(By Canadian Peace Alliance.) The Canadian Peace Alliance and Collectif Échec à la guerre are calling for a pan-Canadian day of action on October 18, 2008 to end the war in Afghanistan and bring Canadian troops home.
On March 13th , 2008, the Liberal and Conservative parties ignored the will of the majority of Canadians and voted to extend Canada’s participation in the war in Afghanistan until July 2011. In the face of this blatantly undemocratic decision, the anti-war movement in Quebec and Canada commits to building even more vocal opposition and to denounce the lies and omissions about this war.
Lies and omissions about the escalation of war in Afghanistan, through repeated attempts at painting a rosy picture of progress and development in that country, are invariably contradicted by reality. Thus, with higher troop levels than before (now around 71,000), more NATO soldiers were killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq in May and June of this year.
From time to time, we hear mention of “collateral damage” as occupation forces continue to kill civilians. In July alone, at least 80 Afghan civilians were killed, including 47 people – mostly women and children – bombarded while taking part in a wedding, and two very young children shot in their parents’ car by Canadian soldiers. Commenting on the indiscriminate killing of civilians, the Afghan newspaper, Weesa Daily, wrote : “Such arbitrary bombing raids and brutal killings have been repeated so many times during the past nearly seven years that now it is difficult to believe these foreign forces have come to our country for assistance.” Since Canadian troops are very active in this war, using tanks and firing millions of rounds of ammunition (including some very expensive, sophisticated and destructive ones), we ask the Canadian government and media one simple question: can the Canadian people see who and what the troops are shooting at? and with what results?
Despite frequent and contradictory assurances from the Conservatives that detainees are being treated fairly in Afghanistan, we know that torture and abuse of Afghan detainees is ongoing and widespread. Canada cannot remain involved in supporting this illegal and immoral behaviour.
Secrecy and total control have become the official information policy of the Harper government on issues of war and “defense”, as every request for access to such information must now be approved and handled by a special group attached to the Prime Minister’s office. Recently, this policy has prevented journalists from thoroughly investigating problems of mental health among Canadian soldiers returning from Afghanistan and among Canadian veterans in general. Even the recruitment results of the Canadian Forces is now considered sensitive information, as their release for 2007-2008 was delayed for weeks !
All the lies about how the war is being waged follow from the initial lies about why. On June 19th, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) released a report titled A Pipeline Through A Troubled Land, Afghanistan, Canada, and the New Great Energy Game. The report raises serious questions about the role of Canadian forces in Afghanistan as defenders of the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India (TAPI) pipeline route through Kandahar province.
Western interests in Afghanistan has always concerned the control of energy routes. Major policy decisions, from the support for the Mujahideen, to the applause of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, to the support for the new TAPI pipeline, have always been based on the need to control energy distribution routes for Caspian Sea oil and gas, and to shut out potential rivals, Russia, China and Iran. Canadian oil and gas corporations are expected to play a role in building the new pipeline.
The Harper Government has not only committed Canada to be in Afghanistan until 2011 – longer than WWI or WWII – it is presently spending over 50 million dollars every day on the military and is pushing for massive increases in military spending – as much as $490 billion over the next 20 years!
Join us on October 18 to push the Harper government to tell the truth about Canada’s war in Afghanistan and bring the troops home now!
Matthew Brett is the Canadian Dimension Weblog manager. The views expressed on this blog do not necessarily represent his own. Read other posts by Matthew Brett.
