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ANOTHER CANADIAN SOLDIER KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN

Sunday, August 19th was a cold damp day with not a glimpse of the sun. Ella and I made our way over to Husky Service Centre on highway 74 to fill our car with gas.

The centre has a beautiful large Canadian Maple Leaf that usually floats in the breeze. Sad. This morning when we drove in the flag was flying at half-mast. The cashier informed me that we Canadians had lost yet another young man in Afghanistan.

67 of our young people have now been killed to bring peace to the region. In the past Canadians prided ourselves on being peace keepers but now our role has changed to be enforcers to eradicate the Taliban forces. On the whole our enemy are not insurgents from abroad: they are native born young men with a religious fervor.

I have been concerned with Canada’s role of fighting in Afghanistan. Recently I had the pleasure to be invited over to the London Muslim Mosque. The people that I spoke to told me that sending Canadian soldiers into harms way was wrong. ‘ It is the Afghan the people who are ultimately responsible for change. Terror is to be fought from within by the residents and not imposed from the outside.
Egypt, Jordan and Turkey all Moslem neighbors have wisely declined to become involved in the conflict.

Trying to impose our values in Afghanistan is: ‘an egotistical fallacy doomed to failure.’ The Brits tried and failed. The Russians lost thousands of their soldiers in Afghanistan before they packed it in The U S tried to enforce change in Vietnam/Iraq and has paid the ultimate price in the blood of thousands of their young soldiers.

Our federal politicians have promised to bring the question of our commitment/future role in Afghanistan to the House of Commons. Please take the time to let them know how you feel.

Len Lesser