Canadian Politics: The Lie That Is Afghanistan
Published August 05, 2006
A majority of Canadians were against the idea of involving our troops in a more direct combat role in Afghanistan for the simple reason that it is not what we expect from our troops. Steven Harper and his Conservative Party of Canada in their anxiousness to be one of the big boys and play tough ignored the feelings of the people of Canada.
They compounded that insult by trying to remove the public's means of participating in mourning the loss of the young men and women who lost their lives. First they cancelled the lowering of flags to half-mast on Parliament Hill. Then they banned press coverage of caskets being returned to Canada and the ceremonies for the families at the airports.
Meaningless platitudes about sacrifice and duty are becoming more and more suspect as questions are raised about who duty is owed to forms in people's minds; duty to the Canadian people or Canada? How can that be when they are not dying to defend our soil or even what we believe in? It's more like duty to Steven Harper's ego and his government's misguided policy of drawing us ever further away from a path of respected impartiality into one subservient to our neighbours to the south.
Canada's opposition parties are calling for a review of our policy in Afghanistan in the wake of yesterday's events that again saw the largest number of Canadian casualties in one day since Korea. Yesterday it was four dead and ten wounded.
It seems each week we continue to set a new high water mark for dead and injured. Is this what this government was elected to do, set record numbers for Canadians killed on active service for their generation? What will next week bring; five dead and eleven wounded in one day's fighting?
Fewer and fewer Canadians are willing to find out anymore. Every poll taken since the vote last February deciding to extend and expand Canada's troop commitment in Afghanistan has shown an increasing number of people against the idea. Even the Liberal party who had originally suggested the renewal and voted with the Conservatives last winter are rethinking their position.
Ujjal Dosanjh the Liberal Defence critic commented that the mission has become far more of a combat mission then what had been intended by the previous administration when they had made the proposal in the first place. They had envisioned the Canadian troop continuing with the rebuilding of the country in those parts where pacification was further along than in the region they now find themselves in.
- Canadian Politics: The Lie That Is Afghanistan
- Published: August 05, 2006
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Politics
- Filed Under: Culture: History, Politics: Government, Politics: International, Politics: Policy, Politics: War and Terrorism
- Part of a feature: Canadian Politics in Review
- Writer: Richard Marcus
- Richard Marcus's BC Writer page
- Richard Marcus's personal site
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Comments
ya know, having been in Afghanistan for two years you would think i could just ignore this type of journalism. I've been here as part of both the presidential and parliamentary elections, neither of which were 'shams'. The work of dedicated international staff with local counterparts and most importantly the people of Afghanistan made both elections possible while meeting international standards.
our military was never 'trained for peacekeeping', our soldiers are trained to kill and fight wars, always have been. they are doing lots of killing right now so that development and infrastructure building can proceed safely. how else can that happen but with a secure stable environment? (you must have really cringed when i said 'killing'..)
try coming here to get an idea of what is really happening and then you might have something interesting to write. as a proud ex-soldier, i am here contributing to a better Afghanistan for the sake of the good people here and for the safety of all Canadians, you should try it sometime.
Funn how not one Canadian politician has explained to the public what exactly it is that Canadian troops are doing in Afghanistan. Yeah, they all use the feel good catch phrases like protecting democracy and buliding a better world, but this provides no specific information.
This article sheds some light on a multibillion dollar industry in Afghanistan that may play a role in what is going on there globalresearch.ca
I have to agree with the first 2 post, I am not sure where Mr. Marcus get's his facts but I think most Canadians back this mission. I am far from a Conservative supporter but on this issue I do back them. Canada is apart of NATO and this is a NATO mission, and for anyone that calls for us to pull our troops out is crazy. Instead of showing no support it's time that all show them the support they need to help them finish this mission. When family's of the fallen soldiers public say that their son/daughter knew full well what their mission was and ask the rest of Canada to support the troops only goes to show that it is people such as yourself that dis-respect the rest. When you write your next article it should be what your views are not what you think the rest of us are thinking.


Richard Marcus is a long-haired Canadian iconoclast who writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees it at 








I cannot begin to count the ways that this article has it wrong. Maybe by declaring that Canadians are trained for peacekeeping (as someone who has gone through the training, and will be doing so more in the future I can tell Mr. Marcus that the training is centered on killing the enemies of Canada first and foremost) or by declaring that our Defence Minister knows nothing of the soldiers in the field, or of service and duty (Minister O'Connor is a former Brigadier General in the Canadian Forces, starting off as a Lieutenant in the Armour Branch).
To debunk this entire flawed article would demand an article all itself, and this isn't coming from a partisan supporter of the war, but a Canadian who has found many right out factual faults with this article.