Canada in Afghanistan: Top Ten Under-reported Facts
The Canadian mainstream media has been promoting our role in Afghanistan, with almost no critical voices, despite polling that indicates between 48% to 62% of Canadians not only question but oppose our engagement of troops in this war-torn country (Ipsos-Reid, Mar. 4/06; Strategic Counsel/Globe and Mail, Feb. 24/06).
The 'post-Harper trip' polling results have been misrepresented because Strategic Counsel found that, while views had shifted due to a heightened campaign by the military and the media, 69% want a "debate to decide if our troops should stay in Afghanistan beyond next year" and 70% base their support on the misconception that our purpose is significantly more "peacekeeping than combat." In fact, the new polling finds that "52 per cent of Canadians say they are against a 10-year mission" (Globe and Mail, Mar. 14/06).
-- HERE ARE TEN VERIFIABLE FACTS THE MEDIA HAS AVOIDED --
Brief Overview:
FACT #1: Jean Chretien & Canadian Corporations Involved in Trans-Afghan Pipeline
_ FACT #2: Gordon O'Connor, Defence Minister, Is Former Military Lobbyist
_ FACT #3: Current Afghan Parliament Includes Warlords and Drug Lords
_ FACT #4: Afghan Warlords Considered Bigger Threat Than Taliban
_ FACT #5: Afghan Women Face Repression Despite Removal Of Taliban
_ FACT #6: Elected Afghan Woman Faces Death Threats For Speaking Out
_ FACT #7: Since the U.S.-led War, Afghanistan Is Increasingly Hooked on Heroin
_ FACT #8: U.S. And Coalition Forces Using Excessive Force & Arbitrary Detention
_ FACT #9: Canada Complicit In Violation of Human Rights For 'War On Terror'
_ FACT #10: U.S. Finds More Oil and Gas Reserves After 4-Year Search
_ FACT #1: FORMER PRIME MINISTER JEAN CHRETIEN AND CANADIAN
CORPORATIONS INVOLVED IN NATURAL GAS PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH
AFGHANISTAN, IN COOPERATION WITH REPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT
In 2002:
"An agreement has been signed in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, paving the way for
construction of a gas pipeline from the Central Asian republic through Afghanistan to
Pakistan. The building of the trans-Afghanistan pipeline has been under discussion for
some years but plans have been held up by Afghanistan's unstable political situation. ...
With improved regional security after the fall of the Taleban [sic] about a year ago,
Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan have decided to push ahead with plans for the
ambitious 1,500-kilometre-long gas pipeline."
_ -- BBC News, Dec. 27, 2002
_ Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2608713.stm
And in 2004:
"Jean Chretien is advisor to the Bennett Jones, a Calgary-based law firm specializing in
energy issues. He is also consul in another law firm Heenan Blaikie. In addition, Chretien
is international relations advisor to PetroKazakhstan Inc., an energy firm based in Calgarywith major interests in Kazakhstan and Caspian."
_ -- News Central Asia, Sept. 4, 2004
_ Available at:
http://www.newscentralasia.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=876
"During a meeting Friday [September 3, 2004] in Ashgabat, President Niyazov invited
Oman and Canada to participate in oil and gas projects in Turkmenistan. He identified
construction of Trans-Afghan Pipeline (TAP) and modernization of Seyidi refinery as two
likely projects where Omani and Canadian firms could take part. A joint Omani-Canadian
delegation including Yusuf bin Alavi, foreign minister of Oman and Jean Chretien, former
prime minister of Canada, called on Niyazov to discuss cooperation in the energy and
hydrocarbon sectors. ... [The Trans-Afghan Pipeline] would transport Turkmen natural gas to Pakistan through Afghanistan."
_ -- News Central Asia, Sept. 4, 2004
Available at:
http://www.newscentralasia.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=876
"Headed by president-for-life Saparmurat Niazov [sic], Turkmenistan remains one of the
most repressive and closed countries in the world. Regressive government policies in
education, culture, and health care caused increasing concern in the international
community. ... [T]he overall human rights situation in Turkmenistan remains dismal."
_ -- Human Rights Watch, Jan. 18, 2006
_ Available at: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/turkme12244.htm
_ More on Chretien, Canadian Corporations, and the Caspian:
_ http://www.newscentralasia.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1140
_ http://www.newscentralasia.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=959
FACT #2: CANADA'S DEFENCE MINISTER, GORDON O'CONNOR, IS A FORMER
LOBBYIST FOR MILITARY CONTRACTORS
"The new defence minister is a retired general who once lobbied government on behalf of some big military contractors, a background which some find troubling. ... He went into
business and in the 1990s became a senior associate at Hill and Knowlton, one of the
world's largest public affairs firms. Up until February 2004 - when he left the firm to run in
the June election - he was a registered lobbyist. He represented defence contractors suchas Airbus Military, United Defense, General Dynamics Canada and BAE Systems as wellas a variety of other, non-military clients."
_ -- Canadian Press, Feb. 5, 2006
_ Available at: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/02/07/pf-1430220.html
On General Dynamics:
"On September 1, 2005, [Defense Industry Daily] noted that General Dynamics had just
become a second-source prime for small-caliber ammunition to the US military, as a result
of the Army's small-caliber ammunition shortage. ... That award may be having ripple
effects now, as General Dynamics has just entered a definitive agreement to acquire
Canadian ammunition system integrator SNC Technologies Inc., a wholly owned
subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., for approximately $275 million (CDN$ 315 million).
SNC Technologies supplies small, medium, and large-caliber ammunition and related
products to armed forces and law enforcement agencies in North America. Products
include its Simunition line, and customers include Canada and the U.S. Defense
Department.... The company generated USD$ 293 million in revenue in 2005, with EBITDA
of approximately USD$ 39.5 million."
_ -- Defense Industry Daily, Feb. 27, 2006
_ Available at: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2006/02/general-dynamics-looks-to-
canada-for-ammorelated-acquisition/index.php
On BAE Systems:
"BAE Systems Land & Armaments in York, PA has received a delivery order amount of
$187.3 million as part of a $227.3 million firm-fixed-price contract for repair of desert
damaged vehicles. [Defense Industry Daily] has discussed the maintenance overhang
facing US equipment as a result of use in Iraq and Afghanistan, and this is one small piece of that. Relevant systems manufactured by BAE Systems include M2/M3 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and the derivative M270 MLRS rocket artillery vehicles; M113 Armored Personnel Carriers, M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicles, M019 self-propelled howitzers, and the US Marines' AAV7 Amtracs amphibious armored vehicles."
_ -- Defense Industry Daily, Mar. 14, 2006
_ Available at: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2006/03/1873m-delivery-order-to-fix-
desert-damaged-vehicles/index.php
On the record:
"Having worked in an industry in the past does not constitute a conflict of interest in the
present."
_ --Prime Minister Steven Harper; Canadian Press, Feb. 5, 2006
_ Available at: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/02/07/pf-1430220.html
FACT #3: CURRENT AFGHAN PARLIAMENT (ELECTED SEPTEMBER 2005)
INCLUDES WARLORDS AND DRUG LORDS
"Human Rights Watch estimates that 60 percent of the new legislators have links to
warlords. The New York-based rights group singled out Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a powerful
militia commander whose guns ravaged Kabul residents in the 1990s, and Mohammed
Fahim, a former defense minister, who has been accused of war crimes. ... A European
diplomat, who asked not to be named, reckoned that about 20 legislators still have active
private militias and that at least 20 more have been involved in drug smuggling."
-- San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 19, 2005
Available at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/19/MNGOEGA9T81.DTL
U.S. President George W. Bush's official White House response to the elected Parliament:
"I congratulate the Afghan people and Afghan Government for today's successful
parliamentary elections, which are a major step forward in Afghanistan's development as a
democratic state governed by the rule of law."
-- Office of the Press Secretary, Sept. 18, 2005
Available at: http://usinfo.state.gov/sa/Archive/2005/Sep/18-118686.html
Commenting on the elections, Mark Schneider, Senior Vice President of International
Crisis Group, had stated:
"It's not merely about drug money financing candidates. Drug lords are candidates."
-- Boston Globe, Oct. 20/04
Archived at: http://opioids.com/afghanistan/heroin-economy.html
"Abdul Karim Brahowie, Afghanistan's minister of tribal and frontier affairs, says that the
government has become so full of drug smugglers that cabinet meetings have become a
farce. 'Sometimes the people who complain the loudest about theft are thieves
themselves,' he says."
-- Christian Science Monitor, May 13, 2005
Available at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0513/p01s04-wosc.html
Canada's role in the Elections:
"... Canada will contribute through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
an additional $5 million to support Afghanistan's [2005] parliamentary elections. This
increase brings the total amount of CIDA funding for the election to $13 million."
-- Canadian International Development Agency, Sept. 14, 2005
Available at: http://www.acdi-
cida.gc.ca/cida_ind.nsf/0/3ec4084781ba14238525707c006f7a66?OpenDocument
FACT #4: AFGHAN WARLORDS CONSIDERED A BIGGER THREAT TO
AFGHANISTAN'S SECURITY THAN THE TALIBAN
"The warlords and private militias who were once regarded as the west's staunchest allies
in Afghanistan are now a greater threat to the country's security than the Taliban,
according to the interim president, Hamid Karzai."
The Guardian, July 13, 2004
Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1259689,00.html
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FACT #5: AFGHAN WOMEN FACING OPEN REPRESSION DESPITE THE SUPPOSED
REMOVAL OF THE TALIBAN AND PRESENCE OF FOREIGN TROOPS
"An Afghan province has banned women from performing on television and radio,
declaring female entertainers un-Islamic, a provincial official said on Saturday. The ban in
Nangahar, a southeastern province heavily patrolled by U.S.-led troops hunting for Islamic
militants, took effect from Friday and also covers women presenters of news and other
information, the official said."
-- Reuters, Apr. 17, 2004
Archived at: http://www.rawa.org/ban-singer.htm
"Afghan farmers prevented from growing poppies under a British-led eradication
programme have been forced to hand over their daughters to drug traffickers to settle their
debts, according to reports from Afghanistan. The claim is the latest in a series to dog the
British effort to curb Afghanistan's opium industry. Opium dominates Afghanistan's
economy, accounting for 60 per cent of its income. Critics say the country is turning into a
narco-state under the noses of NATO peacekeeping forces, and of the Western
governments involved in reconstruction."
-- The Independent (London), Oct. 3, 2005
Archived at: http://www.rawa.org/opium5.htm
Amnesty International states in 2005:
"Violence against women and girls in Afghanistan is pervasive; few women are exempt
from the reality or threat of violence. Afghan women and girls live with the risk of:
abduction and rape by armed individuals; forced marriage; being traded for settling
disputes and debts; and face daily discrimination from all segments of society as well as by
state officials. Strict societal codes, invoked in the name of tradition and religion, are used
as justification for denying women the ability to enjoy their fundamental rights, and have
led to the imprisonment of some women, and even to killings. Should they protest by
running away, the authorities may imprison them."
-- Afghanistan: Women still under attack - a systematic failure to protect, May 30, 2005
Available at: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa110072005
FACT #6: ELECTED AFGHAN WOMAN FACES ONGOING DEATH THREATS FOR
SPEAKING OUT AGAINST WARLORDS AND DRUG LORDS IN CURRENT
GOVERNMENT
"As a new parliament opens in the Afghan capital, ... all eyes are on Malalai Joya, a 27-
year-old woman, who has emerged as a fearless critic of the warlords that control the
country. In 2003, Joya, then a women's literacy and health worker, had stood up at a
public meeting to discuss the new constitution and denounced the factional leaders as
'criminals' who should be taken to the world court. Her speech earned her powerful
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enemies. Despite her immense popularity, which led to her winning the September election
from the border province of Farah on her own steam, she rarely travels alone. She
employs at least 12 security guards -- there have been at least four assassination attempts
-- and is always seen in public wearing a burqa (veil that covers the body and face from
head to toe)."
-- Inter Press Service News Agency, Dec. 18, 2005
Available at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31476
"Women's activist turned politician Malalai Joya ... picked up where she left off two years
ago, condemning Afghanistan's warlords, some of who now sit with her in the Parliament
that convened Monday after three decades. 'I can see them sitting here in this House,'
said Joya, who earned an international reputation when she spoke against warlords and
drug smugglers in the Loya Jirga national meeting to discuss the country's constitution in
late 2003."
-- Inter Press Service News Agency/Pajhwok Afghan News, Dec. 20, 2005
Available at: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31501
For more information:
BBC News: "Afghan rights advocate expects death"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3937891.stm
Defense Committee for Malalai Joya
http://www.malalaijoya.com/
FACT #7: SINCE THE U.S.-LED WAR BEGAN, AFGHANISTAN HAS BECOME
INCREASINGLY DEPENDENT ON OPIUM POPPIES AND HEROIN FOR ITS
ECONOMIC SURVIVAL
"The hardline Taliban regime, which ruled Afghanistan until 2001, greatly reduced opium
poppy cultivation. However, under the rule of the new democratically elected president,
Hamid Karzai, opium production is approaching record highs, with poppies now being
grown in all of Afghanistan's 32 provinces."
-- CBC News, Nov. 18, 2004
Available at: http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/11/18/opium041118.html
"Afghanistan has re-emerged since the U.S.-led war as the world's leading source country
for opium and heroin -- rapidly returning to levels of the 1990s, when it produced about 70
percent of the world's illicit opium supply, a U.N. report says. ... The U.N. report, issued
Friday, said a half-million people are involved in Afghanistan's trafficking chain and
estimated an annual income at $25 billion, despite a ban on opium production put in place
by Afghan President Hamid Karzai."
-- The Washington Times, Aug. 11, 2003
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030811-100220-8928r.htm
"The United Nations estimated that 323,700 acres in Afghanistan were dedicated to opium
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last year [2004]. That marks a 64 percent increase over the figure for 2003. The U.S.
government's estimate was even higher: 5.1 million acres, a 239 percent increase over its
2003 figure. The United Nations says Afghanistan produced nearly 90 percent of the
world's opium and the drug accounted for more than 60 percent of the country's gross
domestic product."
-- Associate Press / MSNBC.com, Jan. 25, 2005
Available at: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6867458/
"To call Afghanistan a third world country exaggerates its wealth. A stunning 70% of its
people are undernourished: in a typical developing country this is 25%. Infant mortality is
almost twice the third world average. Today, some two million Afghans rely on opium
poppies for their livelihood, generating $2.7bn of illegal wealth. They will not give this up
readily, nor will the farmers whose desire to feed their families is stronger than their desire
to placate NATO."
-- The Scotsman (Scotland's National Newspaper), Jan. 29, 2006
Available at: http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=230&id=144412006
"'There is a danger that all the stabilization and reconstruction efforts will be neutralized
unless the narcotrafficking problem is addressed,' says Ursula Müller, political counselor at
the German Embassy in Washington. 'We have to fight this corruption ... those guys
involved in the drug business [who] are in all levels of Afghanistan's government,' adds Ms.
Müller, who has been actively involved in rebuilding Afghanistan since the US toppled the
Taliban in late 2001. ... But the opium trade is deeply rooted in Afghan society. Many
regional warlords and opponents of the Taliban are now top officials in the Karzai
government. One of the most complicated - and delicate - tasks is to get corrupt officials to
turn away from the drug trade as a source of personal income."
-- Christian Science Monitor, May 13, 2005
Available at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0513/p01s04-wosc.html
FACT #8: U.S. AND COALITION FORCES ARE USING EXCESSIVE FORCE AND
ARBITRARY DETENTION IN AFGHANISTAN
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, which recommended "additional troops" in Afghanistan
in July 2003, admits the following about conditions in 2005:
"U.S. and coalition forces active in Afghanistan under Operation Enduring Freedom since
November 2001, continue to arbitrarily detain civilians and use excessive force during
arrests of non-combatants. Ordinary civilians arrested in military operations are unable to
challenge the legal basis for their detention or obtain hearings before an adjudicative body.
They have no access to legal counsel. Generally, the United States does not comply with
legal standards applicable to its operations in Afghanistan, including the Geneva
Conventions and other applicable standards of international human rights law. At least six
detainees in U.S. custody in Afghanistan have been killed since 2002. U.S. Department of
Defense documents show that five of the six deaths were homicides."
-- Human Rights Watch World Report 2006, p. 226
Available at: http://hrw.org/wr2k6/
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"From 2002 to [2004], Human Rights Watch estimates that at least one thousand Afghans
and other nationals have been arrested and detained by U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. ...
There are numerous reports that U.S. forces have used excessive or indiscriminate force
when conducting arrests in residential areas in Afghanistan. As shown in this report, U.S.
military forces have repeatedly used deadly force from helicopter gunships and small and
heavy arms fire, including undirected suppressing fire, during what are essentially law-
enforcement operations to arrest persons in uncontested locales. The use of these tactics
has resulted in avoidable civilian deaths and injuries, and in individual cases may amount
to violations of international humanitarian law. Human Rights Watch has also documented
that Afghan soldiers deployed alongside U.S. forces have beaten and otherwise mistreated
people during arrest operations and looted homes or seized the land of those being
detained."
-- Human Rights Watch Report, Mar. 8, 2004
Available at: http://hrw.org/reports/2004/afghanistan0304/
Recent Examples:
"In early May 2005, sixteen [Afghan] protesters were killed by police and army troops
during violent demonstrations in several cities in response to reports of U.S. interrogators
desecrating a copy of the Koran during interrogations at Guantanamo Bay. "
-- Human Rights Watch World Report 2006, p. 220
Available at: http://hrw.org/wr2k6/
"A US air raid in Afghanistan's rugged eastern mountains killed 17 civilians, including
women and children, an Afghan official said yesterday. The US military confirmed civilian
deaths but said the numbers were unclear."
-- The Toronto Star / Associated Press, July 5, 2005
Available at:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Typ
e1&c=Article&cid=1120513810320&call_pageid=968332188854&col=968350060724
FACT #9: CANADA COMPLICIT IN THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS FOR THE
'WAR ON TERROR'
"U.S. partners such as Britain and Canada compounded the lack of human rights
leadership by trying to undermine critical international protections. Britain sought to send
suspects to governments likely to torture them based on meaningless assurances of good
treatment. Canada sought to dilute a new treaty outlawing enforced disappearances."
-- Human Rights Watch, Press Release, Jan. 18, 2006
Available at: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/13/global12428_txt.htm
FACT #10: U.S. TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY SPENT NEARLY FOUR YEARS
ASSESSING AFGHANISTAN'S OIL AND GAS RESERVES AND FOUND MORE THAN
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EXPECTED IN 2006
"Two geological basins in northern Afghanistan hold 18 times the oil and triple the natural
gas resources previously thought, scientists said Tuesday as part of a U.S. assessment
aimed at enticing energy development in the war-torn country. Nearly 1.6 billion barrels of
oil, mostly in the Afghan-Tajik Basin, and about 15.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas,
mainly in the Amu Darya Basin, could be tapped, said the U.S. Geological Survey and
Afghanistan's Ministry of Mines and Industry. ... The $2-million US assessment, paid for by
the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, was nearly four years in the making, said Daniel
Stein, the agency's regional director for Europe and Eurasia. The total area assessed was
only about one-sixth of the two basins' 518,000 square kilometres that lie within
Afghanistan."
-- Associated Press, March 14, 2006
Available at: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2006/03/14/1488187-ap.html
A NEED FOR INDEPENDENT FACTS AND MEDIA:
This e-mail was originally inspired by the fact that the Toronto Star, one of Canada's
largest, most respected, and 'liberal' newspapers, has decided to only have one external
link from its 'Special Report' section on Afghanistan - to the Department of National
Defence. When the mainstream media only provide government information and rely on
government links and officials for the whole story, they are no longer objective,
independent, or critical. That is why the public must respond with facts and action.
Produced by members of the Media Alliance for New Activism (MANA), a pan-Canadian
network of over 50 independent media groups.
On the web: http://www.independentmedia.ca/
IF YOU WISH TO ACT:
Please forward this message to friends, family, concerned citizens, groups and media
contacts.
Those critical of our role in Afghanistan, and those dedicated to non-military solutions to
global conflict, will be making their voice collectively heard on March 18th, 2006 - the 3rd
anniversary of the bombing and invasion of Iraq.
For more details on public actions in your community or neighborhood, please contact:
Canadian Peace Alliance / L'Alliance Canadienne Pour La Paix
http://www.acp-cpa.ca/