--Don Marquis
--Arthur C. Clarke First on the Moon, 1970
The 30 winners of a contest run by NH Hoteles were given sledgehammers to smash up the bedrooms and bathrooms of the 146-room hotel in the capital.
The participants of the "roomolition" were selected by psychologists from more than 200 stressed applicants.
The winners included top executives and a working mother who said she simply wanted to hit something.
High school teacher Pablo, another participant, said he really enjoyed letting off steam.
"I don't need to smash my classroom now, not anymore - I'm already relaxed," Pablo was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
The group were allowed to destroy the interiors on one entire floor of the hotel before builders move in to start a refurbishment.
Canadian soldier Robert Costall was shot to death from behind in Afghanistan last year by American troops, who opened machine-gun fire on him and then another friendly position during an insurgent attack, a newly released U.S. army report says.
Private Costall, 22, and Vermont National Guard Sergeant Tom Stone were killed during a prolonged and fierce gun battle in southern Afghanistan on March 29, 2006.
Pte. Costall was part of a 38-member Canadian quick-reaction force dispatched to assist a convoy under Taliban attack. During a larger battle that ensued, as Taliban forces attacked a forward operating base, two soldiers lost their lives.
In the weeks following Pte. Costall's death, Canadian and U.S. forces would not rule out friendly fire as a possible cause. A month after the Afghanistan battle, both forces launched an inquiry into the incident. The newly released U.S. army report, given to the Associated Press yesterday, all but confirms that Pte. Costall was shot and killed from behind by his allies.
However, the report does not include any statements from the Canadian soldiers present at the fight, nor does it say whether anyone has been disciplined as a result of the deaths.
In the version of the report made public, all names other than those of the two dead soldiers are blacked out.
Also apparently missing from the report is a statement from the soldier believed to have fired the M240 machine-gun that killed Pte. Costall and Sgt. Stone.
According to witnesses cited in the report, a unit at the forward operating base began firing on a Canadian position during an early morning firefight with the Taliban.
Warned that it was hitting friendlies, the unit appears to have switched targets, only to hit a group of American soldiers instead.
A first sergeant referred to as "Witness 1" in the report says:
"When the majority of the firefight took place [at] approximately 02:15, the [special forces] security element in the northeast corner began shooting out toward the perimeter, I immediately realized the s.f. was shooting at the Canadian position."
Witness 1 said he whistled to signal the special forces soldiers to stop firing.
"The s.f. security then turned his weapon 100 to 140 degrees from its original position and began firing in the direction of the American ETT compound," the witness said -- referring to the location where Sgt. Stone, an embedded tactical trainer, was hit.
According to the report, Americans and Afghan soldiers at Forward Operating Base Robinson were expecting to be attacked that night in retaliation for a coalition attack on enemy forces in the area.
The Canadian military has launched a separate investigation into the incident.
That inquiry has not been completed yet, but is expected to address some of the details not covered - likely for reasons of jurisdiction - by the U.S. army report.
Reached at the British Columbia family home last night, Pte. Costall's father, Greg, said he had heard about the U.S. Army report, but that he wanted to wait until the findings from the Canadian inquiry were released before he or his wife, Bonnie, would comment further.
Pte. Costall, himself a machine-gunner, was born in Thunder Bay, Ont., but grew up in Gibson, B.C.
He had been married just a year when he died.
He left behind his wife and a one-year-old son.
With a report from Associated Press
--Edward Chilton
Pretty much the same as my laptop battery. :-\
--Henry Adams
