Ottawa Sun Editorial - Information Without Context

An editorial that appears in the Sept. 22/06 issue of the Ottawa Sun uses polished, intentionally misleading statements to hold wavering public support of Canada's mission to Afghanistan. This isn't a surprise, however I am seeing more and more of this starting to appear in Canadian media. They must have been taking notes during the American media's campaign to build support for the Iraqi debacle, as it is the exact same types of statements being used.

Here is the full text of the editorial from today's Ottawa Sun :

No doubt many Canadians were surprised to see Prime Minister Stephen Harper appearing before the United Nations General Assembly yesterday to talk about Canada's military role in Afghanistan.

What, they might well ask, was our PM doing addressing the UN about that country?

After all, isn't Afghanistan, just like Iraq, "George Bush's war," as we've been told ad nauseam by various NDP, Bloc and Liberal politicians? And isn't Harper just following in lock-step with Bush in Afghanistan? Uh ... no and no.

Unlike Iraq, the UN has sanctioned the military mission in Afghanistan, undertaken by the 37-member NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which has about 20,000 soldiers, 2,300 from Canada.

And yes, the U.S. is also a member of ISAF.

So are -- ready? -- Albania, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Note the presence of France and Germany.

Not in Iraq, in Afghanistan -- just like Canada.

Note the presence of Sweden and Switzerland.

Not exactly war-like nations -- just like Canada.

That said, it is time for more ISAF members to put more troops on the front lines in Kandahar, where our soldiers are fulfilling the ISAF mission of "assisting the Afghan government (which has requested this help) in extending and exercising its authority and influence across the country, creating the conditions for stabilization and reconstruction."

As Harper noted yesterday, it's hard to reconstruct a country, if, say, every time you build a school, the Taliban blow it up.

Finally, for those opposition MPs complaining that Harper cares only about our military role in Afghanistan and not humanitarian efforts, Canada is contributing almost $1 billion over 10 years in development assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Here is my letter to the editor :

I would just like to add some context to the editorial of Sept.22/06 titled 'Force is with us', as the author couldn't do so without undermining their own argument. The first is the notion that we are "assisting the Afghan government (which has requested this help)...". This is a ludicrous statement. The US installed a puppet government run by a former big-oil man that is accepted by a minority of the population. Of course that puppet government is going to 'invite' us to stay - they need our protection! Second, the author notes that we have commited "almost $1 billion over 10 years" to help with development assistance. Wow!! This is equal to $32.26 per Afghan over 10 years, or $3.23 a year per person!! It is fantastic that we are commiting this money, however small an amount it is, but let's not congratulate ourselves for something we have yet to carry through on, and that is unlikely to make any noticable difference. I fully support our troops, and agree completely that they are the bravest among us, but buying into feel-good (and false) statements about being 'invited' and that 'we can't leave Afghanistan to the terrorists' which are designed to make us equate supporting the troops with keeping them there regardless of the circumstances is not fair to them and their willingness to sacrifice.

It likely won't be printed, however as a citizen who doesn't want to see more young Canadian soldiers killed to defend oil routes in the middle east, I feel a need to at least try to add some context and straight talk to the debate.

**update** They actually did publish the above 'letter to the editor' I sent them, on Saturday Sept. 23rd.