Canada Bans Coverage of Returning War Dead
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060425/...allen_soldiers
TORONTO - Canada's new Conservative government barred the media from covering the return Tuesday of the flag-draped coffins of four soldiers killed in Afghanistan, angering political opponents and some families.
The government also has stopped lowering flags to half-staff outside Parliament each time a Canadian soldier is killed, prompting Liberals to accuse Prime Minister Stephen Harper of trying to play down the growing human cost of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan.
Fifteen Canadians have been killed, including Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Cpl. Randy Payne and Lt. William Turner, who were slain in a roadside bomb blast Saturday in southern Afghanistan in the deadliest attack against Canadian forces since they deployed to Afghanistan in 2002.
Canadian military officials blamed remnants of the toppled Taliban government for the bombing.
Their remains were to arrive Tuesday evening at a base in Trenton, Ontario.
The media learned Monday that they would be barred from the evening ceremony, a move that mirrors Bush administration policy blocking media coverage of the coffins of slain service members arriving in the United States
TORONTO - Canada's new Conservative government barred the media from covering the return Tuesday of the flag-draped coffins of four soldiers killed in Afghanistan, angering political opponents and some families.
The government also has stopped lowering flags to half-staff outside Parliament each time a Canadian soldier is killed, prompting Liberals to accuse Prime Minister Stephen Harper of trying to play down the growing human cost of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan.
Fifteen Canadians have been killed, including Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Cpl. Randy Payne and Lt. William Turner, who were slain in a roadside bomb blast Saturday in southern Afghanistan in the deadliest attack against Canadian forces since they deployed to Afghanistan in 2002.
Canadian military officials blamed remnants of the toppled Taliban government for the bombing.
Their remains were to arrive Tuesday evening at a base in Trenton, Ontario.
The media learned Monday that they would be barred from the evening ceremony, a move that mirrors Bush administration policy blocking media coverage of the coffins of slain service members arriving in the United States
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