A few good men..

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

A few good men, but no vindication

In 2002 a team of Canadian army snipers marched up and down the infamous
Shahikot Valley for nine days and nine nights, hunting al-Qaeda fighters and
destroying enemy hideouts - resetting the bar of their elite profession. Yet
within days their heroics were forgotten, overshadowed by allegations that two
of the snipers sliced a finger off an enemy corpse. After a 10 month probe, it
was determined there wasn't enough evidence to lay criminal charges. But the
damage was done and three snipers were on their way out of the army, convinced
that the Forces had hung them out to dry.
For almost three years now, that question - "did the military mistreat
its decorated snipers?" - has been at the centre of yet another investigation,
this one by Yves Côté, the Canadian forces Ombudsmen. Thirty months and 147
witnesses later, he now has an answer: the snipers were not abandoned.
According to his final report, obtained by Maclean's, "The snipers, as a
group, were treated fairly by the Canadian Forces before, during and after
their service in Afghanistan." The report will not sit well with some, writes
Maclean's senior writer, Michael Friscolanti.