian killings, assuming the $2,500 figure is accurate and constant and that no haggling goes on. It takes a lot of bad apples to ‘mistakenly’ kill 7600 civilians.

This is a promising development, although it won’t go anywhere (the US does have a veto on the UNSC, correct?).

A week after Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, asked for a review of the immunity that has been granted to foreign troops, Iraqi Human Rights Minister Wijdan Michael said the review is now underway, reports Reuters. She added that a request to end the immunity could be ready for the United Nations, under whose mandate the US-led forces serve in Iraq, in August.