Sunday, August 17, 2008

Taliban "threats"

A spokesman for the Taliban in Kandahar has said that if the occupation of Afghanistan does not end, Canada can expect to see more dead soldiers coming back. Predictably, the pro-war media (i.e. all of the MSM in Canada) has worked itself into a massive lather about this, displacing even the bread and circuses spectacle of the Olympic Games. There is ranting hither and yon about the Taliban "threatening" Canada. That is just arrant stupidity. It doesn't matter whether you are for the occupation or against the occupation, it is simply a fact that so long as the people of Afghanistan continue to resist the occupation of their country by uninvited foreign powers (and no, the invitation by a US installed Unocal consultant doesn't fly), and so long as Canadian troops continue to take part in the occupation, Canadian troops will continue to die. It isn't a threat, it is a statement of reality.

Now I disagree with the Taliban on just about everything, from the rights of women to the right to a democratic government, but they have this one right. So long as the occupation continues, the Afghans will resist it. They have done it before, countless times since the invasion of Alexander the Great to the Soviet occupation of the 1980s. For the West to imagine it will be any different this time is the hight of hubris and arrogance. The people of Afghanistan have the right to determine their own future, not to have it determined by the imperial thug who sits in Washington, or his minions and lackeys in Ottawa, London, Amsterdam or Kabul. I profoundly hope that the people of Afghanistan choose a future free of the Taliban, but that is a choice they must make for themselves, and not have it imposed upon them by the American Empire.

If Canadians are wise, we will force our government to withdraw from Afghanistan, and serve two purposes at once: the end of the occupation allowing Afghans to determine their own future, and the end of Canadian soldiers dying for nothing more important than an oil pipeline route.


Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 155

No comments:

Post a Comment