On Harper’s hatred for the troops, and the medicalization of trauma
By Dr. J, Your Heart’s on the Left, Oct. 4, 2010
Despite admitting the Iraq War was “absolutely an error”, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper once again refused to support the troops who came to the same conclusion. With the help of so-called opposition leader Michael Ignatieff, Harper defeated Bill C-440 that would have allowed US Iraq war resisters to apply for permanent residency in Canada. Fortunately the vast majority of the opposition voted for Bill C-440 (more than the number who voted for non-binding motions), and a majority of Canadians continue to oppose the Iraq War and support war resisters, so the fight is far from over.
Harper cloaks his opposition to war resisters on the grounds that he supports Canadian troops in Afghanistan, but this argument is starting to crack. The mother of the first female Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan, Nichola Goddard, went public with her doubts about the war. And her father agrees with the anti-war majority that the mission should not be extended. This has put the military and their slavish media into overdrive, claiming military families are pressuring Harper to extend the mission in Afghanistan. As if spending $18 billion on fighter jets last month did not reveal his true intentions. But Harper knows a majority of Canadians oppose the war, so instead he has to hide his intentions to extend the occupation behind grieving families whose kids he sent to die. Real brave.