A WikiLeaks document categorizing the deaths of four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan on Sept. 3, 2006 as a "friendly fire" incident has been discounted by witnesses and the public record, supporting the Defence Department's finding Tuesday that the leaked military document is "obviously incorrect."
Survivors of the battle say there was friendly fire in the form of a one-tonne bomb dropped by coalition aircraft through Canadian lines during Charles Company's intense firefight that day at the epicentre of the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan.
But it has previously been documented the bomb did not explode, and the Canadians were killed by grenades, rifle fire and rockets from Taliban insurgents who surrounded them on three sides, hiding in trenches and fortified buildings.
Military blogs and Twitter postings Tuesday contained first-hand statements from some of the 50 or so Canadians who were at the scene, asserting the American operations report released by the website WikiLeaks wrongly categorizes the casualties as "friendly fire, blue-blue."
"I was there and our boys were not killed by friendly fire," Corp. Jody Mitic wrote on Twitter. "Ask anyone from Charlie Company. Friendly fire my ass . . ." (link to Mitic Twitter post)
Mitic was a sniper who lost both legs when he stepped on a land mine during another mission in Afghanistan in January, 2007; he has since made a name for himself as an athlete.
Lt. Col. Norbert Cyr, a Department of National Defence official, told Postmedia News the document drafted by a U.S. unit and released by WikiLeaks appears to be an authentic military situation report of the events in "real time" with an erroneous heading of friendly fire.
"It is a mistake," he said, adding the department is looking into whether it was later corrected.
The Defence Department delayed characterizing the report when it first came out because officials wanted to try to get to the bottom of it. They are still waiting for answers to queries about the source of the report, listed as 205th Regional Corps Assist Group.
The 205th is the Afghanistan military unit that American, Canadian and other coalition forces train and mentor.
The date, time, operations, and casualties listed in the report match up to the fight in which the four Canadians were killed.
One soldier who was at the scene wrote on a military blog about how he was almost killed during the Taliban ambush and treated Shane Stachnik — an engineer sargeant who died — and others in a vehicle that had been hit by Taliban fire. The bomb was a dud, causing the commander to redeploy his troops, he wrote.
A 2007 account of the battle in Legion Magazine by Adam Day tells how "there was little left to do but retreat" after the errant bomb landed in front of the Canadians during hours of fighting in which "the radios were full of screaming voices, some calling for medics, some just looking for help."
Capt. Derek Wessan radioed in after the bomb landed, the Legion account says. "We've gotta get the f—k out of here. And then we've gotta blow this place up."
Cyr said any suggestion the American report is accurate in its use of the term "friendly fire", and that Canada tried to cover it up, "is ludicrous."
"There were so many witnesses that it never could have been hidden," Cyr said. "And there's no reason to hide it."
