Report's Arrogant Assumptions On The Afghanistan Mission

But the elephant in the room is now starting to look like Iran, which has a strong and not necessarily negative role in Afghanistan and on the war. The trouble with this is Washington's refusal to engage Iran in any constructive way. Worse yet, says Mr. Inderfurth, the crisis in Afghanistan will have to be solved in the next year and a half–George Bush's remaining term in office. But if Afghanistan is rife with crisis and serious problems, the Harper government is trying to get Canadians to look on the Afghan bright side. The government has commissioned a marketing company's report on how to play down the negative aspects of the Afghan war effort, getting the public to ignore problems like Afghanistan's extensive narco-economy and focus on Canadian good works like the building of schools. The report described in this issue of Embassy and reprinted in full at www.embassymag.ca suggests ways to change the opinions of Canadians who are mildly supporting or are waffling on their support for the Afghan mission by playing down the U.S military connection with Canada's war effort and playing up the European-NATO connection. It also says that Canadians who don't support the mission, especially Québecers, know less about Afghanistan than those who do. That, at the least, is an arrogant assumption that will likely lead to greater opposition to the war in Canada rather than increased support. The government would better spend its time trying to manage the Afghan problems that are of crisis proportions rather than trying to manage public perceptions for political reasons. http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2007/august/15/editorial1/ [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on August 16, 2007]

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