Canada to stage Afghan war porn attack in Washington

G&M : Canada to stage mock Afghan attack in Washington

"The Canadian embassy in Washington plans to build a faux Afghan village in the embassy courtyard, populated by Afghan actors, and set of fake IEDs, in an effort to show American opinion makers they're doing all they can to win the war in Afghanistan.
The Taliban will attack an Afghan village set up in the heart of Washington courtesy of the Canadian Forces, who will send in a medic in a dramatic effort to save a civilian crippled by the explosion.
At least four times over two days this month, simulated IED blasts will bring the Afghan war – and Canada's combat role in Kandahar – home to Americans if an elaborate scheme based on modern training realism attracts widespread attention, as is hoped."

Meanwhile, in the real world, same paper, same day :

Afghan officials say 90 dead in NATO air strike

"An American war jet blasted two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing up to 90 people, including insurgents and dozens of civilians who had rushed to the scene to collect fuel, Afghan officials said.

NATO officials initially insisted that there were no civilians in the area when the attack occurred about 2:30 a.m., but alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen later acknowledged some civilians may have died."

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Update : After reading in the Globe and Mail about the Canadian embassy's plan to stage mock explosions in downtown Washington DC, DefMin Peter MacKay put the kibosh on it, perhaps due to two other recent ill-advised WTF? warporn exercises:

On 9/11 this year, a US Coast exercise involving mock firing on an intruding speedboat on the Potomac coincided with President Barack Obama heading across the river to mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks:

"The Coast Guard exercise so rattled other security agencies that nearby Ronald Reagan National Airport was briefly closed and high-level officials spent much of the day apologizing and explaining to a rattled public.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was said to be incensed that the Coast Guard planned a mock attack, including reports of shots being fired, on 9/11.

That brouhaha echoed another military embarrassment earlier this summer when Air Force One – the Boeing 747 the carries the president – flew low over Manhattan pursued by a pair of U.S. airplanes, all for a photo opportunity.
Nervous New Yorkers fearing another attack were enraged, and the White House
apologized."

Seriously, WTF?
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