Remembrance -- Our Responsibility. Remarks for Remembrance Day Ceremony at Victoria College UofT

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Remembrance -- Our Responsibility
Remarks for Remembrance Day Ceremony at Victoria College
November 11, 2016
By John Duncan

Today we make the effort to remember.

More than two-million, three-hundred-thousand Canadians have served in the military throughout Canada's history. And some 118,000 of them have died.

They fought for Canada—not for its blemishes, but for the best of Canada. No one imperils life and limb for the blemishes. They fought, and died, for what makes this country one of the best countries in the world.

Their contribution was to serve as they did; remembrance is our responsibility.

Their service involved sacrifice. As a result, what they have provided for us—that is, the defence of a country in which truth and justice may prevail—is a gift in its fullest sense. A gift that cannot be repaid.

It is our responsibility to adequately receive their gift. We owe to those who made the sacrifice both the effort to remember, and also the effort to do with the gift what was intended for it. And not just because they intended it, but also because their sacrifice was for what is best in this country.

Adequate remembrance calls upon us to summon courage not unlike theirs to receive a country in which truth and justice may prevail, and then to serve it by defending its greatness—that is, to defend it as a country in which truth and justice do prevail.

Reflecting on how we in the academy may remember and honour, we turn to the activities essential to us: teaching and learning, and research—the search for truth. These activities place us under a special obligation to search for, and speak, the truth—our particular service to the country.

Some truths are difficult.

On September 11, 2001, in the attacks on the U.S., Al Qaeda terrorists murdered about 3,000 people, including 24 Canadians, truly a dark day for the world.
 
Within one month of September 11, the US and the UK, supported by Canada and others, began and then soon concluded an aerial bombing campaign in Afghanistan that cost the lives of at least 3,100 Afghans, already more souls than perished on 9/11. 
 
Five years later, in 2006, the number of US military personnel alone killed in the war on terror reached the number of people killed on 9/11. In that same year the number of Canadian military personnel alone killed in the war on terror reached the number of Canadians killed on 9/11.
 
That was 10 years ago.
 
Today estimates of the human costs of the Global War On Terror, as it used to be called, include:
--3,407 coalition soldiers killed in Afghanistan, including 158 Canadians
--4,809 coalition soldiers killed in Iraq
--a conservative estimate of 26,270 civilian deaths in Afghanistan, and
--a middle-of-the-road estimate of some 600,000 civilian deaths in Iraq
 
3,000 killed by terror on 9/11; well over 630,000 killed in the ongoing response

The US Congressional Research Service estimated the cost of the war on terror to the US to be $1.8 trillion, but a few year ago, Nobel prize winning economist Joe Stiglitz argued it would exceed $3 trillion. Now it is approaching double that. Ottawa spent at least $18 billion in Afghanistan alone, not to mention Libya and now Iraq-Syria.
 
This is almost unbelievable, especially when you consider that the 9/11 attacks cost Al Qaeda approximately $450,000.
 
$450,000 spent by Al Qaeda on 9/11; some $6 trillion spent by the U.S. alone in the ongoing response
 
All of this continues to this very day in Iraq and Syria where about 850 Canadian military personnel are involved in the effort to fight ISIL – the spawn of Al Qaeda.

The results of western-led bombardment, conflict, and invasion in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and beyond continue to fail to end the violence. Many of these countries are destroyed, failed or failing states, and are subject to horrific conditions, which is why millions of refugees continue to risk everything to flee, hoping to find security in Europe and elsewhere, generating a global refugee crisis.

Our war-dead and veterans remind us that war is the most terrible sacrifice. They have secured for us a country in which truth and justice may prevail. We must remember them. And we must honour their sacrifice by finding a way to end the violence.




--"We remember the more than 2,300,000 Canadians who have served throughout our nation's history ..." (http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/information-for/educators/quick-facts/remembrance-day).
--"We remember … the more than 118,000 [Canadians] who made the ultimate sacrifice." (http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/information-for/educators/quick-facts/remembrance-day). "Close to 61,000 Canadians were killed during … [World] war [One]" (http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/after-the-war/legacy/the-cost-of-canadas-war/). "More than 42,000 Canadians lost their lives as a result of the Second World War" (http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/chrono/1931cost_e.shtml). "Canadian Military Personnel Killed": "First World War: 66,665"; "Second World War: 46,998"; "Korea: 516"; "Peacekeeping: 121"; "Afghanistan: 157" (http://www.canadaatwar.ca/#).
Herold
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_casualties_in_Afghanistan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War#Coalition_military_casualties
http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/papers/2015/War%20Related%20Casualties%20Afghanistan%20and%20Pakistan%202001-2014%20FIN%20%288%29.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
According to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.

Nov 2016: "Aircraft sorties / As of November 5, 2016, Air Task Force-Iraq has conducted 2,606 sorties*:
CC-150T Polaris aerial refueller conducted 602 sorties, delivering some 35,200,000 pounds of fuel to coalition aircraft; and
CP-140 Aurora aircraft conducted 626 reconnaissance missions.
Definition - sortie: in air operations, a sortie refers to an operational flight by one aircraft. A sortie starts when one aircraft takes off and ends upon landing.
*This total includes 1378 sorties conducted by CF-18 Hornets between October 30, 2014 and February 15, 2016."
http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/operations-abroad-current/op-impact.page
Nov 2016: "Through the CAF efforts in support of the MESF, Canada is playing an important role, alongside its partners, in setting the conditions for Iraqi security forces to achieve long-term success through self-sustainable security. / The total number of CAF members deployed under Operation IMPACT is increasing from approximately 650 to approximately 830, which includes the train, advise, and assist mission in support of the Iraqi security forces." http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/operations-abroad-current/op-impact.page
Nov 2015: Today, about 600 Canadian military personnel are involved in a largely secret capacity in the war in Iraq and Syria. Recently The Fifth Estate reported that the coalition admits to only 2 civilian casualties in a total of 8,000 airstrikes so far—181 of them by Canadian jets—but there are 50 documented allegations of civilian casualty incidents involving as many as 600 possible civilian deaths. In a city like Mosul, where there are 5,000-10,000 ISIL fighters mixed in with 1.5 million inhabitants, bombardment is bound to generate civilian casualties, and its effectiveness cannot be expected to be great (no matter how smart the bombs). Thus official coalition claims strain credulity( http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/2015-2016/canada-in-iraq-the-hidden-war). We have seen patterns of denial and spin before. Eg, see my http://this.org/2010/03/08/afghanistan/