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Tag(s): Afghanistan; Canada; Canadian Govt-Politics; Draft; Foreign Policy Failures Israel Middle Ea; Geneva Convention; NATO
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January 15, 2008 at 06:25:36

Canadian people must speak up on Afghanistan. NOW.

by ladybroadoak Page 2 of 4 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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And here is what the inimitable Mr. Ignatieff has had to say:

"I'm convinced — based on the progress we've seen today — [that] Afghanistan will be defending itself. I am absolutely convinced the Taliban are not going to win here."

But what what does the Prime Minister (public servant, incidentally) have to say about Canadians gaining first hand knowledge of the situation in Afghanistan (and remember an election is looming ..), according to the Globe and Mail:

In Ottawa, the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper scoffed at Mr. Dion's visit.

"It has taken more than a year after becoming Liberal leader for Stéphane Dion to finally find Afghanistan on the map," Helena Guergis, secretary of state for foreign affairs, said in a statement Saturday.

"The irony of Dion and Iggy being in a war zone and being protected by the same troops who protect Afghan women and children is palpable," Ms. Guergis said.

"I think he should apologize to our troops while he is touring the PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) in safety because the same reason he needs bodyguards is why our troops need to stay to protect democracy, women and children," she added.

Ah! the old neocon SHAME racket. The very people who should be ashamed, point fingers and belittle people's efforts to get some sanity and try to meet their obligations as public servants.

But Canada is in a tricky position - it's a NATO and Geneva signatory AND a UN participant.

Whither Canada ..?? What's the plan??

The editorial in the NYT quoted above fails to consider NATO’s Geneva obligations: To provide stability as an occupying power. The record of NATO is unclear: Other than Bosnia, this is essentially the first “large scale” use of NATO ground forces outside the NATO theater: NATO remains untested; NATO’s record as an occupying power in Afghanistan has not met the test.

Why should NATO’s failures should be pawned off to the Afghans?

The more appropriate solution would before NATO to outline the NATO-plan to provide security; then transition that stability to the local Afghans. Afghanistan may need a draft; but NATO needs to provide leadership, and now-implement a plan for NATO troops to provide stability.

Brussels Needs To Outline A NATO Plan

Before we talk seriously about “What Afghanistan should do” it’s more appropriate to talk about what NATO has a responsibility to do, now:

Implement a plan, and first discuss in Brussels a military draft within NATO countries.

Current NATO ground forces are insufficient. The post-2001 assumptions need to be revisited. NATO leaders need to discuss whether they want to remain relevant as an alliance in responding to an attack on one.

If NATO seriously discusses and implements a draft; then provides stability for Afghanistan, then the Afghans will see there is something they can do, and that their draft would contribute to something that is real, not something NATO imagines, but cannot provide. NATO needs to first stand up; and as the Afghans are prepared to fill-in, then NATO can take a smaller role.

How does Canada respond to the US political situation??
Congress and Pelosi Cannot Rubber Stamp, as Was Done With FISA, POW Treatment Issues

Congress with the AUMF, the Authorization for Military Force permitted the Bush Administration to use forces. However, the US steadfastly refuses to follow Geneva.

It’s time for the US Congress, in concert with the legislatures of NATO, to discuss funding requirements to conduct drafts in NATO countries; and provide the security Geneva requires. Then we can talk about transitioning the NATO-led stability to the Afghans.

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2 comments

Former Lawyer, current Business Consultant,history buff, Christian, father of 2 sons and a supporter of democratic government.
ArchieFormer Lawyer, current Business Consultant,history buff, Christian, father of 2 sons and a supporter of democratic government.

People

Please, please leave the poor benighted people of Afghanistan alone. It's their country, their religion and their problem (albeit started by Britain,the Soviets and the U.S. years ago). Just leave them alone, get out NOW! All the so called "do gooders" are literally destroying their country as they did Iraq. Enough is enough. Let them be. We as Canadians have even less reason to be there than anyone else. Our place in the world is as peacekeepers and if there were peace there I would agree that we could help but there is an active war and a hated occupation of which we should have no part. Check your history, no one from outside, NO ONE has ever been able to control that country for any length of time. In the end they always succumb and get booted out covered in blood. We are not wanted there and we should not be participating in the egregious imperialism of the U.S., not now, not ever. We are better people than that, much better!

by Archie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1273 comments) on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 8:05:29 PM

Virginia Simson is a spiritual journalista/activist who runs a visionary planetary tutorial blogspot, www.ladybroadoak.blogspot.com as well as a blog on the uranium industry and depleted uranium at www.lowlevelradiation.blogspot.com. She feels that we must educate the young as to the real issues of the day - economics, clean energy, a drug free lifestyle, friendship and concern for the environment. We must plan for seven generations in the future. She unconditionally supports impeachment and...

to see more of bio, click on member name
ladybroadoakVirginia Simson is a spiritual journalista/activist who runs a visionary planetary tutorial blogspot, www.ladybroadoak.blogspot.com as well as a blog on the uranium industry and depleted uranium at www.lowlevelradiation.blogspot.com. She feels that we must educate the young as to the real issues of the day - economics, clean energy, a drug free lifestyle, friendship and concern for the environment. We must plan for seven generations in the future. She unconditionally supports impeachment and...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Do not be dismayed ..

I absolutely positively care about the Afghanis. The idea was not to go there and turn it into a cement parking lot, or worse to firebomb it into glass. There are PEOPLE involved who need to have their needs met.

My point is this: the Canadian leadership in Parliament is totally out to lunch o this "issue". There is no clear direction from them, just confusion -- except for The Harper who is a clear NEOCON in every sense of that word.

The point I am raising is that Canada has legal obligations . and while our NATO commanders are lieing at every turn, it seems to me that the pressure is going to intensify to get more Canadian troops into Afghanistan, probably after the election.which will be soon.

My fear is that Dion will allow this as the war crimes multiply - that's what his handlers are indicating. They are more upset by The Harper allowing an intel breach of where Dion was in Afghanistan and PMO's handling of Dion's visit than they are with developing real, workable plans for Canada to comply with its obligations. I might point out this is precisely what Llinda McQuaig has warned about, the over riding madness of siding with NATO and the United States, yet now we have Dion doing it, too. This is not traditional Canadian ethos; this is the new Americanization of Canada.

There is NO Canadian press reaction to the biggest story in the US yesterday which was the new orders for 3000 more US troops. I attempted to SHOW here what is going on under the radar, all of which indicates more and certainly not less military presence there.

Canada can either chart its own course in foreign affairs or it doesn't. The world is about to regionalize (no more dollar hegemony AND power on the part of nuclear players) and it was a very sad mistake for Canada to ally so closely with the United States and take on this "Nato commitment" in the first instance.

I could quote you much information on ways Canada props up the American Empire which is about to fall but within the confines of that article (written btw so that Garth Turner would show it to Stephane Dion!!) .. I limited my information and merely stuck to the legal obligations that Canada took on under NATO and Geneva. This MUST be met or we just become another rogue nation in the eyes of the world, a nation NOT complying with the rule of international law. I have tried to outline why that is. Canadian prime ministers are to uphold international law.

We are already in Afghanistan. There are reconstructions required and there are ANGRY, resentful people inside Afghanistan.

The NATO allies of the US are all bailing out .. I came up with a plan that sticks responsibilities onto ALL of them, as well as onto the Afghani leadership -- who plan to coast on outsider money WITHOUT meeting Afghanistan's very real obligations - this is what happens when there is NO PLAN.

NATO agreed to go into war, but dropped their responsibilities and as I"ve pointed out, they are new at this game, but they are ignoring historical precendent.

So NOW what for the Afghanis who have lost so much already??

The BEST possible course is for Canada to show some leadership which would FORCE the Americans to reconsider what their real obligations in all this are. It's not a matter of putting more US troops and black ops in there which is the "Bush solution" while continuing to ignore international obligations.

The goal of Dick Cheney is to balkanize Afghanistan, allow the new oil pipelines in, and keep the drugs pouring out of Kandahar. The US has no other strategic interest; there is no al Qaeda threat there but the ones the US makes (and pays, I might add.) The Canadian troops are providing cover for British soliders that are protecting the (very lucrative) poppy crop. Bush and Cheney's constituency is DRUGS and ARMS, remember?? same old, same old US policy.

Can you realize how much like Iran Contra this IS?? And Canada is complicit here, and has been, no matter WHAT the Canadian press may indicate.

I am saying this truthfully - it is the Canadian people who must PUSH Canadian leaders; the leaders are gonna stick their heads in the sand and just go for campaign contributions same as ALWAYS if we let them, and more Afghanis will die. So how many more Canadias do we want to see die before this hits the Security Council, as it inevitably must.

I am quite used to being Cassandra, I've been an activist, not a writer, for forty years. I realize this is "shoot the messenger time" once again. But I will repeat this - it will take DECADES to fix this mess that has been created. Time for Canada to come to the realization that getting together with other interested parties, meeting its obligations is both right and necessary.

by ladybroadoak (38 articles, 20 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 391 comments) on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 9:19:26 PM