U.S. nun apologizes for Canadian soldiers' deaths - World

National Catholic Reporter, May 3, 2002 by Gill Donovan

CANADA: The deaths of four Canadian soldiers during a training exercise in Afghanistan was a terrible and needless tragedy of war, said Sr. Kathleen Pruitt, a Sister of St. Joseph of Peace and president of the U.S. Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

The soldiers were killed and eight others wounded when an American fighter jet bombed them during a night training exercise near Kandahar, Afghanistan, April 18. They were the first Canadian soldiers killed in a combat zone since the Korean War 50 years ago.

Pruitt spoke at the Third Continental Congress on Vocations in Montreal following media reports of the incident and apologized to the Canadians among the 1,100 people attending.

"I believe that, as neighbors in country and in heart, that this is a terrible tragedy and a tragedy of war that is needless," she said.

Pruitt said she apologized because there are those in the United States "who find the involvement of the United States in the continued war to be a policy we would rather not support."

Some members of Canada's Parliament criticized President Bush for not publicly expressing sympathy for the Canadian victims immediately after the tragedy. Bush telephoned Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien to express his sorrow but offered public sympathy only after some members of Parliament, including Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, indicated the president should have gone public immediately.

Pruitt agreed. She said she made the apology at the vocations congress on behalf of the approximately 1,000 leaders of U.S. religious congregations who represent about 75,000 members.