CANADIAN POLITICS:

STAYING IN AFGHANISTAN FOREVER:

Recent news reports have touted the idea that Canadian troops should stay in Afghanistan past their projected withdrawal date in 2011. The general idea is that they would stay as "trainers" of a so far mythical well disciplined and effective army of quislings who would carry out the dictates of the present invaders of that country. If this doesn't strike you as an "odd" ambition then perhaps you should consider the phrase "mass desertions". This is, of course, an exercise in "high bullshit". As the history of all guerrilla wars in the last 100 years shows, "advisers rapidly become combatants". The transition (if there was any at all) would, of course, be properly lied through. One suspects that the lies would be accepted by a minority of the population in the same way as previous reports of impending victory, "development aid" (ie about 5% of what the Soviets did when they were the occupiers), and "projects' (ie building roads that can carry tanks as opposed to goats) were accepted. Such are the true believers. Seems that there will be several other such trial balloons as Sneaky Stevie, our "beloved" Prime Minister, searches for ways to rat on his previous promise to withdraw in 2011.

Here's a campaign from the Canadian anti-militarist group Cease Fire to petition our politicians about our involvement in what may be an endless war.

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KEEP YOUR PROMISE-WITHDRAW FROM AFGHANISTAN:
I was astonished to read this on the front page of the newspaper: “U.S. to press for Canada to keep troops in Afghanistan.”

We can be certain that the retired generals and the defence contractors in the pro-war lobby are cheering, because this will put pressure on Canada to keep fighting the war even longer.

We need to act now, to tell Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff that we do not want to extend the war, and want Canada to be a UN peacekeeper again.

Please send your letter to Prime Minister Harper, opposition leaders, and your local MP, right away.

We have also prepared a campaign kit for you, if you want to help spread the word. After you have sent your letter, consider ordering your Peacekeeping Campaign Kit, or visit our Ceasefire.ca Gear page directly.

Thank you for everything you do for peace.

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The Letter:

Here's the letter that Cease Fire would like you to send to the Prime Minister and other politicians. Please go to this link to sign.

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I want our troops to return from Afghanistan in 2011, or even sooner.

The end of the Afghanistan mission is an opportunity for the Canadian Forces to contribute troops to United Nations peacekeeping operations. More than 80,000 troops are deployed on dangerous and important UN missions, but less than 60 of them are from Canada.

I urge you to end the military mission in Afghanistan, and contribute more troops to UN peacekeeping operations. Make Canada a proud peacekeeper, once again.

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Je demande que nos soldats en Afghanistan rentrent au pays en 2011, voire avant.

La fin de sa mission en Afghanistan permet au Canada de contribuer aux opérations de maintien de la paix des Nations Unies auxquelles participent actuellement plus de 80 000 soldats, déployés dans des missions dangereuses et importantes. Or, moins de 60 de ces soldats sont du Canada.

Je vous demande avec instance de mettre fin à la mission militaire en Afghanistan, et d’envoyer davantage de soldats contribuer aux opérations de maintien de la paix de l’ONU. Retrouvons la fierté d’aider au maintien de la paix.