Well, if she didn't mean what she wrote, she did a pretty good job pretending!
;-)
Posted on 10/29/2006 3:20:33 AM PST by Clive
Jack Layton has never heard of Josh Forbes or his poem, Thoughts of a Soldier.
He has never read the verses now tearing across the Internet, transferred from blog to blog, in angry response to the NDP leader's controversial call to pull Canadian troops out of Afghanistan.
A call Layton repeated yet again at yesterday's anti-war rally, one of 37 anti-war protests staged across the country.
"This seek-and-kill mission isn't easing aggression and extremism -- it's feeding it, it's fuelling it," Layton told about 1,500 demonstrators gathered on University Ave. across from the U.S. Consulate. "Harper claims the mission is following a
3-D approach: Disarmament, diplomacy and development. So far we've seen very little of the 3-Ds. But we have seen a whole lot of the 3-Cs: Combat, chaos and casualties."
What do our soldiers think, their brave efforts being described as a "seek-and-kill" mission? How do they feel, putting their lives on the line half a world away, while politicians back home make speeches accusing them of creating chaos and demonstrators call them imperialist occupiers?
What would they say, our Canadian troops who have to worry about being blown to pieces giving out candy to children or being attacked with an axe when sitting down to make peaceful overtures?
No doubt, they would love to reply with lines very similar to these from "Ole Jack Layton -- Thoughts of a soldier:"
"I am here and you are there/Pretending you know best./Well, Ole Jack, now listen close/While I get this off my chest."
The Calgary writer goes on: "Ask the p eople in Afghanistan/If they want me to stay/ Women and children depend on me/You say just walk away?"
It continues later: "I'm doing good, we're winning here/But no one will believe/ Because we are way over here/Where no one there can see.
"Women here can work you see/Children starting school./We built a working government/We've broken Taliban rule."
Layton was unaware of the protest poem when asked yesterday, but conceded that many may disagree with his stand.
"I think Canadians are having a good, honest, respectful debate," he insisted.
Yet even he admitted that yesterday's protest hardly drew the thousands that have turned out in the past to demonstrate against the American war in Iraq. Layton was speaking to the usual suspects, a gathering of union groups, NDPers and anti-poverty activists, but it was nowhere near the crowd that had obviously been expected.
Hundreds of unused placards -- "Stephen Harper War Monger"; "Canada out of Afghanistan"; "Hands off North Korea and Iran" -- lay piled up at the side.
Layton blamed Harper, of course, for the low turnout.
The prime minister, he said, derides those who question the Afghanistan mission as "unpatriotic" and "cut and runners" and that tends to keep protesters away from public demonstrations.
In Halifax, the national day of action drew just 200 people. In Montreal, only 500 turned out.
Yet polls show that Canadians are increasingly ambivalent about this mission. Seeing more than 40 brave men and women repatriated to this country in flag-draped coffins can shake any country's resolve. There are questions about the changing nature of our role in this NATO-led effort, of how combat has increasingly overtaken reconstruction.
And yet even with that questioning, most Canadians would not think of joining Layton out on the streets when our military are risking life and limb in our name. He can talk all he wants about how this is not about demoralizing our troops, but it certainly can't feel that way to those on the front lines.
"You know its hard to do this when I think I'm all alone./I hear stories of young punks pissing on memorial stones.
"I read the papers over here and they tell me what is said/ Canadians are losing faith I can't get it through my head."
There is nothing wrong with a debate about our role in Afghanistan -- that is a democratic right our armed forces have waged battle to protect. Let it be fought in Parliament or on the election stump.
But in the meantime, our soldiers deserve more than to be accused, as they were by Layton yesterday, of taking part in a mission that is only making matters worse for Afghans.
They have earned more than to be painted as some kind of cold-hearted assassins on a "seek-and-kill" spree.
Or as "Ole Jack Layton -- Thoughts of a soldier" concludes:
"We are so close to winning this/It's not too far away/History will show that we were in the right to stay.
"When that brilliant day arrives, victory you'll claim is ours/You'll forget you said to run away -- forget you are a coward.
"On that day just thank me for my courage and my trouble/Find another place that needs help, and send me on the double."
-
NDP = Nazi Deplorable Party
This line of reason is the "aha" moment of 90% of the schlocky science fiction movies ever made, including The Andromeda Strain... remember?
If we fight back, the monster will just feed off our energy, get stronger, become invincible. It's the oldest plot device in the hack writer's book. Right up there with "it was all a bad dream, Bobby never died, he's right in the shower."
NDP=No Defence Plan ??????
You're close, but to me, that particular party's inititals mean:
No
Discernable
Principles.
I've also recently been exposed to:
Nothing
Distinctly
Principled
There are many others, but I cannot post them, as I care to remain a member here.
Good night and God bless.
(PS)I have a 15 hour drive through the Rockies to deal with tomorrow. If it suits you, or an other FReeper that reads this, a prayer would not be unwelcome. My thanks, for myself, my brother, and our dogs.
Ole Jack Layton ~ Thoughts From A Soldier
Dear Jack Layton,
You sit there in your quiet home, no fear is in your heart,
You sleep soundly certain that it won't be blown apart.
Your children they can go to school and play out in the park,
They've never seen a bomb explode, heard air raids in the dark.
They've never seen dead bodies piled up on the street,
Your wife, she won't be beaten, treated like a piece of meat.
You are free to form opinions, read any news print you can see,
You enjoy your rights and privileges in this country wide and free.
The reason you can live like that is because I fight your wars,
I fight and push the enemy back, I keep them off our shores.
I am here and you are there pretending you know best.
Well Ole Jack now listen close while I get this off my chest.
You have the right to criticize, you have the right to complain
You don't have the right to drag me down in a stupid political game.
The thing about your rights Ole Jack, the part you can't comprehend
Is you work in the very system, the democracy I defend.
I stand on fences around the world protecting those that need it,
It is not for you to determine Jack whether or not it's worth it.
Ask the people in Afghanistan if they want me to stay,
Women and children depend on me - you say just walk away.
I don't need your changing policy, trying hard to not lose face,
What I need is you behind me, helping protect this place.
You know its hard to do this when I think I'm all alone.
I hear stories of young punks pissing on memorial stones.
I read the papers over here and they tell me what is said.
Canadians are losing faith I can't get it through my head.
You say that it is hopeless, it really brings me down
Don't tell my mother we're losing, don't spread that rumour around.
I'm doing good, were winning here but no-one will believe
Because we are way over here where no one there can see.
Women here can work you see, children starting school.
We built a working government, we've broken Taliban rule.
We are so close to winning this, it's not too far away
History will show that we were in the right to stay.
When that brilliant day arrives, victory you'll claim is ours
You'll forget you said to run away - forget you are a coward.
On that day just thank me for my courage and my trouble,
Find another place that needs help, and send me on the double.
written by Josh Forbes Calgary Alberta Canada
How many Samurai did WW2 create?
Is there something about the name Jack?
"Our troops have become the primary target of the insurgency,"
Islamic insurgents "are united against U.S. forces, and we have become a catalyst for violence," he said."
It's time to bring them home." JACK Murtha -- November 18, 2005
Canada ping.
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
The thing about your rights, Ole Jack, the part you can't comprehend is you work in the very system, the democracy I defend. I stand on fences around the world protecting those that need it. It is not for you to determine, Jack, whether or not it's worth it.
Well, if she didn't mean what she wrote, she did a pretty good job pretending!
;-)
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