Letters

Dear Republic:

Re: Canada’s real role in Afghanistan, issue 137. I am an Afghan who recently came to the US to study. I grew up under the warlords and the Taliban and watched as people were beaten and murdered. No one was safe from being dragged from their house by miscreant fanatics. Rockets and bombs rained from the sky because there was no authority to stop them.
Though Afghanistan has many problems, it is so much safer now than it has been for more than 20 years. We don’t want to go back to the days of killing. The ISAF forces of Canada, the US, and many other countries provide the security that lets us build, travel, educate, and make our lives better and our country more just and free. It is slow progress, but we have so much more now. I prefer security right now, because with-out that, nothing else can happen. 
Most Afghans are grateful for the ISAF forces, and to Canadians and Americans, especially.

—Jam Bashir

Dear Republic:

Thanks for shedding some light on Canada's involvement in Afghanistan. I think it would have been useful to detail some of Canada's specific actions. Canadian sniper teams have killed a reported 27 Afghan citizens. In the process, a Canadian set a new world-record distance for a sniper killing, at over 1.6 miles. Yay, Canada. Mind you, the corporal from Newfoundland was using a 50-calibre sniper rifle with a depleted uranium shell, both made in the good old US of A.  Even today, Canadian troops are under the command of the American military, something the Canadian media fails to mention. Canadian humanitarian aid is scheduled to be reduced by 50% while military expenditures soar.
This whole mess is a result of Harper’s belief that the Taliban are enemies of Canada: untrue; that they are terrorists: untrue; and that they harboured Osama bin Laden, when in fact they agreed to turn him over to an independent party, something the Yanks rejected.
Keep up the good work, even if it is an uphill battle.

—Bob Fearn

Dear Republic:

I assume Michael Nenonen is trying to be funny when he solemnly declares, in a line right out of crappy science fiction, that “the US is attempting to establish permanent mastery over all humanity.” Substitute the word “Zorgons” for “US” and you begin to suspect Mr Nenonen’s been wearing the Spock ears again.
Then there’s his tortured colossus/Gulliver/giant metaphor, which he can’t seem to escape with dignity, and his comic desperation, when he’s reduced to quoting from the International Socialist Review. Of course, we all remember how well socialism worked out.
This makes Mr Nenonen’s feeble jabs at the US economy all the more laughable, since by any measure, the American economy consistently leaves the socialistic economies of Europe in the dust.
But things get really strange when Mr Nenonen tries to con us into believing that the Taliban regime wasn’t buddy-buddy with al Qaeda, even though their training camps were scattered across the country and the bin Laden-Taliban ties were so well-documented they could be recited by schoolchildren.
Mr Nenonen even tries to claim that the Taliban were actually not a bad bunch of guys; sure, they went a little overboard on the religious extremism, but, “they were indigenous to Afghanistan and devoted to its reconstruction,” he tells us.
Yeah, right. I guess the Taliban were “reconstructing” when they destroyed those priceless ancient Buddha statues. And I’m sure the fact that they were “indigenous” was a lot of comfort to the Afghan women whose fingertips were chopped off for wearing nail polish.
Nothing funny there. I guess Mr Nenonen’s columns were a bad joke from the start.

—Tony Rogers, Pennsylvania

Dear Republic:

Good on you for printing this article. I'm not a newspaper reader, so I wouldn't know if any of the major newspapers printed it, but I can't imagine they did, considering who owns them. I think every Canadian should be made aware of why we are sacrificing our soldiers and “Peace Keeper” reputation. This is a tragedy!
What can be done to give this article nation-wide publicity?

—Hein Driehuyzen

Dear Republic:

Re: Beware the false prophets at The Vancouver Sun, issue 137. The prophets of the Sun have engaged in many public misinformation campaigns, including the now $2.2 billion, and climbing, Canada Line. Ever since the former Social Credit government forced the SkyTrain ALRT system on the GVRD, the Vancouver Sun has deliberately misled the public about modern light-rail transit.
From the SkyTrain Expo line to the Millennium Line (the only metro in the world that goes nowhere to nowhere), the Vancouver Sun has championed the proprietary SkyTrain metro system, a metro system wholly owned by Bombardier Inc, good friends of the federal Liberals and, golly gee whiz, the same Liberals that are good friends of the Aspers, who own the Sun!
Well RAV isn't going to use SkyTrain technology, rather a generic metro system with cars built by Hyundai. But hey, the Board of Trade, good friends of the Asper press, favours Canada Line construction, so the program of deliberate misinformation continues.
 What the Sun should have reported on is this: RAV is well over its original budget; RAV is no longer a P3 project, as the funding is from BC public pension plans filtered through SNC-Lavalin (another good friend of the Liberals); the strange coincidence of RAV supporting former mayor Larry Campbell being elevated to the Senate; that Richmond, home of another RAV-supporting mayor, got an Olympic mega project for his municipality; subways and metros, which depend on buses to feed ridership onto the rapid transit system, have proven extremely poor in attracting new ridership; and, for a mere $300 million investment, the Vancouver Airport Authority will get a $2.2 billion rapid transit connection to downtown Vancouver!
Instead of reporting real stories about RAV, the prophets at the Sun report puff stories designed to mislead and delude the public.

—Malcolm Johnston, Delta, BC

Dear Republic:

Forget all the other issues clouding the Canada Census.  There has been a huge previously unmentioned change to the 2006 Census.  Starting with the 2006 Census, all personal identifying information will not be destroyed. It will be entered into a central database and retained indefinitely. This is the first census where personal identifying information will not be destroyed.
The public should be made aware of this as Statistics Canada is not currently informing the media. The census forms themselves have been changed. The small print reads, "Your census information will be retained in accordance with legislative requirements and will be stored securely." Why? And why has the public not been informed?

—Sue Doughnym