Obfuscated Thoughtlessness Inversed

"There were 469,685 sick and wounded, of whom 53,753 or 11.44%, were wounded, injured or sustained concussion and 415,932 (88.56%) fell sick. A high proportion of casualties were those who fell ill. This was because of local climatic and sanitary conditions, which were such that acute infections spread rapidly among the troops. There were 115,308 cases of infectious hepatitis, 31,080 of typhoid fever and 140,665 of other diseases. Of the 11,654 who were discharged from the army after being wounded, maimed or contracting serious diseases, 92%, or 10,751 men were left disabled." - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan from Wikipedia

The latest headline screams "Iranians 'at highest levels' meddling in Iraq War".

If it is meddling to provide bombs to Iraqi insurgents, wtf was the United States doing in Afghanistan prior to and during the Soviet occupation.

Oh, you know, at the highest levels - meddling. Presidentially approved meddling in fact, as revealed recently by Robert Gates and admitted as a US trap to bring the USSR into Afghanistan. The trap was effectively the arming of the Afghan Mujahideen. These same people, including Osama Bin Laden, are the people that Canada is at war with in Afghanistan. Of course, the USSR actually committed a large number of troops (620,000 total 80,000-104,000 at a time) to their war effort, unlike the US in Iraq or the NATO forces in Afghanistan.

You don't win a counter-insurgency war by fighting. But you know that story... and if you don't, you'll go read about it from historians, not me, while I'm commenting on current events. Here's a little more about that current event:

"Over the last year there has been a major about-face in the Canadian military's view of the usefulness of tanks.

Last fall, after originally denying that it was going to send Leopards to Afghanistan, the military confirmed the armoured vehicles were indeed headed for that south Asia war zone. "Tanks produce a certain amount of shock action," army commander Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie said at the press conference confirming the deployment of the Leopards. "They can be extraordinarily intimidating."

In the late 1990s the Canadian Forces spent $145 million to equip the tanks with new computers and heat-sensing equipment to improve their fighting capability." - Canadian military hunts for new tanks from Canada.com

By the way, tanks aren't cheap:

"In May 1976, DND received Cabinet approval to purchase 128 Leopard tanks at a cost of $187.1 million to replace the aging Centurion tanks that were used in carrying out Canada's commitment to NATO. The purchase also allowed DND to equip an operational squadron at the Combat Training Centre, CFB Gagetown and to provide tanks for use in the Armoured School in Gagetown and the Land Ordnance Engineering School at CFB Borden." - 1984 Report of the Auditor General of Canada

These current tanks cost $641 million plus the $175 million in CPI inflated dollars that it took to re-equip them. Meaning the commitment of tanks is more than a $800 million commitment of assets to this war. Given the survival rates of the Soviet equipment that was committed to Afghanistan this is one asset we may never see again.

No clear amount has been quoted for the newest 80 tanks, but let's say they are each worth about the same amount as the first 128. That would mean another $500 million committed on the next 80.

It is time for Canadians to make it clear that they are not willing to fund a potentially never-ending counter-insurgency war in Afghanistan. We must let our elected representatives know that $1.3 billion on tanks is an unacceptable expenditure.

Population estimates put Afghanistan's population at about 30 million or very near to the same population as Canada. These tanks represent an expenditure of about $40 per person. That's more than the cost of two chickens for a family in need from Oxfam, but two chickedns would also have the desired effect of "produc[ing] a certain amount of shock action." The chickens, however, would be unlikely to kill anyone. Although, I'm not sure Oxfam can provide 60 million chickens as quickly as Germany can get 80 tanks to Kandahar, I think we should get Gen. Hillier to make the call. I hear he is a man of his word and a very persuasive Newfoundlander:

A few months ago General Rick Hillier promised me a Christmas I would never forget; turns out he is a man of his word.

This year, on Christmas morning, I was in Sperwan Ghar in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan sitting around a single-burner Coleman stove with a dozen Canadian soldiers. Rush was on the stereo and we were watching a pot of Tetley tea bags threaten to boil. Outside it was wet and muddy, but inside the sandbag bunker where these Royal Canadian Dragoons ate and slept it was warm and as comfortable as one could expect under the circumstances. Corporal Frank Farrell was in charge of the pot and there was no top on it this morning - this was not to be rushed.

Gen. Hillier is a very persuasive man. He is also a Newfoundlander. And while he is the chief of the Canadian Forces it has been suggested that he might think he is the chief of all Newfoundlanders. He'll call you up and suggest to you that on Dec. 25 there is only one place you should be and it's so special that by agreeing to go there you render your life insurance null and void. You aren't asked so much as you are voluntold.

... On Christmas morning, the convoy headed to Sperwan Ghar. The troops here sleep in dugouts with sandbag perimeters. ... The trip carried on. We visited more forward operating bases. Gen. Hillier made good on his goal of shaking hands with practically every [Canadian] soldier in harm's way this Christmas. And by late afternoon we took the convoy back through "ambush ally" to the main base in Kandahar for the prime show of the tour for about 800 soldiers in the newly opened Canada House. - A Christmas in Flak Jackets from Rick Mercer's Blog

Maybe next Christmas... by then maybe we will all be voluntold how to support this developing world war.

It isn't enough for us to sit passively by and watch our tax dollars be spent. We need to actively oppose this war.

We must express our disappointment with the direction of our government. In part this means being extremely clear that Rick Mercer and other people who think it is ok to entertain (or for that matter arm or supply) the Canadian Forces are participants in and contributers to war. The Guardian has an excellent piece on the trouble the US Forces are having getting quality entertainment.

Ultimately it is up to Canadians to avoid being trapped into a war in Iran, the one country that separates Afghanistan from Iraq. Our neighbours to the south seem trapped already. Robert Gates sometimes takes 27 years to admit the truth about traps so don't read too much into this denial of an intention to attack Iran:

“I don't know how many times the president, Secretary (of State Condoleezza) Rice and I have had to repeat that we have no intention of attacking Iran, that the second carrier group is there to reassure our allies, as well as to send a signal that we've been in the Persian Gulf for decades and we intend to stay there." Robert Gates quoted on the Pentagon's website.

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