May 18, 2006

Yesterday was a sad day for Canada and its tradition of multilateralism and peace-keeping as the House of Commons voted to extend its "mission" (a word WE should never use, by the way). The motion passed by a 4-vote margin of 149 to 145. The Conservatives and Liberal leader Bill Graham and 29 other Liberals (out of 103) voted in favour of the motion, while the NDP, the Bloc Quebecois and a substantial number of Liberals voted against it.

Of the Liberal leadership candidates who are MPs, Michael Ignatieff and Scott Brison voted in favour of the motion, while Carolyn Bennett, Maurizio Bevilacqua, Stephane Dion, Ken Dryden, Hedy Fry, and Joe Volpe voted against it.

We should not let this vote go by and allow it to stand as if Canadians support this blatant collaboration with the American empire.

Once again all that is necessary is a short, pointed letter to the effect that you do NOT accept this decision as representing Canadians' wishes, Canadian values or Canada's national interests.

Harper has framed the issue as

• Canada responding to Afghanistan's request for a commitment to building democracy and
• part of our multilateral commitment to the world.

We need to reframe the issue:

• Canada's blatant complicity in the American occupation which is a key part of its foreign policy aim of controlling the middle east and its oil supplies and
• that this has nothing whatever to do with Canada's national interests as Canada has never been declared a target by any terrorist organization.
• Our increasing role in so-called "counter-insurgency" actually places Canada at greater risk of being targeted for a terrorist attack. Afghan tribal forces and the Taliban don't see themselves as "insurgents" - they see themselves as freedom-fighters trying to expel occupiers.
• This huge commitment of resources means that we have effectively locked ourselves out of genuine humanitarian missions where we are really needed - such as Darfur.
• Remind people that this is not a UN mission - it is a US occupation, backed up by NATO, a military alliance dominated by the US.
• The 30 Liberal Party Mps who voted with Harper have betrayed Canada. The original mandate was not war-fighting but nation building. What these Liberals voted for was more maimed and dead Canadian soldiers.

Some factoids for your letters (if you're in a rush don't feel obliged to read them all - just use the first one that is easily incorporated into a letter):

• On May 6, 2006 The Globe and Mail reported that, "About 54% of those polled oppose or strongly oppose Canadian involvement, compared with 41% in mid-March. Negative sentiment has grown sharply in Quebec, where 70% of respondents are against sending troops to Afghanistan, compared with 53% two months ago."

• According to Steve Staples at the Polaris Institute,

  • this country's commitments in the war-torn country have already cost $4.1-billion since Sept. 11, 2001.
  • Afghan and related operations account for more than two-thirds - 68 per cent - of the $6-billion spent on international missions during that time frame.
  • Over that period, the group said, Canada devoted $214-million, about 3 per cent of international-mission spending, on United Nations missions.
  • Canada now has only 59 military personnel devoted to UN missions, compared with about 2,300 troops stationed in Afghanistan. Canada - once ranked among the top 10 contributors to UN missions in terms of military personnel - now ranks 50th out of 95 countries.

• Harper talks about the "democratically elected" Hamid Karzai government's request for Canadian help. But this government does not speak for Afghanis - it governs only in the capital, Kabul, and there are no prospects that this will change any time soon. Will we be keeping a death clock like the US in Iraq, tracking our dead soldiers for a cause that is corrupted by US imperial interests?

• According to Erich Margolis, one of the most informed and astute analysts of Afghanistan, "The Uzbeks in the north - now US and Canadian allies - are in even more vicious and brutal than Taliban, and up to their turbans in drug dealing. The US and NATO are running a nation that supplies 80-90% of the world's heroin."

SAMPLE LETTERS:

Dear editor:

Yesterday's vote contradicts what Canadians feel about this military operation. This is not a nation-building "mission" - it is an American occupation, rooted in US determination to control Middle East oil. It is an occupation we now officially - and shamefully - support. Canadians support our military's historic peace-keeping role yet according to the Polaris Institute, we are no 50th out of 95 countries in support of UN missions.

Dear Editor:

What a shameful and appalling decision our MPS made on Tuesday to extend out occupation of Afghanistan for two more years. Our allies now are not just the US - who are there to control oil and oil pipelines - but the Uzbeks in the north, a vicious and brutal force that terrorizes the population. Thanks to our tribal "allies" rape in Afghanistan is again epidemic and the country once again supplies 80-90% of the world's heroin. That's some accomplishment to tell our grandchildren about.

Dear Editor:

The death of 26 year old Captain Nichola Goddard - announced as the Harper government moved to ensure more bodies of soldiers will be coming home for the next three years - is a tragic irony. The site of Conservative MPs with their heads bowed in her honour made me sick. The pro-US, cowboy mentality of Mr Harper and his government ensures that heads will bow again - and again and again.