Ottawa investigating Canadian's death in Iraq

[Big Foot]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1114553627442_109960558/?hub=TopStories

Ottawa investigating Canadian's death in Iraq

CTV.ca News Staff

Foreign Affairs is investigating whether a Canadian in Iraq was killed by U.S. forces on Saturday, a senior government source told The Canadian Press.

The unidentified Canadian died on Saturday, said Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Cloe Rodrigue.

Rodrigue added that the department is investigating the incident through its consular offices in Amman, Jordan.

She would not confirm the circumstances.

The Canadian Press reports that, according to a senior government source, there are reports that the U.S. military may have been involved.

The source said a man named Ali Alwan may have died after U.S. forces "tracked" a target using a helicopter gunship.

"The family wants the government to investigate," the source told The Canadian Press. "They believe it was an attack by coalition forces."

A Liberal MP responsible for Canadians abroad said the government is still investigating at this stage.

"There are a number of conflicting reports as to how the individual was killed," said Dan McTeague, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"At this stage, we don't have details as to how he was killed. We are looking at all aspects of this case to arrive at some conclusion. ... We only have anecdotal information," he told The Canadian Press.

More later . . .

 

[DogOfWar]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1114553627442_109960558/?hub=TopStories

Ottawa investigating Canadian's death in Iraq

CTV.ca News Staff

Foreign Affairs is investigating whether a Canadian in Iraq was killed by U.S. forces on Saturday, a senior government source told The Canadian Press.

The unidentified Canadian died on Saturday, said Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Cloe Rodrigue.

Rodrigue added that the department is investigating the incident through its consular offices in Amman, Jordan.

She would not confirm the circumstances.

The Canadian Press reports that, according to a senior government source, there are reports that the U.S. military may have been involved.

The source said a man named Ali Alwan may have died after U.S. forces "tracked" a target using a helicopter gunship.

"The family wants the government to investigate," the source told The Canadian Press. "They believe it was an attack by coalition forces."

A Liberal MP responsible for Canadians abroad said the government is still investigating at this stage.

"There are a number of conflicting reports as to how the individual was killed," said Dan McTeague, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"At this stage, we don't have details as to how he was killed. We are looking at all aspects of this case to arrive at some conclusion. ... We only have anecdotal information," he told The Canadian Press.

More later . . .

Gee what was "Canadian" " Ali Alwan" doing in a war zone?? :

 

[Big Foot]

Hmmm, kinda makes you wonder. And as Piper said, wonder why they reacted so fast...

 

[Slim]

I bet I know "exactly" what he was doing there...Too bad the govt. will never own up to the fact that the we are currently sharing our country with the A.Q. and any other group that wants to call Canada(bankroll) home!

 

[Slim]

Well then...I guess they're all out of step but us. :skull:

 

[P-Free]

I'm sure Ali was just a misunderstood youth.. :-\

 

[Big Foot]

Well, I gotta say, it is kinda curious that a Canadian civilian would be wandering around in a war zone... makes you wonder, doesn't it?

 

[Slim]

Its probably a good thing the Yanks did whack him...If they'd just wounded the F#@K he'd be back in Canada in no time, whining about getting govt. health care for his "accidental" war wounds.

God I hate our immigration policies in this country...Where the heck did we go wrong?!

 

[DogOfWar]

Its probably a good thing the Yanks did whack him...If they'd just wounded the F#@K he'd be back in Canada in no time, whining about getting govt. health care for his "accidental" war wounds.

God I hate our immigration policies in this country...Where the heck did we go wrong?!

LOL SLIM!! We dont know the scoop yet. Maybe he was volunteering with some relief agency. I have my suspicions.But they havent said who or what he was yet LOL

 

[winchable]

They reacted quickly precisely because of the flak they took over the lady in Iran, lessons learned.

I'm surprised no one went with the relief agency angle like beadwindow it seems reasonable enough.
We know nothing about him or his family, I'm sure if he was "Joe Smith" we'd be up in arms about his death and asking the government to investigate.
Seeing as we don't have much information to go on I suppose it is easiest to assume that an Canadian/Arab in Iraq would deserve it somehow, sort of like the Italian Journalist and secret service agent got what was coming to them right?
Could be the same situation an unfortunate accident and as a result of the assumed risk one would take being there, could be he was an insurgent (which I'm in no way denying)

We always ask someone here who makes assumptions "How do you know for a fact?" well we've got cock all to go on in the way of facts here.
There's common sense and there's keeping a level head, best to balance wouldn't you say?

Hate it or love it the family has a right to ask that the government investigate the death since he was a Canadian citizen, these things aren't that easy to get trust me (in fact I was recently denied mine)

 

[Slim]

Its probably a good thing the Yanks did whack him...If they'd just wounded the F#@K he'd be back in Canada in no time, whining about getting govt. health care for his "accidental" war wounds.

God I hate our immigration policies in this country...Where the heck did we go wrong?!

O.K...I've had a few people come and chew on me for this comment...

I freely admit I known nothing more about this than the rest of you do. The guy could be an innnocent visiting his family, an NGO on a tasking or some other form of official over there or working above board for one reason or another.

If I'm wrong then I'll be the first to acknowledge the fact.

However, given the info I currently possess regarding this situation, I do strongly suspect this individual of being up to no good. There have been members of the A.Q. who have dirrectly fought both in Iraq and Astan against not only soldiers of our allies, but against our soldiers as well, then come home and talked about how "badly" they were treated. Then started DEMANDING medical help.

My question...Why are we, as a society, giving comfort to the enemy?!

I realize that bashing the U.S. has become something of a sport both in Canada and, to a far lesser degree, on this thread. I also feel that its assumed that the U.S. made an error before its assumed that the deceased subject was up to no good.

I don't agree with those that feel that the U.S. is to blame for the current situation in the Middle East, nor do I feel that consistently bashing them is an overly productive course of action.

Like I said, if I'm wrong then I'll accept the fact...However the vote is still out Ladies and Gents. Lets wait till we know more before throwing our respective rocks (I freely admit that this does include me) at the houses wich could turn out to have quite a bit of glass in them.

Slim

 

[KevinB]

Remember this is the same gov't that defended the Khadr's  : I After one of the sons grenaded a US SF Medic in Afghan - the same time we are solider beside the Americans...

I would have to say that I error on the side of distrust for "Canadians" with that sort of name in the conflict zone


No-one seems to care to investigate the Canadian killed working for Edinburg Risk...  Oh yeah the ROP's killed him nevermind them  :

 

[wack-in-iraq]

i never heard about this, for a nation who stayed out of this war we sure have a lot of guys over here. ive met more than one senior officer in uniform over here.....

 

[winchable]

Still nothing more then speculation in the media, so we know he was a truck driver.

Slim, good man, though if you read my post I refrained from throwing any rocks as is.

 

[KevinB]

Still nothing more then speculation in the media, so we know he was a truck driver.

We know he was employed in Canada as a truck driver - and frequently went into the US.  (although he claims not to have liked those runs)
He was also a mechanic.

We know ZERO of why he was in Iraq - in an insurgent held area.


However I think we can rules out he worked for UNHCR