[antiwar-van] Thurs Sept 7th MAWO Picket Action Following the Deaths of 4 Canadian Soliders in Afghanistan

[shannon]

FOUR CANADIAN SOLDIERS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN LESS THAN
24HRS AFTER THE LAUNCH OF THE MASSIVE “OPERATION
MEDUSA” 

VANCOUVER ANTIWAR PROTEST DEMANDS: “BRING THE TROOPS
HOME NOW!”

Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO) picket
action against Canada’s occupation of Afghanistan:

----------------------------------------------
THURSDAY SEPT 7th
12:30PM– 1:30PM
CANADA FORCES RECRUITMENT CENTRE
(1070 W. Georgia St, Downtown Vancouver)
----------------------------------------------- 

Media Contacts: 
Shannon Bundock - 778 891-1470 
Nita Palmer 604 780-7604

On Sunday September 3, 2006, four Canadian soldiers
were killed during a massive NATO offensive, 
“OPERATION MEDUSA”, which includes most of the combat
units among Canada's 2,300 soldiers in Afghanistan.
Sunday’s deaths sent the number of Canadian soldiers
killed in Afghanistan to 31. That means that in the
past 30 days alone, 12 Canadian soldiers have died in
the occupation of Afghanistan. 

According to CanWest News “The identities of two of
the soldiers were released -- Warrant Officers Richard
Francis Nolan and Frank Robert Mellish of CFB
Petawawa. The other two names were being withheld
temporarily at the request of the families.”

OPERATION MEDUSA was launched on Saturday, September
2nd with the objective of taking control of the
regions of Zhari, Panjwaii and Pashmul. Within 24
hours, spokesmen of the Canadian military reported on
killing over 200 Afghans. 

On Thursday September 7th Mobilization Against War and
Occupation (MAWO) will be organizing a protest in
response the deaths of these four soldiers, and to
declare that the occupation of Afghanistan by over
2,300 Canadian troops has brought nothing but death,
suffering, and destruction for the people of
Afghanistan.  

In response to the deaths of the four soldiers, and
the wounding of nine others, Brig. Gen. David Fraser
stated “Despite these losses, Operation Medussa will
continue,"  

He continued on to say that “Canada is committed to
helping the people of Afghanistan
We will continue
operations here. We are making good progress." 

Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO) acting
secretary Nita Palmer responded to Fraser’s comments,
“What so-called progress is Fraser talking about?
Progress for whom? Canada is at war against the Afghan
people for control over Afghanistan. This war has not
‘liberated’ or ‘helped’ the people of Afghanistan in
any way at all.” 

She continued “There has been none of the promised
‘reconstruction’ or ‘development’ for the benefit the
Afghan people. This war and occupation mission has
brought only blood, death, and destruction to the
people of Afghanistan.”

Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO) will also
be calling for an Independent Public Inquiry into the
Canadian War Drive in Afghanistan. As a sign of the
widespread sentiment amongst people in Canada against
the occupation of Afghanistan, MAWO has already
collected over 10, 000 signatures on a petition
calling for an end to the occupation. The Independent
Public Inquiry would serve to open the chance for
people in Canada to stand up and hold the government
accountable for this vicious war, which has already
been handed a military budget of over 25Billion
dollars.

“Canada is part of the problem in Afghanistan – that’s
why we are demanding the immediate withdrawal of all
Canadian forces from Afghanistan now.”, concluded Nita
Palmer. 

Since Canada’s announcement of the deployment of 2,000
Canadian troops to Kandahar Afghanistan, MAWO has
organized consistent picket actions in front of the
Canadian Forces Recruitment Centre in Downtown
Vancouver under the call “BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!”

-30-

HTTP://WWW.MAWOVANCOUVER.ORG
INFO at MAWOVANCOUVER.ORG
604 322 1764




__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com