28 September 2007

C'mon... it works for Dalton McGuinty

A little baksheesh for all the screaming protesters... and then you ran away and hide again.
-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Canadian officials have moved quickly to assure Afghan officials that their troops played no part in this week's shooting deaths of a local religious leader and his brother.

But military officers say they won't rush to use development projects to appease simmering public anger over the deaths, which prompted some 500 Afghans to block a highway west of here Wednesday.
It seems those darned fascists in the military have a different idea... they're gonna operate on principle.
"We don't want to be in a situation where we're seen as just bribing people who have a grudge against us," said Lieut. Derrick Farnham, a Canadian who works with the civil-military team on reconstruction.

"That's something that's been done in the past and it's been termed the great game in Afghanistan where locals play one side off the other in terms of getting treats and gifts. That's something we want to avoid," he said.