Posted on 09/18/2006 4:35:23 AM PDT by exg
Canadians in Afghanistan face greater death threat than Americans in Iraq David Pugliese, CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen Published: Monday, September 18, 2006 Article tools Printer friendly E-mail Font: * * * * A Canadian soldier in Kandahar is nearly six times more likely to die in hostilities than a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq, according to a new report to be released today.
The study of fatalities in Afghanistan details the sacrifice made by Canadian soldiers, confirming what military leaders have already hinted at: that the Canadian Forces is shouldering a substantial amount of the combat burden in the southern Asia country.
The report by the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that after the U.S., Canada has sustained the highest number of military deaths as a result of hostile action in Afghanistan since the war began in late 2001.
And since February, Canadians have accounted for 43 per cent of all military deaths among U.S. allies in the coalition fighting in Afghanistan.
But when adjusted for the relative size of troop commitments, a Canadian soldier in Kandahar is nearly three times more likely to be killed in hostile action than a British soldier, and 4 1/2 times more likely than an American soldier in Afghanistan, the report said.
The study written by researchers Bill Robinson and Steven Staples found a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan is six times more likely to die than a U.S. soldier fighting in Iraq.
Robinson said he was surprised by the figures since Iraq is generally viewed as the more serious conflict. ''It's pretty clear the Taliban's capabilities have expanded significantly over the last year,'' he said. ''So very clearly (Afghanistan) is a serious war.''
The report echoes a British study released earlier this month by Sheila Bird, vice-president of the Royal Statistical Society. Her report found that the level of fighting in Afghanistan is much greater than during the period of major combat in Iraq in 2003.
Bird noted that the fatality rate among Canadian and British troops in Afghanistan from May 1, 2006 to Aug. 12, 2006 was higher than Britain's fatality rate in Iraq during the 2003 invasion and its immediate aftermath. That combined British-Canada casualty rate is six times the British fatality rate in Iraq for that 2003 period, according to the professor's study.
In an interview with New Scientist magazine, Bird noted the combat fatalities in Afghanistan are ''only slightly lower than the fatality rate that the Russians encountered in Afghanistan 20 years ago.''
''The commentary we are getting from politicians about this conflict does not do justice to the threat our forces now face in Afghanistan,'' she added.
Thirty-two Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of the war, but that figure also includes those who have died in accidents. According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study, 27 of the 32 were due to hostile action. That compares to 173 U.S. deaths due to hostile action in Afghanistan. Hostile action also includes friendly-fire incidents on the battlefield.
The centre's report poses the question of why Canadian troops are suffering a disproportionately higher number of military deaths than our NATO allies but does not attempt to answer it. ''We have respect for the sacrifices made by these people and we need to examine the cost of our operations and that certainly includes the human costs,'' Robinson said.
The Harper government is in the process of ramping up its commitment to Afghanistan. On Friday the military announced it was sending a squadron of Leopard tanks and at least 200 soldiers to add further firepower and strength to the Canadian commitment in Kandahar. The last time Canadian tanks went into combat was during the Korean War in the early 1950s.
In an interview broadcast on the weekend on CBC Radio, Prime Minister Stephen Harper acknowledged Canada is fighting a war in Afghanistan. Previously, military leaders and Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor have denied that the Canadian Forces is involved in a war.
The study also determined that if the current rate of military deaths since February 2006 were to remain unchanged until the end of the mission in January 2009, the Canadian Forces would sustain another 108 deaths bringing the total to 140.
However, Robinson said that prediction could be affected by various factors, including a change of tactics by either Canadian troops or the Taliban.
''I have to strongly emphasize that (the figure) is if things didn't change,'' he explained. ''Clearly things could get better in a number of ways. But things could get worse.''
Ottawa Citizen
© CanWest News Service 2006
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Just how fuking stupid are some of you arseholes.
If you had any awareness of what's going on you'd know that Canadians have been on point in many the recent major offensives aginst Taliban forces and when you have the bulk of your forces in the field fighting (rather than in camp behind the lines), you'd know that the risk of combat related deaths or injuries are significantly higher.
Bad enough our guys are taking the brunt of NATO action, but then to have their sacrifice criticized here by some ignorant jerkoffs is a bit much.
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/09/18/1857028-sun.html
perhaps this article better explains the situation.
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First off, this ignorant [whatever] apologizes -- abjectly, profusely and profoundly! I intended no criticism of our Canadian friends and allies, rather, (as I said in #11):
"I completely agree that it is unacceptable to lose such fine troops and friends. I'm looking for root causes and a way to end this tragic loss..."
1) I admit to being unaware that the Canadian troops have been "on the sharp end of the spear" lately, and I can't help but wonder whose decisions put them there.
2) As soon as "friendly fire" was mentioned, I recalled that (IIRC) it was a Canadian unit who were on the receiving end of a misdirected strike by a pair of our A-10s. Personally, I can't imagine being in a more terrifying and deadly spot than on the receiving end of bursts by a couple of GAU-8s. :-) Apologies in that case are inadequate; all I can say is that I grieve with you. OTOH, I understand that personal IR markers have been shipped to Afghanistan to minimize the likelihood of such future tragedies. I pray that Canadian troops are the first to receive them.
recce guy, thank you for your extensive list of facts that explain why you Canadians have been disproportionately in harm's way. I honor and thank them for that more than I can express!
exg, thank you for the link to the article about the Euro troops hanging back. It appears that my (deliberately sarcastic) probes to stimulate factual responses actually apply to them! I have no trouble at all believing that
"Deficient in training and tactics!" and "in the camp behind the lines' -- as well as "deficient in the balls department"
apply to all of the European forces -- with the significant exceptions of the Poles.
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Again, thank you for educating this ignorant old Texan -- and please forgive my sarcastic technique for extracting the truth of the matter!
I hope and pray that American commanders, at least, pitch in whatever resources they have available to reduce Canadian losses. And I hope someone puts the boot to the most effective point on the Euro's and get them out in the field where they can, at least attract some of the incoming away from the Canadian, British, and American troops who are carrying the battle to the enemy!!!
I truly regret posting this article. I thought the writer was comparing the level of danger in Iraq to the level of danger in Afghanstan right now. I didn't realise it would be interpreted the way it was.
Bottom line is---we are in this together---God bless and safe return for all our troops!
Can't help myself, FRiend. Any loss of a good soldier is hard to accept...
Agreed.. We lost another 4 in Afghanistan today.
Nice picks.
I hope there are no more casualties.
Me too. But there will be.
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