The Written Word: Rafe Mair Nov.14th
By Rafe Mair
Monday, November 13, 2006 03:45 AM
Canadians, especially in BC and Quebec, aren’t wild about Canada having a military presence in Afghanistan. Our brave soldiers are being killed and wounded and we mourn nationally. But those who oppose our being there, especially the national windbag, Jack Layton, misunderstand why we are there.This is not Iraq, a military misadventure by the United States, the UK, Australia and others. That distinctly was not done with the approval of the United Nations. We are in Afghanistan not because the US is there but because it’s a hell of a mess that the UN is seeking to make better.
It’s a hell of a mess that the US walked into in ignorance as they did in Iraq. Mr Bush is not strong on History or Geography or he would have known that no one, going back to and including Alexandra the Great, could pacify Afghanistan.
What if the UN were to take over peacekeeping in Iraq? Could Canada refuse to play a role because the Iraq War was a badly motivated, perhaps evil war started by George Bush and Company? No we couldn’t because we would not be going there on Mr. Bush’s account but because it would be part of our duty.
In Iraq, the United States has made more than a terrible miscalculation – it borders on evil. If it were morally possible to simply walk away and leave the US to pull its own chestnuts out of the fire, that would be one thing but to evade our responsibly just because it’s the US’s fault ignores what our duty is – namely to help bring and hold peace by keeping warring factions apart, not taking sides in any way whatsoever.
Canada is in Afghanistan and may be yet in Iraq because it is our obligation to the United Nations, NOT the United States.
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Posted by: Chester on November 13 2006 11:02 PM
What warring factions are we keeping apart in Afghanistan. We are fighting the Taliban, along with the other NATO Countrys and with the Afghan
Army of Kabul Karzi. We are fighting this as an undeclared war, and not one soldier in the coalition is wearing the Blue Helmet of the UN. This coalition has the sanction of the UN Security Council, but does not operate under the control of the UN, it is under the Control of NATO and calls itself the International Security Assistance Force.
I think it is pretty obvious that we have taken sides. To say otherwise is foolish. Canadian Soldiers have taken the fight to the Taliban on a number of occasions. Since when does a peace keeping force seek out and kill the enemy.
Back off the propaganda and tell it the way it is.
The original American attack on Afghanistan was to punish the Taliban for not giving up Ben Ladin. That was 5 years ago. Since then thousands of Afghan people have been killed, and hundreds of thousands more are starving to death.
Karzi and his co-horts are still hiding out in Kabul, never daring to walk down a street as a free man, his Government, is corrupt, he is closely associated with the Northern Alliance and other Warloads, some of which are in his Government, and last but not least they have a bigger crop of poppies and opium this year than ever before. Is this what the Canadian Armed Forces are fighting for????
Go back and do some real research on this subject and then write another column.