child soldiers? naaaah.

isn't it kind of hypocritical that one one hand the canadian media (and people) celebrate the rehabilitation and rescue of child soldiers but on the other hand totally ignores omar khadr, lets him be put on trial, and allowed him to remain detained for so long? especially in light of all of the media around romeo dallaire's new book on child soldiers?

what's the difference between ishmael beah(author) and omar khadr? one was give a chance and the other one was made an example of?

ishmael beah wrote "a long way gone: memoirs of a boy child soldier" about his childhood in sierra leone and his time in the military as a child soldier.

beah says he killed "too many people to count" and has talked about how "dehumanizing" children is a relatively easy task for the military. after three years as a soldier beah was rescued by unicef and eventually wrote his book about his experiences.

i watched this clip of ishmael beah on the hour (ishmael beah on the hour) and then i read this article about the widow of the soldier who omar khadr "killed" reading her impact statement and letters from her children.

she called omar khadr a "murderer" and that it doesn't "matter" what he says.

she read letters from her daughter and her son, expressing their anger and their hatred of the child who killed their father. "because of you my dad never got to see me play soccer.”
well... because of the war, because of illegal use of child soldiers, and because of the canadian government and people's complete apathy towards what was and is happening in afghanistan, omar khadr never got to play soccer. a child was captured and detained until he was an adult, and then put him on trial to satisfy the public's demand for "justice."

in 2002 canada signed an international treaty aimed at rehabilitating child soldiers. canada was even the first to ratify the option protocol to the convention on the rights of the child, a "treaty that requires signatories to give special consideration to captured enemy fighters under the age of 18."

well, canada's basically bowed out of that one as we can see with khadr's guilty plea this week.

how often do soldiers who die in combat get to put ONE person on trial for their death? i get that this is sad for the family who lost their husband and father, but is breeding hatred and indifference really going to help? is putting someone who is actually a child soldier in jail going to help? no, it isn't.

one of the letters the widow read from her children concluded by saying: “Army rocks. Bad guys suck.”

ah yes, how astute. to a lot of people around the world, the canadian army is the bad guy. all of the afghanis who are killed by canadian soldiers don't get trials, they don't get to read victim impact statements.

i read a news story today about two men who planned a rape and murder of a young woman in b.c., her badly burned body was found in march. the men, 16 and 18 years old, lured the woman to their home, raped her, and murdered her. then they transported her body to a trail and set it on fire.

these men can't be named in the media, because they were underage when the crimes occurred.

rapists and murderers are protected by the courts and the media, but we're putting a child soldier on trial and encouraging people to demonize him.

complete hypocrisy, it's what canadians are good at.

children the biggest victims of war in afghanistan, surprise!

a report came out the other day which stated that children are the biggest victims of the war in afghanistant.

according to the report more than 1,050 children under 18 were killed last year alone.

children are also "press-ganged, sexually exploited, deprived of health and education, and illegally detained by all sides" in the war--which is going into its ninth year.

the director of ARM, an afghani human rights watchdog, said that "at least three children were killed in war-related incidents every day in 2009 and many others suffered in diverse but mostly unreported ways."

although the war was started to "democratize" afghanistant and "protect" women and children the western backed government hasn't introduced or implemented any laws to protect children against abuses of war.

as well, none of the nations currently stationed in afghanistan have pressured the government to introduce such laws.

so i guess this is another angle to the whole proroguing parliament business. every day stephen harper prorogues parliament three children in afghanistan die in a war that stephen harper actively supports and perpetrates.

so, mr. harper, while you're lieing around doing basically nothing for the next few months for no real reason except that you're a huge douchebag, maybe you should remember that three children will die while you lounge.

"snow days don't apply to adults unless you happen to be the prime minister"

rick mercer on proroguing parliament:

"There's a very good reason why the word prorogue doesn't come up that often in our society. Why would it? The word has absolutely no resonance with anyone in Canada because the notion that you can shut down anything for months at a time is a total fantasy. That's the thing about life; it's relentless. If you are an adult and live in the real world, proroguing isn't on the agenda, in much the same way levitating isn't.

God knows I love the idea of proroguing. Everyone in Canada has lain in bed and prayed for the elusive snow day. The idea that while you slept, the heavens opened up and dumped so much snow on the ground that the front door can't open and the school bus just can't come. We all remember snow days and that glorious feeling that the deadlines, the tests, the irritating people, the routine and the responsibilities could be avoided for one entire magnificent day with no consequences whatsoever. And if you didn't do your homework, or you were heading into what you knew was going to be a world of hurt, a snow day meant you dodged the bullet.

But snow days happen to children. If you are an adult, it doesn't matter how much snow falls – you still have to get to work and you still have to shovel the walk. Snow days don't apply to adults unless you happen to be the Prime Minister of Canada, who with one phone call has the ability to give every member of Parliament two months off.

We elect these men and women to travel to Ottawa and represent us in the House of Commons. Well, forget that notion – it's old-fashioned and democratic. Welcome to Canada 2010 – we embark on a brand-new decade as a country that has taxation without representation.

It is ironic that while Parliament has been suspended, we remain a nation at war. On New Year's Eve, we greeted the news that five Canadians were killed in a single day with sadness but not surprise. We are at war because, ostensibly, we are helping bring democracy to Afghanistan. How the mission is progressing is open for debate but this much is certain – at present, there is a parliament in Afghanistan that it is very much open for business. Canada has no such institution.

In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai's government faces fierce opposition at every turn. Many of his cabinet choices have been rejected in a secret ballot by the more than 200 parliamentarians who sit in the legislature. Simply closing it down and operating without their consent is not an option; to do so would be blatantly undemocratic or at the very least downright Canadian. If Mr. Karzai suspended the legislature on a whim, we might be forced to ask the question why Canadians are dying to bring democracy to that country.

Stephen Harper doesn't have that problem. Our Parliament has been suspended for no other reason than the Prime Minister simply can't be bothered with the relentless checks and balances that democracy affords us. He doesn't want to have to stand in the House of Commons and hear anyone question him on any subject. I don't blame him. Parliament is filled with jackals, opportunists and boors. The problem is, like it or not, they were elected.

I also don't blame the Prime Minister for wanting to keep his ministers out of the spotlight. This is a man who could argue that he is Canada's greenest PM simply because he's the only one who has gone out of his way to give potted plants key portfolios.

The problem is, he is the one who appointed cabinet and like it or not, they are supposed to be accountable. A minister's job is not to hide in his or her riding; it is to be accountable in Ottawa – or at least that was the promise.

This Prime Minister has gone from the promise of an open, accessible and accountable government to a government that is simply closed.

It is too bad that prorogation isn't something that our soldiers had in their arsenal. When faced with the order to head out on a foot patrol in the Panjwai district of southern Afghanistan, to risk their lives to bring democracy to that place, wouldn't it be nice if they could simply prorogue and roll over and go back to sleep? Soldiers don't get that luxury. That is afforded only to the people who ultimately order them to walk down those dangerous dusty roads in the first place."

a woman among warlords

especially for anyone who thinks the "war on terror" in afghanistan is accomplishing anything even remotely related to democracy:

justice denied: voices from guantanamo

this is a video that everyone should watch.

the ACLU produced this film about a group of men who had been detained at guantanamo(some for as long as 5.5 years) and then released with NO charges.

detained in a what could be argued was the highest security level "prison" in the world for years, being abused/tortured/raped/degraded, with no evidence, and apparently no intent to investigate their crimes, these men are an example of why we should be critical of any government that advocates a war on terror at all cost.

if swine flu is this cute, sign us up!

according to this blog, afghanistan has taken swine flu very seriously: the country has quarantined its only pig.

the pig lives in kabul zoo, and is fucking adorable.