reed writes

August 04, 2006
Willful Blindness

Today 4 more Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Harper said in a break during a Conservative Party Retreat, between bites of cheese and sips of soup:   "Today, our forces have suffered serious casualties in Afghanistan. For those who have lost their family or their colleagues, these are always terrible moments. As fellow Canadians, I know that we all share their grief".

Harper made his staement at a golfing/policy retreat, where he ate and played with his political friends.

He made it clear, during lunch just how bad he felt…and just how much he supported our soldiers:

"What the men and women in harm’s way want and need to know in moments like this is that their government and Canadians stand behind their missions. And make no mistake my friends, through good times and bad, this government will honour their sacrifice, we will stand behind their mission and we are proud of the work that they are doing."

What work are our people doing there Mr. Harper?

What is the mission(s) exactly?

Why are Canadians dying in Afghanistan?

When are you going to tell us the facts about this? (And why not be honest and admit that most Canadians do NOT support this foolhardy adventure).

Then, Defence Minister O’Connor said:

" Our commitment is till February ‘09 and we are going to continue in Afghanistan both from an aid point of view, from a diplomacy point of view and from a military point of view".

Mr. O’Connor…what exactly is our committment in Afghanistan? If the Prime Minister can’t explain, perhaps you can.

"It’s pretty difficult but the soldiers I know are professionals and they will carry on. They accept the risks and, as I say, every once in a while we’re a bit unlucky but we are going to stay the course".

And just what course would that be Mr. O’Connor? And what soldiers do you know, Mr. O’Connor?

And what’s this about them bein UNLUCKY?160_oconnor_060710 Harperg8reuters_50×50

The trouble with THESE two guys is…

they don’t know nothin.

THERE’S A DEBT TO PAY

For almost 40 years now, I’ve been reporting on and writing about the Middle East. In all of my work I have attempted to be balanced and fair. I have never held the Israelis or the Palestinians responsible for the chaos and violence in the region. Rather I have held the international community responsible.

It was the international community, under the auspices of the United Nations that voted on and approved the arbitrary partition of Palestine, in 1947. Partition was approved without due regard for the rights of the indigenous people and without regard for the security of the Jewish immigrant population.

The manner in which partition was handled by the nations of the world constituted a recipe for war.

As U.S. President harry Truman said in March of 1948,…"The United Kingdom has announced its firm intention to abandon its mandate in Palestine on May 15. Unless emergency action is taken, there will be no public authority in Palestine on that date capable of preserving law and order. Violence and bloodshed will descend upon the Holy Land. Large-scale fighting among the people of that country will be the inevitable result. Such fighting would infect the entire Middle East and could lead to consequences of the gravest sort involving the peace of this Nation and of the world."

In the view of many, one can draw a straight line between those comments of Truman and the terrorist attacks in New York.

A people was displaced and tens of thousands were dispossessed…made homeless, stateless and poor.

We are now reaping the fruits of the seeds sowed by the thoughtless world leaders who acted so recklessly so long ago.

I recently received an email from a well-connected friend who has visited the region on many occasions. In my next post, I will publish verbatim what he had to say.

May G-d forgive all those who have brought the world to this place of horror and fear.

My comment on the previous piece, which- I must say, for Lord Anthony’s sake- I hate its content but I admire its spunk. 

I think it’s a wonderful piece.

Or do I?  See Kill Us 3.

He only left out a couple of things….a member of the American or Canadian government and/or Congress/Parliament is most likely to be…over 50, white, Christian and male.

The earliest non-white, non-Christian Americans or Canadians most likely went to North America either as slaves or indentured labourers. Some went to escape the poverty and hunger of Europe, where they were persecuted and victimized.

Many of them worked in return for a piece of land that was most likely stolen from the First Americans and Canadians, whose population was decimated by white, mainly Christian settlers from Europe. Nowadays, they work hard and pay high taxes, part of which is used to finance war machines, which are often used to enforce their governments’ will on others.

Americans and Canadians, including many of those mentioned by our Australian friend…developed an industrialized society by exploiting the resources of poor countries, in which people were unable to defend themselves and their resources from powerful, armed mostly white Christian governments.

Still, killing us is a losing proposition.

This essay is a work in progress….

"You probably missed it in the rush of news last week,but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American or Canadian, any American or Canadian.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American or Canadian is, so they would know when they found one. (Good on,mate!!!! )

To Kill an American or a Canadian

by an Australian Dentist

An American or Canadian is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese,Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American or Canadian may also be a Comanche,Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans or Canadians.

An American or Canadian is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America or Canada than in Afghanistan . The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American or Canadian is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American or Canadian lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence (or in Canada, the Bill of Rights), which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of appiness.

An American or Canadian is generous. Americans or Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.

When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans and Canadians came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan .

Americans and Canadians welcome the best of everything,the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food,the best services. But they also welcome the least. The national symbol of America, the Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It’s been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American or Canadian if you must.

Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans and Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place.

They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American or a Canadian."

Please see next posts – Kill Us 2 and Kill Us 3

Mr. Dion Goes to Ottawa

This is a precis of Red Tory’s blog from today. He notes that the Liberal leadership convention was followed by the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" – the story of an honest, decent man appointed to fill a vacancy in the US Senate whose idealistic plans soon collide with the "grubby reality of political corruption."

"Dion is a decent, sincere man of integrity and conviction…..a staunch defender of federalism and an ardent proponent of what he refers to as the "three pillar" approach – social justice, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability.

According to the NDP, Dion "is an out of touch academic who spent 10 years in a scandal-ridden cabinet."

The Conservatives level a similar charge…claiming…that "He’s one of those … Cabinet ministers from Quebec who sat through the sponsorship scandal and claimed not to know a thing that went on while millions of dollars were stolen." Other charges include…the usual ridiculous allegation that he can’t speak English.

As I said yesterday, I think Dion presents a bit of a puzzlement to his would-be critics. It seems to me that getting the sponsorship scandal to stick to Dion will be extremely difficult given the charge is utterly baseless.

His passionate engagement with the environment portfolio, …(puts him)…light-years ahead of the Conservative’s laughable Clean Air Act that forestalls solutions almost indefinitely and obfuscates the problem of greenhouse gas emissions in favour of continued, unrestrained exploitation of fossil fuels.

Will Dion have a problem in western Canada? Perhaps.

A challenge to make any significant progress most certainly, but we’re far from being close-minded out here, especially on the "left coast" of British Columbia.

His messages of environmentalism and federalism both resonate well here.

Quebec is another matter.

While there may be some lingering hostility from the "pure laine" (hardcore nationalists) crowd, he still has the advantage of being a native son.

Critics who casually write off Dion do so at their peril.

He proved himself to be, as some pundits aptly described him, "the little engine that could." Dion is a tenacious fighter and a man of principle.

As Jefferson Smith ("Mr. Smith Goes To Washington) said, "Great principles don’t get lost once they come to light. They’re right here; you just have to see them again!"