War On Terror: Maple Leaf Edition

I wasn’t sure what to make of this.  It was taken in Afghanistan and ran in a Guardian slide show a couple weeks ago.  The caption read: “A Canadian military official trains a police recruit using a wooden gun.”

If it seems paternalistic, it also feels thoroughly “by the book.”  (Not like this “opposite extreme,” posted by Bill Putnam, who served as both a civilian and military photographer in Iraq.)

Guardian 24 hours in pictures.  Link



(image: Allauddin Khan/AP. 2007. Kandahar, Afghanistan. via Guardian.co.uk)