What Are Our Canadian Soldiers Dying for ?
Mark Harding
November 18, 2007
Our men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces have been ordered to fight, kill and to protect the freedoms of those living in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But what kind of freedoms are they fighting for and how are they different from what they are fighting against?
Many Canadians have asked this question since we went to war against terrorism. In a copy of MacLean's magazine Aug 28th 2006, the front page story asks “What are we dying for? (The case for Canada in Afghanistan p.4)”. “Canadians need to be told why we're at war”, the article said, and showed a picture of a smiling Prime Minister Harper with the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzal. At the time of this story in MacLean's, 27 of our brave soldiers had lost their precious lives, as of today November/11/2007, 71 Canadian Soldiers have given their lives.
A letter that had been given to the Globe and Mail by David Steeves of Charlottetown, made this point “more and more young Canadians will be killed in Afghanistan for no sensible objective other than to please the Americans. What is there in Afghanistan worth fighting for?”
In 2004 the foreign affairs minister at that time, Mr. Bill Graham, at the International Conference on Afghanistan said about the military deployment that it “has deep political support in Canada because of the importance that Canadians attach to seeing Afghanistan established as a free, open and democratic society.” Now that the Conservatives under Mr. Harper are in power the message seems to be that we are there to fight terrorism and for own national security.
We all need to remember the terrible injustice of Islamic laws that were being imposed on the Afghan people prior to 9/11. All women were forced to wear the hajab, which is the veiling of ones entire body face included. Reports were circulated that many non Muslim women would not wear this garment when they went outside of their homes and would be beaten with chains by the Islamic religious police. Islam degrees that women are biologically, religiously and prophetically inferior to men. A man’s beard must be long enough to protrude from a fist clenched at the base of the chin. If it is not, he is subject to punishment. Afghanistan, August 24, 2001, Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar declared over Radio Sharia that the death penalty would be imposed on any Afghan who converted to Christianity or Judaism, and that "any non-Muslim found trying to win converts will also be killed."
We have been assured, by moderate Muslims, that the Islamic Sharia laws or the Islamic understanding of these laws and Quranic teachings by a few terrorists like Bin Laden, does not rightfully describe the true teachings of Islam or its wonderful adherence to a system of democracy for all people.
Yet the sad ‘FACTS’ are that in every Islamic society today around the world like Sudan, Pakistan, Turkey or Egypt, these same Islamic laws and teachings are showing hatred for all non-Muslims, disrespect, discrimination and sever persecution towards Christians and Jews and the destruction of their churches and personal property.
So how then is this “NEW DEMOCRATIC” Islamic Afghanistan, or the “NEW DEMOCRATIC” Islamic Iraq, that our men and women are fighting and “dying” for, any different then from the Islamic laws and teachings of what the terrorists had established ?
That’s the problem….... there is no difference.
The NEW Constitsion of Afghanistan
http://www.president.gov.af/english/np/governance.mspx
Lasting peace and prosperity in Afghanistan require structures of governance that are accountable, transparent, effective, and Islamic (Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai)
The goal of Afghanistan
The Government’s goal is to ensure that all Afghans can participate equally in the religious life of the nation. Islamic teachings, principles, and scholarship are to be consulted regarding the nation’s development agenda, governance institutions, and legal framework. As a result, our progress will coexist in harmony with our religion.
March 24, 2006, Sharia Calling.
America, we have a problem.
(By Nina Shea)
Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old Christian convert now on trial for apostasy in Afghanistan, may be beheaded for his faith, but President Karzai shouldn’t order the sharpening of the executioner’s sword just yet.
Over last weekend, word spread here about the case.
Apparently, in a dispute over the custody of his two daughters, Rahman was outed as a Christian convert and arrested. At his one-day trial last Thursday, the judge explained that under article 130 of Afghanistan’s new constitution, medieval sharia laws against apostasy applied. The prosecutor told the press that he offered to drop charges if the defendant converted back to Islam, but Rahman refused, saying that he is a Christian and will always remain one. According to press accounts, the prosecutor called Rahman a “microbe” who “should be killed.” The judge said he would consider the case for a few weeks but affirmed that if he rendered a determination of apostasy, the punishment would be death.
Evangelical networks began to mobilize and by Monday afternoon an American grassroots campaign to rescue Rahman was in full swing. Christian radio talk shows and websites excoriated the administration. Is this what we “liberated” Afghanistan for? the Family Research Council and others were demanding to know. The mainstream press reported news about the case as well.
I have supported the Bush administration’s foreign policy because I came to believe that the best way to stop Islamo-fascism was by promoting democracy. But if we can’t guarantee fundamental religious freedoms in the countries where we establish democratic reforms, then the whole credibility of our foreign policy is thrown into serious question. I hope the president and the administration can recognize what a devastating setback Rahman’s execution would be to the cause of democracy and freedom.
By Wednesday, President Bush had received the message. In a public statement, he spoke to values and was unequivocal about where he stood: “It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another.”
Rahman is not the only case where execution has been threatened over beliefs and ideas in the new Afghanistan. Last year, an Afghan journalist who argued against the heresy law was found guilty of it, and escaped death after international pressure. Before then, a female cabinet member was charged with blasphemy for criticizing Islamic law, but was also spared after international protest erupted. Other journalists were imprisoned for blasphemy after debating the compatibility of sharia law with democracy, but then quietly allowed to leave the country. It is even reported that other Christian converts are in prison there but not much is known about them.
But this is about more than Mr. Rahman. This will be a persistent, recurring problem under Afghanistan’s sharia apostasy and blasphemy laws. ….Supreme Court Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari, who once told our National Public Radio that it is his duty as a judge to “behead” those who do not conform to Islamic law.
Americans continue to give billions of dollars, and sacrifice their lives to support the Afghan government.— (Nina Shea is the director of Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom.)
Canada’s soldiers have died to support and defend democracy in Afghanistan. Canadians have sacrificed time, money and lives, but for what? Freedom? What freedom? Democracy? What democracy?
Lasting peace and prosperity in Afghanistan require structures of governance that are accountable, transparent, effective, and Islamic. (Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai)
The Government’s goal is to ensure that all Afghans can participate equally in the religious life of the nation. Islamic teachings, principles, and scholarship are to be consulted regarding the nation’s development agenda, governance institutions, and legal framework. As a result, our progress will coexist in harmony with our religion. (Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai)
Article Fifty-Four
Family is the fundamental pillar of the society, and shall be protected by the state. The state shall adopt necessary measures to attain the physical and spiritual health of the family, especially of the child and mother, upbringing of children, as well as the elimination of related traditions contrary to the principles of the sacred religion of Islam.
How will we continue to allow our soldiers to die fighting for the Islamic way of life that is clearly not only Undemocratic but is as well discriminating, hatful, and unjust to anyone who is a Non-Muslim?
Can we allow our Canadian Armed Forces to defend these 'Moderate' Islamic laws and teachings that clearly are absolutely NO DIFFERENT than what the Islamic terrorists used when they had power?
The power to send them home is in your hands.
Please contact your M.P.P., M.P. and Prime Minister Harper, and share this news with them.
Contact the news media and ask them to speak out on this issue for our men and women who are losing their lives and fighting for an unjust cause.
If our soldiers must fight in Afghanistan, let them fight for the freedom of TRUE DEMOCRACY. Only then will we defeat Islamic terrorism there, but as well, we will safe guard our national security by not allowing another country or for another person like Bin Laden to learn from that which has proven beyond a doubt to be totally against the freedoms of all NON MUSLIMS and completely UN-DEMOCRATIC.
If FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY are not what Canadians are fighting for in Afghanistan or Iraq then we need to STOP defending that, which is AGAINST our Freedoms and our DEMOCRACY.
Let me hear from you on what you think of this issue.
But what kind of freedoms are they fighting for and how are they different from what they are fighting against?
Many Canadians have asked this question since we went to war against terrorism. In a copy of MacLean's magazine Aug 28th 2006, the front page story asks “What are we dying for? (The case for Canada in Afghanistan p.4)”. “Canadians need to be told why we're at war”, the article said, and showed a picture of a smiling Prime Minister Harper with the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzal. At the time of this story in MacLean's, 27 of our brave soldiers had lost their precious lives, as of today November/11/2007, 71 Canadian Soldiers have given their lives.
A letter that had been given to the Globe and Mail by David Steeves of Charlottetown, made this point “more and more young Canadians will be killed in Afghanistan for no sensible objective other than to please the Americans. What is there in Afghanistan worth fighting for?”
In 2004 the foreign affairs minister at that time, Mr. Bill Graham, at the International Conference on Afghanistan said about the military deployment that it “has deep political support in Canada because of the importance that Canadians attach to seeing Afghanistan established as a free, open and democratic society.” Now that the Conservatives under Mr. Harper are in power the message seems to be that we are there to fight terrorism and for own national security.
We all need to remember the terrible injustice of Islamic laws that were being imposed on the Afghan people prior to 9/11. All women were forced to wear the hajab, which is the veiling of ones entire body face included. Reports were circulated that many non Muslim women would not wear this garment when they went outside of their homes and would be beaten with chains by the Islamic religious police. Islam degrees that women are biologically, religiously and prophetically inferior to men. A man’s beard must be long enough to protrude from a fist clenched at the base of the chin. If it is not, he is subject to punishment. Afghanistan, August 24, 2001, Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar declared over Radio Sharia that the death penalty would be imposed on any Afghan who converted to Christianity or Judaism, and that "any non-Muslim found trying to win converts will also be killed."
We have been assured, by moderate Muslims, that the Islamic Sharia laws or the Islamic understanding of these laws and Quranic teachings by a few terrorists like Bin Laden, does not rightfully describe the true teachings of Islam or its wonderful adherence to a system of democracy for all people.
Yet the sad ‘FACTS’ are that in every Islamic society today around the world like Sudan, Pakistan, Turkey or Egypt, these same Islamic laws and teachings are showing hatred for all non-Muslims, disrespect, discrimination and sever persecution towards Christians and Jews and the destruction of their churches and personal property.
So how then is this “NEW DEMOCRATIC” Islamic Afghanistan, or the “NEW DEMOCRATIC” Islamic Iraq, that our men and women are fighting and “dying” for, any different then from the Islamic laws and teachings of what the terrorists had established ?
That’s the problem….... there is no difference.
The NEW Constitsion of Afghanistan
http://www.president.gov.af/english/np/governance.mspx
Lasting peace and prosperity in Afghanistan require structures of governance that are accountable, transparent, effective, and Islamic (Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai)
The goal of Afghanistan
The Government’s goal is to ensure that all Afghans can participate equally in the religious life of the nation. Islamic teachings, principles, and scholarship are to be consulted regarding the nation’s development agenda, governance institutions, and legal framework. As a result, our progress will coexist in harmony with our religion.
March 24, 2006, Sharia Calling.
America, we have a problem.
(By Nina Shea)
Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old Christian convert now on trial for apostasy in Afghanistan, may be beheaded for his faith, but President Karzai shouldn’t order the sharpening of the executioner’s sword just yet.
Over last weekend, word spread here about the case.
Apparently, in a dispute over the custody of his two daughters, Rahman was outed as a Christian convert and arrested. At his one-day trial last Thursday, the judge explained that under article 130 of Afghanistan’s new constitution, medieval sharia laws against apostasy applied. The prosecutor told the press that he offered to drop charges if the defendant converted back to Islam, but Rahman refused, saying that he is a Christian and will always remain one. According to press accounts, the prosecutor called Rahman a “microbe” who “should be killed.” The judge said he would consider the case for a few weeks but affirmed that if he rendered a determination of apostasy, the punishment would be death.
Evangelical networks began to mobilize and by Monday afternoon an American grassroots campaign to rescue Rahman was in full swing. Christian radio talk shows and websites excoriated the administration. Is this what we “liberated” Afghanistan for? the Family Research Council and others were demanding to know. The mainstream press reported news about the case as well.
I have supported the Bush administration’s foreign policy because I came to believe that the best way to stop Islamo-fascism was by promoting democracy. But if we can’t guarantee fundamental religious freedoms in the countries where we establish democratic reforms, then the whole credibility of our foreign policy is thrown into serious question. I hope the president and the administration can recognize what a devastating setback Rahman’s execution would be to the cause of democracy and freedom.
By Wednesday, President Bush had received the message. In a public statement, he spoke to values and was unequivocal about where he stood: “It is deeply troubling that a country we helped liberate would hold a person to account because they chose a particular religion over another.”
Rahman is not the only case where execution has been threatened over beliefs and ideas in the new Afghanistan. Last year, an Afghan journalist who argued against the heresy law was found guilty of it, and escaped death after international pressure. Before then, a female cabinet member was charged with blasphemy for criticizing Islamic law, but was also spared after international protest erupted. Other journalists were imprisoned for blasphemy after debating the compatibility of sharia law with democracy, but then quietly allowed to leave the country. It is even reported that other Christian converts are in prison there but not much is known about them.
But this is about more than Mr. Rahman. This will be a persistent, recurring problem under Afghanistan’s sharia apostasy and blasphemy laws. ….Supreme Court Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari, who once told our National Public Radio that it is his duty as a judge to “behead” those who do not conform to Islamic law.
Americans continue to give billions of dollars, and sacrifice their lives to support the Afghan government.— (Nina Shea is the director of Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom.)
Canada’s soldiers have died to support and defend democracy in Afghanistan. Canadians have sacrificed time, money and lives, but for what? Freedom? What freedom? Democracy? What democracy?
Lasting peace and prosperity in Afghanistan require structures of governance that are accountable, transparent, effective, and Islamic. (Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai)
The Government’s goal is to ensure that all Afghans can participate equally in the religious life of the nation. Islamic teachings, principles, and scholarship are to be consulted regarding the nation’s development agenda, governance institutions, and legal framework. As a result, our progress will coexist in harmony with our religion. (Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai)
Article Fifty-Four
Family is the fundamental pillar of the society, and shall be protected by the state. The state shall adopt necessary measures to attain the physical and spiritual health of the family, especially of the child and mother, upbringing of children, as well as the elimination of related traditions contrary to the principles of the sacred religion of Islam.
How will we continue to allow our soldiers to die fighting for the Islamic way of life that is clearly not only Undemocratic but is as well discriminating, hatful, and unjust to anyone who is a Non-Muslim?
Can we allow our Canadian Armed Forces to defend these 'Moderate' Islamic laws and teachings that clearly are absolutely NO DIFFERENT than what the Islamic terrorists used when they had power?
The power to send them home is in your hands.
Please contact your M.P.P., M.P. and Prime Minister Harper, and share this news with them.
Contact the news media and ask them to speak out on this issue for our men and women who are losing their lives and fighting for an unjust cause.
If our soldiers must fight in Afghanistan, let them fight for the freedom of TRUE DEMOCRACY. Only then will we defeat Islamic terrorism there, but as well, we will safe guard our national security by not allowing another country or for another person like Bin Laden to learn from that which has proven beyond a doubt to be totally against the freedoms of all NON MUSLIMS and completely UN-DEMOCRATIC.
If FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY are not what Canadians are fighting for in Afghanistan or Iraq then we need to STOP defending that, which is AGAINST our Freedoms and our DEMOCRACY.
Let me hear from you on what you think of this issue.
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