A Prime Minister Who Is Creating A U.S.-Style ‘War Culture’ In Canada

By Mark Taliano

“Canada, formerly respected throughout the world as a nation of peacekeepers and diplomats, succumbs to jingoist overtures from a militant P.M who seems oblivious to the realities of illegal warfare …” 

Iraqi war veteran Mike Prysner is a prophet.  He explains that he was the terrorist in Iraq, that the real terrorism is the occupation of Iraq, and that the real enemies are not overseas, but at home.

U.S. Iraq War vetneran Mike Prysner joints in anti-war rally.

Those who seek profit from war, the armaments industry that make the weapons, the media conglomerates that black out protests, the generals who lobby the politicians, the politicians who launch illegal wars of aggression, and ultimately, the people who fight the wars,  are the enemies at home, to which Mike Prysner is referring. 

Without exception, each of these “enemies” profits, to some degree or another, from cataclysmic war.

Lockheed Martin, when it successfully lobbies Canada to buy sole-source, untendered F-35 war planes, designed for offensive bombing operations, profits from war.  According to Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, the price of the planes will be $C29.3 billion over 30 years, not the $C16-18 billion that the government promised.

Blackwater Industries, (now rebranded as “Academi”),  a private “branch” of the U.S military, profits from war (and the continuation of it) by providing an ever-growing list of services, such as catering, construction, and even (well paid) private soldiers.  Each of these “services” was previously the exclusive domain of the military.  Academi has so far secured about $320 million out of a $1 billion State Department Budget  for “Worldwide Personal Protection Services”.

Media conglomerates profit from war.  In 2003, when the U.S and the U.K unleashed weapons of mass destruction on Iraq, the corporate media barely mentioned the thousands of anti-war protestors in the U.S and the U.K.  Not surprisingly, CBS was owned by Westinghouse, and NBC by General Electric, two major weapons manufacturers, when the war started. Business is good for weapons manufacturers when there is war or the threat of war. Balanced reporting is of lesser importance in such circumstances. 

Career-oriented Generals, such as Canada’s Chief Of Defence Staff Walter Natyncyk,  benefit from war, as do eager soldiers, sailors, air men and women.  

As reported by Yves Engler, author of “Militarism On The Rise in Conservative Canada”, and in the context of plans to have overseas bases throughout Europe, Chief of Defence Staff Walter Natynczyk blithely told the Canadian Press not long ago, “We have some men and women who have had two, three, and four tours, and what they’re telling me is ‘Sir, we’ve got that bumper sticker.  Can we go somewhere else now?’”  He continues, “You also have the young sailors, soldiers, airmen and women who have just finished basic training and they want to go somewhere and in their minds it was going to be Afghanistan.  So if not Afghanistan, where’s it going to be?  They all want to serve.” Mainstream media’s response to these statements has been a deafening silence. 

Statements such as Natynczayk’s serve to sanitize war, to treat it as though it is a summer camp, or a necessary internship.  Contrast this with the victims’ perspective, where war is a form of “organized murder”.   

Finally, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a war-monger who profits from war.   Engler describes the Conservative’s modus operandi in creating a war culture in Canada.

 He explains that the war culture is first enabled by Canadian Forces promotions. In 2010 -2011, for example, the Canadian forces spent $353.6 million to promote their work. After the war in Libya, $850,000 was spent promoting the notion of Canada being a “warrior nation”.  Social engineering of this type makes war more palatable to an unsuspecting population, and it typically makes a country’s leader seem strong.  Margaret Thatcher’s popularity skyrocketed with the successful prosecution of the Falklands War. 

When asked if we were “in a great conflict or heading towards one,” Harper responded, “I think we always are.”  This statement indirectly reveals his intentions (to continue on a war footing), and aligns itself with the realities of “permanent war”, exploitative imperialism, and the avoidable tragedies that always ensue. 

“Armchair warriors” such as Harper are shielded from war’s realities. Those who are closest to war, both combatants and civilians, pay the real price, hidden from those who pull the levers and profit from it. War kills with equanimity, and the trauma experienced by survivors is widespread.  So far in 2012, an equal number of U.S soldiers have killed themselves as have been killed in battle.

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/6/13/military_suicide_epidemic_more_us_soldiers

Civilian non-combatants are the ones who pay the highest price though.  “Shock and Awe” looks like a video game on television, but on the ground, thousands of innocents die. According to Iraq Body Count, from 107,953 to 117,954 innocent non-combatants have died so far since the War in Iraq started in 2003.

They suffer and die, without having committed a crime, without having launched a missile, without having pulled a trigger. They are in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Gaza, in Israel, in America, and throughout the world.

In scenes hauntingly similar to the illegal invasion of Iraq, countries including Israel, the U.S, and even Canada, are once again beating the drums of war.  

The hapless citizens of Iran, (whose democratically-elected government dared to nationalize their oil industry and was subsequently overthrown in a 1953 U.S/U.K coup),  may be the next victims of western imperialism.

http://www.democracynow.org/2003/8/25/50_years_after_the_cias_first 

There is no certainty that this war will manifest itself, but there is much certainty about who will gain and who will lose. Innocent Iranian non-combatants will surely pay the highest price… again. 

After the shock of 9/11, many Americans wondered why so many people throughout the world hate the U.S government. 

If Harper’s Canada continues on its present course, Canadians too will soon be asking themselves why people throughout the world hate their government as well. 

Mark Taliano is a Niagara resident and frequent contributor of commentary to Niagara At Large.

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