{"id":1060,"date":"2008-01-30T20:39:42","date_gmt":"2008-01-31T01:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1060"},"modified":"2018-08-15T14:53:58","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T18:53:58","slug":"wednesday-january-30-2008-canada-in-afghanistan-%e2%80%95-ottawa-releases-a-puff-of-hot-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1060","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday, January 30, 2008 \u2014 Canada in Afghanistan \u2015 Ottawa Releases a Puff of Hot Air"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada\u2019s armed forces have been in Afghanistan since 2002, at a cost of 79 deaths (78 sol\u00addiers and one diplo\u00admat), and a large, though very dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to assess mon\u00ade\u00adtary cost. Like most Cana\u00addi\u00adans, I sup\u00adport\u00aded send\u00ading troops to Afghanistan, feel\u00ading that the peo\u00adple of that long-suf\u00adfer\u00ading land deserved to be defend\u00aded against fur\u00adther humil\u00adi\u00ada\u00adtions. Most of the Afghan-Cana\u00addi\u00adans I spoke to were sup\u00adport\u00adive of the enter\u00adprise. I knew per\u00adfect\u00adly well that the ini\u00adtial rea\u00adson for our being there was a kind of indi\u00adrect black\u00admail from Wash\u00ading\u00adton. Join\u00ading the NATO<\/span> oper\u00ada\u00adtion in Afghanistan was prob\u00ada\u00adbly the only way that Paul Martin\u2019s admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion could get away with our refusal to par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpate in the dis\u00adas\u00adtrous war on Iraq. But I felt there was a chance that we could do some good there, as long as we man\u00adaged to avoid oper\u00adat\u00ading under the thumb of U.S. forces.<\/p>\n

With the elec\u00adtoral vic\u00adto\u00adry of the Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives, that hope began to be rid\u00addled with doubt. Stephen Harp\u00ader, our cur\u00adrent prime min\u00adis\u00adter, is a Bush bum-kiss\u00ader of the first order, with a trans\u00adpar\u00adent agen\u00adda of destroy\u00ading Canada\u2019s inde\u00adpen\u00addence and its econ\u00ado\u00admy. Under his arro\u00adgant, secre\u00adtive, and manip\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtive hand, the oper\u00ada\u00adtion has quick\u00adly been trans\u00adformed into some\u00adthing sus\u00adpi\u00adcious\u00adly un-Cana\u00addi\u00adan. Many Cana\u00addi\u00adans are begin\u00adning to have seri\u00adous doubts about the \u201cmis\u00adsion\u201d, which gets vaguer and vaguer in its objec\u00adtives, bench\u00admarks, and jus\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion with every pass\u00ading mil\u00adi\u00adtary funeral.<\/p>\n

It has not been an easy oper\u00ada\u00adtion. Cana\u00adda has the fourth largest con\u00adtin\u00adgent in Afghanistan. They are most\u00adly deployed to secure and defend Kan\u00adda\u00adhar, which is the tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal core area of the Tal\u00adiban, most\u00adly Pash\u00adtun-speak\u00ading, and near the porous bor\u00adder with Pak\u00adistan, where the dic\u00adta\u00adtor Musharaff incu\u00adbat\u00aded and still pro\u00adtects the ene\u00admy. Since the Bush admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion active\u00adly col\u00adlab\u00ado\u00adrates with this ene\u00admy of Amer\u00adi\u00adca, Cana\u00adda, and the Afghan peo\u00adple, there is lit\u00adtle hope of doing any\u00adthing except accu\u00admu\u00adlate casu\u00adal\u00adties in a stag\u00adnant sta\u00adtus-quo. Cana\u00addi\u00adan sol\u00addiers are dying at a rate approach\u00ading four times high\u00ader than Amer\u00adi\u00adcan and U.K forces in Afghanistan and 2.6 times high\u00ader than U.S. forces in Iraq, accord\u00ading to a Depart\u00adment of Nation\u00adal Defense report that was only squir\u00adreled out of obscu\u00adri\u00adty by jour\u00adnal\u00adists resort\u00ading to the Free\u00addom of Infor\u00adma\u00adtion laws.[1] The pro\u00adpor\u00adtion of Cana\u00addi\u00adan sol\u00addiers killed by ene\u00admy action is high\u00ader even than it was in all but one year of WWII<\/span>. Not to men\u00adtion an absurd\u00adly high rate of casu\u00adal\u00adties from Amer\u00adi\u00adcan \u201cfriend\u00adly fire\u201d.<\/p>\n

The issue of num\u00adbers of fatal\u00adi\u00adties is not, as many imag\u00adine, the cru\u00adcial one. Com\u00adpared to Canada\u2019s mil\u00adi\u00adtary tasks in the past, secur\u00ading Kan\u00adda\u00adhar seems pret\u00adty light stuff. On April 9, 1917, almost 100,000 Cana\u00addi\u00adan sol\u00addiers charged Vimy Ridge, which the Ger\u00adman army had for\u00adti\u00adfied heav\u00adi\u00adly with trench\u00ades, barbed wire, artillery and machine-gun nests. Five thou\u00adsand Cana\u00addi\u00adan troops were killed and sev\u00aden thou\u00adsand were wound\u00aded. So we are hard\u00adly like\u00adly to pan\u00adic over 79 dead in war. Sol\u00addiers join the army with the expec\u00adta\u00adtion of risk\u00ading their lives, and in fact we can only main\u00adtain a com\u00adpe\u00adtent army if it has some expe\u00adri\u00adence with real com\u00adbat. Most Cana\u00addi\u00adan troops in Afghanistan seem to be ded\u00adi\u00adcat\u00aded to stick\u00ading to the mission.<\/p>\n

But it is irrel\u00ade\u00advant whether Cana\u00addi\u00adan troops on the ground desire to con\u00adtin\u00adue their activ\u00adi\u00adties in Afghanistan. They are mil\u00adi\u00adtary spe\u00adcial\u00adists, eager to prove them\u00adselves in com\u00adbat, and trained specif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly to have a sense of con\u00adfi\u00addence and sol\u00adi\u00addar\u00adi\u00adty. Of course our sol\u00addiers want to engage in com\u00adbat. That\u2019s their rai\u00adson d\u2019\u00eatre. Oth\u00ader\u00adwise, they would have pur\u00adsued oth\u00ader careers.<\/p>\n

The real issue is why these sol\u00addiers are being sent to risk and some\u00adtimes lose their lives. It\u2019s the job of our Par\u00adlia\u00adment (not the Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter \u2015 he is not a Pres\u00adi\u00addent.) to decide why, when and where our sol\u00addiers will fight. If Cana\u00addi\u00adan politi\u00adcians expend the lives of Cana\u00addi\u00adan sol\u00addiers mere\u00adly to advance their own careers, or out of cow\u00adard\u00adly sub\u00admis\u00adsion to for\u00adeign pow\u00aders, or for idi\u00adot\u00adic rea\u00adsons of \u201cimage\u201d, then they are act\u00ading, in my view, as trai\u00adtors to my coun\u00adtry. And any gov\u00adern\u00adment offi\u00adcial, such as Stephen Harp\u00ader, who uses the dis\u00adhon\u00adest rhetoric of \u201cwe must sup\u00adport our troops\u201d to dis\u00adguise such trea\u00adson, should not be allowed to get away with it.<\/p>\n

The real tragedy of World War I, for instance, was not that so many young Cana\u00addi\u00adans gave their lives, but that they gave their lives for the sake of cor\u00adrupt morons who lied to us. At the end of \u201cthe War to End All Wars\u201d, which was the prod\u00aduct of quar\u00adrel\u00ading Euro\u00adpean roy\u00adal fam\u00adi\u00adlies, none of the aggres\u00adsors were pun\u00adished. The Kaiser was pen\u00adsioned off to live for decades in a lux\u00adu\u00adri\u00adous man\u00adsion, and most of the orga\u00adniz\u00aders of atroc\u00adi\u00adties and mass mur\u00adder went on to suc\u00adcess\u00adful and finan\u00adcial\u00adly reward\u00ading careers. The lega\u00adcy of all that slaugh\u00adter was to set up the world for the hor\u00adrors of Com\u00admu\u00adnism and Nazism. For that wretched swin\u00addle, one Cana\u00addi\u00adan fam\u00adi\u00adly in five suf\u00adfered a casu\u00adal\u00adty, and the fields of Flan\u00adders were lit\u00adtered with the rot\u00adting corpses of tens of thou\u00adsands of Cana\u00addi\u00adan farm boys.<\/p>\n

So we should always regard any attempt by the gov\u00adern\u00adment to get us involved in war\u00adfare with extreme sus\u00adpi\u00adcion. If the \u201cmis\u00adsion\u201d is sur\u00adround\u00aded by a fog of vague\u00adness and emo\u00adtion\u00adal manip\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion, as this one is, we should be vig\u00adi\u00adlant for decep\u00adtion, and demand hard facts.<\/p>\n

In this par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar case, hard facts are not easy to find. I\u2019ve been crawl\u00ading through what\u00adev\u00ader poten\u00adtial sources I have to hand: Depart\u00adment of Nation\u00adal Defense, CIDA<\/span>, and Par\u00adlia\u00admen\u00adtary reports, doc\u00adu\u00adments from the Afghan Gov\u00adern\u00adment, NATO<\/span>, and CBC<\/span>\u2019s files, etc. The pic\u00adture they form is not encour\u00adag\u00ading. The most pathet\u00adic of these is the sup\u00adpos\u00aded\u00adly non-par\u00adti\u00adsan \u201cMan\u00adley Report\u201d, released a few days ago.[2]<\/p>\n

The Man\u00adley Report is prob\u00ada\u00adbly the only doc\u00adu\u00adment con\u00adcern\u00ading Afghanistan that most of our Mem\u00adbers of Par\u00adlia\u00adment are like\u00adly to read, and it is, to put it mild\u00adly, a load of codswal\u00adlop. I have sel\u00addom seen so trans\u00adpar\u00adent\u00adly fraud\u00adu\u00adlent and inane a report released on a major pub\u00adlic issue. First of all, the \u201cinde\u00adpen\u00addent\u201d pan\u00adel con\u00adsists entire\u00adly of cor\u00adpo\u00adrate hacks from big busi\u00adness, sev\u00ader\u00adal from media con\u00adglom\u00ader\u00adates, and most with close ties to Harper\u2019s Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive party.[3] Sec\u00adond of all, their \u201cexper\u00adtise\u201d is laugh\u00adable. Only two have some diplo\u00admat\u00adic expe\u00adri\u00adence, and none have any mil\u00adi\u00adtary knowl\u00adedge, or com\u00adpe\u00adtence in Afghan affairs. The report has vir\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly noth\u00ading in it, except some gen\u00ader\u00adal facts about the Afghan war that could have been copied and past\u00aded from Wikipedia, and re-phras\u00adings of the neb\u00adu\u00adlous gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adi\u00adties in Stephen Harper\u2019s speech\u00ades. The report is a joke. The only thing it says is, essen\u00adtial\u00adly, \u201cstay the course\u201d, with the cavi\u00adat that we should rethink it in the future if oth\u00ader NATO<\/span> par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpants don\u2019t pony up some more troops to relieve us. Unlike most of the NATO<\/span> forces, we are not \u201cpart\u00adnered\u201d, and occu\u00adpy Kan\u00adda\u00adhar with\u00adout even poten\u00adtial back\u00adup from any oth\u00ader NATO<\/span> par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpant. The cavi\u00adat is prob\u00ada\u00adbly a device for cre\u00adat\u00ading an option\u00adal \u201cout\u201d, and it has been inter\u00adpret\u00aded by some Amer\u00adi\u00adcan media as a sign of Cana\u00adda \u201cthreat\u00aden\u00ading\u201d to with\u00addraw. [4]<\/p>\n

The one most glar\u00ading absence in this deep \u201canaly\u00adsis\u201d of our Afghan com\u00admit\u00adments is mon\u00adey. There is not a word about what any\u00adthing has cost us, or will cost us. In fact, it is aston\u00adish\u00ading that this issue has not been dis\u00adcussed at any length in the Cana\u00addi\u00adan media. And it would be hard to dis\u00adcuss. I\u2019ve found it sin\u00adgu\u00adlar\u00adly dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to locate any spe\u00adcif\u00adic infor\u00adma\u00adtion on how much mon\u00adey is being spent, or how it is being spent. I could not find any reli\u00adable-look\u00ading fig\u00adures, and the few esti\u00admates I\u2019ve encoun\u00adtered dif\u00adfer wild\u00adly. On the basis of what lit\u00adtle I\u2019ve seen, we appear to be talk\u00ading about sev\u00aden bil\u00adlion dol\u00adlars com\u00admit\u00adted, so far, and per\u00adhaps as much as nine.[5] There are many ways of cal\u00adcu\u00adlat\u00ading the costs, and some of them, like the med\u00adical costs of treat\u00ading the wound\u00aded, are untrace\u00adable. To give you an idea of the grotesque\u00adness of the amounts we are spend\u00ading, com\u00adpare them to our trade with Afghanistan, from which we annu\u00adal\u00adly import lit\u00adtle more than half a mil\u00adlion dol\u00adlars worth of goods, and sell about nine million.[6]<\/p>\n

I start\u00aded look\u00ading through CIDA<\/span> reports[7], which should reveal the most impor\u00adtant of the human\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adi\u00adan expen\u00addi\u00adtures. Most Cana\u00addi\u00adans believe that these are the main focus and intent of our pres\u00adence in Afghanistan. So, what could I see there? Not much. The pro\u00adgrams and expen\u00addi\u00adtures in things like micro-lend\u00ading funds, san\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion and edu\u00adca\u00adtion projects, infra\u00adstruc\u00adture improve\u00adment, etc, all appear to be quite laud\u00adable and well-thought out efforts. But they involve only an insignif\u00adi\u00adcant per\u00adcent\u00adage of what we are spend\u00ading in the war. The CIDA<\/span> accounts show that all the stuff we are sup\u00adposed to be doing, that Cana\u00addi\u00adans want us to be doing, are rel\u00ade\u00adgat\u00aded to the pen\u00adny jar. Despite end\u00adless yap\u00adping about them from our gov\u00adern\u00adment, it\u2019s obvi\u00adous that they\u2019re only win\u00addow-dress\u00ading. The agen\u00adda lies else\u00adwhere, and the Afghan peo\u00adple can only expect what\u00adev\u00ader chump change that is con\u00adsid\u00adered suf\u00adfi\u00adcient to salve con\u00adsciences back home. In oth\u00ader words, the whole thing is a fraud. We aren\u2019t in Afghanistan to do any\u00adbody any good except Stephen Harp\u00ader and his cronies. We are being suck\u00adered again. Maybe it\u2019s not on the scale of Vimy Ridge, but the prin\u00adci\u00adple is the same.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2013
[1] Nation\u00adal Post, Fri\u00adday, Jan\u00adu\u00adary 04, 2008
[2] Man\u00adley, John; Derek H. Bur\u00adney, Jake Epp, Paul Tel\u00adli\u00ader, Pamela Wallin \u2014 Final Report of theIn\u00adde\u00adpen\u00addent Pan\u00adel on Canada\u2019s Future Role in Afghanistan \/
Rap\u00adport finale du groupe d\u2019experts ind\u00e9pen\u00addants sur let r\u00f4le futur du Cana\u00adda en Afghanistan . Library and Archives Cana\u00adda. 2008
[3] The chair\u00adman of the com\u00admis\u00adsion, John Man\u00adley, is a for\u00admer Lib\u00ader\u00adal cab\u00adi\u00adnet min\u00adis\u00adter, a stan\u00addard device for claim\u00ading its \u201cnon-par\u00adti\u00adsan\u201d sta\u00adtus. It should be noted,
how\u00adev\u00ader, that Man\u00adley\u2019s chief claim to fame was that he was extreme\u00adly friend\u00adly toward the G.W.Bush administration.
[4] Such is how it was report\u00aded on PBS<\/span>, the day after the report was released.
[5] Per\u00adry, David (Cen\u00adtre for For\u00adeign Pol\u00adi\u00adcy Stud\u00adies, Dal\u00adhousie Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty) \u2014 The Price of the Afghan Mis\u00adsion \u2014 Van\u00adguard (Defense and Secu\u00adri\u00adty journal).
[6] CIA<\/span> World Fact Book.
[7] Cana\u00addi\u00adan Inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal Devel\u00adop\u00adment Agency [CIDA<\/span>]:1) Afghanistan Recon\u00adstruc\u00adtion Trust Fund \u2014 Nation\u00adal Pro\u00adgram includ\u00ading Kan\u00adda\u00adhar Province:
Project Number:A032445<\/span> Cur\u00adrent Phase:2003\u20132008 Bud\u00adget Allo\u00adca\u00adtion and Dis\u00adburse\u00adments; 2) Micro\u00adfi\u00adnance Pro\u00adgram in Afghanistan \u2014 Nation\u00adal Program:
Project Number:A032234<\/span> Cur\u00adrent Phase:2003\u20132010 Bud\u00adget Allo\u00adca\u00adtion and Dis\u00adburse\u00adments ; 3) Nation\u00adal Sol\u00adi\u00addar\u00adi\u00adty Pro\u00adgram \u2014 Nation\u00adal Program
includ\u00ading Kan\u00adda\u00adhar Province: Project Number:A032660<\/span> Cur\u00adrent Phase:2003\u20132010 Bud\u00adget Allo\u00adca\u00adtion and Disbursements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canada\u2019s armed forces have been in Afghanistan since 2002, at a cost of 79 deaths (78 sol\u00addiers and one diplo\u00admat), and a large, though very dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to assess mon\u00ade\u00adtary cost. Like most Cana\u00addi\u00adans, I sup\u00adport\u00aded send\u00ading troops to Afghanistan, feel\u00ading that the \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-as-blog-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1060"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1635,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions\/1635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}