"Democracy" in Afghanistan

[Canadian Blue]

Norman, I'm pointing out the Liberals who oppose the mission, yet weren't opposed to Kosovo.

Mimas, Conservatives [Reform and the PC's at the time] are hypocrites, yet the Liberal's aren't???

My point on Kosovo is the hypocrisy of many Conservatives who were screaming "blood" louder than the Liberals and the fact that 7 years after the conflict, neither of the two want to admit the facts and say that there was no genocide and that we were lied to to support a terrorist organization and a mission that killed thousands of civilians, displaced almost 1 million people temporarily) and had over 200,000 Serbs and other ethnic groups "cleansed" from their homes permanently. And a mission that dumped thousands of tonnes of depleted uranium, bombed chemical factories and caused an environmental disaster in the region that is yet to kill thousands of people.

I think the actual conflict, not NATO is to be blamed for all of that. I'm glad that NATO intervened, it probably is a much better situation now with the UN there then it was 8 years ago.

So NATO was responsible for the ethnic cleansing? I don't really understand what your trying to say?

[normanchateau]

Norman, I'm pointing out the Liberals who oppose the mission, yet weren't opposed to Kosovo.

CB, I'm simply pointing out that hypocrisy is not a unique feature of some Liberals. The 40 Conservative MPs who voted last year to prohibit floor-crossing were remarkably accepting of the Emerson floor-crossing.

[Mimas]

Norman, I'm pointing out the Liberals who oppose the mission, yet weren't opposed to Kosovo.

Mimas, Conservatives [Reform and the PC's at the time] are hypocrites, yet the Liberal's aren't???

My point on Kosovo is the hypocrisy of many Conservatives who were screaming "blood" louder than the Liberals and the fact that 7 years after the conflict, neither of the two want to admit the facts and say that there was no genocide and that we were lied to to support a terrorist organization and a mission that killed thousands of civilians, displaced almost 1 million people temporarily) and had over 200,000 Serbs and other ethnic groups "cleansed" from their homes permanently. And a mission that dumped thousands of tonnes of depleted uranium, bombed chemical factories and caused an environmental disaster in the region that is yet to kill thousands of people.

I think the actual conflict, not NATO is to be blamed for all of that. I'm glad that NATO intervened, it probably is a much better situation now with the UN there then it was 8 years ago.

So NATO was responsible for the ethnic cleansing? I don't really understand what your trying to say?

You can keep living in the clouds and ignore reality all you want. You probably wouldn't have liked the Soviets to bomb Canada when the tanks were rolling down the streets of Montreal to support the FAQ and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Quebecers by Canadians. How about bombing Israel because of their war on Hezbullah and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Hell, Sharon is a convicted war criminal. Wanna go bomb Israel back to the stone age?

Stop pretending that you don't understand. The KLA is a world wide recognized terrorist group. There were no 100,000 Albanians killed and 500,000 missing. It was all lies and deceit. The mission was a complete failure because 1) it killed more people than were killed in 3 years of conflict prior to it, 2) it achieved exactly what it was supposed to stop - namely ethnic cleansing as Kosovo is now cleansed out all ethnic groups other than Albanians. 3) Kosovo is now the organized crime capital of Europe and a breeding ground for islamic extremists (the CIA says so, not me). 4) The KLA are now running free causing trouble in Greece and Macedonia. 5) What you call "probably" a much better situation is not at all better according to the facts because the Kosovo albanians are pissed off, the Serbs are pissed off, the Albanian Albanians are pissed off, everyone else in the Balkans is pissed off and there is non-stop violence in Kosovo and the conflict (KLA) has spread to other regions of the Balkans.

Obviously you didn't properly inform yourself back then, you are not properly informed now, and you refuse to inform yourself about it. It's your choice but when you don't know what you are talking about, I would suggest that you don't spread confusion and misrepresentation about a topic you don't understand.

[Canadian Blue]

CB, I'm simply pointing out that hypocrisy is not a unique feature of some Liberals. The 40 Conservative MPs who voted last year to prohibit floor-crossing were remarkably accepting of the Emerson floor-crossing.

I'm pointing out that hypocrisy is not unique to the Conservatives either.

You can keep living in the clouds and ignore reality all you want. You probably wouldn't have liked the Soviets to bomb Canada when the tanks were rolling down the streets of Montreal to support the FAQ and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Quebecers by Canadians. How about bombing Israel because of their war on Hezbullah and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Hell, Sharon is a convicted war criminal. Wanna go bomb Israel back to the stone age?

FAQ, don't you mean FLQ.

I don't know, Slobodan seemed to be charged with war crimes. As for your comments, if you are honestly comparing the FLQ crisis to Kosovo, then you need to learn a little bit more about history.

I would like to see one person say the FLQ Crisis was similar to Kosovo.

Stop pretending that you don't understand. The KLA is a world wide recognized terrorist group. There were no 100,000 Albanians killed and 500,000 missing. It was all lies and deceit. The mission was a complete failure because 1) it killed more people than were killed in 3 years of conflict prior to it, 2) it achieved exactly what it was supposed to stop - namely ethnic cleansing as Kosovo is now cleansed out all ethnic groups other than Albanians. 3) Kosovo is now the organized crime capital of Europe and a breeding ground for islamic extremists (the CIA says so, not me). 4) The KLA are now running free causing trouble in Greece and Macedonia. 5) What you call "probably" a much better situation is not at all better according to the facts because the Kosovo albanians are pissed off, the Serbs are pissed off, the Albanian Albanians are pissed off, everyone else in the Balkans is pissed off and there is non-stop violence in Kosovo and the conflict (KLA) has spread to other regions of the Balkans.

Stop pretending you know what your talking about. As well I don't believe NATO ever said 100,000 Albanian's were killed. I believe the total amount missing was around 3000. I don't think anybody in their right mind actually believe that their was nothing going on in Kosovo other then the Serbian Military stopping criminals. Which apparently included women and children.

Obviously you didn't properly inform yourself back then, you are not properly informed now, and you refuse to inform yourself about it. It's your choice but when you don't know what you are talking about, I would suggest that you don't spread confusion and misrepresentation about a topic you don't understand.

I usually get my info from CNN, BBC, CTV, National Post, Time, and Macleans. But I believe that the Progressives World Newscenter is the at the tops for credibility and excellence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/yugo/article/0,,1729082,00.html

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/...cade/index.html

Nothing is black and white, and it is naive to blame all of these problems on the US and all conservatives.

[normanchateau]

Norman you keep repeating this about the laws of Islam. Do you know what the leaws of Islam are.

I know what some of the laws of Islam are, for example, their penalties for adultery, homosexuality, blasphemy, conversion to Christianity. Here's a link to some of their laws:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia#Dress_codes

[Canadian Blue]

I believe their can be quite a few different views on Islamic law as well. Basically meaning it can be interpeted or perverted like any religious text for political and economic gain. It's unfortunate that Islamic countries are still having trouble becoming modernized [Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, etc] however I think they will start to evolve over time as western society has evolved.

[normanchateau]

I believe their can be quite a few different views on Islamic law as well. Basically meaning it can be interpeted or perverted like any religious text for political and economic gain. It's unfortunate that Islamic countries are still having trouble becoming modernized [Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, etc] however I think they will start to evolve over time as western society has evolved.

Ironically, some Muslim countries were far more evolved and humane than some European countries if you go back 500 years or so. For example, Jews escaping persecution in Europe were able to escape that persecution by settling in Islamic countries at that time. The pendulum will swing back though I doubt that it will be in our lifetime.

[Canadian Blue]

I know, I've recently started studying some islamic history since I'm hoping to start my university next fall at the U of M. Muslims were more civilized then the Christian's were, and Saladin was an honourable fighter.

It was a pointless war, like most wars, over nothing more then a piece of dirt and leaders own idea of glory. Even if you go back 75 years the Islamic world was probably more civilized. I think the west involved itself to much in the affairs of middle eastern nations, and I'm not talking about Israel. Iran is a perfect example of the west intervening in the affairs of a nation unjustly. As well poverty and lack of education is what I think drives alot of this radicalization. If people have no hope, then they will be more likely to go to Hamas, Hezbollah, etc.

[normanchateau]

Iran is a perfect example of the west intervening in the affairs of a nation unjustly.

Good point. As you probably know, both Great Britain and the US CIA were involved in organizing the overthrow of Mohammed Musaddiq and installing the Shah in 1953. Yet in 1951, Musaddiq was named Man of the Year for his achievements in Iran by Time Magazine. Were it not for the decades-long repressive regime of the Shah, who knows whether fundamentalist Islamic radicals would now be in charge of Iran. The current regime is a threat to the entire world. The Musaddiq regime was mainly a threat to the interests of British Petroleum.

[Mimas]

Stop pretending you know what your talking about. As well I don't believe NATO ever said 100,000 Albanian's were killed. I believe the total amount missing was around 3000. I don't think anybody in their right mind actually believe that their was nothing going on in Kosovo other then the Serbian Military stopping criminals. Which apparently included women and children.

I usually get my info from CNN, BBC, CTV, National Post, Time, and Macleans. But I believe that the Progressives World Newscenter is the at the tops for credibility and excellence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/yugo/article/0,,1729082,00.html

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/...cade/index.html

Nothing is black and white, and it is naive to blame all of these problems on the US and all conservatives.

That's part of your problem. You choose to get your info from mostly right-wing papers from countries that lead the NATO attack in Kosovo. On top of that, you haven't been reading them carefully, or you are just too young to remember the brainwashing campaign by our great democratic leaders at the time:

Following the same path as the build-up to the invasion of Iraq, the media coverage in the spring of 1999 was a series of fraudulent justifications, beginning with the then US defence secretary William Cohen's claim that "we've now seen about 100,000 military-aged [Albanian] men missing . . . they may have been murdered". David Scheffer, the then US ambassador-at-large for war crimes, announced that as many as "225,000 ethnic Albanian men aged between 14 and 59" may have been killed. Blair invoked the Holocaust and "the spirit of the Second World War". The British press took its cue. "Flight from genocide," wrote the Daily Mail. "Echoes of the Holocaust," chorused the Sun and the Mirror.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/PIL412A.html

To gain domestic support for this emergency action the Clinton administration began a drumbeat about mass graves, ethnic cleansing and even genocide. David Scheffer, a State Department ambassador at large, was the first to claim publicly a six-figure death count, specifically “upwards of about 100,000 [islamic] men that we cannot account for" in Kosovo. A month later, after the war had begun, the State Department upped the total to 500,000 Kosovo Albanians missing and feared dead.

On CBS Face the Nation Secretary of Defense William Cohen repeated the 100,000 figure and claimed that the war was “was a fight for justice over genocide.” The President compared the work of the Serbs in Kosovo to the German “genocide” of the Jews during the Holocaust and assured America that “tens of thousands of people” had been murdered.

http://cashill.com/natl_general/NYT_double_standard.htm

[White Doors]

September - The Serbian army continues to attack villages in the Drenica region of Kosovo.

United Nations Security Council votes in favour of a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Kosovo, and warning the Yugoslav Government of "additional measures" if it fails to comply. Nato takes the first formal steps towards military intervention in Kosovo.

Heavy fighting continues despite Serbian assurances that the offensive is over. At least 36 ethnic Albanian civilians are reported to have been massacred in three separate incidents.

The Un SC agreed on the resolution.

[Canadian Blue]

That's part of your problem. You choose to get your info from mostly right-wing papers from countries that lead the NATO attack in Kosovo. On top of that, you haven't been reading them carefully, or you are just too young to remember the brainwashing campaign by our great democratic leaders at the time:

Yeah I forgot to put on my tinfoil hat when the "brainwashing campaign" started. Seriously, CNN, BBC, Time, and Macleans, are all respected for their journalism.

[Mimas]

That's part of your problem. You choose to get your info from mostly right-wing papers from countries that lead the NATO attack in Kosovo. On top of that, you haven't been reading them carefully, or you are just too young to remember the brainwashing campaign by our great democratic leaders at the time:

Yeah I forgot to put on my tinfoil hat when the "brainwashing campaign" started. Seriously, CNN, BBC, Time, and Macleans, are all respected for their journalism.

They report what the US department of defense told them. They reported what leaders in their countries said, not what the reality was. Respected or not they all reported that according to government officials 100,000 Albanians were killed and 500,000 were missing and feared dead. The final figure is around 2,000 of all ethnic groups.

[Army Guy]

Lets not kid ourselfs here, i spent 2 months providing security to a Canadian graves team in Bosina. The serbs were very good at creating and hiding mass graves by the time Kosvo rolled around, many of my comrads were in Kosovo and they've said was almost as brutal as bosina was, and they will never recover all the sites.

Just because the evidence is not there does not mean those murders did not happen. as many of those familys are still without there family members today.

Serbia has gone to great lengths to push as much blame on the coalition forces as possiable, by putting the focus on deaths from Nato bombing, est at only 500 by human rights watch, and 1500 by NATO. And denying the mass graves claim or atleast down playing thier number.

But then again all those involved in that operation have skeletons in thier closets. But please do not try and make the serbs involved in these killing operations as any thing less than NAZI storm troopers.

My Webpage

My Webpage

[White Doors]

Media bias is showing!

-If it bleeds, it leads. The media concentrates fully on the inevitable body count in Afghanistan, but interestingly, only ours. The DND has released that it suspects about 2000 taliban have been killed by Canadians, providing a measure of success, yet one would be hard pressed to find this information presented as readily as our own (very important 42) casualties. If we had achieved a 50:1 kill ratio in either of the World Wars or Korea, they would have been very short contests!!

-Very little information on the billions of dollars in FA spent by Canada, the US and other allies in Afghanistan in development of infrastructure, creation of industry and on NGOs to maintain and raise the QOL for the Afghan people.

-Circumstances surrounding soldier's deaths ignored. It does'nt make it any less worthwhile or painful, but does'nt the public have the right to know that Cpl. X died in an intense urban engagement in which he was killing numerous enemy in pursuance of our larger goals?

Conversely, the last 4 casualties have been sustained as they guarded the construction of infrastructure - yet media reports repeatedly said they were "ambushed" - this creates the perception that we are hapless targets - disregarding the fact that the attackers in these situations (direct fire attacks in daylight) rarely escape with their lives.

-Repeated assertations by various left leaning public figures that the only way to build Afghanistan is through development and aid, disregarding the fact that most NGO's have now pulled out due to the poor security situation. You simply cannot have development or aid without security. These figures are given prime soundbites on the evening news.

-Referral in the press to Afghanistan as a "failed state" when more accurately it is a state that never was, being a violent patchwork of tribal allegiances, a fact alluded to by the British in the first and second Anglo Afghan wars. Once again, you can't build a nation in the presence of a band of religious zealots, intent on spreading their version of government on a road of decapitated government officials, burned girls schools and kidnapped and murdered aid workers. No development without peace.

-Referral to the war in Afghanistan as "Bush's War" or a "war for oil" when Afghanistan has no oil reserves to speak of, and the only plausible explanation is the three decades old plan for the Trans Afghan Oil pipeline a possible link to caucasus oil. The idea that we would go to war to secure a pipeline route is laughable.

-Little media coverage of the fact that the Taliban harboured AQ, and AQ attacked our best and strongest ally on 9/11, killing 33 of our own citizens.

-Taliban atrocities against NATO troops are ignored or presented as rumour, while NATO's killing of enemy combatants or civilians reasonably thought to be so are presented as suspicious acts of murder, despite CF/NATOs full disclosure of all relevant information not compromising OPSEC.

-Little attention given to the nationalities of many "taliban", in defiance of intelligence stating that many are mercenaries, foreign jihadists, coming from as far away as Chechnya, and in the employ of ostensibly friendly nations such as Pakistan.

[normanchateau]

"Canada's military misadventure in Afghanistan at U.S. President George W. Bush's request is ensuring a drug disaster.

The results will be more deaths of Canadian soldiers bravely fighting for our country as they unknowingly enable growth of the most evil trade in the world, drug dealing that also kills countless victims right here at home.

Sound far-fetched? Not at all.

On Sept. 2 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime issued a startling report that received little media attention.

Afghanistan now grows not only 92 per cent of the entire world supply of opium, used to make heroin, but there is now 30 per cent more opium available than total global consumption!

So much for defending democracy and promoting development in Afghanistan for five years.

The oversupply can only lead to one chilling result - cheaper heroin on streets of Vancouver and the world, and a relentless push by drug dealers to find more customers.

The Taliban government of Afghanistan banned production of opium and by 2001 the UN reported that opium poppies had been overwhelmingly replaced by wheat and other crops.

But since the Afghanistan invasion opium production has skyrocketed, with Taliban fighters now promoting poppy farming while western armies can neither provide alternatives for poor farmers nor control the countryside.

Opium grown in Afghanistan jumped an astonishing 60 per cent last year. Only six of the countries 34 provinces are opium free and in the southern province of Helmand production has jumped by 162 per cent.

"The news is very bad. On the opium front today in some of the provinces of Afghanistan, we face a state of emergency," Antonio Maria Costa, chief of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said. "The southern part of Afghanistan was displaying the ominous hallmarks of incipient collapse, with large-scale drug cultivation and trafficking, insurgency and terrorism, crime and corruption."

Source:

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Columnists/NewsV...828963-sun.html

[Army Guy]

normanchateau :

Canada's military misadventure in Afghanistan at U.S. President George W. Bush's request is ensuring a drug disaster.

The results will be more deaths of Canadian soldiers bravely fighting for our country as they unknowingly enable growth of the most evil trade in the world, drug dealing that also kills countless victims right here at home.

Sound far-fetched? Not at all.

Your right Norm there is a major drug problem in Afgan, and it does have far reaching effects here in our country. But when put in context to all the problems in Afgan and the conflict there, it does not rate as the number one, two, or three problems, The first being security, the second being poor and lack of work, and the third is starvation.

Yes Afgan is producing most of the worlds opium, and according to the UN produces some 1.2 bil dollars in profits for the farmers, and 2 bil in profits for the trafficers in afgan...

Afgan farmers are growing this crop because it puts food on thier tables, to feed thier families, UN est that farmers are grossing approx 1800.00 US dollars a year, where if they had decided to grow wheat they would earn 550.00 a year.

While we are blaming the Afgan government eradication of the poppy crop is up over 3 times, that of last year. So efforts are improving but take second fiddle to actual combat operations and fighting the Taliban and Al Quaida.

Scroll down to Afgan opuim survey:

UN report

I'd also like to piont out that yes Afgan is doing all the growing, but whom is really getting rich off all this opuim, The west is and is worth far more than the 3 bil it nets Afgan, but the UN puts the est at around 30 bil dollars in the hands of organized crime,etc but other sources claim this number to be alot higher. These are the people that are putting these drugs onto our streets and into the hands of our citizens...these are the guys we should be declaring war on....

[Saturn]

normanchateau :

Canada's military misadventure in Afghanistan at U.S. President George W. Bush's request is ensuring a drug disaster.

The results will be more deaths of Canadian soldiers bravely fighting for our country as they unknowingly enable growth of the most evil trade in the world, drug dealing that also kills countless victims right here at home.

Sound far-fetched? Not at all.

Your right Norm there is a major drug problem in Afgan, and it does have far reaching effects here in our country. But when put in context to all the problems in Afgan and the conflict there, it does not rate as the number one, two, or three problems, The first being security, the second being poor and lack of work, and the third is starvation.

Yes Afgan is producing most of the worlds opium, and according to the UN produces some 1.2 bil dollars in profits for the farmers, and 2 bil in profits for the trafficers in afgan...

Afgan farmers are growing this crop because it puts food on thier tables, to feed thier families, UN est that farmers are grossing approx 1800.00 US dollars a year, where if they had decided to grow wheat they would earn 550.00 a year.

While we are blaming the Afgan government eradication of the poppy crop is up over 3 times, that of last year. So efforts are improving but take second fiddle to actual combat operations and fighting the Taliban and Al Quaida.

Scroll down to Afgan opuim survey:

UN report

I'd also like to piont out that yes Afgan is doing all the growing, but whom is really getting rich off all this opuim, The west is and is worth far more than the 3 bil it nets Afgan, but the UN puts the est at around 30 bil dollars in the hands of organized crime,etc but other sources claim this number to be alot higher. These are the people that are putting these drugs onto our streets and into the hands of our citizens...these are the guys we should be declaring war on....

These are the guys who have so much money and power to lobby to ensure that the opium keeps flowing out of Afghanistan. It is their job to ensure that Afghanistan is a mess, so that the Afghan farmers keep growing the poppies to put food at the table. See, it will take quite a bit of money to get the farmers to grow something else and I don't see any governments who are interested in stopping the flow of opium enough to spend the dough.

[gerryhatrick]

I'd also like to piont out that yes Afgan is doing all the growing, but whom is really getting rich off all this opuim, The west is and is worth far more than the 3 bil it nets Afgan,

If by "West" you mean pick a spot on the globe and head West until you come back to that same spot, then yes...because that shit is sold accross the world. But yes you're right that most of the profit is made outside Afghanistan. As with all drugs the highest markup is the one the one made just before the consumer gets it....or the one directly after the farmer sells it.

[normanchateau]

Yes Afgan is producing most of the worlds opium, and according to the UN produces some 1.2 bil dollars in profits for the farmers, and 2 bil in profits for the trafficers in afgan...

And as you probably know, some of those drug traffickers are members of the corrupt Karzai government.

According to one estimate, Afghan government official are involved in at least 70% of the traffic:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10663339/

[Canadian Blue]

I'm just wondering, do people actually believe that every operation Canada has done before Afghanistan been in support of a plural democracy similar to Canada's?

The funny thing about the article you posted is that the situation would probably get alot worse if Canada pulled out. As for your constant complaints about the constitution, apparently it was good enough for the UN, and the UN is satisfied with the Afghan's current democratic process.

As well, does anybody on here think its easy for a country to go from a Taliban led theocracy, to a plural democracy overnight? Really, NATO went in there after the US was attacked, and if all of NATO were to pullout then what would happen, probably a civil war, and the Taliban returning to power. So far their are more pros to the mission's then cons, and the only people who are making an issue out of Afghanistan are those who see the political gain due to recent polls.

[normanchateau]

More sad news for Canada this week as the military misadventure to prop up the corrupt Islamic Republic of Afghanistan continues:

"CanWest News Service

Published: Tuesday, November 28, 2006

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Two Canadian soldiers were killed Monday after a suicide bomber drove his vehicle into a military convoy.

The two soldiers were in a convoy attacked less than one kilometre outside Kandahar, ending a six-week lull in Canadian fatalities. As the convoy approached a roundabout, a man reportedly pulled up alongside a Canadian Bison, an eight-wheeled armored vehicle, and detonated a massive explosion.

One of the soldiers was identified by CBC as Sgt. Maj. Bob Girouard, 46, a father of three from Bathurst, N.B. The other was identifed by the Niagara Falls Review as Chief Warrant Officer Albert Storm, 36, originally from Fort Erie, Ont., and a father of two."

Source:

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national...9d6&k=57602

[Army Guy]

normanchateau:

More sad news for Canada this week as the military misadventure to prop up the corrupt Islamic Republic of Afghanistan continues:

I'd like to ask you norman not to use the deaths of these men to further your cause. You may have your reasons not to support the mission, and although we may disagree i respect your rights and opinions. So i ask you please do not use the deaths of my comrads to make your piont, as it dishonors they're commitment and sacrafice.

Thank you.

[scribblet]

normanchateau:

More sad news for Canada this week as the military misadventure to prop up the corrupt Islamic Republic of Afghanistan continues:

I'd like to ask you norman not to use the deaths of these men to further your cause. You may have your reasons not to support the mission, and although we may disagree i respect your rights and opinions. So i ask you please do not use the deaths of my comrads to make your piont, as it dishonors they're commitment and sacrafice.

Thank you.

Well said:

Killing Canadian soldiers and breaking the will of Canadians is the best weapon the Taliban has. what we need to do is communicate and get out the good messages.

From the NP (subscription required)

more than four million refugees have returned to Afghanistan.

GDP growth in the legitimate economy (excluding the drug trade) in 2002 was 29%, 16% in 2003, 8% in 2004, 14% in 2005, and it is estimated GDP will grow by 14% in 2006. I

2004, only 9% of Afghans had reliable medical facilities. Today, 77% do.

Over 4,000 medical facilities, 661 basic health centres, 413 medical community centres, 66 district hospitals and 33 provincial hospitals have been opened since 2004.

More than 4,000 kilometres of highway projects have been built.

Major power station projects are under way and more than 1-billion square metres of land has been cleared of land mines, opening up new farm land for cultivation.

In Afghanistan's September, 2005 election, close to seven million people went to the polls. The civil service is growing.

There is more press freedom now than ever before, supported by five independent TV channels, one-government run TV channel and 290 newspapers.

Close to six million Afghan children are in school, a six-fold increase since 2001.

Afghans support the presence of NATO troops in their country as they rebuild their lives.

This story of success has gone untold at the price of public support for the Afghan mission in Canada. Support is also wavering in other NATO countries. The Environics poll in November showed that 60% of Canadians would support the mission in Afghanistan if they could be assured it was helping that country get back on its feet and that it guarded against a return of the Taliban. But most mistakenly believe the mission is making little progress.

Asked why more has not been done to take these successes to Canadians and other NATO countries through media campaigns, a NATO official responded "that's not our job."

It's about time it was.

[normanchateau]

normanchateau:

More sad news for Canada this week as the military misadventure to prop up the corrupt Islamic Republic of Afghanistan continues:

You may have your reasons not to support the mission, and although we may disagree i respect your rights and opinions. So i ask you please do not use the deaths of my comrads to make your piont, as it dishonors they're commitment and sacrafice.

Thank you.

And I respect your rights and opinions as well and certainly have no desire to dishonour your comrades. I support our troops and am fully aware of what might have happened to the rights of Canadians were it not for the sacrifices and committments of Canadian forces who fought the Germans in World War II. Thank you for bringing to my attention that my comments would be misinterpreted as dishonouring your fallen comrades. To me, they were heroes.