A rchive Date
[ 25-05-2000 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Coren_Michael/2007/04/28/4136636.html
Wrong war for us
By MICHAEL COREN
Sat, April 28, 2007
It appears increasingly likely that Canadian politicians and soldiers have known for some time that suspected Afghan terrorists and insurgents have been and are being handed over to local security officials to be tortured and even executed without trial.
If so, it is contrary to international law and shows that the government has probably not been telling the truth. More importantly, however, it also shows once again why Canada and all western nations should leave the Middle East immediately.
By "western nations" I mean those founded on principles of European and Christian civilization and parliamentary democracy. For the most part North America, the Anglo-Saxon states and Europe. Countries where human rights are accepted as self-evident and progress is perceived as triumph and not defeat.
As opposed to so much of the Arab and Muslim world, soaked as it is in torture, mob rule, religious extremism and dictatorship. By fighting in Middle-Eastern wars we gradually but inexorably slip into a Middle-Eastern state of mind, with all it entails.
In other words, it was inevitable Canadian soldiers would in time behave less as Canadians and more as the people with whom they were fighting. The expression used to be, "Gone Native." It was bad then, it is worse now.
In earlier centuries there was something to be found in countries invaded, liberated or colonized by the west. Not now. Not in Afghanistan and Iraq. Politically incorrect, of course, but also entirely accurate.
We have no particular right and certainly no duty to give democracy and freedom to other countries and the idea of Canadian soldiers being employed to spread international women's rights at the point of a gun is positively ludicrous.
Next we'll have the RCMP urging compulsory reading of the novels of Margaret Atwood and forced viewing of David Suzuki documentaries in Syria and Saudi Arabia. On second thought no. Imperialism is bad enough, but sadism is unforgivable.
It is not that we should be callous or indifferent and there was certainly an argument for coming to the aid of Washington, invading Afghanistan and smashing the Taliban regime that was partly responsible for the 9/11 declaration of war on the United States.
Similarly we should maintain and even increase foreign aid to countries in need and make sure that Bono smiles on us each time he passes through town. That's different. That's just rich people helping poor people.
The spread of our ideology by men and women in uniform is fundamentally different. A liberal and trendy version of the Victorian notion of teaching silly foreigners what's good for them even if they don't know it and don't want it.
Iraq is even more severe than Afghanistan. The country is worse for its people than it was under the thug Saddam and Iraqis who cried with joy when western troops arrived now weep with pain at what has ensued. Iraq's killers play with Iraq's rules and the only way to even hope for victory is to crawl in the gutter with them.
Yet once the good guys do that, they have lost. As they have lost in Afghanistan by joining the torture and murder club. Tragically people in the Middle East will suffer for years to come. Not much can be done to make it better but we certainly shouldn't be making it worse. For us and for them.
You can e-mail Michael Coren through his website, http://www.michaelcoren.com Have a letter for the editor? E-mail it to torsun.editor@sunmedia.ca
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