January 2, 2007
Kamloops Daily News


The people of democratic countries control their armed
forces. At least, that's the way it's supposed to work but
you would never know it. Canada's troops are in Afghanistan
on a mission that few of us approved and even fewer
understand.

There was no great outcry from Canadians to protect us from
Afghanistan or to destroy the Taliban. There were no
demonstrations in the streets to kill the "detestable
murderers and scumbags," as General Rick Hillier put it.

Just the opposite was true. Canadians joined millions of
peace demonstrators around the world in 800 cities on
February 15, 2003. It was the largest demonstration in
history of any kind, according to Guinness Book of Records
but our leaders didn't seem to be listening. The message
sent was that we didn't want the invasions of Afghanistan
and Iraq to proceed. In Canada, 100,000 rallied for peace
in Montreal alone. In Rome there were 3 million people and
in London 2 million.

So, how did our leaders come to the conclusion that we
wanted war not peace? Who were they taking direction from
when they gave our troops their marching orders?

When it became apparent that our government was sending our
troops there, we took some comfort that they were going to
rebuild Afghanistan. But that hasn't happened. Our
politicians and generals advanced the bizarre logic that we
must go to war with the people of Afghanistan in order to
build peace with them. Common sense would suggest that
violence begets violence. Our mission remains the
destruction of the Taliban and there is no end in sight.

Canadians helped to invent peacekeeping and we are good at
it. Peacekeeping is part of our national identity and at
the core of our values.

We value peacekeeping so much that we depict it on our
money. Take a look at the $10 bill and you will see a
Canadian female soldier in a blue beret who looks vigilantly
through binoculars. The banner above reads "In the service
of peace."

Support for peacekeeping remains high. A recent poll showed
that 80 per cent of Canadians want our troops to build peace
in Afghanistan and only 16 per cent said they prefer an
active combat role.

Prime Minister Harper says that we can't shirk our
international obligations but who suggests that we are other
than Harper and Hillier (and U.S. President G.W. Bush)?
Professor Joel Sokolsky from the Royal Military College in
Kingston says that Canadians have not been hanging back on
the international stage.

Sokolsky says that in the first Gulf War, we supplied 13,000
personal, ships, medics, and fighter planes; the 4th largest
force. In Somalia we sent a battalion. In the Balkans we
sent 40,000 and 10% of all fighter attacks were Canadian.

It's a mistake to suggest that Canadians like peacekeeping
because it keeps our soldiers out of harm's way. More than
120 Canadian soldiers have died while peacekeeping.

Harper's view of the role of the Canadian military is more
in line with the U.S. view. Canadians see a world based on
law and order, not the law of the jungle. We willingly
participate in war as part of an internationally coordinated
maneuver, not as a coalition of coercion hastily assembled
by the president the world's superpower.

As supporters of the International Court in Holland, we back
the U.N. Charter to resolve international disputes through
negotiation as a first resort, and through war as second
choice.

We don't need directions from the U.S. on how to go to
battle. Our soldiers dignify Canada by their valor and
define our country by their courage.

In fact, the only time Canadians follow the U.S. into war is
to clean up after their failed invasions and military
misadventures. We are in Afghanistan by default, not by
ideals. If you have any doubt about this, ask whether we
would be there if the U.S. hadn't invaded first.

We are at war alright, but not with the Afghanis. The
conflict is between two visions. One side sees war as an
economic engine of their financial system; what former U.S.
President Dwight Eisenhower famously referred to the
"military-industrial complex."

The other vision is of an internationally coordinated
offensive against the tyrants of the world.

As long as generals control armies, they will claim that
might is right. It's time that citizens of the world take
control of their military forces.

David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca

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