Misinformation distorts public opinion surrounding the occupation.

Since Ottawa sent military support to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan,
Canadian public opinion has generally hovered in a state of confusion,
with many people unsure of exactly why troops have been sent there in
the first place.

Now, however, that befuddlement is steadily being combined, if not
replaced, with a sense of distrust and agitation.

And understandably so. Canadians largely remain perplexed as to why
Ottawa has sent troops to a war which many see as unjustified, and
even more seem to feel is still unexplained. No solid reasoning has
come from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to elaborate on the
very general statements released this far, which have simply declared
that Canada is now "committed" to the war. Despite the rising military
and civilian death toll overseas, he claims that Canada now has a
"better military" from the experience.

Contrasting with the tranquil and vague rationalization from the
federal government has been a rabidly defensive outcry by the armed
forces. Conveniently disregarding the large number of innocent people
killed in the invasion and consequent occupation, military officials
have been quick to respond to anti-war sentiments by offering up the
suggestion that the public often forgets about "all the good things"
which Canadian soldiers contribute to the reconstruction of
Afghanistan.

An intensified pro-military advertising campaign in Canada over recent
years has been coupled with corporate media refusing to carry out a
critical analysis of the political and economic reality of Canadian
troops in Afghanistan. This has fostered the conditions for at least
partial support of the war by working class Canadians.

But the attempts at winning over public opinion have not been as
successful as some political leaders and military brass had hoped.
According to recent polls, nearly 50 per cent of Canadians are opposed
to the war in Afghanistan. Public demonstrations against the
occupation are still strong, with thousands protesting in the streets
throughout 37 cities last October 25, in order to spread the truth
about the Conservatives' agenda.

When examined, the often ignored numbers don't lie either. Canada
entered a war that aroused international popular condemnation, which
is now responsible for the deaths of between 20,000 and 49,600
Afghanis, according to Jonathan Steele of The Guardian. Canada's
participation in Afghanistan provides essential logistical suport to
the simultaneous US war in Iraq. Canada's death count in the Afghan
"theater of operations" is now at 45 troops, with an additional 150+
injured. In analyzing the number of dead, the math paints a dreary
picture which is difficult to understand. Great Britain, which
currently has 4,700 soldiers serving in Afghanistan, has had fewer
troops killed than Canada, which has fewer than half the number of
British soldiers stationed there. Meaning that Canada's casualty rate
is double that of the British. Yet these realities do not penetrate
Canadian media.

Further displaying the success of wartime propaganda at work, an Ipsos
Reid poll conducted on behalf of CanWest News Service this past
September showed that of just over 1,000 Canadians questioned, 80 per
cent actually believe that Canadian forces are conducting a "vital
humanitarian mission" in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the truth is far
different from this common misconception of the Canadian military as
being one of peacekeepers eager to reconstruct war-torn communities.

Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan currently have approximately 90 per
cent of their work consisting of combat missions, and only 10 per cent
allocated to humanitarian projects – a scandalous injustice when it is
considered that 1.5 million people in Afghanistan are suffering from
imminent starvation. Canada's participation in this US-instigated war
helps maintain the annual deaths of 268,000 Afghani children under the
age of five who pass away from easily treatable diseases such as
diarrhea and pulmonary conditions.

Since Canadian forces arrived in the region in late 2001 (and actively
engaged in on-ground missions beginning in early 2002), the US
government has been able to utilize more of its military resources in
the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Mainstream press in Canada has
been largely silent on this matter. There was an equal lack of
publication on the confirmation from Ottawa in April, 2003 that over
50 Canadians were actually fighting in Iraq, placed there via exchange
programs with the "allied" forces.

Canadians are faced with the challenge of choosing between blind
nationalism and a critical perspective on the economic realities
underlying the occupation of Afghanistan, through which Canada has
enrolled itself as a military junior partner of the US global empire.
As the body count of both Afghanis and Canadians grows higher, the
facts are becoming clearer as to the true intentions behind the war,
and the necessary illusions which cloak them.

-- Shane Ruttle Martinez is a Catalan Canadian independent journalist
and human rights activist based in Toronto, Canada.