Canada limits coverage of war dead

TORONTO – A day after Canada’s newspapers carried front-page photos of the flag-draped coffins of four soldiers killed in Afghanistan, the Conservative government slapped a ban on news media coverage of the coffins’ return home to Canada. The order on Tuesday, and an earlier decision by the government not to lower the national flag to half-staff to mark the soldiers’ deaths, brought criticisms that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is trying to muffle reaction to Afghanistan casualties.

“What is the prime minister trying to hide by dishonoring fallen soldiers?” Jack Layton, leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, demanded in the House of Commons.

“We should not be trying to hide these things,” echoed Bill Graham, leader of the Liberal Party.

Harper insisted the government is protecting the privacy of grieving families, and Conservative officials said the flag has traditionally not been lowered for war casualties. But the debate underlined the public’s qualms over Canada’s beefed-up role in Afghanistan, and the government’s nervousness about uncertain support for that operation.

Canada has 2,300 troops in Afghanistan, and has recently moved its operation from Kabul to the more dangerous Kandahar region in the south. The four soldiers, killed Saturday in a roadside bomb blast north of Kandahar city brought the Canadian death toll in Afghanistan to 16, including a diplomat.

Harper, who took office in January, is a strong supporter of the military mission.