More information is coming out about the firefight that took the life of Captain Goddard of the 2RCHA. Working with Afghan Police and Army, the Canadians took the battle to the Taliban. A large group of Taliban, (estimated at being around 200) had congregated in one of the more troublesome areas 24 KM west of Kandahar City. Intel was developed with the Afghan forces and a decision was to take the bad guys head on. The Taliban was supposedly in final preparations for a large attack on Kandahar City, including killing the local Governor. The attack that saw Captain Goddard killed in was a supposedly quite a fierce battle lasting for hours involving 1PPCLI and other units including Goddard's 2RCHA. Goddard's LAV column was hit from 2 sides by an enemy force estimated to be anywhere from 20-40 attackers extensively using RPG's. Goddard's vehicle was hit by two and possibly three RPG's but continued to motor on in spite of the fatal injuries sustained by the Captain. Some reports indicated that one of the Taliban's key henchmen Mullah Dadullah was at the centre of the attack. Contact saw numerous Taliban killed, (18 is the latest head count for enemy KIA and 26 captured), and unconfirmed Afghan reports have been heard about the Mullah being captured, although Cdn. sources have not confirmed this. Helo gunships and attack aircraft were used in the large contact. This battle seems to be a continuation of a battle that went on for 24-hours on Wed./Thurs. of this week where an estimated 90 Taliban were killed. Unfortunately Captain Goddard, 18 Afghan police officers and 1 US citizen were killed, along with some innocent civilians caught in the middle. By any measure these kill rates can't be sustained by the Taliban, who are being informed on by locals more often as the Cdn. mission pushes right into the Taliban's own backyard, and keeps them off balance, and thereby making believers of the locals in the new government and its allies. Unfortunately these low lifes don't respect innocent civilian lives and they are basically cowards, hence their actions in built up areas, IED's in crowded places, etc. More as info arrives.

Well winning doesn't mean not taking casualties - still makes you sad. Hope her family will find some consolation in the pride - but the loss is still there.

Since the Captain's death, we have had 2 more wounded, one seriously during a rocket attack on main base in Kandahar...and the fight continues. We're hoping that in time the Afghan police and army will be trained enough and strong enough to supplant NATO forces, including Canada, on the frontlines and use us mostly in a QRF role. Ultimately we'd like to work ourselves out of this job and remain in a reconstruction and advisory role. The current commitment to Afghanistan is 'breaking the bank' in terms of over utilizing the too few troops we have.

I have a friend who believes the recent terrorist arrests in Toronto were a sham and that the muslim teens were framed by the Canadian government. I tried to talk some sense into this branwashed dumbsh*t but he got really defensive and declared that the entire Canadian media was biased. At this point, I started to call him out on his BS, but he was hostile to anything I had to say and he was adament that view was the only right one and anyone who believed the media like me was 'stupid'. This saddened me because it is people like him who give immigrants a bad name. If Canada's multi-cultural experiment is to succeed and many cultures are to live in harmony, we cannot have extremist views like his ruining it for all immigrants. No surprise here, that my friend was a pakistani muslim and he has said in the past that the Afghan war, the Iraq war and Isreal's current war with Lebanon are all unjustified attacks on Muslims. Yes, this guy's view of reality is completely distorted. My question about my friend is he just a brainwashed dumbsh*t or a traitorous brainwashed dumbsh*t who should be reported to CSIS for treason? This view seems to be prevalent among my muslim friends (and if not prevalent, none of my other muslim friends spoke up against this guy's BS). Being a non-muslim immigrant myself, I hope these people don't ruin it for all patriotic immigrants and for Canada. Fellow Canadians respond I want to hear from you!