New Media

“If you don’t marry me I will put a bomb on your body and send you to the police station.”

They do marriage proposals a bit differently in some parts of the world.

H/T to Adrian MacNair

The hijackers of Canada’s peace movement appear to be in for a fight.

Canada’s top soldier is telling certain partisan members of Canada’s political establishment to take a reality check about the Afghanistan mission. According to General Rick Hillier, we won’t be able to hand over their combat role to allied nations and the Afghan National Army in 2009 (Reuters).

“If you’re there, you’re going to be in the middle of a firefight,” he says. “This is the home of the Taliban.” No kidding.

While the likes of Vancouver’s MAWO’s propagandists like to portray the Taliban as heroic freedom fighters in a life and death struggle for self-determination, the truth is that most Afghans aren’t Taliban, most Afghans want and need the international community to help them, and Afghanistan and the rest of the world is undoubtedly better off without the Taliban.

That said, Canadians and the international community ought not to be writing the Afghan government a blank check. Afghan journalist Sayed Pervez Kambaksh had the audacity to download a report on women’s rights and for this was sentenced to death by an Islamic court.

Canadians can do something about this right now (Thanks to fiery activist Terry Glavin for these detailed instructions): Write Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Harper.S@parl.gc.ca) urging him to take a very hard line on Sayed’s case – he should tell President Karzai that the charges against Sayed should be dropped, or at the very least that he must be assured of a fair trial, and the death sentence be overturned immediately. Write Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier, too (BerniM@parl.gc.ca), along with a dignified protest letter to His Excellency Omar Samad, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Canada (contact@afghanemb-canada.net).

A new Canadian-based front develops in the war of decency and respect for human rights versus fascism and terror: The Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee website has officially launched.

Our members believe that Canada’s continuing involvement in the UN-supported mission in Afghanistan is necessary. We have the support of Canadians from across the political spectrum and from all walks of life.

We are concerned that debate in Canada about this mission has excluded Afghans and ignored Afghan public opinion. That debate has been manipulated for partisan reasons by those who have failed to fully consider the consequences for Afghans and for the region if Canadian troops were to withdraw prematurely.

Check out our principles. If you agree with them, please join the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee.

Congratulations to tireless BC author and journalist Terry Glavin, fearless and eloquent CW4WA activist, organizer and consultant Lauryn Oates, lightning-fast writer and web magician Ian King and website design guru Rob Wilson for their efforts in getting this important work done in record time. My own contribution has been modest by comparison, but I am nonetheless proud to have done my small part.

The Manley Panel has delivered its verdict on what Canada should do in Afghanistan, but reporters are already having trouble interpreting its main recommendations. Either that, or certain reporters are pushing their own opinions and cherry-picking clauses in the report to support their own agendas.

According to Reuters, Canada Should Consider End to Afghan Mission.

But the Associated Foreign Press says Canada Calls for Extending Mission in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Associated Press writes that Canadian Report Presses Afghan Mission.

Well, that’s two out of three, anyway. I’ll have to have a look at the actual text of the report, but the overall theme of reportage shows the Manley Report’s guiding ideas seem to largely follow along the lines of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee’s own call to action:

The Committee’s position on Canada’s engagement in Afghanistan, in sum, is this: We must stay. Human rights are universal. The United Nations calls for and expects Canada to remain dedicated to Afghanistan’s reconstruction and to the battle against terrorism there. We recognize that a robust military engagement, with the UN’s sanction and the consent of the Government of Afghanistan, is vital and necessary.

Exactly.

Taliban say they will attack restaurants – the latest headline about the civilized world’s conflict with the world’s least-scrupulous military force.

The only good news out of this development is that it underscores the Taliban’s perfect inability to mount anything close to a real military offensive against Afghanistan’s recovering urban centers – thanks to the efforts of Canadian soldiers and other NATO personnel.

Any comment, Jack Layton? Still ready to negotiate?