reed writes

Kafka Lives In Afghanistan

This is what we Canadians are a part of these days.

A NATO airstrike killed 14 Afghan workers yesterday; they were part of a road-building project being paid for by the American Army Corps of Engineers.

"Fourteen of our mechanics and laborers were killed as they were asleep in their tents," said Nurullah Jalali, the executive director of the contractor.

"We just collected pieces of flesh from our tired workers and put them in 14 coffins".  _NYTIMES

It was all a big mistake according to Major Charles Anthony, a NATO spokesman. The major said that everyone thought it was a bunch of insurgents they were attacking and didn’t realize the target really consisted of innocent civilian workmen.

Contractor Jalali said that in the year his company had worked in the region, his workers had not come across any militants. "We have not seen any evidence of insurgency in that specific area, and we don’t know why and who attacked our laborers," he said. 

So what happens now to the families…the wives and children of those men? Who is going to care for them, comfort them, explain to them that the men from the western world slaughtered their husbands and fathers?

Is this really what Canadians want our armed forces to be involved in…even indirectly?

We can say…well it wasn’t us who did the killing…so what were we doing? What ARE we doing? Does Mr. Hillier know? Does Mr. Harper or Mr. Dion or Mr. Layton know? And if they know…would they please tell the rest of us.

Do the families of those workers get an apology? Do they get compensation? Or do they just get the grief of bereavement.

And will the children of those innocent Afghan workers mistakenly killed by men from the west, grow up to love us?

I guess the bottom line question is, "Is this what we are spending a hundred million dollars a year for?

Update: Three More Canadians Were Injured on Tuesday In Afghanistan

                  The Needless Tragedy Of It All

Shame on our political leaders

It’s a "war" that is not a war.

It’s a conflict that cannot be resolved or solved by sending more and more soldiers from the west into combat.

It is a "war" that cannot be won by means of war.  Whatever they say, it’s not our war

Not now, not tomorrow, not ever.

Our Canadian soldiers are dying in a faroff land, which has been a battlefield between East and West, since history started being written down in books.

This is the bottome line: "A Canadian soldier who had a foot blown off in Afghanistan has died of an apparent suicide, raising questions about the distress faced by combat troops". (source: G&M)

When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier.   Rudyard Kipling

It’s a cynical sentence, but one that rings true and it sums up the state of affairs.

Afghanistan is a hopeless cause – contain it, but don’t try to solve it.

Our people will die and be buried…and life will go on as before.

Perhaps the most tragic Canadian death in that land of valleys, mountains and caves…is one who despaired and took his own life…a world away from the conflict.

The men who send our children to die in a place that is hostile and different, are truly aware what their actions have wrought, and the tragedies that they have brought. Or are they? Whatever…they sit in the comfort of homeland cocoons and speak of service and duty. They perform almost nothing of meaning; they tread down the path of demeaning the lives of our youngest, brightest and best. They condemn all who care – to stare at an awful abyss – and think.How can we tell them how wrong they all are…we can’t…we can only go silent and weep.

Since 2002, 73 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan. Here is a list of the deaths, courtesy Canadian Press.

2007

Nov. 17 – Cpl. Nicolas Raymond Beauchamp of the 5th Field Ambulance in Valcartier and Pte. Michel Levesque of the Royal 22nd Regiment, killed when their light armoured vehicle hit a roadside bomb near Bazar-e Panjwaii.

Sept. 24 – Cpl. Nathan Hornburg, 24, with the King’s Own Calgary regiment, killed by a mortar shell while trying to repair a Leopard tank in southern Afghanistan.

Aug. 29 – Maj. Raymond Ruckpaul dies from gunshot inside a secure NATO compound in Kabul.

Aug. 22 – Master Warrant Officier Mario Mercier and Master Cpl. Christian Duchesne killed by roadside bomb west of Kandahar city.

Aug. 19 – Pte. Simon Longtin killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city.

July 4 – Cpl. Cole Bartsch, Capt. Matthew Johnathan Dawe, Pte. Lane Watkins, Cpl. Jordan Anderson, Master Cpl. Colin Bason and Capt. Jefferson Francis, killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city.

June 20 – Sgt. Christos Karigiannis, Cpl. Stephen Frederick Bouzane and Pte. Joel Vincent Wiebe, killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city.

June 11 – Trooper Darryl Caswell killed a roadside bomb north of Kandahar.

May 30 – Master Cpl. Darrell Jason Priede, killed when a U.S. helicopter was reportedly shot down by the Taliban in Helmand province.

May 25 – Cpl. Matthew McCully killed by an improvised explosive device in Zhari district.

April 18 – Master Cpl. Anthony Klumpenhouwer, who served with elite special forces, died after falling from a communications tower while on duty conducting surveillance in Kandahar city.

April 11 – Master Cpl. Allan Stewart and Trooper Patrick James Pentland, killed when their Coyote vehicle struck an improvised explosive device.

April 8 – Sgt. Donald Lucas, Cpl. Aaron E. Williams, Pte. Kevin V. Kennedy, Pte. David R. Greenslade, Cpl. Christopher P. Stannix and Cpl. Brent Poland killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb.

March 6 – Cpl. Kevin Megeney killed in accidental shooting at NATO base in Kandahar.

2006

Nov. 27 – Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Girouard and Cpl. Albert Storm killed by suicide car bomber.

Oct. 14 – Sgt. Darcy Tedford and Pte. Blake Williamson killed in ambush.

Oct. 7 – Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson killed by roadside bomb.

Oct. 3 – Sgt. Craig Gillam and Cpl. Robert Mitchell killed in series of mortar, rocket attacks.

Sept. 29 – Pte. Josh Klukie killed by explosion in Panjwaii while on foot patrol.

Sept. 18 – Pte. David Byers, Cpl. Shane Keating, Cpl. Keith Morley and Cpl. Glen Arnold killed in suicide bicycle bomb attack while on foot patrol in Panjwaii.

Sept. 4 – Pte. Mark Graham killed when two NATO planes accidentally strafed Canadian troops in Panjwaii district.

Sept. 3 – Sgt. Shane Stachnik, Warrant Officer Frank Robert Mellish, Pte. William Cushley and Warrant Officer Richard Francis Nolan killed in fighting in Panjwaii district.

Aug. 22 – Cpl. David Braun killed in suicide attack.

Aug. 11 – Cpl. Andrew Eykelenboom killed in suicide attack.

Aug. 9 – Master Cpl. Jeffrey Walsh killed by apparent accidental discharge of rifle.

Aug. 5 – Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt killed when his G-Wagon patrol vehicle collided with truck.

Aug. 3 – Cpl. Christopher Reid killed by roadside bomb. Sgt. Vaughan Ingram, Cpl. Bryce Keller and Pte. Kevin Dallaire killed in rocket-propelled grenade attack.

July 22 – Cpl. Francisco Gomez and Cpl. Jason Warren killed when car packed with explosives rammed their armoured vehicle.

July 9 – Cpl. Anthony Boneca killed in firefight.

May 17 – Capt. Nichola Goddard killed in Taliban ambush. She was first Canadian woman to be killed in action while serving in combat role.

April 22 – Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Lt. William Turner and Cpl. Randy Payne killed when their G-Wagon destroyed by roadside bomb.

March 29 – Pte. Robert Costall killed in firefight with Taliban.

March 2 – Cpl. Paul Davis and Master Cpl. Timothy Wilson killed when their armoured vehicle ran off road.

Jan. 15 – Glyn Berry, British-born Canadian diplomat, killed in suicide bombing.

2005

Nov. 24 – Pte. Braun Woodfield killed when his armoured vehicle rolled over.

2004

Jan. 27 – Cpl. Jamie Murphy killed in suicide bombing while on patrol.

2003

Oct. 2 – Sgt. Robert Short and Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger killed in roadside bombing.

2002

April 17 – Sgt. Marc Leger, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, Pte. Richard Green and Pte. Nathan Smith killed when U.S. F-16 fighters mistakenly bombed Canadians.

It’s getting worse. And the suicides and madness have just begun. 6 years of war and this is all we have: dead, wounded and mentally scarred young people.

                 Shame shame shame On Our Political Leaders

postscript: "Death Toll From Bangladesh Cyclone Tops 1600"

      This Is Must Viewing For Anyone Who Cares About This Planet.

And So Will Stephen Harper

When it comes to ideology, Hugo Chavez is the polar opposite of the Bush/Harper axis of profit. That’s why they hate him so much. Look for a lot more anti-Venezuela noise coming out of Washington and Ottawa over the next while.

Chavez wants to be President of Venezuela for life, but he wants to do it by a democratic, popular vote. This will require changes to the country’s constitution, which voters are expected to approve on December 2.

His biographer, Alberto Barrera Tyszka says that Chavez is carrying out "a seizure and re-direction of power by legitimate means".

This story in this morning’s New York Times is beyond interesting.

The Cool Hotline

Every so oftenthe best comes out in the United States and when that happens, the source is almost always ordinary people. It’s hardly ever a politician. And these days it’s never the President.

The project referred to in this news story shows how much can be accomplished with one person’s big idea.

It reminds us that both Americans and Iranians are just people and that the higher up the political ladder you go, the more distorted things get.

Maybe there’s hope yet.