FEATURES Questioning Canada’s Role in Defending Afghanistan Brandon Ferguson, OP Contributor should be there of not. nt nt free’speech or pro- in Afghanistan and Though ?’m not inclin mote patriotism as an anf eat freedom fries—I’d like who’ve managed to mistake Afghanistan in support of the! pursuit of a finally free A completely ideological and fod e is Iraq: fuck you, hippie. In the News: NDP leader and infome Jack Layton, has recentl debate on the ongoi gst Afghanistan from th roppres decade old regime., W ile the in the jagged hills and dusty hi country, (Captain J k would Oman Lieutenant Trevor sre believe that in a la roadside bombs, i signs, and protest pe pled the telephon nobility. The sys can recycle thats On paper, a ation should shirk the burde for the night, fo e great by staying at home; s busi- ness and got it bl only a maple Americans) can t leaf on their bac’ ’s why a colos- sal nation of 3.9 t population of 32 million citizens ¢ ternational the Nobel his virtues as matters in the world is because the So, it would seem Ottawa this past week when. Sergei Lavrov visited Cana Peter Mackay. « ign Minister occupying— nations were landing pads, war global diplomacy was literally ra big’ " decision ‘to hold to open debate-in parliament about Afghanistan, instead choosing to support our men and - and Romans to the Vikings. rape and pillage brutality toy” * not be separated from the-other.’ This is incorrect. Another mistake is to say that we only ever seem to act. ations t.. women of the armed forces. Lavrov, in an attempt to deflect some politicians’ desire to pull out of anything that’s even remotely related to the US, said that “whenever we as members of the international community start using Afghanistan to play games with one another, we are in trouble.” A Past to be Proud of: There was a time, before the end of the Cold War@hen " war was part of the price of admission to be human. We don’t eat each other’s lice; we don’t run in packs = fat, lazy, and slow amongst us don’t get eaten first—not literal-, ly, anyways. Since the beginning of ‘civilization, patt.of being a person meant participating in elaborate acts of warfare. We have gone from the conquest mentality of Greek Eoidpies reality. The 2oth . the modern day war of j Century saw both the@nvention’ of allied, fights agains tyranny and the dropping of ag C - bémb on cents to prove, pRoint Sy what er me tt, that’s "Dori cerituty, ee fist full cefituty, sa we had t the distinction of _béing the only great - e never, start a war whileStill participating inv fight—an act eously announced our arrival as an independent nation and a fierce fighter for freedom. The grit and determination shown by our boys on Vimy Ridge in1917 not only stands as our greatest military accomplishment (in which 3,600 Canadians gave their life on that‘muddy April day) but remains the turning point in a bloody global conflict that the good guys were losing up to then Twenty-five years later, it was the failed Canadian raid on Dieppe that paved the way for Normandy’s D-Day assaultatpuably the single greatest example of a multi- national offensive against all that was wrong in the world. 900 Canadians lost their life in the Dieppe Raid and 2,000 more were taken prisoner. All told, over 66,000 Canadians perished in WWI and 45,000 more died in Europe for WWII. Canadian soil, as you know, was never attacked. While it will always be written in the history books that the big nations (Britain, USA, USSR, Germany, and France) were at the forefront, on one side or the other, of international agreements and, therefore, global awareness, it is not a stretch to suggest that Canada has always been the one in the trenches making such grand terms of diplo- macy a reality through action. It was Canadian heart that allowed the world to even claim it had a conscience. From New York to Kandahar There is much murk in the waters of why we went to Afghanistan but didn’t go to Iraq. One, it is argued, can- with the Americaits”permission. Again, while Jean ~ Chrétien did;in large part; make his decision on Iraq due” _ mostly to.a.cembination.of:senility and the fast-approach=. "ing end of his tenure, Canada has a long and proud tradi- tion of acting militarily without considering the US posi- eted. _ In" World: War I, we waited a full day a after Britain aredwar of Germany before joining the ~ one Reven de We joined WWI well before the Americans; Canadians crossed an ocean in WWII to suffer monstrous casualties long before the Pearl Harbor attack would spur a stoically stagnant US to join the fight. Canada did take part in the Korean War, yet stayed home for the Vietnam War. Often d of being an American puppet state, it’s impossible yur ability to distinguish right from wrong. vas wrong because it had nothing to do with any- was right of Canada to recognize this and keep and girls out of harm’s way. But Afghanistan arose ut of the ashes of 9/11, and let’s not forget what that was: an unprovoked attack on our neighbours. A quick recap for those with difficulty remembering last week’s OC: | Fagt: Four Planes flew into American citizens, killing easly 4,000. of..thém. ’ Faét: Al-Qaeda did it. Fact: The ultra-extremist Taliban overtly supported = this by housing the tefrorist headquarters that hatched this » evil, ‘indiscriminate killing scheme. Pact: Those mothe fuckers had to die. Now, ti a‘way of skewing the way we look at things: bi r seething while watching the twin tow- ers bleediii noke befo my eyes that morning. I said things like “assholes” 4 astards” and “nuke whoever the Fuick did-this?” Did Tmean these thoughts? Do I still? ‘Lo ss A still | véry much nobkoee Al-Qaeda strung up by the long: and éurlies. Pave 30 8ee Osama bin Laden diawn and quartered like William’ Wallace. I like to think Othe optfrested would say er is derstand the urge | © retaliate. Some days, I eves think the US deserved ay In the Streets: se you wish to stop. ‘To rename ‘war’ as ‘occupa- kes you as orantly inept at language as the Bush administration’s attempt to downgrade ‘stopping Saddam from’ Ssidghis weapons of mass destruction’ to . hoot off any time someone a trigger like ‘Iraq’, ‘war’, or the local, and only, chapter of : Wine and Occupation, I think). Mobillizati n Ag ar & Occupation was formed in 2002 after.a dispute war, if you will—within its par- ation, Stop: War. MAWO believes, amongst othset t gs; that’ ~anada should immediately stop its “war Ee ‘end the occupation of Afghanistan, and let that prock have'self-determination. atid 14 Canadians have now been killed over “08, ‘there. Cas Sad ey deteritination: these are the reasons for pulling out of Afghanistan and leaving people who have only ever known war to...well...go to war