For Christmas this year I got the book Fifteen Days by Christie Blatchford from my partner. At first I was a little hesitant because I'm not much of a military guy. To be honest, I know almost nothing about the military, or war, except for a bunch of names and dates. And while I had an opinion about the Afghanistan War, I'll be the first to admit that it was less than informed. Despite this hesitancy, I read it and to my surprise I really enjoyed it. Loved it in fact. Blatchford does a great job capturing the stories of the men and women who are fighting in Afghanistan and illustrating the love they have for each other and how hard it is on them to lose their fellow soldiers. It certainly captures something I started to think about after watching Ken Burns latest documentary, The War, about the U.S. involvement in WWII - war is a terrifying endeavor and ultimately, people die, suffer, and come home changed, sometimes for the better, many times for the worse. Because of this, sending soldiers to war is something that should never be undertaken carelessly or without great thought because the costs are too high if we are wrong.
Reading the book has forced me to examine my knee-jerk opposition to the Afghanistan War. The sympathy I felt for the families and friends of those who have died was too great not to. I asked myself - is this war winnable? Is their sacrifice worth what they are achieving? Are the soldiers doing more good than bad over there? Now before I go on I should explain that I am not a pacifist. In today's world, war is something that sometimes has to be entered into - there are a lot of fucking crazies in the world and we need to protect ourselves from those people. The world had to stand up to Hitler and the Nazi's because if they didn't, one can only imagine what damage the Third Reich would have done. Saying that, I also think that today too many people are too willing to enter into war as the first and only option. Can all enemies be beaten by a military intervention? Or do some require other actions? These are questions that too many, including those in government, are willing to ask.
The War in Iraq, I believe, is for all intents and purposes a great example of a war that never should have been fought. And no, I don't love Saddam Hussein - but give me a break here. Anyone who says that the U.S. went into Iraq to depose of Hussein is a freaking liar. The U.S. invaded Iraq because they supposedly posed a threat to the free world, you know, mushroom clouds and all. And as we all found out, except for those staunch few who still believe that a missile here or a memo there are proof that Hussein was a threat, Iraq had no wmd's and was no threat to anyone. Of course, some will say that given the evidence at the time it seemed like Iraq was a threat - the problem was that it was faulty evidence. Sure, believe that if you want. Or you could take the word of Richard Clarke and others who have stated that Bush Co. targeted Iraq the day after 9/11 and cherry picked intelligence to provide the justification for invasion. The bottom line is that 4 years later, thousands of soldiers are dead, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's are dead, the country is in chaos (despite some people telling us the surge is working) and depending on who is elected later this year, American troops could be out within 18 months - and the question will be, what have they achieved? Why did all those soldiers die? For Haliburton? For the "freedom" of those Iraqi's who may or may not be in the process of an ethnic cleansing in certain parts of the country? To spread democracy? At the end of the day, was their sacrifice worth it?
Now Afghanistan is a different war all together. It was clear that their government, the Taliban, was supporting Osama bin Laden and his group who were behind 9/11. The U.S. government had every right to defend themselves and route out the "evil-doers." And that they did (well, except for capturing bin Laden, who may or may not be dead), but then they left to invade Iraq and it was left to countries like Canada to mop up the Taliban and try and help a country that has been at war since the dawn of time to re-build. I don't think you'll find many people who opposed the war initially and I think it was the right thing to do. The question for me now is this - can we achieve our objectives in Afghanistan? Can we rid the country of the "Taliban," a label that one soldier in Blatchford's book states seems to apply to all sorts of different people, not just those who we associate as the "Taliban,"and help them re-build? Or is that objective given the nature and history of the country, an impossibility?
I have no doubt that the soldiers on the ground there have faith that they can achieve their goals and I respect them for that but truth be told, it would be a little frightening if the people doing the fighting felt that they couldn't do what they set out to do. But I also think that while the soldiers input is important, there views on their job and the war should not decide what we do or do not do - we as citizens of this country also need a say. The Canadian Armed Forces are not an autonomous force - they are representatives of our country and we still live in a democracy. Because of this, we should all have a say in what they should or should not be doing. As I said earlier, some soldiers can pay the ultimate sacrifice and our government and fellow citizens need to think deeply about that because we are all responsible if those deaths are in vain.
Now, I know that I am skirting the issue here a bit (OK, a lot) - what do I think of the war and our involvement? To be honest, I'm not really sure. Reading the stories of the soldiers it is clear that they think that they can make a difference. It is also clear that their frustration level with the mission is high - who's side are the people of Afghanistan on? Maybe it's an unfair question because as several soldiers point out, sometimes they don't tell Canadians about an imminent attack because of fear of the Taliban. Sure, Canadians are helping to build schools (which many times are then burnt down), putting on medical clinics, and engaging and killing soldiers who want to turn the country back into a theocracy - but is it enough? Can a country like Afghanistan be saved and made into a western, democratic country? Is it possible? Is it even something that the majority of Afghans want? And how long are we willing to stay there and try to achieve these objectives?6 years? 10 years? How many deaths are we willing to tolerate?And finally, are the little victories worth the sacrifice? Is providing medical assistance to a sick man worth a Canadian soldier getting a hatchet in the head?
At this point, I just don't know the answers to these questions. Part of the problem is that we get so few answers from our government and the opposition is so focused on pulling the troops out that they forget to ask the important questions (which, to be fair, probably wouldn't be answered anyway) [Alpha plus plus on all three points - Mark]. Plus the debate in this country in terms of those in favor and opposed is so acrimonious, it is worthless to engage most people to try and find some answers. So that's why I've written this - to try and find some answers. To see what people think. I'm done with the old days when I thought I knew everything - sure, I know a lot (sarcasm....), but I don't know everything and anyone who thinks they do needs to give their fucking head a shake. So there we go. Have fun and be nice.
