[Praxius]

Ombudsman's report to condemn treatment of Canadian snipers

Some Canadian Forces brass are expected to come under fire today for stonewalling a controversial investigation by the military ombudsman into alleged mistreatment of army snipers by their comrades in Afghanistan, CanWest News Service has learned. Ombudsman Yves Cote is to release a report today that is three years in the making, and dates back to a chain of events that began on a remote stretch of mountain in eastern Afghanistan more than five years ago when six Canadian snipers and their American counterparts killed a group of al-Qaida militants. "The reason why this investigation took so long was that National Defence, the Canadian Forces withheld documents for about 12 months," said a government source familiar with the inquiry conclusions, and who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the report. "It really hindered the investigation, particularly the timeliness of it." The snipers had been involved in an elite combat mission with their U.S. allies, all of whom were charged with hunting al-Qaida militants as part of Canada's maiden military effort in Kandahar in early 2002, but when the Canadians returned to their base, their comrades treated them like turncoats. Later in 2002, the U.S. military awarded the six Canadians the Bronze Star, an award usually given to American soldiers for heroic deeds in combat. In 2004, the father of one of the snipers, Pat Ragsdale, went public with complaints about how his son, Master Cpl. Graham Ragsdale, was treated and how the military treated the family. Ragsdale's son reportedly suffered from post-traumatic stress after his return from Afghanistan. In September 2004, then chief of defence staff, Gen. Ray Henault, ordered the ombudsman to conduct an investigation into how the snipers and, in particular, the Ragsdale family were treated by the Forces. "The ombudsman, in particular, is concerned about how the father was treated when he came forward with these concerns," said the source. The investigation was plagued by further delays about which Cote's outspoken predecessor, Andre Marin, complained publicly two years ago. Marin accused the army of unfairly hindering his investigation by withholding transcripts of the military's own internal tribunals into the case, and flatly rejecting his request to see its daily war dairies of the time in question. By early 2005, Marin had received just eight of 31 tribunal transcripts, and some of those were highly edited. Marin has since left the military ombudsman's job and gone on to become the Ontario government ombudsman. However, some documents relating to the incident have been declassified over the years and released under Access to Information. Photos showed one dead man with sign on his chest that read "F--k Terrorism," a cigarette in his mouth and a missing finger. A military investigation into whether someone committed indignities to a body later concluded that a sniper linked to the photo would not face charges. The documents indicated that the snipers did not receive stress counselling after they returned to their main base at Kandahar Air Field, but were allowed a meeting with an American chaplain when he learned they had not spoken to anyone.

First time I heard about this case.... it's not really detailed as to what the heck is going on..... I guess it has something to do with the photo of the dead soldier with the sign and finger missing..... and has something to do with the rest of the forces turning against them for some reason.....

They're snipers... snipers hunt down the enemy and kill them..... I'm not sure what's going on with this.... does anybody else have info on this matter.... for example any information from the US side of this story? (Since this was a joint operation between the two forces)