Mardi Gras in Afghanistan

Mardi Gras is the culmination of forty days of excess and celebration. Its the doppelganger of Lent a last hurrah before the discipline and deprivation of the forty-six days before Easter. Mardi Gras translates as 'Fat Tuesday' and is fondly known in southern Ontario as 'Pancake' Tuesday as many Christians give up eggs, and in this neck of the woods in days goneby, maple syrup, to symbolize their willingness to share in the sufferings of Christ. In Latin climes it is commonly called Carnival, which literally translates as 'farewell to flesh'.

This year the 'farewell to flesh' theme had a decidedly evil undercurrent. Seven shootings, none yet fatal, occurred on the celebratory 'farewell to flesh' according to the Times-Picayune:

The two most seriously injured victims underwent surgery for stomach wounds, said Officer Janssen Valencia, though he didn't know the men's conditions. The others were listed in stable condition Tuesday night with injuries not considered life-threatening.
The five others suffered less serious wounds, according to police and EMS. They include a 20-month-old boy with a graze wound to the back; a 17-year-old girl shot in the thigh; a 50-year-old woman shot in the elbow; a 15-year-old boy with a graze wound to his back and a 30-year-old man with a graze wound to the thigh.
Dr. Jim Parry, 41, a surgeon at a gathering of doctors near the shooting site, ran over to tend to one man who he said had been shot in the abdomen. Paramedics arrived and took over for the Air Force reservist.
"I'm off to Afghanistan this summer. Damn, this is more dangerous than Afghanistan," Parry said.

Unfortunately, Air Force reservist Dr Jim Parry is wrong, Mardis Gras was much more dangerous in Afghanistan.

The New York Times reports that four American personnel and an Afghan civilian were killed by an IED yesterday:

A roadside bomb killed four United States troops in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the United States military said. An Afghan civilian working with the Americans also died. The troops were patrolling with Afghan forces when their vehicle struck a bomb Tuesday afternoon. The four deaths were the most this year for a single attack against international forces in the country.

Meanwhile the Associated Press reports numerous other deaths on Tuesday, February 24:

Afghan soldiers killed 18 militants targeting a poppy eradication force in the country's volatile south, officials said Wednesday. Two soldiers were also killed in the battle ... and two foreign soldiers were wounded in the exchange.
A remote control bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded Wednesday in Kandahar City as a convoy of soldiers. Two Afghan bystanders were killed, and eight people — including five soldiers — were wounded.
Afghan and coalition forces killed 10 militants in Uruzgan province on Tuesday. A "precision" airstrike was called in, killing most of the militants.

Finally, the Canadian Press announced the death yesterday of four-year-old Juma Gul. On Monday she was wounded outside the village of Salehan in the Panjwaii district west of Kandahar along with her twelve-year-old brother and a thirteen-year-old friend. It seems the children were killed by an unexploded round left in the field after Canadian troops conducted ranging and show-of-force exercises outside the village on Sunday. Yesterday, the Canadian forces refused to comment on the incident pending the outcome of an investigation. (More on this story as it develops.)

So you see Dr. Parry, Mardi Gras in New Orleans is not as dangerous as it is in Afghanistan where 'farewell to flesh' has a horribly literal meaning.