A friend who was serving on the USS Nimitz last year related a story today. Before being allowed on shore in Singapore, they were convened and advised of the consequences of poor behavior – Singapore’s intolerance of even minor crimes (singing in public, for example) is legendary.
With this caution in mind, sailors in a hotel bar noticed someone they thought was a tech support guy from the ship, completely enebriated and close to causing trouble. To save him from himself, they tried to escort him quietly back to the ship, but he resisted, and the situation deteriorated. A broken beer bottle and bloodied scalp later, military police arrived on the scene, and the drunk was handcuffed, thrown on a stretcher, and carried back on board.
The drunk continued to be disruptive, and was giving medical personel a difficult time, when someone thought to check his identity.
They’d kidnapped an American tourist.

Our allies in the WOT are going to be rocked back on their heels by the military spending increases in today’s 2004 budget.

An additional $250 million over two years for peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism.

$50 million for the peacekeeping force in Haiti.

That’ll have them sucking in their breath.

Exemption from tax of the income earned by Canadian Forces personnel and police while serving on high-risk international missions.

Woo-hoo! and all this time they were thinking helicoptors! new ships! eh… bullets?

“An additional $605 million over five years for the security contingency reserve.”

“Reserve” means that it doesn’t get spent unless the Peace Tower comes crashing down.

Building on the 8-per-cent increase for 2004-05, an additional $248 million for international assistance, or an 8-per-cent increase, for 2005-06.

Something tells me this doesn’t mean rounding up the 36,000 missing deportees in the country.
update – others are noticing.
added to the Snark Hunt

New Listing Prime location southwest of Kabul, within marching walking distance of downtown attractions. Beautiful mountain vistas.
Distinctive character home, ideal for the “fixer upper”. Outbuildings in good repair, suitable for moving, plenty of parking. Many upgrades, including an open air gymnasium and running track. Nightly fireworks. more

Subdivision potential. Owner has over $90 million invested, open to offers.

.

They volunteered to serve their country. They had no idea what their country had in mind.
Winnipeg Sun

Friesen, who’s now 77 and lives in Winkler, was pulled from training at Camp Shilo in 1945. He was among more than 2,500 young recruits who took an oath of secrecy to participate in a top secret mission — most at a military base in Alberta, others at the National Research Council in Ottawa.
They didn’t know their mission would entail being exposed to poisonous gases, and that they’d be denied medical care for days so scientists could study the horrifying effects.
The soldiers were marched into a field at what is now CFB Suffield near Medicine Hat where they were exposed to mustard gas vapours. Fifteen minutes later they were taken back to the base where they were put in a cold chamber for three hours, Friesen recalls.
“We were still wearing our contaminated clothing sitting in there.”
But that wasn’t the end of it. They were then taken to a hot chamber.
“We were made to perspire which opened our pores. That’s when the fireworks started,” Friesen said. “The vapours trapped in our clothing got into our skin and we got huge blisters all over, including the most tender parts of our bodies.”
…
“We didn’t know what we were going into,” said Tanner, now 77 and living in Kelowna, B.C. “They didn’t tell us what we’d be doing — they said it was top secret. It sounded like something from James Bond.”
After being gassed, the soldiers were taken to the base hospital where they assumed they’d be treated but that didn’t happen despite their cries for care.
“They didn’t give us anything for the pain and they didn’t treat our blisters,” Friesen said. “They just kept us under observation so they could see how our bodies reacted to the gas exposure.”
Many of the men who were gassed in Suffield have not been able to have children, others have been plagued by lung ailments, and other have battled cancer. It’s unknown how many are still alive.

They were paid an additional dollar a day as compensation. Ottawa refused to acknowledge the testing even took place until 1988. Today, defense minister David Pratt announced a $50 million tax-free payout to the estimated 2000 soldiers who were affected.
About damned time.