March 19 marks the 13th anniversary of the U.S. 鈥渟hock and awe鈥� invasion of Iraq.
February, the month before the attack, saw by far the largest peace demonstrations in 91大黄鸭 and around the world, millions saying 鈥渘o鈥� to war.
Mark Haley, a 91大黄鸭 Peace Group member, says time has shown the peace movement to have been right鈥攖he excuses for the attack were false and the predicted murder, mayhem, destruction and misery followed-only much worse than anyone could have imagined.
Those who called for military action were proven wrong, says Haley. In addition to the loss of thousands of lives and infrastructure destruction, an expanding number of 鈥渇ailed states鈥� including Afghanistan and Libya were swept up into the ensuing chaos. he noted.
"An Iraqi general Ali Jameel was asked recently after the 'liberation' of Ramadi from Daesh (ISIL), 'When will the people be able to return to their homes?' 'Homes?' he said. 'There are no homes.' Rubble, no electricity, no water, no resources to rebuild鈥攖his is the foreign policy of the one per cent enacted largely from 30,000 feet," Haley said.
"Now we have a newly elected government and MP who promised to end Canada鈥檚 鈥渃ombat role' instead expanding it. Yes the planes were withdrawn. The U.S. military planners told Trudeau: 'Look, we have enough planes; we need more boots on the ground.' Canada complies.
"Trudeau said the deployment will last at least two years. 'We鈥檙e not leaving鈥anada is uniquely equipped to handle this job because we just spent 10 years in Afghanistan. We learned a lot of things there, according to (91大黄鸭-Lake Country MP Stephen Fuhr's) website. Really?"
The 91大黄鸭 Peace Group will stage a protest walk starting from The Sails at the foot of Bernard Avenue in downtown 91大黄鸭 starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, the plan being to march to Fuhr's MP office on St. Paul Street.
