Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.
I'd have to disagree somewhat. These documents provide the citizens relevant information to determine if the intentions of their nation, as they understand it, are being effectively channeled and executed.
For example, you may have believed that the motive for Canadian troops to be present in Afghanistan was to show the locals that our country can be a force for good in helping them defeat the Taliban. These documents provide those concerned with a point in time to affirm or reject their stance.
That the majority of citizens will read none of these documents is not a valid position to argue against their release*.
* If I remember correctly you're doing graduate studies. Like me, you're inevitably caught up in dozens or even hundreds of books and journal articles that the vast majority of people will never even read in order to form an opinion. But that doesn't invalidate their utility.
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The relationship between Taliban, the ISAF, local Afghan forces and civilians is complicated. We may be there to assist Afghan forces and civilians in their fight against the Taliban, but Taliban tactics inevitably cause friction between ourselves and the local populace.
For example, I recall a story in Christine Blatchford's "Fifteen Days" which recounted Canadian protocol regarding convoy security. Basically, any cars were not allowed to enter a 100 m radius around the convoy because in the past, Taliban had used cars as suicide projectiles to damage convoys and kill/maim ISAF soldiers.
A Canadian soldier was manning the gun turret on his LAV III when he saw a car pull from a crowded marketplace and accelerate towards the convoy, he fired a warning shot across its path but it didn't deter the car. He fired the LAV's 25mm gun into the car, the Taliban driver self-detonated the car bomb, missing the convoy but killing and wounding scores of Afghan civilians.
On paper, this might look like the coalition was responsible for destroying Afghan property and killing innocent civilians. But the truth is much more complicated.
In regards to academic elitism, I agree. I am not an elitist, but I do hold an education that most people will never acquire. I am, ultimately, a democrat, but also distrustful of most people. Coming through graduate studies (where school finally gets difficult and competitive) you look back at past educational experiences, especially when compared to what you read about in the past, and realize what a scant intellectual upbringing most people have, outside of the maths and hard sciences.
We are raising citizens with no capacity to understand even the most basic premises of statesmanship and statecraft.