[antiwar-van] For Imm Rls: Emergency Picket Follows Deaths of 4 More Canadians in Afghanistan

[Kira Koshelanyk]

Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO)
www.mawovancouver.org | info at mawovancouver.org
Ph. 604-322-1764 | fax. 604-322-1763


NEWS ITEM: For Immediate Release

VANCOUVER BC: September 21, 2006

:::::::PICKET ACTION::::::::::
CANADA OUT OF AFGHANISTAN NOW!

Thursday September 21st 2006
12:30pm – 1:30pm
Canada Forces Recruitment Centre
(1070 W. Georgia St. Downtown Vancouver)

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Media Contact: Shannon Bundock, MAWO Co-Chair; 778-891-1470

Organized by: Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO)
www.mawovancouver.org


FOUR CANADIAN SOLDIERS DIE IN AFGHANISTAN ONE DAY AFTER NEW
DEPLOYMENT

VANCOUVER ANTI-WAR COALITION TO RALLY IN FRONT OF ARMY
RECRUITMENT CENTRE TO DEMAND: BRING ALL TROOPS HOME NOW!

On the morning of Monday September 18th four more Canadian
soldiers died. The attack on these soldiers just outside of
Kandahar was called ‘the worst’ suicide bombing that Canadian
soldiers have faced since the landing in Afghanistan.

Just one week after first admitting that Canada is at “war” in
Afghanistan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said of Monday’s
deaths, "I think nothing more than this incident illustrates the
evil that they are fighting and the goodwill and the nobleness
of the cause that they are taking to the Afghan people.”

MAWO Co-Chair Shannon Bundock said, “Stephen Harper’s statement
that the Afghan people are ‘evil’ and the occupying armies are
‘good’ and ‘noble’ is pretty hard to swallow when you consider
that the Canadian occupation operation ‘Medusa’ has killed more
than 500 Afghan people in the last 2 weeks and the government
has just sent in 15 tanks to kill Afghans more effectively.”

The 4 Canadian soldier deaths on Monday bring the deaths of
Canadian soldiers to a total of 36 – and have further proven the
findings of a new report that a Canadian soldier in Kandahar is
more about 6 times more likely to die than a US soldier in Iraq.
Facing the calls from coast to coast to bring the troops home,
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay stated the conditions that
Canada would withdraw “when Afghans are able to control their
borders, when they are able to exert their own democratic
principles.”

PM Stephen Harper added to these conditions later in an
interview, “The exit strategy is success. There will be no other
conditions under which this government leaves Afghanistan. We
will succeed in our security mission and we will see that
country moving in irreversible progress to being an economically
prosperous and peaceful society. That is the only way this
government will leave."

Shannon Bundock continued, “The debate in parliament over the
‘current mission’ in Afghanistan is a sign of the strength of
the opposition to the occupation amongst people in Canada.
People in Afghanistan know, and people in Canada are starting to
understand, that the occupation forces are not building
‘democracy’ in Afghanistan or bringing ‘economic prosperity’ or
‘peace’ to Afghanistan. Quite the opposite. The occupation
forces are the opponents of the self determination of the Afghan
people. Harper and MacKay’s ‘goals’ will never be realized
through war and occupation.”

As another sign of the widespread opposition of people in Canada
to the occupation, MAWO has collected, in the Lower Mainland
alone, nearly 12,000 signatures against Canada’s occupation of
Afghanistan. Amongst the demands of Thursday’s picket is for an
Independent Public Inquiry into Canada’s occupation of
Afghanistan to further raise the issue for debate and
investigation amongst people in Canada.

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