HALLOWEEN OBSERVATIONS ~ 29/10/07

When they were younger, my daughters and I went shopping for ideas for Halloween costumes. We went to several stores to get a variety of ideas but, they were all the same themes. The only thing different was quality and cost. We soon realized that there was very little for decent teenage girls to wear. Even the cat ears were sold as "Sexy cat ears"! Now, sexy cat is fine if you are in your 20’s, unimaginative and trying to persuade people that you possess latent feline qualities. But they were young and with imagination and I was far from being in my 20's.

We saw displays for the sexy devil and the sexy bunny and the sexy leopard ~ which was already sold out ~ before happening upon the wall of adult costumes. First was Tavern Lady, an off-the-shoulder dress and faux-leather vest. Then came French Maid ~ a ruffled mini-dress with matching headpiece and a garter, Cheerleader ~pleated micro-mini and fitted vest, and Wonder Woman, which had not only a nearly invisible skirt but also red vinyl boot covers that reached to the thigh. We shan't mention the top which was too minimal for description.

At $49.99, Wonder Woman was among the priciest costumes, along with the Geisha ~ both $20 more than Stewardess, which consisted of a teensy polyester wrap dress with a plunging neckline. Did I forget Sexy Police woman in a tiny tight black vinyl dress, thigh high leg covers, hat, baton and cuffs?




A quick trip to Wal-Mart and Zellers revealed the same dubious selections. While the hemlines were slightly lower on the Zellers French Maid and Cheerleader, Wal-Mart hewed to form with a saucy Red Riding Hood and a naughty rag doll ~ a sultry vinyl bodice and thigh highs ~ lollipop not included.

This is not the Halloween of my childhood. When did Halloween costumes become marital aids? The hobo is now a Hillbilly Honey. The traditional vampire is now the Mistress of Darkness. I have nothing against playing erotic dress-up, or even mass-market fetishism. I’d just prefer it didn’t converge with a family holiday ~ and wasn’t sold next to the dental hygiene section. If you want to play cheerleader at home, go team. But trick-or-treating with your children in anything featuring latex and cleavage seems like a little too much trick. .

And really, isn’t Halloween the one day modern women can relax about looking hot? What if I just want to be a mummy sans yummy?

I noticed that on the outside of every package was a photo of a rather tawdry woman modeling not only the costume, but teetering heels and bras of the push-up variety. The First Lady costume was not, as one might expect, a red business suit, but a pink crepe mini-dress. At least it had the matching pillbox hat. The angel was dubbed a heavenly hottie. Even the witch had a slit up to there in her tattered skirt. As for the "Naughty Nun" with the slits and garters, well, what can we say about these messages?

My girls were confused. “Where are the monsters? Where are the real costumes for us? Where are the superheroes?” I pointed to Wonder Woman and her thigh-high boots. The response? “You can see her breasts. Mother!”

As I watched them scan the selections, reading in the spoken message, I remembered in high school, going to a Halloween party dressed as a Christmas present. My face was painted red and green. I wore a box papered in Christmas wrap. It was not seductive. And it hadn’t occurred to me that it should be. There were no adult in the superstores back then and if there were nothing I would have worn.

We moved along the aisle. I casually searched for the male equivalent of the Stewardess. Perhaps a Hot Fireman costume? Or maybe Handyman? But there was no Pool Boy. No Sexy C.E.O. There were, in fact, very few men’s costumes at all. A gorilla. A generic monster. A handful of serial killers.

AND WHAT TYPE OF MESSAGE IS THAT?

I remember my brothers working hard to assemble costumes ~ fireman, train conductor, construction man, policeman, hockey player, ghosts. They did this until they were too old to go out trick or treating.

There were a few ghouls and so on but boys had fun and used their imaginations. But then, it was a more innocent time.

Leaving the store, I noticed in the middle of the boas and six-inch heels and fishnets and cheap whips and bdsm cuffs, hung a slightly different Nun costume. It was a floor-length robe with modified wimple. Unlike the other ensembles, which offered bust and hip measurements, it was one size fits most. I was told it is their best seller. Probably among men!

In this spirit, even though I am Muslim and no longer "do" Halloween, I am interspersing my cartoons with images of days gone by. There is so much I will post both today and tomorrow. I have learned much about the holidays. During my decades as a witch this was a very special night to me but all good, I thought at the time I know differently now. If I had time I would do a history of Halloween for you all. Perhaps next year!

AMERICANS ~ MEET SHERRY JACKSON, AMERICAN HEROINE

Sherry Peel Jackson, another True American and
fearless fighter for truth and liberty.


"If the American people ever allow PRIVATE banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks will deprive The People of all property until their children wake-up HOMELESS on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to The People, to whom it properly belongs". ~ Thomas Jefferson

(PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINKS
IF YOU TRULY WANT TO
EDUCATE YOURSELF ON THESE ISSUES.)

The IRS has filed formal criminal charges against Sherry Jackson.

For those who might not know about this remarkable woman, Sherry is not only highly intelligent, she's a fearless fighter for truth and liberty.

Sherry, like Joseph Banister, former Criminal Investigator (CID) for the IRS, spent a couple of years investigating the Internal Revenue Code and came to the conclusion that the IRS was deliberately misapplying the code against the majority of unsuspecting Americans.

And, just like Joseph, Sherry quit her job with the IRS at great financial sacrifice. Joseph Banister was tried and thank heavens, acquitted in June 2005; his lead counsel was Jeff Dickstein and Bob Bernhoft.

Joe Banister, former Criminal Investigator for the IRS

Who is Sherry Jackson?

Let Sherry tell her own story. This is from a speech she made in 2002; no one says it better:

”My name is Sherry Peel Jackson. I became a Certified Public Accountant in 1987, I was an Internal Revenue Agent in the Atlanta District for 7 years, and I became a Certified Fraud Examiner in 2001.

I am here to summarize the tales of ignorance and deception that you have heard over the last two days and I am here to inform you of the state of the nation so that you may choose your next course of action.

"You have heard the truth of how the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Justice, Federal Reserve and politicians have perpetuated this smoke and mirrors - dog and pony show on you the American people for over 88 years. You have heard of American families devastated by the invasion of privacy and unbridled fear placed upon them through threats of liens, levy's and even jail time.

"In my tenure as an IRS agent, I personally saw marriages broken, families torn apart, homes confiscated and businesses destroyed ~ all while my colleagues and I were out making unjust demands on the American people ~ without the proper authority. Now, you be the judge.

”You have seen that Commissioner Charles Rosetti, Dan Bryant, the majority of our congressional delegation and other civil servants have refused to do their jobs. It would have been as simple as answering the questions of these well-educated researchers in a public forum, such as this one. But they have reneged, so you be the judge.

You have learned that the Constitution of the United States of America has been trampled on and ignored through allowing the privately owned Federal Reserve to create paper currency and charge you 47 million dollars in interest per hour ~ money coming from the mouths of your children and the college education funds of your grandchildren, all the while the children and grandchildren of the owners of the Federal Reserve will never have to work a day in their lives, and that is wrong, on so many different levels.

And let me tell you, that as a black woman I am keenly aware of the history of slavery. But do you understand that we are all slaves to this system? Do you understand that the media and Hollywood play a part keeping the American people so fixated on Alley McBeal, WWF Smackdown, Moeisha and the Practice that we don't take time to read the Creature from Jekyll Island, study the Internal Revenue Code and learn the Constitution?

Now, let me spend just a minute to address my culture. Do you realize that the so called black leaders make millions of dollars every year playing the "us against them" role ~ keeping blacks focused on the race card and away from the real issue ~ the theft of our future through taxation.

”These publicity mongers are well aware of the oppression brought on by income taxation, they love to march on Washington about racial profiling and civil rights, not to say that these are not real problems, but these leaders have been too afraid to approach the powers that be and have a million man, woman, boy, girl march about economic freedom from income taxation and restoration of constitutional rights. (And they have the nerve to call Clarence Thomas an Uncle Tom.)

Also, there's been a lot of talk about reparations lately, but know this:

If all Americans were able to keep the money withheld from their paychecks every year, that money would enable them to home school, start their own business and boost the economy, save for college and retirement, even buy that 40 acres and a mule.

So, you be the judge.

You need to understand that with an Internal Revenue Code, Code of Federal Regulations, and other "official documents" spouting off several different definitions of United States, Internal Revenue Service and other important terms, this deception that keeps people ignorant is not a coincidence. The writers of the Code used semantics and legalese to make us think that we are required to pay the income tax and file an income tax return. Former IRS commissioner Shirley Peterson even stated that, and I quote,

"Eight decades of amendments to (the) code have produced a virtually impenetrable maze. The rules are unintelligible to most citizens. The rules are equally mysterious to many government employees who are charged with administering and enforcing the law."

This fraud was strung together by people like the former president that said "it depends on what your definition of is is" and "it depends on what your definition of sex is". This incident showed us that definitions are very important to politicians and lawyers, and no word is meaningless. For example, it does depend on what the definition of "source" is.

”The opposition, in an attempt to keep the sheeple in the flock, will scoff at us and encourage unaware Americans to ridicule those of us who have been informed, saying, "these people just don't want to pay their fair share."

We have already learned from a speech by former Federal Reserve Chairman Beardsley Rhuml that this country doesn't need income taxes for revenue. This money collected from our sweat and tears is used to perpetuate redistribution of wealth, among other things.

But the powers that be keep beating the people over the head with this "fair share' garbage. Well, what is fair share? Haven't the families of the victims in New York City and the pentagon paid their fair share? Haven't the men and women that lost sons and daughters, husbands in wives in Vietnam, Korea and the other battles paid their fair share? What of the hundreds of thousands of homeless veterans?

So you see, this divide and conquer tactic to pit those that are uninformed of the income tax fraud against those who have seen the light is baseless and must be eliminated!

”The opposition also uses our religious faith to twist the meaning of authority and to create unjust statutes. People, I know godly authority and our current system does not reflect godly authority. Many of our past and present religious leaders have been jailed for questioning authority. They have been beaten, starved and even killed for their faith and their defiance of injustice.

People of America ~ is what you're living for worth dying for? Are you willing to take a stand? It's your choice. The creators of this Creature called the income tax, engineered their system to manipulate you into staying in your comfort zones.

With a little bit of patriotism and a little bit of fear tactic mixed into a pot of inflation and deflation, they have been able to keep the people confused, intimidated and obedient for over 88 years.

But now the truth about the fraudulent origin and operations of the Federal Reserve System and the Internal Revenue Service have been revealed to the American people.

You can no longer claim ignorance of the truth. You must acknowledge it or reject it. The choice is yours. And the consequences of your decision will rest on the shoulders of your children and future generations of Americans. You can remain an informed slave or you can get off of the plantation.

You can remain engrossed in fear, or you can take a stand like
Patrick Henry who shouted "give me liberty or give me death."

You can stay hypnotized by "As The World Turns" and "The Guiding Light", or you can turn off the boob tube and read the Constitution, then go ask your elected representatives why they refuse to follow it. Remember that those elected representatives have sworn to uphold and defend our constitution.

”Remember that each of our elected representatives has pledged to serve our country first ~ not a political party, or certain privileged and special interests groups ~ but you, the American People. They are our public servants. In closing, we have shown you the truth. Now, for the sake of our Country and our children, we ask you to choose justice over injustice, unity over division, courage over fear, truth over ignorance, and liberty over economic slavery. We ask you to stand with us and let the voice of freedom be heard from every corner of our great country. It is time to end this long-standing injustice and tyranny over the American People.

Thank you. Sherry Peel Jackson, CPA

(Sherry has retained Larry Becraft as her attorney. Larry was lead counsel in the Vernie Kuglin acquittal.On June 13, 2007, Becraft confirmed the federal government has filed criminal charges against her per Section 7203 of the IRC; willful failure to file, four counts. Larry is a veteran criminal defense attorney with over 30 years experience, but he and Sherry's local counsel have to be paid.

Sherry has spent years educating Americans regarding the fraudulent application of the IRC and inspiring them from coast to coast. Her personal sacrifices have been great and now her freedom is at stake. This is our fight, too!

Funds can be sent for her defense fund to: Sherry Jackson, 1560 Fieldgreen Overlook, Stone Mountain, Georgia 30088)

BARRON'S CREDIT EDUCATORS. This is a great site to investigate dealing with your credit woes. Very positive and educational. And it can set you free in many ways from financial worries.

THE FREE ENTERPRISE SOCIETY . Please check this out. It is quite amazing what there is offered there.

Sherry Peel Jackson - Breaking The Invisible Shackles Of The IRS

HEALTH, WEALTH AND HAPPINESS
This is a lovely site also. It concerns total health including that of your finances.

EMBEDDED IN THESE LINKS ARE ALSO SEVERAL ARTICLES WRITTEN BY DR. RON PAUL, THE "INVISIBLE" EVERYMAN'S CHOICE FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN 2008!

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO DO SOMETHING, MAKE A CHANGE, DR. PAUL IS ONE OF THE FEW HOPES AMERICA HAS TO DEAL WITH THIS PROBLEM OF THE ENSLAVEMENT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW TO HELP DR. PAUL!

CANADIANS ~ 10 THINGS ABOUT AFGHANISTAN THAT THE MEDIA HAS NOT TOLD YOU

CANADA IN AFGHANISTAN: TOP TEN UNDER-REPORTED FACTS

The Canadian mainstream media has been promoting our role in Afghanistan, with almost no critical voices, despite polling that indicates between 48% to 62% of Canadians not only question but oppose our engagement of troops in this war-torn country. ~ Ipsos-Reid, Mar. 4/06; Strategic Counsel/Globe and Mail, Feb. 24/06.

The 'post-Harper trip' polling results have been misrepresented because Strategic Counsel found that, while views had shifted due to a heightened campaign by the military and the media, 69% of Canadians want a debate to decide if our troops should stay in Afghanistan beyond next year and 70% base their support on the misconception that our purpose is significantly more "peacekeeping than combat."

According to this polling, "52% of Canadians say they are against a 10-year mission.
~ Globe and Mail, Mar. 14/06.

HERE ARE TEN VERIFIABLE FACTS THE MEDIA HAS AVOIDED

Brief Overview:

FACT #1: Jean Chretien & Canadian Corporations Involved in Trans-Afghan Pipeline

FACT #2: Gordon O'Connor, Defense Minister, Is Former Military Lobbyist

FACT #3: Current Afghan Parliament Includes Warlords and Drug Lords

FACT #4: Afghan Warlords Considered Bigger Threat than Taliban

FACT #5: Afghan Women Face Repression despite Removal of Taliban

FACT #6: Elected Afghan Woman Faces Death Threats for Speaking Out

FACT #7: Since the U.S.-led War, Afghanistan Is Increasingly Hooked on Heroin

FACT #8: U.S. And Coalition Forces Using Excessive Force & Arbitrary Detention

FACT #9: Canada Complicit In Violation of Human Rights for 'War on Terror'

FACT #10: U.S. Finds More Oil and Gas Reserves after 4-Year Search

FACT #1: FORMER PRIME MINISTER JEAN CHRETIEN AND CANADIAN CORPORATIONS INVOLVED IN NATURAL GAS PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH AFGHANISTAN, IN COOPERATION WITH REPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT

In 2002:
An agreement has been signed in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, paving the way for construction of a gas pipeline from the Central Asian republic through Afghanistan to Pakistan. The building of the trans-Afghanistan pipeline has been under discussion for some years but plans have been held up by Afghanistan's unstable political situation. ... With improved regional security after the fall of the Taliban [sic] about a year ago, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan have decided to push ahead with plans for the 1,500-kilometre- gas pipeline. ~ BBC News, Dec. 27, 2002.

And in 2004:
Jean Chretien is advisor to the Bennett Jones, a Calgary-based law firm specializing in energy issues. He is also consul in another law firm Heenan Blaikie. In addition, Chretien is international relations advisor to Petro Kazakhstan Inc., an energy firm based in Calgary with major interests in Kazakhstan and Caspian. ~ News Central Asia, Sept. 4, 2004.

During a meeting Friday, September 3, 2004, in Ashgabat, President Niyazov invited Oman and Canada to participate in oil and gas projects in Turkmenistan. He identified construction of Trans-Afghan Pipeline (TAP) and modernization of Seyidi refinery as two likely projects where Omani and Canadian firms could take part. A joint Omani-Canadian delegation including Yusuf bin Alavi, foreign minister of Oman and Jean Chretien, former prime minister of Canada, called on Niyazov to discuss cooperation in the energy and hydrocarbon sectors. TAP would transport Turkmen natural gas to Pakistan through Afghanistan. ~ News Central Asia, Sept. 4, 2004.

Headed by president-for-life Saparmurat Niazov, Turkmenistan remains one of the most repressive and closed countries in the world. Regressive government policies in education, culture, and health care caused increasing concern in the international community. The overall human rights situation in Turkmenistan remains dismal. ~ Human Rights Watch, Jan. 18, 2006

FACT #2: CANADA'S DEFENCE MINISTER, GORDON O'CONNOR, IS A FORMER LOBBYIST FOR MILITARY CONTRACTORS

The new defense minister is a retired general who once lobbied government on behalf of some big military contractors, a background which some find troubling. He went into business and in the 1990s became a senior associate at Hill and Knowlton, one of the world's largest public affairs firms. Up until February 2004 ~ when he left the firm to run in the June election - he was a registered lobbyist. He represented defense contractors such as Airbus Military, United Defense, General Dynamics Canada and BAE Systems as well as a variety of other, non-military clients. ~ Canadian Press, Feb. 5, 2006.

On General Dynamics:
On September 1, 2005, Defense Industry Daily noted that General Dynamics had just become a second-source prime for small-caliber ammunition to the US military, as a result of the Army's small-caliber ammunition shortage. That award may be having ripple effects now, as General Dynamics has just entered a definitive agreement to acquire Canadian ammunition system integrator SNC Technologies Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., for approximately $275 million (CDN$ 315 million). SNC Technologies supplies small, medium, and large-caliber ammunition and related products to armed forces and law enforcement agencies in North America. Products include its Simunition line, and customers include Canada and the U.S. Defense Department. The company generated USD$ 293 million in revenue in 2005, with EBITDA of approximately USD$ 39.5 million. ~ Defense Industry Daily, Feb. 27, 2006.

On BAE Systems:
BAE Systems Land & Armaments in York, PA has received a delivery order amount of $187.3 million as part of a $227.3 million firm-fixed-price contract for repair of desert damaged vehicles. Defense Industry Daily has discussed the maintenance overhang facing US equipment as a result of use in Iraq and Afghanistan, and this is one small piece of that. Relevant systems manufactured by BAE Systems include M2/M3 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and the derivative M270 MLRS rocket artillery vehicles; M113 Armored Personnel Carriers, M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicles, M019 self-propelled howitzers, and the US Marines' AAV7 Amtracs amphibious armored vehicles. ~ Defense Industry Daily, Mar. 14, 2006.

On the record:

Having worked in an industry in the past does not constitute a conflict of interest in the present.
~ Prime Minister Steven Harper;
Canadian Press, Feb. 5, 2006.

(What has Hapless Harper been smoking to say such a thing?!)

FACT #3: CURRENT AFGHAN PARLIAMENT (ELECTED SEPTEMBER 2005) INCLUDES WARLORDS AND DRUG LORDS

Human Rights Watch estimates that 60 percent of the new legislators have links to warlords. The New York-based rights group singled out Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a powerful militia commander whose guns ravaged Kabul residents in the 1990s, and Mohammed Fahim, a former defense minister, who has been accused of war crimes. ... A European diplomat, who asked not to be named, reckoned that about 20 legislators still have active private militias and that at least 20 more have been involved in drug smuggling. ~ San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 19, 2005.

U.S. President George W. Bush's official White House response to the elected Parliament: "I congratulate the Afghan people and Afghan Government for today's successful parliamentary elections, which are a major step forward in Afghanistan's development as a democratic state governed by the rule of law." ~ Office of the Press Secretary, Sept. 18, 2005.

Commenting on the elections, Mark Schneider, Senior Vice President of International Crisis Group, had stated: "It's not merely about drug money financing candidates. Drug lords are candidates." ~ Boston Globe, Oct. 20/04.

Abdul Karim Brahowie, Afghanistan's minister of tribal and frontier affairs, says that the government is so full of drug smugglers that cabinet meetings have become a farce.” Sometimes the people who complain the loudest about theft are thieves themselves,” he says. ~ Christian Science Monitor, May 13, 2005.

Canada's role in the Elections:
Canada will contribute through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) an additional $5 million to support Afghanistan's 2005 parliamentary elections. This increase brings the total amount of CIDA funding for the election to $13 million. ~ Canadian International Development Agency, Sept. 14, 2005.

FACT #4: AFGHAN WARLORDS CONSIDERED A BIGGER THREAT TO AFGHANISTAN'S SECURITY THAN THE TALIBAN

The warlords and private militias who were once regarded as the west's staunchest allies in Afghanistan are now a greater threat to the country's security than the Taliban, according to the interim president, Hamid Karzai. ~ The Guardian, July 13, 2004.

(The dream!)

FACT #5: AFGHAN WOMEN FACING OPEN REPRESSION DESPITE THE SUPPOSED REMOVAL OF THE TALIBAN AND PRESENCE OF FOREIGN TROOPS

An Afghan province has banned women from performing on television and radio, declaring female entertainers un-Islamic, a provincial official said on Saturday. The ban in Nangahar, a southeastern province heavily patrolled by U.S.-led troops hunting for Islamic militants, took effect from Friday and also covers women presenters of news and other information, the official said. ~ Reuters, Apr. 17, 2004.

Afghan farmers prevented from growing poppies under a British-led eradication programme have been forced to hand over their daughters to drug traffickers to settle their debts, according to reports from Afghanistan. The claim is the latest in a series to dog the British effort to curb Afghanistan's opium industry. Opium dominates Afghanistan's economy, accounting for 60 per cent of its income. Critics say the country is turning into a narco-state under the noses of NATO peacekeeping forces, and of the Western governments involved in reconstruction. The Independent London, Oct. 3, 2005.

Amnesty International states in 2005:
Violence against women and girls in Afghanistan is pervasive; few women are exempt from the reality or threat of violence. Afghan women and girls live with the risk of: abduction and rape by armed individuals; forced marriage; being traded for settling disputes and debts; and face daily discrimination from all segments of society as well as by state officials. Strict societal codes, invoked in the name of tradition and religion, are used as justification for denying women the ability to enjoy their fundamental rights, and have led to the imprisonment of some women, and even to killings. Should they protest by running away, the authorities may imprison them. ~ Afghanistan: Women still under attack ~ a systematic failure to protect, May 30, 2005.

FACT #6: ELECTED AFGHAN WOMAN FACES ONGOING DEATH THREATS FOR SPEAKING OUT AGAINST WARLORDS AND DRUG LORDS IN CURRENT GOVERNMENT

As a new parliament opens in the Afghan capital, all eyes are on Malalai Joya, a 27-year-old woman, who has emerged as a fearless critic of the warlords that control the country. In 2003, Joya, then a women's literacy and health worker, had stood up at a public meeting to discuss the new constitution and denounced the factional leaders as criminals who should be taken to the world court. Her speech earned her powerful enemies.

Despite her immense popularity, which led to her winning the September election from the border province of Farah on her own steam, she rarely travels alone. She employs at least 12 security guards ~ there have been at least four assassination attempts ~ and is always seen in public wearing a burqa. ~ Inter Press Service News Agency, Dec. 18, 2005.

Malalai Joya with two Afghani warlords

Women's activist turned politician Malalai Joya picked up where she left off two years ago, condemning Afghanistan's warlords, some of who now sit with her in the Parliament that convened Monday after three decades. 'I can see them sitting here in this House,' said Joya, who earned an international reputation when she spoke against warlords and drug smugglers in the Loya Jirga national meeting to discuss the country's constitution in late 2003. ~ Inter Press Service News Agency/Pajhwok Afghan News, Dec. 20, 2005.

For more information:

BBC News: "Afghan rights advocate expects death"
Defense Committee for Malalai Joya

FACT #7: SINCE THE U.S.-LED WAR BEGAN, AFGHANISTAN HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY DEPENDENT ON OPIUM POPPIES AND HEROIN FOR ITS ECONOMIC SURVIVAL

The hard-line Taliban regime, which ruled Afghanistan until 2001, greatly reduced opium poppy cultivation. However, under the rule of the new democratically elected president, Hamid Karzai, opium production is approaching record highs, with poppies now being grown in all of Afghanistan's 32 provinces. ~ CBC News, Nov. 18, 2004.

Afghanistan has re-emerged since the U.S.-led war as the world's leading source country for opium and heroin ~ rapidly returning to levels of the 1990s, when it produced about 70 percent of the world's illicit opium supply, a U.N. report says. The said a half-million people are involved in Afghanistan's trafficking chain and estimated an annual income at $25 billion, despite a ban on opium production put in place by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. ~ The Washington Times, Aug. 11, 2003.

The United Nations estimated that 323,700 acres in Afghanistan were dedicated to opium in 2004. That marks a 64% increase over the figure for 2003. The U.S. government’s estimate was even higher: 5.1 million acres, a 239% increase over its 2003 figure. The United Nations says Afghanistan produced nearly 90% of the world’s opium and the drug accounted for more than 60% of the country’s gross domestic product. ~ Associate Press / MSNBC.com, Jan. 25, 2005.

To call Afghanistan a third world country exaggerates its wealth. A stunning 70% of its people are undernourished: in a typical developing country this is 25%. Infant mortality is almost twice the third world average. Today, some two million Afghans rely on opium poppies for their livelihood, generating $2.7bn of illegal wealth. They will not give this up readily, nor will the farmers whose desire to feed their families is stronger than their desire to placate NATO. ~ The Scotsman National, Jan. 29, 2006.

'There is a danger that all the stabilization and reconstruction efforts will be neutralized unless the narco trafficking problem is addressed,' says Ursula Müller, political counselor at the German Embassy in Washington. 'We have to fight this corruption. Those guys involved in the drug business are in all levels of Afghanistan's government,' adds Ms. Müller, who has been actively involved in rebuilding Afghanistan since the US toppled the Taliban in late 2001. But the opium trade is deeply rooted in Afghan society. Many regional warlords and opponents of the Taliban are now top officials in the Karzai government. One of the most complicated ~ and delicate ~ tasks is to get corrupt officials to turn away from the drug trade as a source of personal income. ~ Christian Science Monitor, May 13, 2005.

FACT #8: U.S. AND COALITION FORCES ARE USING EXCESSIVE FORCE AND ARBITRARY DETENTION IN AFGHANISTAN

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, which recommended additional troops in Afghanistan in July 2003, admits the following about conditions in 2005: "U.S. and coalition forces active in Afghanistan under Operation Enduring Freedom since November 2001, continue to arbitrarily detain civilians and use excessive force during arrests of non-combatants. Ordinary civilians arrested in military operations are unable to challenge the legal basis for their detention or obtain hearings before an adjudicative body. They have no access to legal counsel. Generally, the United States does not comply with legal standards applicable to its operations in Afghanistan, including the Geneva Conventions and other applicable standards of international human rights law. At least six detainees in U.S. custody in Afghanistan have been killed since 2002. U.S. Department of Defense documents show that five of the six deaths were homicides. ~ Human Rights Watch World Report 2006, p. 226.

From 2002 to 2004,
Human Rights Watch estimates that at least one thousand Afghans and other nationals have been arrested and detained by U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. There are numerous reports that U.S. forces have used excessive or indiscriminate force when conducting arrests in residential areas in Afghanistan. As shown in this report, U.S. military forces have repeatedly used deadly force from helicopter gunships and small and heavy arms fire, including undirected suppressing fire, during what are essentially law-enforcement operations to arrest persons in uncontested locales. The use of these tactics has resulted in avoidable civilian deaths and injuries, and in individual cases may amount to violations of international humanitarian law. Human Rights Watch has also documented that Afghan soldiers deployed alongside U.S. forces have beaten and otherwise mistreated people during arrest operations and looted homes or seized the land of those being detained. ~ Human Rights Watch Report, Mar. 8, 2004.

Recent Examples: In early May 2005, sixteen Afghan protesters were killed by police and army troops during violent demonstrations in several cities in response to reports of U.S. interrogators desecrating a copy of the Koran during interrogations at Guantanamo Bay. ~ Human Rights Watch World Report 2006, p. 220.

A US air raid in Afghanistan's rugged eastern mountains killed 17 civilians, including women and children, an Afghan official said yesterday. The US military confirmed civilian deaths but said the numbers were unclear. ~ The Toronto Star/Associated Press, July 5, 2005.

FACT #9: CANADA COMPLICIT IN THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS FOR THE 'WAR ON TERROR'

U.S. partners such as Britain and Canada compounded the lack of human rights leadership by trying to undermine critical international protections. Britain sought to send suspects to governments likely to torture them based on meaningless assurances of good treatment. Canada sought to dilute a new treaty outlawing enforced disappearances. ~ Human Rights Watch, Jan. 18, 2006

FACT #10: U.S. TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY SPENT NEARLY FOUR YEARS ASSESSING AFGHANISTAN'S OIL AND GAS RESERVES AND FOUND MORE THAN EXPECTED IN 2006

Two geological basins in northern Afghanistan hold 18 times the oil and triple the natural gas resources previously thought, scientists reported as part of a U.S. assessment aimed at enticing energy development in the war-torn country. Nearly 1.6 billion barrels of oil, mostly in the Afghan-Tajik Basin, and about 15.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, mainly in the Amu Darya Basin, could be tapped, said the U.S. Geological Survey and Afghanistan's Ministry of Mines and Industry.

The $2-million US assessment, paid for by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, was nearly four years in the making, said Daniel Stein, the agency's regional director for Europe and Eurasia. The total area assessed was only about one-sixth of the two basins' 518,000 square kilometers that lie within Afghanistan. ~ Associated Press, March 14, 2006.

A NEED FOR INDEPENDENT FACTS AND MEDIA

This post was originally inspired by the fact that the Toronto Star, one of Canada's largest, most respected, and 'liberal' newspapers, has decided to only have one external link from its 'Special Report' section on Afghanistan ~ to the Department of National Defense. When the mainstream media only provide government information and rely on government links and officials for the whole story, they are no longer objective, independent, or critical. That is why the public must respond with facts and action.

Some good alternative sources for the truth in reporting. Although, always keep your eyes open for disinformation at times... or what is NOT being said. Take nothing for granted and do your homework.

Global Research presents unbiased reporting on just about everything if you take time to look about.

AlterNet is also excellent.

70 Free, Alternative and Independent Online News Sources

IF YOU WISH TO ACT:

Please forward this message to friends, family, concerned citizens, groups and media contacts.

Those critical of our role in Afghanistan, and those dedicated to non-military solutions to global conflict, must make our voices collectively heard. Write letters to the editors. They may be cut, may be ignored, but this tells the media what you want. And they listen. Even if they are controlled by an outside force.

CANADIANS ~THE DEATH OF PEACEKEEPING

A European news camera follows a group of Canadians in battle gear as they swarm into a small Afghan village, breaking down doors with their boots and interrogating the families inside. In one home, inhabited by veiled women and an old man with a long white beard, a soldier is demanding information on the whereabouts of Taliban fighters. “Too bad for you if you don’t want to tell us where they are hiding,” says the soldier, “We are going to come and kill them. We are going to bomb and shoot everywhere. Is that what you want?”

In another home, a soldier raised on wheat and milk in a land of forests and rivers ~ a land in which the flourishing Afghan poppy fields are symbols of the dead in war ~ lectures a group of Afghan men. “It’s not a good idea to join the Taliban,” he says. “My soldiers are very well trained. They are good shooters. And you will die.”

Taking a softer line, he brandishes a wad of cash under their noses. But the men only look on in silence until, at last, one speaks. “It’s nice of you, but we don’t want your money. It’s our country. And with all our strength we will protect it."

Those scenes were aired last summer on France 2, part of a report on the activities of Canadian soldiers currently operating ~ such a surgical term ~ in the Kandahar province of southern Afghanistan. It’s not the sort of reportage one tends to see on Canadian television, where domestic journalists embedded with the Canadian Forces must sign an agreement promising not to spend an inordinate amount of time covering non-military activities, such as the plight of the Afghan people, and are required to submit their work to censors.

Note the Roman salute!

After all, images of the high-intensity combat that is now Canada’s primary occupation in Afghanistan disrupt a carefully crafted vision in which, as Canada’s Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper, put it in his speech of September 11, 2006,

“Canadian heroes are being made every day.”

Surrounded by families of September 11 victims, Harper repeated what Canadians are frequently told is the justification for their presence in that far-off land: “Canadians are reconstructing the basic infrastructure of a shattered nation.” Speaking with his trademark arrogance and self-assurance, he informed the Canadian public that, “Many ~ but not yet all ~ Afghan families are beginning to rebuild their lives with our help.”

IF ONLY!!! US-led NATO troops conduct search-and-destroy missions on villages while resurgent Taliban fighters kill schoolteachers, a new mafia of warlords and corrupt officials run the country under foreign protection. War-ravaged civilians find themselves, once again, in a familiar predicament:

The strong do what they can; the weak suffer what they must.
~ Thucydides, 5^th century BC

Yet the boastful cries of an early American victory over the Taliban have lately been replaced by the cautionary words of NATO commander David Richards:

“We need to realize that we could actually fail here.”

Capt. Nichola Kathleen Sarah Goddard
was the first ever female Canadian Soldier killed in combat.

Canada, traditionally a peacekeeper on the global stage, has bought an expensive piece of the American war on terror at a time when the United States’ reputation is sinking around the world.

AS OTHER REGIONS, LIKE DARFUR, CRY OUT FOR THE KIND OF MEDIATION CANADIANS ONCE PROVIDED, THE WORLD WONDERS: HAS CANADA LOST ITS SOUL?

THE DIRTY WAR

The Gulf emirate of Dubai, the Middle East’s unrivalled hub, is a popular transit point to the region’s war zones. At the trendy Buddha Bar, where Arabs in white dishdashas toss back flaming martinis with high-flying professionals from Europe, North America, and almost every country on the planet ~ all soaking up the glut of petrodollars from sky-high oil prices ~ a grizzled British aid worker on leave from Afghanistan describes the dirty war he sees up close.

"The Canadians were lumbered into it by the Americans. They weren’t told the whole truth and nothing but the truth. When we heard they were leaving Kabul for Kandahar, we thought they were out of their minds. "

“IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SHOCK AND AWE,
BUT IT’S TURNED INTO FART AND FIZZLE.”

The Americans, he says, knew that to get things done in Afghanistan “they had to shove a suitcase full of money at a warlord, but the Canadians don’t know how the game is played. They want to do it on the cheap.” The Taliban are paying a $100 a month to fighters, while the Afghan police make only $70. It ought to be easy, he thinks, to change the equation. A few hundred million would do it. Some serious reconstruction. Help the Afghans plant new crops instead of destroying their poppies and leaving them to starve. But nobody wants to spend the money.

This is the true source of all this strife!
CIA and Vatican interests MUST be served.

“Don’t forget, Osama was our man,” he says, referring to the money, arms and training the CIA supplied to the Afghan and Arab fighters who were the Soviets’ worst nightmare ~ and have since become NATO’s. “We created him. Now we’ve got a war, haven’t we?” He takes another swig of beer. “And it’s a very dirty war.”

He describes the Canadian troops huddled in their fortified camp in Kandahar, rarely speaking to an Afghan. Their patronizing attitude, shared by other NATO troops, is alienating Afghan civilians, he says. “The Afghans are very nice people. They’d just like to have a job and be treated with some dignity. There’s billions for new military equipment but they’ve built not a single reconstruction project. It’s not enough to deliver a few blankets to a village. And the Taliban are using that, saying, look you fools, you believed they were here to help and you’ve been had. The Canadians didn’t know what they were getting into and now they can’t get out.”

A SHORT HISTORY OF PEACEKEEPING

This new militarism represents a major shift in Canada’s role in the world. A middle power in the global pecking order, Canada distinguished itself over the past half-century with a ground-breaking approach to global conflict, one birthed in the killing fields of World Wars I and II and the mushroom clouds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

THE CANADIAN APPROACH HAS ALWAYS BEEN THAT, AS WITH SCHOOLYARD BRAWLS, SOME THIRD PARTY NEEDS TO STEP IN AND MEDIATE. IT TAKES THE POSITION THAT MOST CONFLICTS CAN BE REASONABLY AND RATIONALLY RESOLVED;
THAT WAR IS NOT INEVITABLE.

The doctrine of “peacekeeping,” a term popularized by Canada’s Secretary of State for External Affairs, and later Prime Minister, Lester B. Pearson, emerged, not surprisingly, in the Middle East. It was 1956, in the thick of the Cold War, and Egypt’s President Nasser had nationalized the Suez Canal, through which most of Europe’s oil was flowing and which France and Britain had long used to maintain an iron grip on their colonies.

Britain and France secretly conspired with Israel to invade, and suddenly another world war loomed on the horizon, one that threatened to draw in the United States and the USSR. So Pearson proposed an innovative solution: a peacekeeping force made up of noncombatants under the umbrella of the United Nations that would act as a buffer and monitor a ceasefire. Amazingly, the move succeeded. For this, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Since then, Canada has sent more than 100,000 soldiers to serve in UN peacekeeping missions around the world. It’s a role that Canadians pioneered, one that has earned them a reputation for quiet diplomacy and the admiration of the world.

Even the RAND Corporation, a conservative American think tank, reports that UN peacekeeping is “the most efficient form of international intervention so far documented,” with a success rate markedly higher than that of American interventions.

Of late, however, a jaundiced eye has been cast on Canada’s legacy of peacekeeping. “National vanity,” it is being called, a pansy-assed doctrine unfit for the cruel milieu of “failed or failing states,” “terrorism” and “organized warlord militia,” as the Canadian Force’s new recruiting materials describe the “changing face of war.”

An enemy-centered mentality is creeping inexorably into the Canadian military psyche.

writes defense studies Professor Walter Dorn, a consultant on peacekeeping operations at the UN who is currently serving in the Congo. Dorn has chronicled the demise of Canadian peacekeeping, noting that while Canada has historically been among the top ten nations contributing to UN missions; it has now slipped to 55th place with less than 60 peacekeepers in total. One was killed last year when Israel bombed a well-marked UN post in Lebanon.

A Canadian Peacekeeper. Love the blue beret!

Former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien originally sent secret commandos to Afghanistan in 2001 and troops in 2002, and cut a deal that sent Canadians to Kabul within NATO’s ISAF mission to appease the United States after Canada’s refusal to go to Iraq. But it wasn’t until 2005 that Chrétien’s successor, Paul Martin, agreed to move Canadian soldiers from a peace-stabilization mission in Kabul to the increasingly deadly combat role in Kandahar.

This seismic shift was championed by General Rick Hillier, a tough-talking hawk who frames the Afghan mission around killing the “murderers and scumbags” who “detest our freedoms.” Hillier spent two years commanding American troops in Fort Hood, Texas, before being appointed Canada’s Commander of the Army in 2003. He was promoted to Chief of Defense Staff in 2005.

Hillier represents the growing Americanization of the Canadian military, a world in which the roll of peacekeeping, a source of Canadian pride and greatly loved by the voting public is dead and combat operations, such as those occurring now in Afghanistan, become the norm of the future. The Teflon General, is proposing not only closer links to the American military establishment, but also the creation of what some defense analysts described as a small version of the US Marine Corps in a plan designed to help Canada regain a place of prominence in the international arena of warfare.

Stephen Harper ~ the most TRAITOROUS and pro-American prime minister in Canadian history ~ has moved into the driver’s seat and hit the pedal to the floor. While most Canadians still identify with peacekeeping, Harper has stated that what Canadians really want is a Canada that punches above its weight. Just how intelligent is such a statement when you really break it down?

Hillier was behind getting Canadians to accept the new militarism and shift from peacekeeping to war-fighting in Afghanistan. He was brought in specifically to transform the forces and he knew the way to do that was to get a military mission that would allow it. He and the defense lobby knew that once the Canadians were entrenched there, any government would have no choice but to go along with supporting the troops ~ our military right or wrong. And it’s worked brilliantly with Harper’s crowd. They’ve nailed their flag to the pole and can’t get out.

The goal of Canada’s intervention in Afghanistan is to come on side in the US war on imaginary terrorism

THE UGLY CANADIAN?

During the past half-century, Canada has portrayed its military as a peacekeeping force closely linked to the United Nations. This is true no longer. In a new $3-million televised ad campaign, part of a military recruitment drive, Canadian soldiers are shown in combat roles ~ though not, of course, kicking in doors or interrogating frightened civilians. Quick-cut, movie-trailer-style images are accompanied by the words “Fight Fear,” “Fight Distress,” “Fight Chaos,” and “Fight with the Canadian Forces.”

An earlier version used the term “Fight Terror,” but that message was pulled when it drew a negative response from focus groups. For most Canadians, the “war on terror” is closely associated with a dark phase in American history: Abu Ghraib, secret CIA prisons, the nightmare of Iraq, and “extraordinary renditions” like the kidnapping of Canadian Maher Arar, who spent ten months being tortured in Syria for no reason.

Canada is changing. Those who have traveled through Afghanistan recently can easily see that Canada is working in tandem with the US in what has become a very bloody war. Civilians are getting killed and every time they do, more people think the Taliban is the better option.

Barbara L reminds you of a few pertinent historical facts:

The heathen Chinese resisted opium imports, so the British beat them up and taught them not to interfere in the drug trade.

In 1839 Lin Tse-Hsu, imperial Chinese commissioner in charge of suppressing the opium traffic, ordered all foreign traders to surrender their opium.

In response, the British sent expeditionary warships to the coast of China, initiating the First Opium War. The Chinese were defeated in 1841.

Along with paying a large indemnity, the Chinese had
to cede Hong Kong to the British also.



By 1852, the British had arrived in lower Burma, importing large quantities of opium from India and selling it through a government-controlled opium monopoly.

But by 1856, the heathen Chinese had again become uppity, so the British and French renewed their freedom fight with the Second Opium War.

In the aftermath of the struggle, China was forced to pay another indemnity, and the importation of opium was legalized.

More recently, the freedom to grow opium poppies in that part of the world was again restored with the liberation of Afghanistan.

Not only is Canada’s military role changing, so is its tradition of respect for international law. Arar’s kidnapping and rendition is one of the ugliest public examples, but such “renditions” are par for the course in Afghanistan.

As early as 2002, Canadian soldiers were turning over captives to the United States, which transferred them to Guantanamo Bay. Subsequent prisoners remained in US detention centers in Afghanistan, known for Abu-Ghraib-style torture, rape and the deaths of at least eight prisoners.

Canada's fully Anglo-American integrated JTF2 Black Ops unit
delivering prisoners to the CIA/American forces for torture.

Now, according to an agreement brokered by the Liberal government of Paul Martin in 2005, Canada is handing prisoners to Afghan authorities without having secured the right to visit them in detention to ensure their proper treatment. Legal experts warn that this contravenes the Torture Convention, as well as a provision of the Geneva Conventions that prohibits torture in all circumstances ~ and may thus constitute a war crime.

CANADA MAY BE CHANGING, BUT CANADIANS HAVE HAD NO SAY IN THE MATTER.

When the decision was made last summer by the Harper government to extend the Afghanistan mission to 2009, the issue was sprung upon a disorganized opposition at the last minute, allowing no public debate. It’s understandable: when Canadians were polled in November for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 59 percent said they want Canadian troops out of Afghanistan before 2009.

It’s not only Afghan hearts and minds that must be won, but those of a skeptical Canadian public. So just as the recruitment ad was changed to avoid a backlash,

THE EXTENT TO WHICH WHAT HARPER CALLS “OUR WAR” IS PART OF A BROADER AMERICAN AGENDA IS BEING CONCEALED FROM PUBLIC AWARENESS.

And just as Canadian officials were found to have conspired with the United States in the kidnapping and rendition of Arar, Canada is fully on board with US war plans.

The results have been deadly. Of the 2,500 Canadians currently based in Afghanistan, 45 had been killed, including one diplomat, and more than 200 wounded as this went to press. A study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that a Canadian soldier in Kandahar is nearly six times more likely to die in hostilities than is an American soldier serving in Iraq.

The Harper government has worked to keep the rising death toll out of the public spotlight, borrowing a page from the Bush administration by banning media from filming the return of dead Canadian soldiers.

For its part, the Canadian Forces have pressured the media to withhold the number of wounded as well. On the day four Canadian soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing last September the current affairs editor at a national news network was pressured by military officials in Kandahar not to mention the additional dozens of Canadians injured ~ ten seriously enough to be air-lifted to Germany. When pressed on what the consequences might be of defying their request, he said it could result in his reporters being denied access to breaking news or high-profile interviews down the road.

In addition to controlling media coverage, the government continues to paint a humanitarian face on Canada’s aggressive new role. More often than not the Canadian media have obliged, headlining stories of troops fixing generators for Afghans, delivering blankets to villages, and handing out candy to children.

This last activity raised the ire of Flora MacDonald, a former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister now working with an aid group in Afghanistan, who stresses that handing out candy does nothing to change the situation of destitute Afghan children. At the very least, she says, they could hand out school supplies.

Such reports rarely reveal the misgivings published in the US journal Foreign Affairs in early 2007, which warns that Afghanistan is “sliding into chaos” as warlords are given leadership roles and a resurgent Taliban gains converts due to unemployment, official corruption, civilian deaths, and the lack of real development.

Only on rare occasion do Canadians read dispatches like that of Lee Greenberg in the Ottawa Citizen, who in November observed that daily battles between Canadian and Taliban troops have displaced entire villages, closed schools and medical clinics, and severely restricted development work. Far from getting better, the lives of Afghans in this district have gotten worse in the past several months.

Not a single significant water treatment, sewage or power plant has been built, and virtually nothing has been done for the thousands of Afghans made homeless by Canadian fighting. The Senate committee on national security and defense says it has found little evidence that the Canadian International Development Agency is doing the development work it is charged with, and journalists and academics attempting to trace Canadian foreign aid in Afghanistan have encountered a wall of secrecy. Thus far, not a single audit has been released to the public.

“We’re looking for the Canadian aid,” says Norine MacDonald, a Canadian lawyer and lead researcher in Kandahar for the Senlis Council, a European security and development think tank. “We haven’t found it yet.” The situation is bad and getting worse, she says by phone from Kandahar. “There are a lot of internally displaced people who have left their homes because of bombings or poppy crop eradication and are moving around looking for food.”

At a hospital she visited recently, three children were recovering from the American bombings that support Canadian troop activities, including a three year old missing a limb. The gardener at her compound lost three family members in a bombing last summer. According to the US Government Accountability Office, the United States spent more than half a billion dollars on poppy crop eradication in 2005, yet crop yields increased by at least 50 % in 2006.

In any case, MacDonald says, the destruction of crops ~ a job contracted to the American firm DynCorp, whose employee uniforms and weapons make them virtually indistinguishable from NATO troops ~ mainly devastates poor farmers. Wealthy poppy growers simply pay off Afghan authorities, many of whom have documented links to the drug trade that is now the backbone of the Afghan economy.

Anger against the foreign presence has certainly increased, and Afghans can’t see the difference between Canadians and Americans. It’s one of those downward spirals.” Yet when MacDonald volunteered to address members of parliament in Ottawa last fall, she says Conservative MPs accused her of lying about the humanitarian crisis.

“It was pretty shocking. I’m willing to have a vigorous debate but not this kind of cover-up or complicity. I felt like putting the kids I’ve seen on a plane and dropping them in front of parliament and saying, ‘Take a look at that.’”

If Canada’s role is to be a third party in a conflict, it has surely lost its way. MacDonald is not a pacifist: she thinks Canadian troops should stay in Afghanistan on the condition that they break with the failed American approach and assert sovereign policies.

“I don’t think it’s acceptable to leave but I also don’t think it’s acceptable to prosecute the war this way or allow the Americans to prosecute it this way. Civilian bombings, children being killed: once Canadians know what is happening

~ AND THERE IS AN INFORMATION VACUUM IN CANADA ~

I hope they will stand up and say this is unacceptable. It’s one thing to point fingers at the Americans for Iraq, but when we find out what we’re doing, we have to face ourselves.”

TURNING POINT

The minority government under Conservative Stephen Harper has taken the country on a radical swing to the right. Marching in lockstep with a Bush Administration that has severely, perhaps irreparably, tarnished America’s image in the world, Harper has mimicked the failed policies of American neoconservatives at almost every juncture.

Not only did he, prior to his election, champion the war in Iraq and a Canadian role in “missile defense” ~ issues a majority of Canadians opposed ~ he embarrassed Canada internationally by thwarting implementation of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, throwing himself behind Israel in Lebanon and Palestine (his government was the first to announce a boycott of the Palestinians after the election of Hamas, even before the United States) and refusing to permit a public debate on the war in Afghanistan.

CANADA IS WEAK MILITARILY BUT STRONG DIPLOMATICALLY. SO WHY WOULD WE EMPHASIZE OUR WEAKNESSES AT THE EXPENSE OF OUR STRENGTHS?

Canada’s new belligerence and its subservience to American foreign policy goals are minority positions that threaten to turn Canada into a mirror image of a US administration in decline. Yet it’s not too late to turn things around. The stated intentions for Afghanistan were noble: to rebuild the country and help its destitute citizens recover from decades of war.

BY RETURNING TO OUR PEACEKEEPING TRADITIONS AND REJECTING ANY GOVERNMENT THAT WOULD THREATEN TO DESTROY WHAT CANADIANS HOLD MOST SACRED ~ ITS SOVEREIGNTY, ITS COMMITMENT TO INTERNATIONAL LAW AND DIPLOMACY AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO PERPETUAL WAR ~ CANADA CAN AGAIN ACT AS A GLOBAL MEDIATOR AND REFUSE TO BECOME WHAT IT MOST OPPOSES.

Peacekeeping is an essential part of Canada’s national identity, one that has historically been a force for good in the world.

With so much at stake, neither the world nor Canadians can afford for Canada to surrender its soul.