Boer War Memorabilia - Pvt. JRD McKerihen, C Co. RCR, 1900 - 6

Why We Fight in Afghanistan?

Depends who you talk to...

Some say it's for Freedom; some say for Democracy; some say because of Terrorism; some say to free the women from whatever; some say, "Why me, I like shooting people."; some say "We white guys should stick together;" some say "We Christians should stick together."

Some military lobbyists, like former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, consider it a great marketing opporutnity, and look forward to getting sacks of cash to promote selling armoured cars, etc., for use against Third World undesirables.

Among the military the company line varies considerably, as is to be expected in a profession which is one of the last which continues to hire people who lack educational background. A common mantra one hears soldiers repeate by rote "because the democratically elected Government of Afghanistan asked us to come in." As part of basic training, recruits are told to "repeat this after me."

It is because of military mindsets like this, that Archdeacon Wilberforce, in his sermon to the Canadians, skirted trying to reason with the soldiers in front of him about why they were fighting in South Africa. As he pointedly said to them, "Criticizing the immediate causes of the war is not within the province of men of the profession of arms" and quoting Kipling, told them: "Yours not to reason why, yours but to do or die."

Someone should have said the same to all the miltiary men making public pronouncements about Canadian participation in Afghanistan, that make them look foolish, at best, like the clutzy Colonel who was quoted by his soliders as telling them they were fighting Afghans "...over there, so we won't have to fight them in downtown Toronto..."

How many thousands - better make that millions - of recruits to the Armed Forces of Canada, in the 20th century, have raised the ire of drill sergeants and officers by saying "but I thought," only to have had them loudly scream in their faces: "You're not paid to think. We'll do the thinking for you."

It's why Buffy Saint Marie bemoans the Universal Soldiers, who, as a precondition to finding work in the profession of arms are expected to mindlessly "give their body as a weapon of the war."

The military is not, and never has been, interested in recruiting brains. It is why, every time a general opens his mouth, that the oxymoron "military intelligence" remains a universal favourite among late night comics.

The military mindset, poetically captured by Kilpling "Yours not to reason why, yours but to do or die" was well known to the Canadians in 1900. James McKerihen and the thousands of Canadians who signed up to fight in South Africa were, in fact, not miltiary men at all, but civilians doing their bit, and - along with the Aussies - became famous for battling the idiocies that professional British officers tried to impose on them.

Mindless Do or Dieism is just as strongly, if not more so, enforced with a passion today, especially because the Canadian miltiary is caught fighting with a coalition of white Christians against non-whtie Muslims. You don't dare to mouth the implications of a race based conflict in the opening decade of the 21st century..

And this cancer in the military against thinking and thought goes right to the top were it becomes "right thinking" and "Right thinking."

It is why Canada and the entire white mission in Afghanistan is in trouble. It originated with the military who had Canadian officers, including generals, fighting as part of the American Army in Iraq. Even though Canadians and the Government of Canada were strong against participating in any way in the illegal Bushite war against Iraq, the Canadian military - cooly ignoring the official and popular prohibition , sent numerous officers to take a willing and active part in aiding and abetting the bloodshed there in the ranks of the US forces.

To be frank, Canadians generally, have no clue about why their soliders are shooting up Afghanistan and dying there, because different ministers of the Government have varied the message constatnly, depending on the time and occasion.

At one time the Minister of Defence said it is "to avenge the 23 Canadians killed on 9/11 in New York" even though it sounded stupid beyond belief, and was. But when you're groping for explanations for a war that's indefensible, what's a guy to do?

This, as everyone knows, is human behaviour that can be expected when one is covering up the real reason for doing something, in a word, lying, about why Canadian shooting troops are in Afghanistan.

The real reason is too awful to admit in public...

In fact, as the entire world knows, the United States, and its allies of exclusively white Christian armies, invaded Afghanistan in a totally unprovoked attack, that killed untold scores of thousands of Muslim men, women, and children, and which they - Canadians included - have been doing for years since.

The US pretext, for attacking a sovereign state, was the criminal acts of a small group of stateless creeps with box cutters who hi-jacked and crashed US airliners to make personal political statements. None were Afghans; none were agents of the Government of Afghanistan; none even acted on behalf of the Government of Afghanistan.

No Afghan Government of any kind asked for the invasion of its territory and occupation of their country.

Not a single member of the Muslim League, a congress of the leading Muslim countries in the world asked for the invasion.

And certainly no Muslim nation anywhere in the world asked for a vengeful force white Christian armies sent in by the Bush-Cheney group of American military-industrial complex to invade their part of the world.

But the Bush/Cheney oil cartel wanted to attack Muslims and so... the US invaded Afghanistan bolstered by singing Christian hymns.

And Canadians are there for no other reason than because Cheney Bush asked us, sternly, to take part... this time, or else. Or else, meaning that your business elites won't like the economic repercussions we'll implement if you don't.

The other reasons for invasion, are spin, piffle for the masses; that's why explanations for it are so wildly all over the wall.

It's why the business elites were for joining the invasion of Iraq, even though the vast majority of Canadians were against it, as they are now, against the Afghan War.

Because industrialists and businessmen make millions directly and indirectly from a booming war economy, especially one that supports US foreign policy. (Just look at the billions that Cheney has been able to funnel to his old pals at Haliburton. He makes Benzhir Bhutto's husband, "Mr. 10 percent" look like an inept piker by comparison.)

Canadian businessmen and indistrial leaders are not dumb; they see the millions and billions they can rake in from contract possilitiies of a war economy, and their wives pant with anticipation at their new spending power. .