Roadside Bombs
Another Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb. It's the third such attack on Canadian troops in a week, though this was the first fatality. Going beyond that and looking at the fatality details for coalition troops as a whole, it appears that the roadside bomb is becoming an ever more popular way for the insurgents in Afghanistan to attack, no doubt learning from the example of what the Iraqis are doing to US forces there.
Such weapons are very difficult to deal with in a counterinsurgency situation. The strike without warning, and the people responsible for the attack are nowhere to be found afterwards. The frustration from that can lead to heavy-handed tactics when an enemy does appear, and such tactics alienate the people who are needed as an intelligence source to show you where the bombs are being planted. An ugly cycle.
As a side note, do you think Harper really should have linked the mission in Afghanistan with the complete disaster of the Dieppe raid?
UPDATE: That would be a no to the Dieppe/Afghan link.
