Pubdate: Wed, 27 Sep 2006
Source: Hamilton Spectator (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 The Hamilton Spectator
Contact:  http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/181
Author: Warren A. Hyde

CANADIANS HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO QUESTION OUR ROLE IN AFGHANISTAN

Re: 'Canadian soldiers are fighting and dying for drug lords' 
(Letter, Sept. 25)

I agree with what the letter writer says regarding the situation in 
Afghanistan.

I would like to add to the comment made that, under the Taliban, 
opium production had been reduced by 98 per cent. In 2001, the George 
W. Bush administration rewarded the Taliban government with a gift of 
$43 million for declaring opium growing is against the will of God. 
The American government conceded they were aware that enforcement of 
the ban on opium growth was imprisonment or worse, but the Taliban 
was an ally in the war on drugs, and the religious connection didn't 
go unnoticed either.

This was at the very same time that, furious over Afghanistan's 
sheltering of Osama bin Laden, the people of this embattled nation 
were suffering from U.S.-imposed sanctions and international isolation.

Thousands of Afghans were starving, hundreds of thousands had become 
refugees in their own country, women of Afghanistan were living under 
a reign of terror, and basic human rights and freedoms were being 
trampled in the name of religion.

I doubt there are any Canadians who don't support our troops. But how 
they got there and under what guise is what many Canadians feel 
requires closer scrutiny.

For Prime Minister Stephen Harper to hide behind the statement that 
not supporting the Afghan mission means not supporting our troops is 
cowardly and offensive. Canada is suffering casualties in 
Afghanistan, and Canadians have every right to question for whom and why.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine