reed writes

I’ve been looking back over some newspaper clippings.

Here’s a quote:

The Afghans fought for three hours before calling in support, said Lt. Col. Ian Hope, commander of the Canadian force in Kandahar, who was at the scene. Canadian troops provided a cordon to block the escape of the Taliban rebels, he said. American helicopters, according to villagers, fired on farmhouse compounds, wounding civilians, damaging homes and killing animals.

These kinds of mistakes are inevitable in war and will continue to happen. In the end, there is no military solution to the problem of terror. Especially not in Afghanistan.

In January I wrote that we should plan to pull out of that country. The Liberals, who committed us to this combat mission had no real idea as to what they were doing. The Conservatives, who were in opposition back then- had no idea either. Nor did the Canadian Chief of Defence, General Hillier.

After winning the election, Stephen Harper finally agreed to a debate on the issue. That “debate”, which took place on April 10th was as useless as the one held by the Liberals when they first sent our soldiers over there.

The NDP called on the Minister of Defence to answer questions that he himself had posed to the previous government The most important of those was: “What are the goals and objectives of this mission and how do they meet Canada’s foreign policy objectives?

The Conservatives spoke the same platitudes we’d already heard. They said we were fighting “the war on terror”, and that we were there to “help the Afghan people.” I have no objection to helping the Afghans, but I strongly question the use of military force to do it.

The Liberals spoke like Conservative parrots…what choice did they have? They authorized this mission. When they were in government, the Liberals didn’t answer Conservative questions and after the Conservatives assumed power, they didn’t answer NDP questions. But then how can you answer a question when deep down, you don’t know the answer.

When Bush sneaked into the war against Iraq- Americans felt confused, afraid, but highly supportive of their soldiers. The government played on the fears of the general public about terror. But in fact, the public didn’t know what was going on or why.

Canadian officials who support our mission in Afghanistan, both military and civilian, sound very much like their American counterparts did about Iraq. Let’s build a nation, they say. Let’s create a democracy. Let’s end terror.

Well, American soldiers have been dying at the rate of 2 or 3 a day; Americans now realize they were bamboozled by a clutch of incompetent, ignorant leaders. The American death toll is approaching 3,000; thousands more have been horribly wounded and maimed for life; and countless Iraqi civilians are dead.

There is no democracy, terror is on the increase, and there is no “nation”. In fact, Iraq is expected to split into 3 parts, and the American action has handed Iran a huge gift of influence and power. It’s a mess.

I grant you that Afghanistan is different from Iraq. But soldiers are being killed. Innocent civilians are being killed too, sometimes by our soldiers. There will be more of that and as a result- more hatred and rebellion. There has to be a better way.

Stephen Harper is the head of a minority government. Seven out of ten Canadians voted for someone else. Unless he tells us very soon why it is we are in this situation and how we are going to get out of it…he will end up like George Bush.

As for the “war on terror”, Pakistan is likely the bigger threat.