The Vandoos at War
I found this while moving about on youtube – the Vandoos marching off to war:
In case you missed it, or forgot, French Canada is now taking the fight to the enemy in Afghanistan. If you want to follow it up close, the best place to start is the French-speaking press.
I’d suggest starting with Michel Vastel of L’Actualite. He had a good blog post the other day about Tim Grant and Canada’s other generals in Afghanistan. Unlike foreign generals – and like Canada’s Prime Minister – Canada’s leaders travel on the ground, on the front and face the same dangers as their troops. Just as General Grant survived a suicide attack on his convoy, the new General Laroche was marching across the tarmac of Khandahar at the head of his brigade – after sharing a cramped transport with them for the 18-hour flight into the combat zone.
Another place to look is Le Soleil, they had a good piece last week about the troops’ irritation with Quebecois opposition to the war:
«Moi je me suis fait dire, par quelqu’un d’instruit, bardé de diplômes, qu’il n’y aurait pas de guerre dans le monde s’il n’y avait pas des gens comme moi. Ça m’a vraiment choqué d’entendre ça d’une personne qui devrait en savoir plus», raconte le soldat Francis Archambault.
Selon lui, les opposants à la présence canadienne font fausse route lorsqu’ils accusent le gouvernement de Stephen Harper de vouloir s’aligner pas à pas à la politique étrangère américaine afin de demeurer dans les bonnes grâces de l’administration Bush.
«Cela n’a rien à voir. Le Canada ne retire pas grand-chose de sa présence ici. Ça coûte des vies, ça coûte de l’argent, mais on essaie de donner une chance de s’en sortir à des peuples qui ont besoin d’aide. C’est probablement la plus grande chose que je vais faire dans ma vie», a argué le soldat Archambault, âgé de 23 ans.
People are unfortunately ignorant of history. This is just a replay of the 19th century opium wars, where the western powers forced the Chinese to allow free circulation of cheap opium within their borders. When the Taliban were in charge, opium was almost totally eradicated. Now, with our help, Afghanistant supplies 90% of the world’s heroin.
Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan is a war crime.
gérard
August 15, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Opium + Opium? Golly I hadn’t thought of that. China had opium and we wanted it, and Afghanistan now has opium, which I assume we must want because we wanted opium a century ago… so ,gee, you’re right mensa, this is a war crime.
Bugger, I’ve been totally ignorant about this. I thought we were over there because Afghanistan had become a haven for terrorists who attacked a NATO country. And I had thought we were still there because the last time we abandoned Afghanistan to the fates it became the aforementioned terrorist haven and we were trying to avoid the viscous circle. But no, you’ve got it there – we’re in Afghanistan for the opium.
Hey Itof – why don’t you go back to salivating over Cheney’s penis? http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/26/cheney-475million/ [scroll down to 92]
webmaster
August 16, 2007 at 12:52 am