I have a few questions for some of the speakers at the Jan. 25 Global Day of Action at the Castlegar United Church.
MP Richard Cannings was quoted as saying: “NATO is … a war business seeking to expand the immensely profitable business of war. Wherever NATO goes, nuclear weapons go with it.”
What evidence does he have to support the conspiracy that the 29 North American and European countries of NATO are war mongering profiteers?
Wikipedia: “Independent estimates of the total cost of the conflict range as high as $18.5 billion Cdn by 2011 …” Where are our profits from this enormous financial investment? What about all those brave Canadians that went into that conflict and the 159 of our country’s sons and daughters that died between 2001 and 2014? Did they also profit or do you see them simply as ignorant drones? Which is it?
Robert Macrae said “every time we choose to invest in the military, we lose an opportunity to invest in peace.” How can you have peace without having the security in place to ensure peace? Who protects the citizens against oppression and tyranny from the likes of ISIS and the Taliban? These are extremely violent and oppressive groups. Look at how they treat women in their culture.
I would also like to ask Hannah Hadikin about this comment she made: “sexual violence was a tactic of war used on women and girls, constituting a war crime … Boys and men are not excluded from such horrific brutality.” Is she accusing the Canadian military and NATO of using sexual violence as a tactic of war? Or is she saying that the sexual violence and sex slave epidemic that was unleashed by ISIS on Yazidis and many other people groups was worthy of NATO’s military involvement?
Lastly, I would like to ask Rev. Greg Powell who is the leader of the United Church in Castlegar and the Padre for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 170 Castlegar/Robson if he condones the many outrageous accusations brought against our Canadian military and NATO partners.
Global issues of peace and security are complicated and are much more dynamic than trying to reduce these issues into a forum over war versus peace. Our community leaders, editors, educators and politicians who use these privileged platforms should know better and seek to tone down the inflammatory rhetoric and injections of conspiracy theories. These are extremely important issues in which people need to be informed from all sides, then the hard work can start — there is no shortage of intricate global problems that require attention, understanding, compassion, resolve, foresight and endurance.
NATO and the Canadian Forces within this organization is a force for peace and stability, sometimes in the forms of security operations, rebuilding, deterrence and readiness – these are good things. These are things that Canadians care about and are good at and therefore it is important that we have a strong voice and involvement within NATO so that we do all we can thoughtfully and compassionately to help, protect, and encourage liberty and freedom for all.
Tyrone Anderson
Castlegar
