Two Canadians have been killed in Iraq, both serving in different capacities.

In spite of all the griping and political posturing, and the poor state of our military, Canada has ships in the Gulf. We have Canadian military serving with US troops and Canadians who join the US military. We also have a lot of Canadians working with aid agencies.

Cpl. Bernard Gooden, 22, serving with the Marines, died on Friday.
The one-time York University student and Canadian reservist moved to Whitby, Ontario from Jamaica in 1997.

Canadian aid worker Vatche Arslanian is dead.

The International Red Cross said the vehicle carrying him was hit by gunfire on Tuesday afternoon. Attempts were made to rescue him, but the fighting in the area was too intense.

Arslanian, 48, was from Oromocto, New Brunswick. He headed up logistics for the Red Cross in Iraq.

source CBC

Interfaith/Intercountry Dialogue
Living Room (Australia) has been researching the Muslim faith for a course and decided to use blogging as a stepping stone. It has been facinating.

What is even more interesting is this comment, (and others like it) from US readers and bloggers who as people of faith, haven’t been exposed to the openess and multi-cultural awareness those outside thier border have.
Being bombarded 24/7 with media reports of the war on Iraq and terrorism, and strong political and cultural divisions of conservative/liberal/neo-con/evangelical some reactions are quite understandable. This small comment exchange at Living Room between Sarah (a westerner) and Irene Q (an easterner) is telling.

Are you for real or is this just a cheap shot at getting hits and causing a bit of a stir!? Posted by Sarah at April 9, 2003 03:17 PM

Sarah: Why so incredulous? And why should this cause a stir? What’s so unusual about trying to understand what another person believes and why s/he believes as they do? Would it be different (read: better, more acceptable) if Darren were to say he was researching Judaism or Scientology? Why? Posted by irene at April 9, 2003 03:41 PM

I and many other international bloggers see blogging in these troubled times as an amazing opportunity to give US blogging friends a glimpse into our realities and faith. We can learn together no matter what border you reside within.

Drunk Elephants
Some time ago I came across a story of elephants in India that were marauding through villages, drunk on rice wine.
Since then, women have had to give birth in trees because the elephants have gotten so out of control. 350 people have died in east India. Attempts to stop the addicted pachyderms have been unsuccessful. Domestic elephants were brought to the area in an attempt to lead herds away from villages. The government is looking at putting up electric fences, but I have to wonder if elephants intent on getting their fix will be deterred drunk or sober.