PAUL GRAHAM: Owen Schalk is a writer of short stories, novels, political analyses, and essays on film and literature. He is a columnist at Canadian Dimension, and has written for Alborada, Monthly Review, Protean Magazine, and many other publications. His most recent book is entitled Canada in Afghanistan: A story
Continue readingTag: Afghanistan war
Paul S. Graham: The continuing relevance of George Galloway
Over the years I’ve recorded many events that Peace Alliance Winnipeg (PAW) has organized and/or co-sponsored. I’ve begun to put copies of these on the Peace Alliance Winnipeg YouTube Channel, which I encourage you to visit and to share. Back in 2010, PAW hosted a huge public meeting with British
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Prab Gill saga seems to have legs, so UCP Leader Jason Kenney attacks environmentalist Tzeporah Berman …
Astonishingly, the Prab Gill saga appears to have legs. Yesterday, the Star Metro arm of the Toronto Star’s effort to create a national footprint, informed Alberta readers there’s no way the United Conservative Party will be revealing the contents of its insider investigation of ballot stuffing and snatching by Mr.
Continue readingMontreal Simon: David Cameron, Poppygate, and the Chicken Hawk Cons
Well as I'm sure you know, they say you can't trust a Con as far as you can see, or spit. For they lie and cheat to win elections, and nothing they do is quite what it appears to be.Now take a good look at that photo of the David Cameron,
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper’s Shameful Day of Dishonour
As you may know, Stephen Harper has proclaimed that next Friday should be a National Day of Honour. The Government of Canada has set aside this day to mark the end of our country’s military mission in Afghanistan. A national ceremony on Parliament Hill will pay tribute to the fallen, the
Continue readingLeDaro: US military spends $34 million on unused Military Headquaters in Afghanistan
“An investigation is being carried out into why the U.S. military spent $34 million constructing a building in Afghanistan that has never been used” and may never be used. Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Imagine how many homeless people could have been provided
Continue reading350 or bust: It Is Time To Stop Our Dependence On Dirty Energy
Dirty energy isn’t just dirty because of the carbon dioxide pollution it releases into our atmosphere. It’s polluted the global geopolitical landscape – and increasingly North American domestic politics – for decades. Enough is enough. * Citizens Climate Lobbying: Building A Green Economy Post-Carbon Institute Transition Network
Continue readingRed Tory v.3.0.3: A Few Good Men v. Sheep
A group of military “heroes” in Afghanistan demonstrate their bravery in the field: There may be some background “context” to this film that may explain why a group of U.S. Marines elected to kill a bewildered sheep by clubbing it to death with a baseball bat while laughing and hooting
Continue readingA Message For Libyans or Any Citizens In Countries Harper May Be Planning To Invade
If you were planning to work with or for them in any capacity, risking life and limb to do so, think very carefully. No matter what they may promise to do so, don’t trust them. Afghan interpreter, Sayed Shah Sharifi, is learning this the hard way, as he was once promised
Continue readingLeDaro: US/NATO is winning in Afghanistan??
Great victory eh! Once U.S and NATO forces leave, not only will Afghanistan fall back in the hands of the Taliban but also Pakistan and maybe Iran. Pakistan is becoming more fanatic religiously. Since 1978 Pashtuns from Afghanistan have taking refuge i…
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Afghanistan: 32 years of Western-sponsored genocide
As the world marks ten years of war in Afghanistan, it is instructive to remember, as Michel Chossudovsky has observed, that the war started long before, in 1979, when the United States sponsored an insurgency against the Afghan government. Chossudovsky calls it “genocide”; I think he’s understating the situation. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter, known […]
Continue readingWhat happened to What happened to Khaled Samy Abdallah Ismail??
Wikileaks has uncovered a mystery worthy of a Hitchcock film, involving a Canadian, the infamous Bagram prison, schizophrenia and the disappearance of a man into thin air.
Khaled Samy Abdallah Ismail is an Canadian-Egyptian mistakenly captured in Kandahar in 2006 and detained for 18 months in Bagram while authorities decided what to do with him.
. . . → Read More: What happened to What happened to Khaled Samy Abdallah Ismail??
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Seamless Transition: Pentagon Spokesman Geoff Morrell Moves to BP America
Geoff Morell.jpg
Last week, BP America hired former Department of Defense spokesman, Geoff Morrell, as its head of communications.
The move sheds light on the central tenet of American natio…
LeDaro: Afghanistan War: Canadian Accomplishment
The following cartoon says it all.
Continue readingliberal catnip: Generally Speaking – About Afghanistan
There’s obviously no need to rehash what was written about General Stanley McChrystal and his aids in the now infamous Rolling Stone article that shook DC more than the very real earthquake that rattled Ontario and Quebec today. McChrystal is out. A political no-brainer for Obama. The other shoe that
Continue readingGenerally Speaking – About Afghanistan
There’s obviously no need to rehash what was written about General Stanley McChrystal and his aids in the now infamous Rolling Stone article that shook DC more than the very real earthquake that rattled Ontario and Quebec today. McChrystal is out. A political no-brainer for Obama. The other shoe that
Continue readingliberal catnip: Generally Speaking – About Afghanistan
There’s obviously no need to rehash what was written about General Stanley McChrystal and his aids in the now infamous Rolling Stone article that shook DC more than the very real earthquake that rattled Ontario and Quebec today.
McChrystal is out. A political no-brainer for Obama.
The other shoe that dropped, however, is that Petraeus is in.
And what did candidate Obama have to say about the man he just nominated to head the ISAF surge?
Obama Gives Petraeus Remarks Low Marks
By ELI LAKE, Staff Reporter of the Sun | September 11, 2007
WASHINGTON — Senator Obama, the Democrat from Illinois seeking his party’s nomination for the presidency, is giving the Iraq progress report of General David Petraeus low marks, going so far as to claim the one clear success in Iraq in recent months — the rout of Al Qaeda in Anbar — has nothing to do with the military surge the general in Washington is defending.
“I’m not sure that the success in Anbar has anything to do with the surge,” Mr. Obama said today at the first of two hearings featuring General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. “You yourself said it was political.”
And yet president Obama bowed to McChrystal when he publicly shamed him to send tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan for yet another military surge that’s bound to end in failure – something even McChrystal now acknowledges.
Obama today:
He urged the Senate to confirm Petraeus swiftly and emphasized the Afghanistan strategy he announced in December was not shifting with McChrystal’s departure.
“This is a change in personnel, but it is not a change in policy,” Obama said.
That policy is killing record numbers of soldiers.
That policy may well slow down the withdrawal of US troops while painting a rosy picture that counts on collective amnesia about just how “successful” Petraeus’ surge strategy was in Iraq.
Same war. Different commander. Same policy. Different outcome?
Not likely.
It wasn’t McChrystal’s policy implementation that Obama had a problem with. It was his insubordination.
Candidate Obama would have told president Obama not to have nominated McChrystal in the first place considering his track record. But candidate Obama and president Obama are two very different people – as we all know by now.