View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Tuesday 12 October

Further details continue to emerge about the death of Lewis-based aid worker Linda Norgrove in Afghanistan. Prime Minister David Cameron spoke at a press-conference yesterday, saying that she may have died after US forces threw a fragmentation grenade into the compound where she was being held. Either that, or her captors detonated a bomb vest. Ms Norgrove's parents are understandably very upset, even more so after that revelation. They have not issued any statement to the media, as investigations into the exact circumstances of their daughter's death have to run their due course. Today, some of Linda's friends visited her parents in Mangersta, a remote community, some 40 miles west of Stornoway. I'll only go so far as to say that "friendly fire" is one of those horrible statements emanating from any "theatre of war", much like "collateral damage". In the heat of combat, mistakes and errors of judgment are unavoidable. Some people are asking what she was doing in such a dangerous part of the world - well, she was involved with a programme, steering farmers away from growing opium poppies. I'll close this post by stating that in a small community like Lewis, and even more so a thinly populated district such as Uig, or a tiny township like Mangersta - population 28.

Today was overcast and cool after a cold night, with the overnight low at +3C; daytime max was 11C / 52F. Autumn has now arrived.

1 comment:

  1. Guido that is such a tragedy ~ moreso if indeed it was due to the "Theatre of war" it does not make it any easier for her families to bear ~ my thoughts and prayers are with them ~ Ally x

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