Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper didn't take long to make his mark on Canadian foreign policy. We suddenly find our military in the midst of a guerilla warfare in Afghanistan that the mighty US couldn't handle, or in other words, we find ourselves slaving to American interests. Leading an international coalition of occupiers who claim that they are "rooting out terrorists" is not peacekeeping by any stretch of the imagination.
A report from CBC is as follows:
The Department of National Defence has also admitted that Canada's secret special forces, Joint Task Force Two, has been operating alongside the American and other special forces units in Afghanistan but no details have ever been released.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/canada.html
What are they hiding? Do they really need secret forces for peacekeeping purposes? I don't think so.
Brigadier-General David Fraser says "...But in fact what we're doing is we're going into their yard," he said. "We're going to start kicking them." (CTV.ca)
He's right, the troops are going into their yard, but Canadian soldiers are apparently getting axes to the head and getting blown up rather than gaining the sympathy of a populace who are said to be "reaping the fruits of democracy."
He also states: "I've seen what the Americans have done, I have seen what the British have done to prepare their troops and we do not take a back seat to any other nation in the world," (CTV.ca)
How is slaving to the American imperialistic agenda not taking a back seat? In fact, its not just taking the back seat, its being blindfolded, gagged, and being put into the damn trunk. Furthermore, who are we trying to kid here? Canada is no military powerhouse so what are we doing fighting a guerilla war that even the US could not compete with? But then again, practicality is a foreign concept to conservative ideology.
Already tarnishing its image as a true peacekeeping nation, Canada is also risking an attack on its own soil, something we have avoided due to being "an independent nation who makes its own decisions" as former Prime Minister Jean Chretien stated after making the bold decision of not sending troops to Iraq. Canada was not part of the US imperialistic grand strategy, which is why it has avoided retaliatory attacks. The intervention in Afghanistan has the potential to change that. Lets change our government before that ever happens.
copyright Aurangzeb Qureshi 2006
2 comments:
I have a question for you, what your general views on the amount Canada should be spending on military? Should it be a priority?
defense should be a priority for any state...however, one should remain mindful of the realities as well...Canada has historically been a a peaceful state and peacekeeping has been an essential part of our social fabric (something that can change with this wannabe US conservative government we have now)...we don't face the threats other states do nor do we declare unilateral interventions into oil-rich states...hence, we don't need to waste tax money to build up a military...although military should be a priority, it should only be for peacekeeping purposes...
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