http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special_reports/uk_troops_in_afghanistan/ - UK Troops in Afghanistan

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10974198 - British soldier killed in Afghanistan

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11367931 - UK troops leave Helmand's Sangin

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1313923/9-US-troops-killed-Afghanistan-helicopter-crash-2010-deadliest-year.html - Nine U.S. troops killed in helicopter crash as 2010 becomes deadliest year of Afghanistan war

NEGATIVE VIEWS OF GAMING:

Despite being very popular since the 1970s, videogames were not taken seriously by academics until 2001. Before that time they tended to be seen as a children’s medium and looked down upon as examples of ‘low culture’ - with simplistic storylines and stereotypical characters.

Comments from Mrs Cole

Ben,

You have some interesting information on here at the moment. Start to also look at how war is reported in the news and the links between realism in games and the reality as presented in news broadcasts. Remember though, that even the news is a constructed production which will have an angle or view that it is trying to present to the auidence.

Think about issues that could arise with children thinking what they are playing in games is relaity and the distortions that could occur.

The War in North-West Pakistan is an armed conflict between the Pakistani Armed Forces and Islamic militants made up of local tribesmen, the Taliban, and foreign supported criminals disguised as Mujahideen (Holy Warriors). It began in 2004 when tensions rooted in the Pakistani Army's search for al-Qaeda members in Pakistan's mountainous Waziristan area (in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas) escalated into armed resistance.

Clashes erupted between the Pakistani troops and al-Qaeda's and other militants joined by local rebels and pro-Taliban forces. Pakistan's actions were presented as its role in the War on Terrorism, and had connections to the war and Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.