Manley’s Manuscript

The hand picked panel of John Manley on the future of Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan has delivered its manuscript to Steven Harper.
Knowing where John Manley stood, when he was the number two in the Liberal Party, on joining the illegal invasion of Iraq, let alone Afghanistan, I was not the least surprised. The only surprise was the placing of that artificial caveat of the extra 1000 troops, to make it appear fair and well thought out. For the report fully endorses the government’s conduct of the war, and calls on Canada to keep doing the same thing, but now in an open ended fashion and more of it. And, it is written by a Liberal! What more can one ask of the PM?
That shift in the mission away from combat to training Afghan troops was no where to be seen, and was not expected from Manley. There was some mild criticism of the government’s current approach, just to show that Manley was his own man. But this is just window dressing around a full endorsement of the current Harper-Hillier track. How surprised would you be if you heard that the US would, most reluctantly, deploy these 1000, to show its appreciation of the role of Canada in fighting its war-for-oil for it? Or perhaps Germany could have its arm twisted for 1000 troops, and make it look like a huge concession by Angela Merkel.
Was there any doubt that Manley would come out with this current report, despite this futile war dragging into its seventh year at a cost of $100 million a month, over one billion every year, with Canadian casualties of 80 plus? It might have been different if the panel was appointed by all the 4 parties currently in Parliament, with a dash of Green thrown in. After all, the country is split almost down the middle on this issue, but the hand picked panel was not.
Harper will use the report to the hilt, to argue that the military mission should be extended years beyond its current commitment to February 2009. The NDP and the Bloc Québécois will no doubt oppose the report’s recommendations. And so it hinges on Stephane Dion, who has some real hawks on his cabinet in my opinion. Interesting times ahead.
All this when voices of peace and reason are advocating a negotiated settlement, by involving all segments of Afghan society, including that segment of Taliban who have already offered to negotiate, without pre-conditions, and whose offer was rejected by President Karzai. He and his NATO backers keep repeating that monotonous phrase of “we do not negotiate with terrorists”. I have been around long enough to remember when Jomo Kenyatta and his Kikuyu tribe in Kenya, Archbishop Makarios in Cyprus, Menahem Begin in Israel, the Kosovo Liberation Army, Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Nelson Mandela in South Africa etc were all “terrorists”. And guess what? They all became prime ministers, some more astute than our own!
Eldridge Cleaver (b. 1935), U.S. civil rights leader and writer said: Americans think of themselves collectively as a huge rescue squad on twenty-four-hour call to any spot on the globe where dispute and conflict may erupt.
It would appear that Canada has appointed itself to the same "high office" – only this time with guns blazing.

Qais Ghanem
Ottawa South GPC Candidate