MONTREAL - There's been an abrupt about-face by the makers of a controversial anti-war video.
The video, showing a fictional mother grieving the loss of a child in Afghanistan, has been edited.
In the original version, the mom says that if she'd known her kids would grow up to one day become cannon fodder, she might never have had them.
The video has triggered an angry reaction from some real-life military moms. Military families have emerged to say they're proud of soldiers' work in Afghanistan, and disgusted by the video.
The Quebec women's group responsible for the video had originally responded defiantly, saying it wanted to provoke a debate and would not be backing down.
But on Friday morning the group suddenly announced it would edit the video to remove the specific phrase that offended people. One military mother said that after watching the video she stared at a photo of her dead son and wept.
"(We) understand that the phrase where a mother expresses regret for giving life to her children because they went to war is hurtful and does not reflect the feelings of all soldiers' mothers," the group said in a statement.
"Therefore, the phrase will be removed from the capsule today."
The group said it was simply trying to question the military policy of the Canadian government.
One of its officials, in a television interview Friday, cited the current multibillion-dollar purchase of fighter planes as another wasteful example of Ottawa's mistaken priorities.
The controversy led the Canadian Taxpayers' federation to call for the group to return any public money it's received over the years.
