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Author Topic: B.C. carpenter killed in Afghanistan
unionist
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posted 25 July 2006 03:55 PM      Profile for unionist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
B.C. man building school killed in Afghanistan

quote:
A Vancouver carpenter has been killed in northern Afghanistan, where he had been completing construction of a school he had been working on for the past four years.

Mike Frastacky, 56, was shot to death on Sunday in a home he was staying at in the town of Nahrin.

His sister, Luba Frastacky of Toronto, told CBC Radio on Tuesday that Canadian Foreign Affairs officials said her brother was shot three times in the head.

She said he knew it was particularly dangerous in northern Afghanistan this summer, and that there was talk of a $10,000 bounty being offered for the death of a Westerner. [...]


Here was a story about him in 2002:

Vancouver man's mission of mercy

quote:
The Afghan villagers were warm, hospitable, generous and family-oriented. He liked them.

"It's a society where they look you straight in the eye and they assess the legitimacy of your intentions very carefully because they have seen so much duplicity over the last 20 years. . . . Once they establish the legitimacy of what you are trying to do, they will do anything for you."


No comment.


From: Vote QS! | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
Webgear
rabble-rouser
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posted 25 July 2006 05:14 PM      Profile for Webgear     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Mike Frastacky seemed like a very decent man, it is sad to hear about his death. I hope his work will carry on.
From: Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
unionist
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posted 25 July 2006 05:18 PM      Profile for unionist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Webgear:
Mike Frastacky seemed like a very decent man, it is sad to hear about his death. I hope his work will carry on.

I agree. But clearly, it can only carry on once the Afghani people have been allowed to take command of their own lives and country. Until then, there will be no end of tragedies.


From: Vote QS! | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
Webgear
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posted 25 July 2006 05:22 PM      Profile for Webgear     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
It is sad state of affairs that this man was killed becuase he was trying to help the people of Afghanistan.

I hope the Afghan National Police can catch his killers.


From: Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
unionist
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posted 25 July 2006 06:16 PM      Profile for unionist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Webgear:
It is sad state of affairs that this man was killed becuase he was trying to help the people of Afghanistan.

I hope the Afghan National Police can catch his killers.


If they haven't already collected the $10,000, you mean?

Does Afghanistan strike you as a country where the rule of law is well entrenched?


From: Vote QS! | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
Webgear
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posted 25 July 2006 06:24 PM      Profile for Webgear     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I know the ANP have some problems however I know there are some officers that take pride in their job and they are trying to bring peace to the country.
From: Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
unionist
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posted 25 July 2006 09:49 PM      Profile for unionist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Webgear:
I know the ANP have some problems however I know there are some officers that take pride in their job and they are trying to bring peace to the country.

Help me out here, Webgear.

The officers you know -- have they caught and charged any drug dealers lately?

Were they involved in the arrest of Abdul Rahman? Is that the only criminal they've arrested lately?

How aggressively are they tracking the perpetrators of "rampant murder, rape, insecurity, theft of billions of dollars [in aid money]", when according to UNICEF, "an estimated 600 children under the age of five die every day in Afghanistan, mostly due to preventable illnesses, some 50 women die every day due to obstetric complications?"

[Source for the above: RAWA article.

Or maybe your friends who take pride in their jobs have been busy arresting their fellow officers and commanders?

Here's an item on Afghanistan National Police, quoting ... the governor of Balkh province! ... which paints a slightly less sanguine picture than yours, Webgear. Where do you get your information anyway?

Afghan police part of the problem

quote:
Corruption is a growth industry for Afghanistan's police. They stand accused of extorting money from drug smugglers, gun runners, brothel owners and gamblers, in return for looking the other way. Those who refuse to pay can be arrested as part of an apparently virtuous clean-up campaign, and then released once they hand over the cash.

The bribery and corruption surrounding the police force are just a fact of life for most Afghans. But it still came as something of a shock when the governor of the northern Balkh province took the region's law officers to task.

"Corruption increases day by day," thundered governor Atta Mohammad Noor, addressing police chiefs and rank-and-file officers in the provincial capital Mazar-e-Sharif last month. "You are partners with gamblers, bandits, brothels, alcohol dealers and even pickpockets.


Wake up, my friend. Or at least, don't be too shocked when it turns out that Mike Frastacky was murdered by some proud police officer needing an extra 10 grand to pay the bills. I'm not saying it happened. I'm saying it will surprise you, but not me.


From: Vote QS! | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
unionist
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posted 26 July 2006 09:47 AM      Profile for unionist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
4 men detained

quote:
Afghan authorities on Wednesday detained four men for questioning in the killing of a Canadian man in Nahrin and said a full investigation is underway.

Mike Frastacky, an independent aid worker who had built a school in Nahrin in the northeastern Baghlan province, was found dead in a house on Monday.

Authorities said the 56-year-old Vancouver carpenter suffered three bullet wounds. Four people — including a translator, a body guard, an owner of the house and a neighbour — have been detained.



From: Vote QS! | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
eau
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posted 26 July 2006 10:46 AM      Profile for eau        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Incredibly sad, my thoughts are with his family. Add his name to that of Rachel Corrie who also tried to make a difference.
From: BC | Registered: Aug 2005  |  IP: Logged
Webgear
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posted 26 July 2006 10:46 AM      Profile for Webgear     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Unionist

I gather my information from various resources and personal experiences.

I agree with you that there is a possibility that the ANP were involved in the murder.

Why are you always associating everyone in organization with the actions of a few bad individuals?

From my experience criminal actions and corruption government officials and employees is a part of Afghan life, and is an accepted fact of life in Afghanistan, perhaps it is a part of Afghan cultural identity.

To the average Afghan, death is a part of life, they accept that fact, there was a news report from the UK in 2002 about an 8 year old girl drowning in a drainage ditch while her family watched from the road. When the reporter asked why the family let the girl die, they said it was a part of life.


From: Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
unionist
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posted 26 July 2006 07:42 PM      Profile for unionist     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Webgear:

Why are you always associating everyone in organization with the actions of a few bad individuals?

I don't, Webgear. Quite the contrary. I mourn when Canadian youth are killed in Afghanistan, because I consider them as individuals and their families to be ordinary folks with honest dreams and aspirations -- but I abhor the Canadian Armed Forces as a whole today, because it has been turned into an aggressive force of occupation licking the boots of the U.S.

As an opposite example, I love Canada in more ways than time permits me to say, even though it is represented on the international scale by cold-blooded murderers like Stephen Harper.

So, I think your generalization is inapt and I'm not sure what it's based on.

quote:
To the average Afghan, death is a part of life, they accept that fact, there was a news report from the UK in 2002 about an 8 year old girl drowning in a drainage ditch while her family watched from the road. When the reporter asked why the family let the girl die, they said it was a part of life.

If anyone else said that, I would feel anger at what appears to be shameless racist condescension of the sort which is used to justify the slaughter of those different from "us". In your case, I only feel sorrow. I implore you to re-think these views.


From: Vote QS! | Registered: Dec 2005  |  IP: Logged
Webgear
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posted 26 July 2006 08:43 PM      Profile for Webgear     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Unionist

I have great respect for Afghan culture and life styles, the people are amazing and interesting beyond my description of words.

Afghan’s are devoted to the cause that is best for the family, tribe and clan. They believe in the old traditional ways that have been lost in Canada.

There are no websites or books that can describe what life in Afghanistan is like, Afghanistan must be experience in person.

Their way of life is different than our culture. I do not think you understand that.

By the way, the girl from the news article died in a ditch in Kabul, not in some small tribal village in a remote rural area.


From: Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged

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