I see Afghanistan and Iraq as very similar. It's about oil, yes, but about more than oil. It's about power and control, and also about the imperialist attempt to remove anti-capitalist leaders from power and install puppet leaders sympathetic to and cooperative with the American administration. If 9/11 hadn't stirred up anti-muslim sentiment, there would have been a much better chance that Venezuela would already have been invaded and Chavez removed.
Removing the taliban was just another excuse, like all the different excuses used for the invasion of Iraq. Hillier believes in this cause, hence his comments about Canada going into Afghanistan to "kill scumbags", without elaborating on exactly who a scumbag is and how our soldiers are supposed to know.
Iraq is a mess simply because soldiers from countries such as the US and UK have gone in and killed people, claiming they are all "insurgents". From the Iraqis' point of view, the soldiers have come in and killed innocent men, women, and children. This comes directly from the mouths of American soldiers who have returned from Iraq and told of being ordered to fire indiscriminately on civilian vehicles and public areas - on the basis that anyone on the street can be considered guilty.
When people in Iraq (those who live there, those who have spoken to their relatives here, and those who have been there to visit) all have stories of innocent relatives, neighbours, and friends being killed by the occupying forces, then it becomes clear why the troops are unwelcome. If these troops were really in Iraq (and Afghanistan) to help, then we shouldn't be hearing these types of stories. The early claims of soldiers being welcomed with open arms and flowers are overwhelmingly untrue. All the people of Iraq and Afghanistan want is for the troops to get out. And as long as they remain, they will be unwelcome, they will be opposed, and the strife will continue. No good can come of it.
Afghanistan was a different story. But if the troops are there to help, as is so often claimed, then why is the majority of the population still without running water and electricity? What happened to the infrastructure rebuilding? The mainstream media picks up on one example of a rebuilding project, and that is all we get to see. No wonder that the minority of the North American population which bothers to read these stories has a distorted view. CNN and Fox News are well known for presenting a biased view, but sadly, our own, trusted media are little better. The papers in the last few days have been trumpeting front page stories about what is supposedly going on in Afghanistan, but not the details I am mentioning here.
What is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq is privatization of resources and services. Why do you think Paul Martin was so eager to get assurance from Bush that despite Canada refusing to send troops to Iraq, Canadian companies would be allowed to help "rebuild"? How much sense does it make to anyone that MCI would rebuild Iraq's cell phone infrastructure to North American standards (so that Iraqi cell phones don't work anywhere else in the middle east or Europe)? How much sense does it make to deliver the first cell phones to pizza restaurants (instead of doctors and hospitals) so that soldiers can order their dinner? Does anyone care about the Afghans and Iraqis?
Or does anyone really care about democracy? This is another claim made by Bush - that Americans are bringing democracy to other countries and other parts of the world. Yet what the US has done time and time again is to remove presidents and prime ministers of other countries - some democratically elected with large majorities - and install puppet leaders. This is what we have seen in Haiti most recently, and also what we know the US is dying to do in Venezuela. The US is panicking as they see their domination and influence slipping - as more and more countries in Latin America elect leftist governments (Bolivia, anyone?). Put the case of Haiti together with your arguments over Iraq, along with the history of countries such as Chile, and it's hard to defend what is happening in Afghanistan.
One further note: just as Bush guaranteed that, by invading Iraq, the US will be a target of terrorism for many years to come, so Canada becomes a terrorism target, not only for our actions of sending more troops and stepping up our aggression, but for Hillier's comments that we are going into Afghanistan to kill, and that our military are not "peacekeepers". What good can come of that?
March 18 is the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Last year and the year before, a lot of people were very eager to join the protests over the occupation of Iraq, but adding the argument over withdrawing troops from Afghanistan confused a lot of people and in the end kept some from joining in. This year, more and more people are finally starting to "get" it, which is exactly why Harper is doing his best PR and trying to make the occupation look noble and necessary. Last report I saw had 62% of Canadians opposed to Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
I will reiterate: what good can occupying troops do in a country where they are, with good justification, hated and resented?
For those who care about what is happening, come out next Saturday (March 18 ) and join the protests. I will be out and hope to see you there. I will be in Mississauga for their protest first (10:30 AM, public square at Hurontario & Dundas, South East Corner) and then downtown for the big protest at 1:00 pm (across from the US Consulate, 360 University Ave.). (Note: This is a non-violent protest.)
