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War Motives Never Change -Young Men Dying for the Profit of Old Men
Cape Breton Post – March 9, 2010
Morgan Duchesney

The excellent humanitarian work of Canadian troops in Khandahar province has been employed to shame and silence critics of Canada’s darker role in Afghanistan. Let us not forget that the U.S. government cynically empowered the brutal and misogynistic Mujahadeen back in the late 1970’s when their aid was required against the Soviets. Afghan society had never recovered from that empowerment and now we are there to save Afghans from the very situation our allies created. Prior to the resurrection of fundamentalist Islam during that time, Afghan society was making real progress on human rights and democratization.
I believe our troops’ lives are being sacrificed make Khandahar safe for a postponed natural gas pipeline. The soldier’s aren’t permitted an opinion on the matter-that wouldn’t be “patriotic.” Shouldn’t soldiers’ or their survivors earn a share of the wealth generated by their sacrifice? Liberal Senator and former defense minister Art Eggleton once informed me “capitalism” doesn’t work that way.
Like many of Canada’s current soldiers, John Babcock volunteered to fight World War One in an attempt to escape poverty. He was paid a pittance while arms dealers got rich helping four brutal empires tear the world to pieces. Today, Canadian troops in Khandahar may well be sacrificing life and limb for an oil company called Unocal which postponed the Khandahar section of its TAPI pipeline project in 1998. TAPI stands for Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Will Unocal share their profits with the wounded soldiers and their survivors when the killing ends and the pipeline goes through?