media cheerleaders for war: Straightgoods.com
 
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 09:57:55 -0500 (CDT)


from: http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature8.cfm?REF=210
Media cheerleaders miss story

The US has succeeded in getting Canada to take the lead in an unpopular 
counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan.

Dateline: Tuesday, April 08, 2008

by Linda McQuaig

To listen to the media tell it, Canada scored a victory last week at the 
NATO summit. We got the extra 1,000 troops that the Harper government said 
were needed to continue our involvement in the Afghan war.

So the fact that we're going to continue to fight in Afghanistan which most 
Canadians oppose, according to the polls has been transformed into a 
victory. We did it! We got the extra troops for a war Canadians don't want! 
Bravo!

1bd137.jpgActually, the media have confused the Harper government achieving 
its own objectives with the national interest being advanced.

Yes, the staunchly pro-Washington Harper government cleverly manipulated 
the weak Liberal opposition into supporting the Afghan military venture, 
largely by presenting it as an international duty mandated by NATO.

In fact, the countries that make up NATO have no more interest in fighting 
in Afghanistan than the Canadian public does, which is why the 1,000 extra 
troops are coming from the United States the one country that is keen to 
fight over there.

But our media turned the situation into a mini-drama: Would Harper succeed 
at NATO or wouldn't he? It was easy to lose sight of the real story: The US 
has succeeded in getting Canada to be its lead partner fighting an 
unpopular counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan.

In fact, the Harper government has recently made two agreements that have 
quietly moved us into deeper co-operation with the US military and US 
foreign policy...

whole article at: http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature8.cfm?REF=210

Penney Kome, author and journalist
http://penneykome.ca
Editor, Straight Goods, http://straightgoods.com 

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