Sunday, October 05, 2008

Harper's Gagging Kandahar Now


It seems Harper has put the war on Kandahar on hold so it doesn't spoil his election campaign.

The CBC's Melissa Fung says, even as the insurgency picks up steam, Kandahar has sort of fallen quiet - and mute:

The last time I was here, in June and July 2007, field operations were going out every week. And there were offers from the military to get the reporters who are embedded here with them out on those missions.
This time, for the first few weeks anyway, there wasn't a single mission leaving the base.


Kandahar Airfield hasn't been completely quiet either, despite the Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr period, which traditionally sees a drop in insurgent activity. To the surprise of the military, there was actually an increase this year — including a spike in the number of rocket attacks at KAF — at the beginning of Ramadan. There were 80 incidents involving Canadian troops in the holy month's first 18 days.

The first indication that things were going to be different here during the campaign came with a new directive out of Ottawa.
The public affairs officers who work with the reporters here at Kandahar Airfield told us that they cannot grant interviews for the duration of the campaign. They said they were told that all interview requests with forces members must be cleared through the Privy Council Office in Ottawa. And it could take days before we get an answer to our requests.


It's all been rather frustrating for some of the troops who are here. Several soldiers I've talked with say the politicians — and the public — at home need to be addressing Canada's mission here as a real election issue.

If Canada is indeed pulling out in 2011, what's the point, they ask. If Afghanistan is not ready by then — as the new governor of Kandahar province has said may be the case — will every Canadian soldier lost between now and then have died in vain?"

This is the way Harper "supports the troops," by putting his PMO Commissars in charge to stifle their voices, to make them disappear from public view, to keep them out of the minds of voters. And all those rightwing nutjobs will pour into the Legion and salute Harper for the great job he's doing for the Canadian Forces!

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