tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23253782.post364002641138579744..comments2024-03-03T17:01:57.876-05:00Comments on Montreal Simon: Afghanistan: A Dead Soldier's Letter to his MumSimonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15309809679331128837noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23253782.post-69322167532084327922010-11-11T15:47:56.264-05:002010-11-11T15:47:56.264-05:00I AM EX FORCES AND SPENT 2 YEARS IN AFRICA WITH TH...I AM EX FORCES AND SPENT 2 YEARS IN AFRICA WITH THE UN KILLING CHILD SOLDIERS IN SIERRA LEONE, AND EVEN WHEN MY MOTHER DIED SHE TOLD ME SHE FORGAVE ME FOR ALL ID DONE BUT I DONT FORGIVE ME.IN A WAY I WISH ID DIED AND IF I COULD HAVE TRADED PLACES WITH HIM IWOULD IN A HEARTBEAT.THEE ARMY ARE GOOD AT TEACHING HOW TO KILL BUT NOT HOW TO LIVE WITH IT..MY ONLY ADVICE IS DONT JOIN UP IT HARDER THAN THEY'D LIKE TO ADMIT.PAUL ROBINSONnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23253782.post-73927359191187977502009-07-23T05:41:14.244-04:002009-07-23T05:41:14.244-04:00Simon wrote: "I really want to help the Afgha...Simon wrote: "I really want to help the Afghans...especially the women, the children, and the gays."<br /><br />Well, Simon, you'd better not be relying on any <i>Canadian</i> troops for any of that -- they're too busy locking up women and queers in prison:<br /><br />quote: "<b>Afghan jail holds gays, elopers 4 years after ouster of Taliban regime </b><br /><br /><i>The teenage convicts hold hands as they arrive at Kandahar prison by car, shackled in pairs at the ankles and wrists beneath their bulky red coveralls.<br /><br />"The young ones are thieves and some are homosexuals, but mostly they are thieves," says a prison guard who refuses to give his name.<br /><br />Most of the 620 prisoners behind the walls of Kandahar prison are the usual assortment of adult male thugs and bandits. But scattered among them are women and children accused of so-called crimes that human rights organizations denounce.<br /><br />Four years after the end of the brutal excesses of the Taliban government, Afghan authorities supported by the U.S.-led coalition, including Canada, are still jailing teenagers convicted of homosexuality and women accused of adultery, eloping or running away from their husbands."</i><br /><br />There's more to this appalling story here: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2006/02/27/1465239-cp.html'bertohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09359719357963538654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23253782.post-35699944577135076562009-07-22T19:55:07.453-04:002009-07-22T19:55:07.453-04:00Hi 'berto...again I can't disagree with wh...Hi 'berto...again I can't disagree with what you say. I remain conflicted about this war because I really want to help the Afghans...especially the women, the children, and the gays.<br />And I have written extensively about the brutal air campaign that has taken the lives of so many innocent Afghans.<br />But in this post I thought I'd just let the letters speak for themselves.<br />For all those working class or troubled kids who join the army to try to better themselves,and end up in places like Afghanistan fighting a war they don't even understand...Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15309809679331128837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23253782.post-62945916769800341732009-07-22T19:46:04.626-04:002009-07-22T19:46:04.626-04:00Hi Oemissions... I respect our military accomplish...Hi Oemissions... I respect our military accomplishments like the fight against the Nazis, and I support our troops. Just like I hate the Taliban.<br />But I can't help but feel that there is something wrong with this mission. And that trying to occupy a country like Afghanistan only stirs up more resistance, when there are more intelligent ways to defeat the real terrorists, and help the people of Afghanistan...Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15309809679331128837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23253782.post-70315943252437570122009-07-22T19:30:41.770-04:002009-07-22T19:30:41.770-04:00hi parkadeboy...I know what you're saying and ...hi parkadeboy...I know what you're saying and I sure love that song.<br />But I mostly blame the older ones, who though they should know better, fill young people's heads full of crazy ideas. And send them off to kill and die...Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15309809679331128837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23253782.post-5541680549408972912009-07-21T09:32:15.654-04:002009-07-21T09:32:15.654-04:00"... His parents say they are proud of him, a..."... His parents say they are proud of him, and <b>they still support the mission</b>.<br /><br />[...]<br /><br />He was just another humble squaddie <b>who died for nothing</b>."<br /><br />This is what so many of the relatives are loathe to admit: that the deaths of these soldiers is pointless, and that their deaths were in vain -- it won't even ensure cheap oil (if one were to take the cynical view and maintain that this whole "foreign adventure" is about securing the area so they can build their proposed oil pipeline through the Caucasus Mountain region.)<br /><br />By the way, why do these minions of Capitalist Enterprise (the soldiers) and their supporters (family, friends, mainstream media, doctrinaire neo-cons and theocrats, the stupid and the gullible) continue to call this The Mission®© rather than a "war"...? Ohhhh, <i>that's</i> right... that pesky Geneva Conventions thingy that obviously doesn't apply to Brown-Skinned Foreign Devils. I forgot. <br /><br />This whole exercise in greed, power politics, hubris and war crimes sickens me. <br /><br />Oh, and thanks, Parkadeboy for the <i>totally</i> appropriate quote from Buffy St. Marie's awesome "Universal Soldier". This "humble squaddle", Rifleman Cyrus Thatcher, was not just some innocent victim: <br /><br /><i>"I died doing what I was born to do I was happy and felt great about myself [...] going to Afghan has fulfilled my dream ie my goal."</i><br /><br />No, he's no innocent victim. That phrase is reserved for the thousands of dead Afghan civilians, who are being butchered by <i>both</i> sides.'bertohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09359719357963538654noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23253782.post-68147596089684134192009-07-20T21:35:19.838-04:002009-07-20T21:35:19.838-04:00A profound respect for soldiers was developed duri...A profound respect for soldiers was developed during the 1st and 2nd world wars.<br />People carry that respect into any war our country is involved in today.<br />Lest we forget. Lest we forget.<br />Lest we forget how we treated Japanese Canadians and others.Oemissionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15052778663890940687noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23253782.post-74324044146087311502009-07-20T15:27:17.704-04:002009-07-20T15:27:17.704-04:00"He's the one who gives his body
As a wea..."He's the one who gives his body<br />As a weapon of the war,<br />And without him all this killing can't go on.<br /><br />He's the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame,<br />His orders come from far away no more,<br />They come from here and there and you and me,<br />And brothers can't you see,<br />This is not the way we put the end to war."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lyricsdomain.com/4/donovan/universal_soldier.html" rel="nofollow">Universal Soldier</a><br /><br />As long as young men join up, put on a military uniform for adventure and allow their bodies to be cannon fodder, war will continue. This is directed to young men (Canadian and Taliban both).parkadeboyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06322218777215085680noreply@blogger.com