[R-G] Soldier says it's time to end Afghanistan war

[Anthony Fenton]

  LETTER TO THE EDITOR
TheStar.com | Opinion | Soldier says it's time to end Afghanistan war
Soldier says it's time to end Afghanistan war
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/513548


Oct 08, 2008 04:30 AM

I love my country just like anybody else. But when I hear of things  
our troops have done in Afghanistan, I have to ask, "What kind of  
legacy do we wish to leave behind?" Some examples: we respond to  
hostile fire by indiscriminate bombing and shelling of villages,  
killing innocent men, women and children; we fire white phosphorus  
shells (a chemical weapon outlawed by the Geneva Conventions due to  
the horrific way it burns human beings) into vineyards where it was  
known Afghan insurgents were deployed; we hand over prisoners of war  
to Afghan authorities, who torture them; and we shoot and kill a 2- 
year-old Afghan boy and his 4-year-old sister. Do we want to be  
remembered for hating, killing and destroying, or caring, healing and  
helping with reconstruction?

The war in Afghanistan is a lie. How can we inspire the Afghan people  
to respect liberty, democracy, equality for women, education for  
children, human rights and respect for life when we are maiming and  
murdering them and destroying their homes, communities, the economy  
and their country? If mothers and fathers keep on sending our youth to  
Afghanistan, then our sons and daughters will keep on fighting and  
dying and will keep on killing and injuring the sons and daughters of  
the Afghan people. And mothers and fathers of Canada and Afghanistan  
will keep on crying. Soldiers are trained to operate military  
equipment and vehicles. A weapon is put in one hand and ammunition in  
the other, and we are taught the fine art of killing our fellow human  
beings. If we wish to end this cycle of death, injury, destruction,  
hate, sorrow and despair, then we must stop war. So, when in future,  
our maimed soldiers walk down the street and our children ask, "Why?"  
we will say "Afghanistan" and mean a place where Canada turned against  
war and for peace, and not an obscene memory.

My fellow citizens, help me and soldiers like me end the war. Let's  
hear your voices. Let's do something we can all be proud of. If we  
achieve peace in Afghanistan, then the deaths of 97 of my "comrades in  
arms" and of unreported thousands of innocent Afghans will not have  
been in vain. Support the troops. Support peace. Bring our troops home  
now.

Corporal Paul Demetrick, Canadian Army (Reserve), Penticton, B.C.