War — what is it good for?
Are we in Afghanistan for oil or to help rebuild a shattered country?
Marlo Campbell
For me Afghanistan conjures up images of women in burkas and tough-looking
Taliban fighters holding machine guns.
Nowadays I also think of Canadian soldiers. Over 2,000 of our
troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan, and 43 Canadians
have been killed there since 2001.
On a macro level, I’m against war for all the obvious reasons.
Wherever there’s war there’s also death and torture
and rape. Violence begets violence and breeds hatred.
On a more personal level, I can’t imagine trying to live
my life in the middle of a war zone. How does a person get up,
make breakfast for the kids and go to work when bombs are exploding
in the streets? Here in North America, we’re still reeling
from 9/11 — our first up-close and personal taste of warlike
conditions. It’s not pretty.
Still, despite the horrible footage of children with limbs blown
off and the flag-draped coffins that are becoming a regular feature
on the nightly news, I’m not sure where I stand on Canada’s
involvement in Afghanistan.
Mainly I feel ill-informed. Everyone’s got an agenda, and
it’s hard to know who to trust.
Certainly, I question the motives of the federal government, which
tells me we’re in Afghanistan to fight terror and maintain
security (at a cost of $1 billion over 10 years). It’s all
about reconstruction and stabilization, or so I’ve been
told.
Then again, I’ve also been told it’s all about oil.
I have no doubt that North America’s insatiable thirst for
oil influences foreign policy, just as it does our policies (or
lack thereof) on the environment. I’ve read about U.S.-backed
puppet governments and a multi-billion-dollar Trans-Afghan Pipeline
deal, but I’ve also read that the attacks on 9/11 were actually
planned and executed by the U.S. government.
War propaganda and conspiracy theories work both ways.
But maybe I’m over-thinking things. War kills civilians,
and it’s killing our soldiers and diplomats. If nothing
else, an immediate withdrawal will stop the death toll from mounting
— at least it’ll put an end to the parade of coffins
emerging from military planes landing in Canada.
The sticking point for me is the situation on the ground.
Is the average Afghan citizen benefiting from the presence of
Canadian troops or are we perceived as oppressors? Do I believe
the experts on my TV and the reports from the front lines or do
I believe the information coming from human-rights organizations?
I know this much — there’s a place for an armed military
in today’s world. While the term ‘evil doer’
has been forever tainted by George W. Bush’s war-mongering
rhetoric, evil does exist, and someone has to stand up to it.
Today’s soldiers sign up for a dangerous job, but if they’re
fighting for a noble cause then the sacrifice they’re making
is worth it.
So just what are we fighting for in Afghanistan? |
Uptown
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