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Yesterday, in a last-ditch attempt to guilt Liberals into supporting the extension of two controversial "anti-terror" laws, Stephen Harper trotted out for the media two Canadian women who lost family members in the attacks on the World Trade Centre. In case we had forgotten what 9/11 looked like, CTV Newsnet, as part of its reportage on the matter, helpfully replayed images from that day—complete with the chyron seen above and at right.
Last summer on her blog, the Star's Antonia Zerbisias referred to respondents to this Washington Post survey as "stunned and/or stupid." Torontoist is conflicted as to what adjectives might be appropriate for CTV Newsnet.
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2002?
jesus CTV, wtf? how can you be that stupid... not to mention f-off with the 9/11 montages,
Why to go Liberals. We don't need those civil liberty restricting laws.
I think it was last summer, someone did a poll. 30% of Americans couldn't remember the year that 9/11 happened. And after all of the trouble the Bush administration went to...to stage it on a day people would remember and would look good on a bumper sticker. (sigh) I live in the dumbest, most gullible country on the planet.
Steve: I actually link to that poll (or at least the only version of it I could still find online) at the end of my post.
Yea, that's the one, I wasn't able to follow it earlier. Pretty sad, huh. For a country that exploits 9/11 to no end, you'd think that they would remember the so-called day that changed eveything.
"Why, 9/11 turned my whole world around, I'll never forget it, none of us should ever forget"
"Um, Yes, what year did it happen?"
"Um, shoo, that was um, uh...was it 2000?
United States of Amnesia
As a New Yorker, encountering images of 9-11 without warning are always a shock, and Torontoist is certainly the last place I'd expect to find them.
But...2002? It's bad enough having to listen to everyone co-opt the day for their own means already, but when you can't even proofread your co-opting? Sheesh.
Well, FOX and CNN are doing the same thing when they put up the wrong party designation after a congressman's name. Or speel Barrack Obama's name wrong. Once is sloppy, more than once, it's intentionally lmisleading an already mostly ignorant America.
Trust Harper to bring out the widows of 9/11. Just another cheap photo-op. Just like the photo-op of the Air India people just last week. I rather think he's using some of Preston Manning's cheap populist opportunism. Harper was, after all, Manning's protege until he had an
attack of pouty petulance and left parliament. He should have permanently stayed away.
I think it's most interesting that having a loved one die tragically suddenly makes you some sort of authority on national security.
It's interesting that reminding the voters of why the previous government put these measures in place is somehow a cynical publicity stunt.
"As a New Yorker, encountering images of 9-11 without warning are always a shock, and Torontoist is certainly the last place I'd expect to find them."
I'm thinking somewhere, right now, an Iraqui civillian is thinking, "as an Iraqi, who never attacked the US, images of my house being blown apart and pieces of my wife and children lying in the rubble is always a shock...but, yeah, real sorry about those 3,000 who died in New York, that we had nothing to do with...we've only lost tens of thousands ourselves. But we all know that American lives are worth so much more than everybody else, so, we don't complain too much while we carry our wounded through the streets desperately searching for a hospital that hasn't been blown up yet, while American bullets fly past our f**king heads. I'm brave, can I get on Oprah?".
America: because it's all about us.
And any New Yorker, or anyone else who lost a loved one on 9/11...if You haven't been camped out in front of the White House, everyday since then, DEMANDING answers and the TRUTH about 9/11, or to end this war and impeach George W. Bush, instead of going on TV holding up a candle and a photo, waving a stupid flag, then I'm not so sure you're exactly "honouring" their memory. If you want to honour them, find out why they REALLY died. Candles honour them about as much as a bumper sticker helps the troops.
I saw one of those magnetic ribbon decals yesterday that said, IRAQ: SUPPORT OUR TROOPS above a Canada flag. Umm...
To top it off, it was on a big ol' SUV, which I thought added to the whole thing.
yeah, Support Our Troops, while I drive my SUV and waste the very product that is funding the other side (hello folks, it costs money to fight the US, where do you think they get that money?). And yet, you can't say anything, you can't tell these blockheads, cuz then you're the bad guy...,"Whoa, hey, whaddya mean I don't support them, sure I do, I got a sticker. See? You must be one of them hate America types Bill O'Reilly tells me about, eh, lefty?"
"New, from Ronco, the "Support Our Troops" yellow-ribbon bumper sticker....You set it, and then forget it!"
Marc - Of course Canada has troops in Iraq. There are plenty of individual officers and enlisted folks who are in NATO or allied exchange programs and assigned to US units. When those units deploy to Iraq (or anywhere else), the exchange personnel go wherever their host unit goes. This is how CF LGen Walter Natynczyk spent time in Iraq, as 2IC of US Army's III Corps.
CF specops unit JTF2 was in Baghdad during the recovery of the Christian Peacemaker hostages as well.
There is also a CF officer assigned to the UN mission in Iraq (UNAMI) under Operation IOLAUS.
Do you suppose it's possible that maybe, just maybe, the guy with the Iraq: Support our Troops bumper sticker had a friend or family member in a CF exchange program whose US unit was deployed to Iraq? Wait, what am I thinking. Right-thinking Torontonians don't join the Canadian Forces, nor do they volunteer for exchange programs or deployed duty.
...and a bumper sticker helps them how? Especially when Bush and all of the other right wingers are CUTTING veteran's benefits. So, you tell me...is he helping the wife or children of that soldier? Will he help with the bills, give him a job, pay his medical when he returns?
Will he think beyond the 9/11 and Bush propaganda for one MINUTE and really think what this war is about and why the troops are there in the first place (hint: It aint about freedom and democracy).
I din't think so. So don't ask me if I "suppose" anything...and if I had a friend or family member in Iraq, I'd be doing alot more than a stupid sticker.
Chris, If you're so certain in your thinking, why aren't you over there?
"Christian Peacekeeping"...thank you, I actually laughed out loud at that one...throughout the centuries (you know, history more than 2 weeks ago) I'm sure Muslims have become all too familiar with Christian Peacekeeping. I think it may have started when Richard had 3,000 Muslim prisoners beheaded....yeah, that might've been one incident of "merciful" Christianity and it's "peace-keeping"
Onward, Christian Soldier!!!!!
2) "Hurl thine holy hand grenade that thou may blast thine enemy into tiny little bits...in thine mercy" : - )
Chris: I realize that there are a few Canadian soldiers in U.S. uniform in Iraq (like Sgt. John D. Rode who fought under and died with the U.S. Army, and who's being buried as an American citizen, by the way).
My point was that whomever was mass-producing these magnets likely doesn't realize, like many Americans, that Iraq ≠ Afghanistan ≠ 9/11. The slogan "IRAQ: SUPPORT OUR TROOPS" above a Canada flag assinuates that our government has deployed troops to support Bush's war.
May I remind you, Steve, that this is Torontoist -- concerning itself with a certain Canadian metropolis. Whatever beef you have against your President is really not my concern -- I have a Prime Minister, and he governs this country. No Canadian private citizen on his/her own turf is under any obligation to provide jobs, veterans benefits, medical or other services to Americans.
I am not a communications major but it seems obvious to me that the point of a bumper sticker is to raise awareness -- not to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and so on. Perhaps the help lies in letting his fellow Canadians know that yes, there are Canadian soldiers in Iraq. Since many Canadians seem to forget that we have military forces, let alone remember all the various missions where they are employed.
I do not think you understand the nature of the Christian Peacemaker teams. They are extremely pacifist in nature and opposed the Iraq invasion from the outset. You are doing them no service by belitting them.
If I am sure of anything, it is that you do not spend a lot of time reading comments before you reply to them. We are a different nation here. If you want to spend your time railing against your country and your leadership, fine. Don't assume that we share (or for that matter, oppose) your concerns. Not our country. Not our concern.
So are you saying that Canada is in no way affected by US policy?
"Not our country, not our concern"
Um, I would say that if you live in Canada, you should be quite conecrend with what is happening down here. I'm very interested in what happens up there. I for one would be quite interested in what kind of conditions and reatment Canadian vets are coming home to. My main point is, and I am not saying it's the same in Canada, a lot of people SAY they are for our troops, but when we hear repots of vet benefits being cut or the awful conditions at Walter Reed, it shows us the ones who say it the loudest are the ones showing the least support where it really counts.
Chris, i'm not trying to fight you, but there's a lot of hypocrisy coming from the right wing when it comes to our troops and this war.
Is it different up there, maybe, maybe not. I'm proably not up there enough to tell.
I would hope so, I consider Canada our last hope.
I don't want to belabor a point. The original story was a graphic that 9/11 happened in 2002. My point, is that we have to hear how 9/11 was such a life altering event, and was the reason (albeit, wrong) for the current war in Iraq, and how those people were "heroes"...and that our boys are dying and fighting for their memory... then is it too much to ask that they get the date correct? If you're gonna wear a shirt that says, "9/11, Never Forget"...then don't forget. If something matters so much, isn't it a little disrespectful to not get the stupid date right? Next, if you are going to ignorantly drive around in a vehicle that uses the very substance that is funding your enemy, with a 'support the troops' sticker, when your' own president is cutting benefits. Friend, relative or not, wouldn't you admit that maybe voting would be better than a sticker? Also. If you are not concerned with US politics...I would ask you this. If, the US is at war with Iraq, unjustly, meaning they did not attack us, and so we aren't exactly sure of the reason the US is even there:
1) What does it mean when a US solider dies? What justification do we give for his sacrifice?
2) If it is a US problem, why is Canada there and what justification do we give when a Canadian soldier dies?
You said, "Not our Country, Not our Problem", but you have young men and women dying, and you have surveilance cameras downtown. It is your' problem.
And you cannot use the "War on Terror", this is Iraq, it has nothing to do with that. I apologize about the crack about the Christian Peacemakers, I simply chaffe when it comes to anything with religion.
Marc -- You are unfortunately comparing apples to oranges. Sgt. Rode was a dual citizen who enlisted in the US Army.
I'm talking about Canadian citizens who enlisted in our own Forces, wearing Canadian uniforms, on TDY (temporary duty) assignment to a US unit via an exchange program. When their exchange unit goes overseas, so do they. They don't swap uniforms either, they wear ours. And they are, quite naturally, there by consent of our government.
Here is an image of then-MGen (now LGen) Walter Natynczyk, at a ceremony marking the completion of Iraq's national highway. Note than LGen Natynczyk is wearing CADPAT (Canadian pattern) desert camo and helmet, which is different from the US Army desert-pattern camo on the US officers around him. This is a very different situation from dual citizens enlisting in the US Army. This is a Canadian officer serving in his own country's national uniform while acting (via an allied officer exchange program) as a US unit's vice-commander. You can rest assured that DND and the relevant federal bureaucrats knew full well he was in Iraq commanding American soldiers.
Changing gears slightly, you are free to assume that the sticker-producers are ignorant bumpkins who conflate Iraq, Afghanistan and 9/11. That is not an assumption I would be comfortable making on evidence as flimsy as vehicle type and a single bumper sticker.
Steve -- It is ridiculous that CTV would get the date wrong. On the other hand, it is a Canadian network, and you should see the stuff that passes for news reporting up here.
What's to say this person didn't vote? is it wrong to vote and have a bumper sticker? You and Marc are making an awful lot of assumptions about what this person did or did not do, and you haven't even met them.It would be great if all Western nations could end their dependency on Middle Eastern petroleum. But I don't see that happening in an instant. People still need to grocery shop, visit relatives in other towns, move freight from ports to inland cities, fly overseas, take the train to work, et cetera. Even public transit systems like TTC and GO Transit still have gas-driven buses. Everything we do requires energy, and whether the transportation system is private or public, that energy is almost always oil-based. This sort of change doesn't happen overnight, and, frankly, I would rather judge people on the content of their character, not their choice of vehicle.
With respect, this is a matter for Americans. I am not sure what sort of censure you are hoping for from Canada. I didn't vote for any American president and never will. Whatever mess your politicians got you into is something for them to sort out. My sense is that it would be irresponsible to invade and destroy a country's infrastructure and then flee before it is rebuilt. Whether or not it was done legally or illegally is a smaller concern at this late stage of the game. When your house has burned down, does it matter if the cause was arson or electrical fire? Isn't the main concern "where the heck are me and my family going to sleep tonight? And how are we going to replace all our clothes and stuff?" By all means have your government investigate, if your fellow Americans agree. But I would suggest that since your government "broke" Iraq, it's under some sort of obligation to fix it. I don't care about the people in charge or what happens to them. Put out the fire first, then you have the luxury of dealing with the alleged arsonist.I am pretty certain American soldiers sign certain declarations when they enlist, as do their Canadian counterparts. The job of being a soldier, sailor or airman means you surrender certain freedoms and end up going where the politicians send you. It has been ever thus. You want justifications? Contact your representatives and senators and ask them why they voted for the various authorisations and appropriations for the war effort. It's not up to me to make excuses for foreign politicians.
And as far as Canadian involvement goes, I require no justification. They chose a life as a Canadian soldier, sailor or airman. They then volunteered for whatever military exchange program landed them in a foreign allied unit. They know full well that if the allied unit goes to war, they will go along with it, even though Canada may not have declared war as well. This is the way military exchange programs work. There is nothing to justify. If a young man or woman wants to volunteer for our armed forces, and also for a military exchange program, then they will run whatever risks that entails. I am not sure what sort of outrage you are expecting from me but I have none to spare on thoroughly routine military matters.
So, a kid who is 18 and signs a contract with the government, and serves his country, ends up actually seeing combat, gets wounded...
He shouldn't expect the best health care (and we CAN afford it) or at the very least, be able t oget a job, given he can even work?
A country that asks the ultimate sacrifice from it's young, for whatever reason they joined (some have no options or chance for college outside of the military, meaning they purposefully target the poor for recruitement)...
They took a risk and they should expect nothing for their srvice?
If I'm interpreting you wrong, please say so, because I want to be clear. Now, given that they were sent into battle for no apparent reason and the only thing that has been gained are some very hefty profits for some select corporations...
What exactly are they fighting and risking their lives for then? Imagine being an American soldier and you were from New Orleans and the very government you are fighting for, is letting your family drown in their attics back home.
Or your' country says they support You, but they're too busy shopping to really seriously question why you are their.
Steve -- that's not at all what I'm saying. But you keep framing everything in American terms, and I'm not at all interested in speculating what American soldiers ought to expect from their government. American soldiers are not funded by Canadian tax dollars, and their problems are not analogous to ours.
Canadian reservists, for instance, may well lose their civilian jobs when they deploy or go on lengthy exercises, because their employers are not required to keep them on the payroll and refrain from hiring a permanent replacement. In America, reservists' jobs are protected, so they know they are returning home to their old job.
There are plenty of us who have spent time in uniform arguing for better treatment of Canadian military personnel, but Canada ≠ America and the problems of America soldiers ≠ those of Canadian soldiers.
I misread or misinterpreted. Apologies.