Pubdate: Sat, 23 Feb 2008
Source: Telegram, The (CN NF)
Copyright: 2008 The Telegram
Contact:  http://www.thetelegram.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/303
Author: Danette Dooley
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

KANDAHAR COP

RCMP Cpl. Barry Pitcher went to Afghanistan to train  local officers 
and came back with a new appreciation of  his own home

Barry Pitcher went to Afghanistan to help train police  officers. His 
proudest accomplishment, however, has  nothing to do with arrests, 
drug seizures or crowd  control.

Sitting behind his desk in St. John's, the RCMP  corporal brings up a 
series of photos on his computer.

He stops at a picture of himself applying a bandage to  an Afghan 
police officer's arm.

Two other Afghan men are sitting nearby, applying  similar bandages 
to each other's arms. This simple  first aid training will help save lives.

"We made a small team of Afghan policemen medics  because we found 
that, quite often, we'd have a truck  pull up to our gates. They'd 
have driven for two or  three hours and they've have two or three 
policemen  that had bled out in the back of the pickup," Pitcher  explains.

The casualties would be the result of their vehicle  hitting an 
improvised explosive device (IED), he says.

"Three of four would have limbs missing and they didn't  know what to 
do - casualty care, triage, they didn't  know. So we took it upon 
ourselves to do this course  and it was a huge success."

Each photo that Pitcher brings up on this computer  screen tells a story.

Bomb disarmed

"This was a suicide vehicle that had come into Kandahar  from Kabul 
with a shipment of explosives," he says of  an older model beat up, 
white four-door sedan.

"It's a rigged car and these jerry cans were filled  with gasoline 
and soap. What this does is create a  homemade bomb," Pitcher says of 
two large yellow  plastic containers next to the car.

The main explosives of the bomb were stored in the trunk.

The suicide vehicle was stopped just outside the gates  where Pitcher 
was policing.

"He was likely waiting for one of our patrols to come  out through 
the gates where he would ram his vehicle  into it and explode it," 
Pitcher says.

"It would have destroyed two city blocks and would have  obliterated 
our vehicles."

Moving to the next photo, Pitcher points to a field  covered in green.

It's just one example of the flourishing marijuana  crops that are 
abundant in Afghanistan.

Plants grow 12 feet high, he says.

"There's nothing done about it. It's a way of life.  There are fields 
as far as the eye can see. In many of  the villages you'll hardly see 
mud huts anymore because  there is so much marijuana drying on the 
roofs. And as  you drive through the villages, it's all you can  smell."

Drug trade balancing act

Pitcher's next photo is of another field. This one is  filled with 
beautiful white and pink flowers.

Ninety-per cent of the world's opium now comes from  Afghanistan, he says.

Every pink flower has a bulb, Pitcher explains, which  is sliced with 
a small razor by Afghan farmers.

The residue from the bulb is dried and eventually  becomes heroin.

"It's then refined and moved over the mountains and  most of the 
opium then moves from Pakistan into North  America - the United 
States and Canada."

Peacekeepers are very much aware that the Taliban and  al-Qaida 
groups operate from what they make from the  opium fields, he says.

However, even though such corruption and drug  cultivation has become 
a way of life in Afghanistan,  putting an end to the trade is 
"counterproductive to  battling the insurgency," Pitcher says.

"If we dip too much into trying to shut down people's  way of life 
with the opium growth, we create more  enemies and, therefore, we 
create more allies for the  Taliban."

During his year in Afghanistan, Pitcher was embedded  with the 
Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) at Camp  Nathan Smith where he 
helped train members of the  Afghan National Police Force in basic 
police procedures  such as handcuffing and searching for IEDs.

In 2007, he says, 656 Afghan police officers were  killed in Southern 
Afghanistan.

"I always tell my teammates we are the voice of the  (Afghan) 
officers at the checkpoints; the little man in  dress shoes, a ripped 
hat, a tattered uniform and an  AK-47 with five bullets in it."

Household explosive

A dirty looking aluminum pot is the focus of the next photo.

In Canada we'd use it to boil eggs.

In Afghanistan, it's used to kill people.

"This is the most common IED," Pitcher says.

The cover is bolted to the pot. The explosives are  inside, he says.

The bomb, which is detonated by four C-cell batteries  and can be 
activated by a common device such as a  garage door opener, can "blow 
a hole through a  light-armoured vehicle," Pitcher says.

Pitcher's job also involved combat operations with the  Canadian military.

"One minute you could be training them in handcuffing,  the next 
minute you could be shot at," he says, turning  to a photo which he 
calls "the Taliban trench."

He and two Afghan officers are sitting on the side of  the trench.

The mountains are the backdrop for the photo.

"This was probably one of my most intensive experiences  because it 
was direct-action combat. We were being  fired at and the dirt from 
the bullets was being kicked  up in my face," he says.

Before joining the RCMP, Pitcher spent seven years as  an officer in 
the military.

That experience helped him adjust to life in a war  zone, he says.

Community policing

While there are several photos of police officers with  firearms in 
hand and in convoy situations, the pictures  that bring a smile to 
Pitcher's face are ones where  he's chatting with the country's most 
vulnerable  citizens.

"The difference we make in Afghanistan is going to be  with these 
children right here," he says, pointing to a  photo where he's buying 
peanuts from some children.

"They're so innocent, they're uncorrupted and they're  so fascinated 
with us," he says.

While he was in Afghanistan, several day-care centres  and schools 
sent him supplies.

"Every time I'd get a box of gifts I'd distribute them  to the 
children. They loved getting crayons," he says,  pointing to a photo 
of two shy-looking children  accepting his gift.

Pitcher is from Mount Pearl. He has a wife and two  children. The 
hardest part of the mission, he says, was  being away from his family.

Afghanistan life has taught him many lessons, he says.  The little 
things in life now mean much more to him.

"You don't take things for granted anymore, ... To be  able to drive 
in traffic and not worry that someone's  going to try to ram your vehicle."

Pitcher is adamant that Canadians are making their mark  in 
Afghanistan and need to be there for the long haul.

"But it's small steps. And even in these small steps  we've 
sacrificed a lot," he admits.

He'll now draw on his experience to help educate  students and other 
groups about the Afghan mission.

"For every one run-in with the Taliban, there are 100  instances 
where we've done something good. And that's  what I hope to talk about.

"Everybody who goes over there believes in their hearts  that they're 
doing the right thing. And, when somebody  dies over there, it's the 
children that they're dying  for."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom