Canada awaits return of soldiers

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Posted 9:49AM on Saturday, April 20, 2002

EDMONTON, CANADA - As Canada prepared for the return of the bodies of four of its troops killed by a U.S. bomb in Afghanistan, people here expressed anger at their deaths but few saw lasting damage to relations between the nations. An American C-17 jet carrying the coffins of the four soldiers landed early Saturday at the U.S. Air Force base in Ramstein, Germany, and was met by an honor guard and a military chaplain. The coffins, draped with the red-and-white maple leaf flag, were then loaded into a Canadian military jet by Canadian soldiers dressed in blue dress uniforms. They departed after dawn for a military base in Trenton, Ontario. Media in Canada have complained that President Bush did not show enough public regret for Wednesday's tragedy, when a U.S. fighter mistakenly dropped a 500-pound bomb on Canadian troops during a training exercise, killing four and wounding eight others. The president made five public appearances Thursday without making reference to the incident. ``I wish we could bring them back,'' Bush said Friday. ``But we can't.'' Bush pledged to work with Canada in an investigation to find out what happened in what he called a ``terrible accident.'' Canada's deputy prime minister, John Manley, said Canadians would have appreciated an earlier public statement by Bush. Bush's condolences reassure Canada's troops ``that the United States is aware and realizes that this is a significant and huge and tragic event,'' Col. David Barr, chief of staff for the Canadian army's western area, said in Edmonton, Alberta, where the troops were based. The fatalities were Canada's first combat deaths since the Korean war. Canadian Defense Minister Art Eggleton said a Canadian board of inquiry will meet Monday and present an interim report on the bombing within three weeks. Canadians, meanwhile, continued to question their role in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, where their troops are fighting alongside U.S. and European soldiers. ``I am angry,'' said Marie Blosh, in front of Toronto's war memorial, where four fresh daffodils had been laid at the base. Bush is ``charging ahead like some kind of lone cowboy and expecting everyone to follow along,'' she said. If Canada is to continue its involvement in the war on terrorism, ``there needs to be more consensus.'' Still, few Canadians saw lasting damage to the neighboring nations' friendly relationship. ``There are too many other important areas of interest the two countries share,'' said Joseph Zboralski, a political science professor at Toronto's Ryerson University. Prime Minister Jean Chretien on Thursday said the deaths were the cost of defending freedom. The dead and wounded soldiers came from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based on the plains north of Edmonton. The battalion provides the bulk of this country's troop commitment to Afghanistan. Barr said a memorial ceremony for the four who were killed is scheduled for April 28 in Edmonton.