The ongoing protests in the parts of the Middle East and North Africa, ostensibly in the wake of a Z-list anti-Islam film produced in the US, have elicited the same tired, hackneyed response on the part significant portions of Western audiences and commentators. “Savages,” the refrain has been, “uncivilized barbarians!”
Continue readingTag: afghanistan
Leftist Jab: Stephen Harper is Focused – Like a Laser! – to Fund the Afghan Elite’s Dubai Real Estate Purchases
What? No Gazebos?! Stephen Harper is dedicated and determined to lead on Afghanistan’s security. Or at the very least, he’s dedicated and determined to see that Afghanistan’s corrupt leadership can keep buying swanky new property in Dubai when US troops pull out of the country in 2014. For the Conservatives,
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: The Tragedy of Sept.11 Only Gets Worse
Every September 11 since 2001 has been a day to remember the victims of the terrorist attacks, but it should also be a day to remember the wars. Because just as we should never forget the men and women who died that day, we should never forget the mistakes we
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: If We Ditch Karzai, They’ll Ditch al Qaeda?
The Talibs, at least part of them, seem to want a deal. They’ll stand down and sever ties with al Qaeda but only if we, namely the United States, ditches Afghanistan’s constitution and Hamid Karzai. This all comes via a report from the Royal United Services Institute. The report concludes:
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What Has Changed Since September 11, 2001?
What Has Changed Since September 11, 2001? W2 Media Cafe and Siraat invite you to a public forum on Monday, September 10, 2012, looking at Canada’s racist legacy, as we mark 11 years after the events of September 11, 2001. 7pm at 111 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. Invited Panellists: Kat
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: U.S. "Suspends" Afghan Police Training
Apparently yielding to the Taliban, American forces in Afghanistan have suspended training of Afghan Local Police recruits. The Afghan recruits, it appears, have become too heavily infiltrated by the Taliban leading to too many “green on blue” deaths of Western soldiers. The Americans have called time out in order to
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Elusive Reality of Afghanistan
Now, after more than a decade of accomplishing astonishingly little, Western military leaders are working hard on polishing the narrative for their war in Afghanistan. It’s unclear who they plan to finger as the fall guy but it will undoubtedly begin with, “we won all the battles.” Yes, we won
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Dead (or dead)
Although pains were taken to hide the identity of the SEAL Team Six officer who took part in last year’s raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, his true name was revealed today. Regardless of the propriety of this or whether he should have written the account at all, the implication
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Not Like We Weren’t Warned
“When planning a military expedition into Pashtun tribal areas, the first thing you must plan is your retreat. All expeditions into this area sooner or later end in retreat under fire.” So wrote British general, Andrew Skeen, in the early 1900s in his guide to military operations in the Pashtun
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: More Green on Blue
“Green on Blue” has become the term for Afghan security officials – police or army – turning on and gunning down Western forces in their country. The latest incident cost the lives of three U.S. Special Forces soldiers who had been invited by an Afghan police commander to discuss security
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Canadian General Itching For A New Foreign War
In The Twilight War, historian David Crist unravels “the secret history of America’s 30-year conflict with Iran.” A secret conflict that’s looks certain to become a real war soon. Led by Israel. A war Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff General Walter Natynczyk seems to have been itching for since the
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Canadian General Itching For A New Foreign War
In The Twilight War, historian David Crist unravels “the secret history of America’s 30-year conflict with Iran.” A secret conflict that’s looks certain to become a real war soon. Led by Israel. A war Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff General Walter Natynczyk seems to have been itching for since the announcement of the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Act of Valor, Redux
“Before my father died, he said the worst thing about growing old was that other men stop seeing you as dangerous….Dangerousness was sacred.” Last night I watched Act of Valor. I liveblogged it so you don’t have to watch it. You’re welcome. First there was The Lottery, a dystopic tale
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Afghan Cop Squad Defects to the Taliban
An Afhgan police commander and 13 of his officers have joined the Taliban. The commander apparently poisoned 7-officers who refused to defect. The party fled taking heavy weapons, radios and vehicles including several Hummers. The defection occured in Farah province, a territory that adjoins Iran.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: When We Leave Afghanistan, We Leave It to Monsters
The guys we’re leaving in charge in Afghanistan are liberally peppered with butchers and mass-murderers. An 800-page report from the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission lists some 180-mass graves and the warlords responsible for the thousands of dead they contain. Among them are First Vice President Fahim, a Tajik from
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Not Now, Not Yet
Canada’s military brass seem intent on blundering their way, make that their soldiers’ way, back into combat without first explaining what went so wrong with their performance in Afghanistan. Make no mistake about this. The miserable performance we achieved in Kandahar wasn’t the fault of the rank and file troops
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Why Omar Khadr’s psychology does not matter
This post is a quick update to my previous post ‘Why Omar Khadr still matters‘ in response to a CBC article that contrasts the views of two psychologists who studied Khadr. As interesting as the article may be, everything I wrote previously about whether Canada should repatriate Khadr, whether his
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Why Omar Khadr still matters
A decade after a wounded Omar Khadr, a then fifteen year old Canadian citizen, decided to lob a fatal grenade in the middle of a firefight in Afghanistan, Ottawa is still dragging its feet on finally repatriating Khadr back to Canada from Guantanamo Bay where he is currently detained. Khadr’s
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: In Our Allies’ Eyes, Canada Failed in Kandahar
For many years I have argued that Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan were betrayed by dismal political and military leadership in Ottawa and a mass media too inept to recognize the chronic failures at the top. According to the CBC’s Brian Stewart, others, outside Canada, held the same opinions. Increasingly, foreign
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Canada’s First Failed War
The generals who conned our political leaders into signing on to an unwinnable war talk of “success” in Afghanistan but they’re blowing smoke, trying to cover the stench of the defeat they and their fellow generals engineered. The story of our collective Western failure in Afghanistan is neatly told by an Afghan
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