Midland Free Press, January 2, 2009

Afghanistan an ill-conceived blunder

The loss of one Canadian in Bush's war, or what could become Obama's war, is one too many.

William J. Ogilvie

What will it take to convince the Harper government that Canada's military invasion of Afghanistan was an ill-conceived, monumental blunder and failure?

As of Dec. 28, 2008 the lives of 106 Canadian soldiers in the flourishing stage of their youthful development have been killed in a war started by George W. Bush and his hawkish Republican Administration.

If the 125,000 Russian soldiers equipped with latest military hardware were unable to occupy Afghanistan after an interminable length of time and suffered a humiliating defeat, by what stretch of the imagination does the Canadian military brass and the Ottawa Tory arm-chair generals thing they can do otherwise?

An increasing number of retired US and UK military officers have clearly and unequivocally stated that any military force invading Afghanistan is doomed to failure and that is military option should be taken off the table--period.

The Afghanistan war has been a lucrative exercise for the defence industry and their well-connected friends, but a tragic and needless loss of the sons and daughter of their Canadian parents, and their extended families.

The loss of one Canadian in Bush's war, or what could become Obama's war, is one too many. Further in this regard, Barack Obama's ostentatious saber rattling during his election campaign and his more recent pronouncements on the subject, is not an auspicious or favourable beginning for a newly-elected president of the USA.

Canadian and all other invading military forces should be withdrawn from Afghanistan now, before further lives are put on the sacrificial alter of US imperialism, aided and abetted by the so-called coalition of the willing' countries.

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