5. Mistaken Identity
I've been mistaken for a Premier League footballer and a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, both encounters ended in a request for my autograph which I politely declined because, unfortunately, I was far too busy. "Maybe next time, yeah? Sweet!" There are occasions, however, when mistaken identity can have decidedly fatal consequences. The rise in civilian casualties, in what is painted as a more precise modern warfare, is genuinely shocking. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) announced that the 366 civilian casualties between March 21 and May 21, 2013, represented a rise of nearly 10% on the corresponding period last year. In February coalition forces accidentally shot dead two Afghan boys. An operation in northwest Uruzgan went tragically wrong. "The boys were killed when Coalition forces fired at what they thought were insurgent forces," said U.S. General Joseph Dunford. "They saw two young children who were apparently listening to a radio and they shot them - it is not yet clear why. I offer my personal apology and condolences to the family of the boys who were killed," he said. And, of course, there's President Obama's "Kill List" strategy, where anyone in the area of a drone strike is considered fair game if they are of combat age, which is... Well... "Obscene" doesn't quite seem strong enough, does it? Imagine you're at home having your evening meal and discussing the latest arrest of yet another prominent Coronation Street cast member, when all of a sudden your family disappears in a fine mist of blood and bone because the fella who lives across the road is accused of crimes which he hasn't been asked to answer in a court of law. Not good.