Sunday, December 26, 2010

Did the Canadian Forces and Airshow...[updated with Cherry flavour]

...just permit and encourage a Canadian civilian to kill Taliban, via a large field gun?

Hockey icon fires live shell at Taliban


Reading the Ottawa Citizen headline, one cannot help but think a Mr. Don Cherry,  ornery geezer and politically partisan celebrity hockey commentator, not a member of the Canadian Forces and legally recognised combatant, was permitted to fire the gun on an authentic fire mission intended to kill people. Clarification on this latest hobby war fuckery is absolutely necessary.

UPDATE, 0dark30h, Monday: via Moon Rattled comments, Don Cherry responds in confirmation to my question:
@MyPetGloat They sure did!!! It was a blast..Ha get it now put that in yur peacepipe and smoke it
Yet, in the Natty Po, Doug Schmidt ambiguously states that Donald fired an "explosive-laden training round." As I mentioned in the comments, the statement could mean a number of things. Cherry might have fired a training round, which are low explosive or inert rounds that mimic the ballistic properties of war rounds but save on cost. It could also mean he fired a live 155mm high explosive, illumination, smoke, or some fancier ammo on on a designated training range (eg under NATO control, no Taliban). Or, if Cherry read my post accurately, he is confirming (or lying) that he was allowed to fire a war shot on a combat fire mission.

12 comments:

900ft Jesus said...

wow. war as entertainment for the privileged. what next? You too can go over and take shots at brown people - for a small fee - as long as you praise the mission and current government.

West End Bob said...

Well, Boris, this confirms stevie and petey's premise that it's all just war "games," doesn't it?

What better way to prove it than have that snappy dresser cherry over there poppin' a few?

One more way that stevie can fulfill his 2006 vow of: "bring Canada back as a credible player on the world stage."

Player + games + don cherry - All makes perfect sense in a perverted way . . .

Anonymous said...

Unless Cherry signed on the dotted line, does this make him a terrorist? Or an unlawful combatant?

Just going for consistency of definition here.

Edstock said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M777_howitzer

Apparently, we have 37 of 'em. Don't know if we have the GPS ammo.

Lindsay Stewart said...

I'm figuring this makes Cherry an unlawful combatant and guilty of no less than attempted murder. I'm sure someone with the knowledge and experience could draft a list of appropriate charges both domestic and international. As for Weepy Pete, well he should be tossed the fuck out of parliament on his ass for this stunt.

Southern Quebec said...

War as entertainment. All over Canada Conservative wing-nuts are getting a woodie...sick.

Moon Rattled said...

You might be interested in this.

I linked to your post in Twitter and Don Cherry responded. I take it this is the real Don Cherry.

Here's my post,
http://twitter.com/MyPetGloat/status/19295337898315776
"Did the Canadian Forces allow Don Cherry to fire a live round on the Taliban? http://tinyurl.com/2djeo4b"


Here's his response.
http://twitter.com/Donald_Cherry/status/19299794996432896

@MyPetGloat They sure did!!! It was a blast..Ha get it now put that in yur peacepipe and smoke it
-Donald_Cherry
-Don Grapes Cherry

I've saved his "tweet" as an image file in case he deletes it.

Moon Rattled said...

Looks like Peter McKay, the Minister of frackin' Defense cheered Cherry on!
http://tinyurl.com/37ng6ma

Boris said...

Moon Rattled, thanks for that!

The Natty Po is saying it was an "explosive laden training round" which means fuck all. It could mean he either fired a training round, which are low explosive or inert rounds that simulate the ballistic properties of rounds but save on cost. It could also mean he fired a live 155 HE, Ilum, smoke, or some other sort on a designated training range. Or, if Cherry read my post accurately, he is confirming (or lying) that he was allowed to fire a war shot on a combat fire mission.

Anonymous said...

So now the nations favourite bigot is firing blanks?

That figures, all mouth and no trousers..

Moon Rattled said...

Boris, this is what the National Post reported

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Christmas in Kandahar ended with some big bangs, first at dusk when Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry launched an M777 field artillery shell from a Canadian military base deep in Afghanistan's insurgent territory.

[...]

The Taliban's apparent response -- the second big bang -- came a few hours later when nearby Kandahar Airfield, the giant military base, was rocketed by insurgents and soldiers there were advised to head for shelter.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/Cherry+hits+Afghanistan+with+bang+Christmas/4028866/story.html#ixzz19Lb7nZX6

Rev.Paperboy said...

and people wonder why so many Afghans want us out of their country. What next? Will they let Rush Limbaugh launch the hellfire missiles on a predator drone strike? Bring in Bill O'Reilly to waterboard prisoners?
Either this is all bullshit and Cherry was firing practice rounds at a target for show or Airshow McKay and Don "the mouth that roared" Cherry just broke a hat-full of international and domestic laws. At the very least, this should cost both of them their jobs.