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"
Jim: I have referred to Afghanistan as ‘time-locked and unconquerable’. But the chair-bound politicos (and guys like Hillier) try to prove — despite the historical legacy, the geography, the culture, the corruption and the handwriting on the wall — that just one more surge, an extra battalion, a majority government, or another ten years will put us ‘over the top’. Bullshit.
The tap is running. And it is bleeding Canadian red.
Doc…may I ask…have you been in touch with your member of paliament?
Jim
It’s all about stupid leadership, and we let them get away with it.
It’s our own fault.
1. If the democratically-elected Hamas, which apparently has relatively moderate leadership these days, wouldn’t come to the Annapolis “peace-summit”/farce … why not hold the meeting somewhere in the Middle East?
Put their feet to the fire, so to speak?
Instead we have all these Middle East bigwigs flying in high-security mode to a meeting on a US military base.
This is like holding an OMB hearing in Johannesburg.
(..and deafening silence from our Greenies on the associated carbon-footprint…)
Yes, I know. Hamas wasn’t invited. That’s mega-stupid even for wee bushy, the international icon of democracy.
Their exclusion will create yet another monster.
2. Back home, our Minister of Justice tells us he is “powerless” over the possibility of Schreiber being extradited before he can testify against “Gimme the money” Mulroney.
He won’t be able to “summon him to Ottawa”…..
Couldn’t an Ethics committee quorum rent a bus and visit Shreiber in his cell before extradition?
Bring the mountain to Mohammed. It’s what ordinary folk would do but, well Ottawa is kinda special, a Flat Earth community where nothing exists other than committees and bits of paper.