Afghanistan: Does Canada Have A Casus Belli?

By Rolf Auer

June 7, 2012

“Casus belli” has a Latin etymology and is defined as “a cause for war.”

Does Canada have “a cause for war” in Afghanistan?

If so, is Canada’s federal government altruist, as Canadian Peacekeeping is traditionally?

Or, to in effect reprise the infamous (author) Gore Vidal vs. (political commentator) William F.
Buckley dustup of 1968, is Canada’s federal government—having continued with the first war,
not Peacekeeping, in 50 years in which Canada has been involved—therefore crypto-fascist?

Found online and derived from some of political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt’s writing:
[Some] Defining Characteristics Of Fascism
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Flags are seen everywhere.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - People tend to look the other way or even
approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a
unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial,
ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military
is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is
neglected.
5. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but
in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic
media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
6. Corporate Power is Protected - Corporations in Canada are given preferential tax treatment
compared with the citizenry.
7. Labor Power is Suppressed - Too often, anti-labour laws are passed.
8. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Free expression in the arts and letters is openly
attacked.
9. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - The recent Conservative omnibus crime Bill is only
one example of this.

The Harper government is guilty of crypto-fascism since it qualifies by all of the above listed 9
points.

Even if only by point number 4, the Harper government is guilty: In May 2008, author George
Fetherling wrote, “Listing heavily to political starboard (right wing), [the plethora of think-tanks
of the ilk of the Fraser Institute and C.D. Howe] goals were those of the new conservatism. In
Canada, that meant corporate and personal tax breaks, closer ties with the U.S., private health
care, and, more recently, increased military spending.” (italics added)
According to the often-variable Wikipedia.org, as of April 6, 2011, “Fascists exalt violence,
war, and militarism...” (A July/August 2008, a Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives monthly
publication Monitor article stated, “Militarism is defined by Webster as the ‘continuous and
belligerent maintenance of strong armed forces.’ Oxford says it is ‘reliance on military strength
and methods.’”) Since “Fascists exalt ... war”—such as, for example, the “necessity” for Canada
to commit war in Afghanistan—therefore the federal crypto-fascists, a.k.a the Harper
government, also “exalts ... militarism” because it’s needed to sustain Canada’s war presence in
a foreign country.

In order to sell its crypto-fascism to the general population, the Harper government needs a
compliant news media. Are Canada’s news media somehow culpable in supporting that, as per
point number 5 above? That is, now, in 2012, are Canada’s news media fair and objective, yes
or no? The answer is definitely no.

In January 23, 2003, an article appeared in the Globe and Mail by columnist
Lawrence Martin headlined, “It’s not Canadians who’ve gone to the right,
just their media.” Martin wrote, in part:
“‘You have a bit of a problem here,’ a European diplomat was saying over
lunch last week. ‘Your media are not representative of your people, your
values.’ So many of the political commentators are right of centre, the
diplomat said, while Canadians themselves are in the moderate middle.
There’s a disconnect. Who could disagree?”

In other words, right-wing news media bias was noticeable even by non-
Canadians back in 2003.

According to author Donald Gutstein in his 2009 book Not A Conspiracy Theory: How
Business Propaganda HIJACKS Democracy, on pp. 220-221: “The right began accusing the
press of liberal bias in the early 1970s. They’re still at it more than thirty years later. Even
though the corporate media are not liberal, conservatives continue to make the accusation
because it is useful to do so. If the press can be accused of being too liberal and leftist, the
right’s extreme position will seem moderate in comparison…” (italics added)

“A free press is the backbone of a democracy.”—Rolf Auer, ca. 1990

There is no real Canadian free press, just some shadowy corporate sock puppetry giving that
illusion, and hence no real democracy—thus crypto-fascism.

As one standout example, recall the proposed multi-billion dollar F-35 fighter jet purchase by
the Harper government. When objections were brought forth by people and organizations that
thought the idea was outrageous, key news media responded with knee-jerk support for this
ridiculous idea by the federal government, as per point 4 above. Even when the price of the
purchase was shown to be “underestimated,” and had rocketed into the stratosphere, still the
puppet press continued its death dance of complacency with the crypto-fascist federal
government and published glowing praise of the government and its idiotic proposed purchase.
Are there reasons other than the Canadian federal government’s crypto-fascism for its being
militarily—as per casus belli, not Peacekeeping—extant in a foreign country?

That there is oil in Afghanistan appears not to be enough of a motive for countries such as
Canada and the U.S. to be militarily present there, according to U.S. M.I.T. Professor Noam
Chomsky. He answered an online query about this by stating that in his opinion, the reason was
“geostrategic” in nature, and had nothing whatsoever to do at present with Afghani oil. He also
noted, as the first sentence of his reply, that “Canada almost reflexively supports the U.S.” Other
people have different opinions, and it is understandable they would be partial to these, given the
very large importance of control of rapidly dwindling energy reserves in the world today.

The “regime change” rationale of ousting Afghanistan’s repressive Taliban in favour of a more
progressive government strikes one as being phoney. If that were the case, why weren’t such
actions performed for similar regimes elsewhere in the past? Indonesia, Chile, and Burma spring
to mind, among a host of others. Practically the most egregious were the grisly genocides in East
Timor and Rwanda. Where were the Western democratic “hero” countries then?

Canadians and crypto-fascist federal governments don’t fit well together. A majority of
Canadians don’t want Canada committing acts of war. If the federal government had one iota of
humanity left in it—and wanted to begin to dispel any lingering impression of its being crypto-
fascist—it would start with a posthaste exit of Afghanistan by an immediate recall of Canada’s
troops.