The CBC focuses on the casualties in their coverage of the death of Pte. Robert Costall, and only hints at the outcome of the firefight;
The Canadians, along with U.S. helicopters and British planes, had been repositioned to a base in the area in response to an incident on Tuesday in which eight Afghan army soldiers were killed. The region is a flashpoint for insurgent activity and the illegal drug trade.
Fraser said Taliban insurgents attacked the base with mortars, grenades and small arms fire early Wednesday.
The firefight lasted for several hours, he said, adding that a “significant number” of Taliban members were killed during the battle. U.S. military reports say as many as 32 insurgents died.
As much as we mourn the loss of any soldier, those killed in combat deserve a media that reports not only on their sacrifice, but on their achievements. This reporting is incomplete, for it fails to directly advise us as to whether the base was successfully defended.
Instead, we are reminded (at the end of the item) of previous Canadian casualties – including those killed in accidents – as though this information is directly relevant.
The liberal-left media has little interest in understanding military culture. Yet, as they do on so many other issues in which they are woefully underinformed, lack of knowledge is no barrier to interjecting their world view into the reporting – in this case, forgoing the outcome of the battle to revisit an incident of a taxi hitting a light armoured vehicle in Kandahar. True to the liberal-left “war wouldn’t happen if we were in charge of the world” ideology, modern war reporting begins and ends with counting the losses.
Pte. Robert Costall was not in Afghanistan to sacrifice his life – he was there to serve his country by accomplishing the missions set before him. To report on only his loss while remaining silent on the achievement (or the failure – after all, we are not told) of his unit in defending their base, is not only journalistic malpractice, it is a disservice to every member of the Canadian Forces.
Upon further reflection – perhaps the time has come to send sports reporters to war zones. It seems to be one of the last refuges of journalism in which a) reporters have basic knowledge of the subject matter they’re assigned to, and b) they’re expected to report the details and outcome of the race, even if a contestant is injured or dies during competition.
It’s astonishing that the same country that still celebrates the envelope pushing performances (and near-death experiences) of the “Crazy Canucks” downhill ski team, hasn’t figured out that covering a war in the context of body counts is the sports journalism equivalent of limiting Olympic coverage to the daily injury reports of the various countries in competition.
Update – Missing details, and more at Defense Link. h/t to Maz2 in the comments.
Pte Costall IS a 22 year old man with a young family: this is true courage and self-sacrifice and service to Canada and the Afgan people; how can a CBC reporter possibly understand these concepts? The CBC should stick to covering politicians (especially Liberal) because the CBC knows all about smug and vapid posturing, about priviledge and self-interest, about doing nothing and claiming all the credit…
Can we imagine how the current ideologists running the CBC would report after Vimy Ridge, Dunkirk, Dieppe…or D-Day?
Does this sound like how today’s CBC would report the day after D-Day:
“A day after the “Allied” invasion of France, we know that the “Allied” forces, employing American-like invasion tactics, have suffered over 2,000 dead, and many thousands of injured. Losses of equipment in this apparently ill-planned endeavour are also reputed to be great.
Reports of the number of French civilian casualties at the hands of seemingly careless “Allied” forces are expected to be huge.
German troops defending France are believed by CBC military experts to have suffered significantly fewer casualties and are in a good position to repel the “Allied” attack on France and inflict a catastrophe of global proportions on the “Allied” forces.
The American President has said nothing about these great reversals and costs, instead making a radio statement merely calling on patriotism and requesting divine assistance for the “Allied” forces.
It will take more than that. Polls indicate support for the war has dropped considerably.”
Kate, that is the biggest load of horseshit I’ve read on this or any other blog. If you want to salute our soldiers properly, learn to write better.
Dave:
You forgot to add that they would then proceed to make a 5 day story out of each casualty, making sure to corner a family member or two within days of the funeral, to amplify the human suffering caused by the war. The story would run until the outset of the Korean War.
Good one, Dave!
Of course, if the CBC had reported that way on June 7th, 1944, they would have promptly found themselves in jail for “aiding and abetting the enemy”. And justifiably so.
A lot of the MSM can’t seem to separate themselves from their biases and spin.
A question for the MSM lefties:
Think about “Lord Haw Haw” and “Tokyo Rose” of that era, and look in the mirror. See any similarities? Is it possible your credibility is suffering the same fate?
As Kate points out, you didn’t tell us if we won the battle. Obviously a small detail that doesn’t fit the “spin”.
Kate:…amen…nothing further required.
BCL – The truth hurts!
It’s always served a left-wing media to show body bags instead of the people left alive, and the people they help.
Body bags make for better headlines unfortunately… It’s how the press won the war in Vietnam, and it’s how they intend to win the war in Iraq. I’ve no doubt that CBC will focus more and more on the number of dead and injured as the months move forward in their effort to win a leftwing victory in Afghanistan.
My condolences to the family and friends of the young man, and while it’s no doubt small comfort to them, at least they know he died as a result of doing his duty to his nation and his comrades.
My wife’s grandfather lived in a trench in France for a number of years during WWI before he was blown up by a shell and evac’d to England. He had shrapnel in his leg & lower torso for the rest of his life. My guess is they lost dozens of guys every weeks to ratbite infections and other diseases… never mind hundreds or thousands during each offensive action. He never bitched or whined about once in his life. He was a soldier.
It’s the Army folks. They didn’t enlist to study invertebrates, or folk dance. Their function is to break stuff and kill people.
And there will be casualties.
P.S. Keep an eye on the newspapers. I guarantee there will be more Canadians killed in traffic accidents this Victoria Day weekend than soldiers (in all these years) in Afghanistan.
Let the CBC and the rest of the leftwing loonies mourn them.
To PTe Robert Costall family; My thought and prayers are with your family. I just want you to know that Canada appreciates very much the job that he was doing. My deepest sympathy.
Judging from the story being carried on CNN, it appears that the coalition forces acquitted themselves extremely well. A significant number of Taliban killed, arms caches discovered and destroyed, and Taliban command structures captured.
CNN) — Coalition forces and militants battled on Wednesday in southern Afghanistan, a long stretch of fighting that claimed the lives of a U.S. and a Canadian soldier and more than 30 militants, according to coalition authorities.
A statement from the coalition command in Kabul and a Canadian National Defense official confirmed the coalition deaths and injuries, the wounding of three Canadians, an American and an Afghan National Army soldier.
They were transported to Kandahar province for treatment.
The coalition issued a statement describing the fighting, which it said occurred “during an enemy attack on a forward operating base” in Helmand province.
The U.S. and Canadian casualities were caused during early-morning fighting, which also left 12 insurgents dead.
Fighting continued through the daylight hours and claimed the lives of 20 more insurgents.
The engagement was called a defeat for “a large enemy element that was attempting to retreat into sanctuaries,” according to the coalition statement.
Coalition forces destroyed two Taliban headquarters buildings and found “large caches of munitions as they overran the Taliban compound and the enemy fled.”
The forces “destroyed the munitions, which included weapons and improvised explosive device materials, causing multiple secondary explosions and destroying the compound and all enemy military equipment inside.”
This brings the number of U.S. dead in Operation Enduring Freedom to 280, including 141 in combat.
Eleven Canadians also have died in the Enduring Freedom, the war on terror campaign that started after U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government, which harbored the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
The incident followed other hostilities on Tuesday, including a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan that killed four people employed by a U.S. security firm. One was South African and the other three were Afghan.
The U.S. Central Command Air Forces Forward Public Affairs issued a statement on Wednesday saying that coalition aircraft flew 26 close air support missions on Tuesday in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
These include “support to coalition and Afghan troops, reconstruction activities, and route patrols.”
“A United States Air Force B-52, Predator, A-10s and Royal Air Force GR-7s provided close air support to coalition troops in contact with enemy forces in the vicinity of Gereshk,” the statement said.
bigcitylib @ 10:06 AM: “…that is the biggest load of horseshit I’ve read…” +
MSM reports no casualties,nor deaths, taken by the so-called “insurgents”. The MSM roots for the enemy, the Islamist jihad terrorists.
Down with the MSM. The MSM are “useful idiots”, betrayers of Canada. +
Canadian Soldier Killed in Afghan Firefight
Josh Pringle and Norman Jack
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
A 22-year-old Canadian soldier is dead after a five-hour gun battle with Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan.
Private Robert Costall died when militants tried to overrun his position. Canadian military officials say he died defending his comrades.
The battle began late last night when the Taliban attacked an Afghan Army supply convoy.
Coalition commanders dispatched a quick reaction force of Canadian troops by helicopter some 110 kilometers from Kandahar to help defend the convoy. That’s when massed Taliban forces attacked in strength. Coalition officers called in attack helicopters, ground-attack jets, and a B-52 bomber to help stave off the attack.
Three other Canadian soldiers were wounded. One US soldier and at least eight Afghan Army troops were also killed.
Costall, a native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, was a member of the 1st Battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry based in Edmonton.
Twelve Canadians have died in Afghanistan since 2002. +
cfra.com
Where can I get one of those “I support the troops” decals to put on my car? I’d like to make some sort of personal statement to counter the spin the media put out.
sooz – I picked mine up in the US. They’re available everywhere there, and a high percentage of vehicles are displaying them. In Canada you’re hard pressed to find one.
Excellent point, Kate. First and foremost is our sadness regarding the loss, but I wanted to know more, and, frankly, how many of the enemy they killed.
Difficult words to add to the CBC vocabulary: kill, enemy.
How ideological blinkers do simplify the view!
Before lambasting the disagreeable (and that seems to be their perpetual offence – they disagree with the “right”)leftist MSM over a reporting job once again, perhaps the circumstances should be considered.
There was a firefight with casualties. The military(ies) involved know exactly what happened to whom, when and where. Did they provide those facts to the accredited media? Did they say that an attack by so many fighters on so many coalition troops was beaten off with so many casualties to each side? Did they specify whether the attack was testing, harassing, designed to inflict casualties, or that the enemy attacked in sufficient strength to indicate an objective of capturing and/or destroying the coalition base? (If you do want to measure success, you should know the objective attained or defeated.)
Don’t complain about spin until military authorities provide clear facts that can be distorted by left, right or centre media. In the absence of such facts, suspicions tempered by ideology, faith, commitment or wishful thinking, serve as substitutes – for all sides of the political spectrum.
The Costall family is in my thoughts and prayers. Thanks kate for the realistic report.
agitfact:…good points all round…I believe the question revolves around what template is used until those facts are known. Since reporters are notorious for speculating (they need copy) when the facts aren’t there, the ‘company’colours tend to shine through.
Dave . good one, but you left out “quagmire”, repeated every third word 🙂
This has been the problem with the media all along — we get only a body count. There are no stories of campaigns, no reporting of battle actions as they progress, no articles describing the goals and the outcomes. For that, you have to do your own web mining, and relatively few people are willing to spend the time or even know that the information is available.
Listen to a Pentagon press briefing, then see what the reporters choose to report — I guarantee you’ll be shocked and apalled.
Whatever shred of respect I had for journalists 3 years ago has been eradicated by the shoddy work they’ve done telling us about the war– their only interest is in promoting their own anti-war agenda. Despicable.
Putting Canadian casualties in perspective: This letter to the Ottawa Citizen, March 29, outlines non-combat (Royal) Canadian Air Force fatalities during the Cold War (full text not online).
“Re: The price we’ve paid, March 27.
While it is worth reporting that 10 soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2002, Canadians would be remiss to forget the exceedingly greater loss of Canadian pilots during the Cold War.
For instance, between 1951 and 1963, 92 pilots and navigators were killed while flying the CF-100s in Canada, France and Germany.
Between 1952 and 1967, 107 Canadian pilots were killed flying F-86 Sabres while stationed overseas in England, France or Germany or at home in Canada.
Between 1962 and 1983, 37 Canadian pilots were killed flying CF-104 Starfighters in Germany and Canada.
These 236 pilots gave their lives defending Canada and the free world during a time of real crisis. Their sacrifices must never be forgotten.
Stephen Lowry,
Ottawa”
Mark
Ottawa
The media is all about “breaking” the story – being the first to “break” the news gets you points on the popularity scale. Therefore by “breaking” the news first – even though you don’t research, get backup facts, report the other side – is the name of the game.
In these days of 24 hour news, instant “breaking” news, there is a rush to get the story out before the other guy to enhance your position.
What often gets lost in this rush is the truth!
A Conservative government created the CBC. Liberal governments have contaminated it. A Conservative government has to kill it. It’s beyond salvage.
Prime Minister Harper: When are you going to pull the trigger?
The BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4855634.stm
BBC NEWS
Afghan fighting leaves ’34 dead’
US-led coalition forces say they have killed 32 “enemy fighters”, assumed to be the Taleban and their allies in clashes in southern Helmand province.
One US and one Canadian soldier were killed, the US says after a coalition base came under attack.
Five other soldiers, including one American and three Canadians, were wounded in Wednesday’s fighting.
The Taleban are reported as saying that they have begun a new spring offensive against foreign and government forces.
Helmand province has been at the centre of a recent upsurge in fighting.
Compound ‘overrun’
The US military said on Wednesday that coalition forces had “defeated a large enemy element that was attempting to retreat into sanctuaries”.
It said 12 militants were killed earlier in the day and another 20 in subsequent fighting.
A US military statement said: “Coalition forces also discovered large caches of munitions as they overran the Taleban compound and the enemy fled. Coalition forces destroyed the munitions.”
“With our coalition partners and the government of Afghanistan we are committed to continuing offensive operations against the Taleban and other terrorists that are attempting to disrupt the considerable progress of reconstruction and governance in Afghanistan,” Brig Gen Anthony Tata said.
The Reuters news agency quoted a man who identified himself as a Taleban spokesman saying they had begun a spring offensive against foreign forces.
“The weather is warming and Taleban attacks on coalition and Afghan forces have begun,” a man who called himself Mullah Mohammad Hanif said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Over 220 US military personnel have been killed in Afghanistan there since the ousting of the Taleban in 2001, according to reports.
More than 3,000 British troops are to be deployed in the province in the coming months.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4855634.stm
Published: 2006/03/29 12:27:35 GMT
� BBC MMVI
BCL, thank you for making Kate’s argument. You know, the one where, if a point doesn’t fit your worldview (I actually mean mean-spiritness and arrogance), it is “horse****.” You’ve got a lot of nerve criticizing others’ writing skills. Maybe you ought to write “better;” profanity is a sign of a poor vocabulary.
32-2.
See Yahoo.
I’d LOVE to see an MSM writer put out an article saying “Tragically we lost one of our own, but combined with the Afghanis and Americans we kicked 32 Taliban a$$es in the meantime.”
SOOZ– try your local royal canadian legion branch, most branches were issued the magnetic support ribbons a few months back.. & to our resident lefties, maybe you should try attending the next remembrance in your community. You will see the true spirit of supporting our troops… SOOZ.. if you have trouble finding one contact me, Iam sure we have some still at our branch..
thanks for supporting our troops.
You know, I’m getting sick and tired of the media “reports” on the news that tell us only what THEY want us to know rather than the whole story of what actually happened! What happened to our “news” reporters? Were they up in the Artic and got their pointy little heads frozen?!! In another article {I think yesterday or the day before} someone said that seeing how we, the tax payers, fund CBC and given the “quality” of their reporting, we should just pull the plug on them. I agree 100%!!
We have troops fighting in Afghanistan and I certainly want to know about their well-being and their accomplishments. I want to know the WHOLE story, not the “politically correct” one!! MSM have let us down BIG TIME and we need to voice our concern with those bozos, those censors! War is hell and people die, I’d like to know why. Give us the facts on what’s happening or stay the hell out of the way! Can anyone sense that I’m frustrated?????!!
Mark Collins:…the history lesson is appreciated…I was aware of deaths but not in those numbers. In talking with a supervisor who flew the F86 Super Sabre, his comment was (I paraphrase)…”You had better be ready once you light it up or it will get you”. I understand there was a tendency to want to over-rotate on t/o if you weren’t careful. As well, the CF-104 Starfighter became known as the “Widow Maker”…as described to me…”It’s nothing more than a rocket with a seat attached” and a difficult a/c to fly. It’s also my understanding that the German version had an ejection seat that exited the a/c in a downward direction, as opposed to the conventional model. This required rolling the a/c prior to ejecting or becoming a lawn dart, if evacuating the a/c was attempted at low level (at which a lot of the practice NATO missions were flown in Germany).
The Canadian soldier, airman and sailor have an honourable tradition surrounding them and continue to live up to it. Our history, including what we are watching now, is there to be learned from. Whether there is 100% agreement for being there or not, we are there! Our troops need our support and their sacrifices remembered, IMHO!!
Aunty-American Riley & clone-crow of C. Parrish, adds
her self-loathing to the frog/crow chorus:
CROAK CAW CROAK CAW… +
Susan Riley: Liberals need to defeat Harper before he gets Majority
Harper’s rhetoric on Afghanistan is sounding increasingly Bush-like, and his version of open and accountable government seems to stop at the door of the Prime Minister’s Office. But who knows what he might do if he gets his majority? +
via nealenews.com
God Bless Pte. Costall and his family. Robert Costall was a warrior and a patriot.
maz2, almost every single one of Susan’s articles consist of hysterical ranting against PM Harper, she is completely off her rocker.
Watching her unravel the past few weeks has been rather amusing. I’m sure she hasn’t slept a full night since January 23rd, she must be a real treat to live with!
My thanks to Pte. Robert Costall and his family for their sacrifice.
“” Kate, that is the biggest load of horseshit I’ve read on this or any other blog. If you want to salute our soldiers properly, learn to write better.
Posted by bigcitylib at March 29, 2006 10:21 AM “”
Say, bigcityturd, obviously no one visits your pathetic blog, so you have to come here to broadcast your tripe. There aren’t too many like you left now, you must be feeling a little lonely??
Kate what is this hate you have on for the CBC??
It is irrational and unfounded.
I flipped on the TV over lunch just in time to see an officer thoroughly explain the entire incident up to and including the fact that the base was kept secure. This officer went on for several minutes in his explanation. Is there any other media source that would give so much time to a single incident involving Canadian troops? I don’t think so.
Did it ever occur to you that maybe they didn’t have all the details of the operation when you heard about it.
Maz2:
That fits the LIEberal spin of PM Stephen Harper as a scary war mongering demagogue.
Of course this completely negates the fact that the LIEberals were quite willing to portray the military as a bunch of marauding goons willing to ravage the civilian population of Canada “With Guns, In Your Cities”. The only thing missing from that ad was the “double S runes” on the lapels and mustache on Harper.
What the LIEberals have yet to explain or account for is this:
Is there ever a legitimate reason to be at war? If yes, when and under what circumstances?
So if one is a Conservative supporter, according to Lieberal lights, one is unCanadian, a warmonger, and of course “unfit to hold office”.
But pointing out that the Lieberals themselves approved the Afghanistan mission is supposed to fall on deaf ears. So according to Riley then Pte Costall died in vain?
What we would like to know from the Lieberal version of unreality is there ever a construct known as good and evil, and are human beings moral agents?
If they answer in the negative, then we can invite the terrorists to take over our planes and fly them into the CN tower or the next well attended sporting event or the Parliament Buildings themselves.
Perhaps we should revise the proactive plan of fighting terrorism in Afghanistan and go on a defensive footing. We will just react when some terrorists go up to Uranium City, Saskatchewan build a device, float it across the Great Lakes and let them take Chicago off the map. But I gather Riley missed the news story of uranium being transported across the border in full view of customs officers on the US side. What a great plan, I’m sure our largest trading partner would be pleased.
Perhaps Riley can accompany Chief of Defense Gen. Hillier as he delivers his condolences to the Costall family and explain that his sacrifice was all a giant ruse and in vain.
Better yet invite Riley to Aghanistan’s fire fight on the front line and experience “real shit”. Then perhaps Riley will better appreciate the difference between “real shit” and “bullshit”.
bcl, you putrid little piece of shit.
Why don’t you tell us your real name and where you live if you’re such a big brave man.
Thought so.
what for doug?
look at it this way. . . whack 32 Talibans and you deflower 2304 muslim virgins in their heaven.
Its a make-work project for the Relion of Peace.
If CBCpravda were covering the second world war using their current mental state they would be more interested in getting Lorne Greene an award than the outcome or the reason for being there.
They lost their way years ago and should lose the mandate and the funding now.
“look at it this way. . . whack 32 Talibans and you deflower 2304 muslim virgins in their heaven.”
Good one Fred…
At the same time, Kate, this socialist mindset isn’t lost in the sports world either. Imagine if one of our ski racing team were to be killed in a skiing accident. There would be a huge uproar from the left who would demand sweeping changes to or even the outright abolishing of the sport. It always comes down to whether citizens can be allowed to make decisions for themselves or if that process needs to be left to the nanny state.
I find this whole thing frightening. Some very nasty people in this world are learning to use our own citizens against us.
Watch for CBC, aka Communist Broadcasting Corp., go all Hamassed in regard to this from the Harper gov’t.
Notice how SSM worded the item: “… cuts aid to Palestinians after Hamas…” Implication is that the poor, benighted “Palestinians” will suffer by the scary Conservative gov’t’s cut of the “aid”.
The “aid” goes to Hamas directly which then doles out a pittance to their people; the greatest portion stays with Hamas to finance its terrorism.
Next, the good fellas of the Tamil Tiger terrorists; Paul Who?’s supporters/donors. +
More, please, and faster. +
Canada cuts aid to Palestinians after Hamas refused to renounce violence
OTTAWA (CP) – Canada is cutting ties – and aid – to the Palestinian Authority… +
via cnews
maz2:
What a concept, harmonizing foreign policy with the war on terror.
MY GOD, that is, oh horror of LIEberal horrors, LOGICAL!!
Bigcitylib, Do you actually know any soldiers? And would you admit it in public if you did?
Bigcitylib is nothing more than a left wing zealot who is merely espousing his ilk’s mindset: smear, reductionism, and hysteria. No arguments, reason, or facts, just plain nonsense.
Thank God our great country is now run by Conservatives, and we have a real leader in the South in George W. Bush–a gracious gentleman if there ever was one, not like the morons and buffoons who ran our country into the ground, i.e., Paul Martin and Jean Chretien (two men with a inferiority complex with their frequent pot shots at President Bush).
You’re entitled to an opinion BCL, but only when it is an informed one.
Your suggestion to send sports reporters to war zones is apt, because, as you say, they are used to reporting on the outcome of events and not just on casualties.
Perhaps Nahla Ayad could fill in for them: “The Oilers played the Rangers last night. Here are the results: Jason Smith took a puck off the ankle and limped to the bench, but returned for the third period. Steve Staios pulled a groin, and Jaromir Jagr received a small cut below his left eye, in an American-style act of aggression. More highlights at eleven.”
Hans: Jawohl. Lookee at the video? Give us your thoughts later? Danke. +
The Real Reason Italy is an Ally in the War on Terror
Faith Freedom ^
Posted on 03/29/2006 11:37:21 AM PST by elfman2
This short video clip is worth 1000 word regarding the threat of Radical Islam to Italian culture and values. +
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1605579/posts
http://www.nobsys.net/images/muslimeatinghabits.wmv
I am in the US Military and I don’t like to see allied soliders killed, however I was wondering what happened in Canada during WWI, WWII, and Korea? I am always told about the enormous sacrifices of CDNS during those conflicts. What has happened? CDNs have become soft from socialist living?
Hans R., have you taken leave of the common sense you have shown in some pretty cogent posts?
Instead of frothing at the mouth impugning an unwillingness to face war to the Liberal Party, you might check to see who was in power when this country did go to war:
Boer War – Libs (Laurier)
WWI – Cons(Borden)
WWII – Libs (Mackenzie King)
Korea – Libs (St. Laurent)
Iraq I – Cons (Mulroney)
Afghanistan – Libs (Chretien)
The decision to fight in 1900 and 1914 was made for us by the Mothercountry, since Canada was a dominion without autonomy in foreign affairs. Which leaves one war in Canada’s history freely entered into by a conservative government – Iraq I.
Whatever you want to beat the Liberal Party with, an unwillingness to face war should not be it.
Richard Romano, why do I see the very things you are flailing BCL with in your very own post?