March 8: Emergency Picket Action Demands Canada/Nato Out Of Afghanistan

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>>TODAY<<
EMERGENCY PICKET ACTION DEMANDS CANADA/NATO OUT OF
AFGHANISTAN NOW!

Emergency Picket Action
March 8 -- 3:00PM
Canadian Forces Recruitment Centre
(1070 W Georgia St)

Called By:
MOBILIZATION AGAINST WAR & OCCUPATION (MAWO)
http://www.mawovancouver.org
info@mawovancouver.org
ph.604-322-1764
fx.604-322-1763
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PRESS RELEASE:

VANCOUVER – An emergency picket action has just been
called for March 8th at the Canadian Forces
Recruitment Centre by Vancouver’s coalition
Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO) in
response to escalations in killing of Afghan people by
the Canada/NATO/US occupation forces in Afghanistan.

Massive demonstrations erupted in Afghanistan today,
March 7 2007, against NATO soldiers after 10 Afghans
were killed and 34 wounded by gunfire from U.S.
Marines in Nangahar. The exact total of Afghan deaths
since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan is uncertain,
but the number is widely agreed to be in the tens of
thousands.

In one week in February the occupation of Afghanistan
by NATO and Canada resulted in February 17's fatal
shooting of an Afghan man, the killing of an Afghan
Police officer and the murder of a homeless Afghan -
all done by Canadian forces. 13 Canadian troops were
seriously injured on February 19 in a vehicle
incident, and that same day brought the first "battle
in which the Canadians have come under direct,
sustained rocket attack" inside Kandahar city.

On March 6th a Canadian soldier was killed in a
“friendly fire accident”, bringing the death toll for
Canadian soldiers to 45.

The most obvious conclusion to all of this is that
Canada and NATO are at war with Afghanistan. This war
is resulting in massive destruction of infrastructure
and countless deaths.

On March 6th the head of Canada's military land
forces, Lieutenant General Andrew Leslie, told a crowd
at the Fraser Institute that progress is being made in
Afghanistan and Canada is helping. According to
Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, Canada needs to deploy 3,000
more troops to Afghanistan.

MAWO’s co-chair Kira Koshelanyk responded to Leslie’s
comments, “What so-called progress is Leslie talking
about? Progress for whom? Canada is at war against the
Afghan people for control over Afghanistan. This war
has not ‘liberated’ or ‘helped’ the people of
Afghanistan in any way at all. 3000 more troops would
only mean 3000x the destruction, death and suffering
for Afghan people. ”

Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO) will also
be calling for an Independent Public Inquiry into the
Canadian War Drive in Afghanistan. As a sign of the
widespread sentiment amongst people in Canada against
the occupation of Afghanistan, MAWO has already
collected over 12,000 signatures on a petition calling
for an end to the occupation. The Independent Public
Inquiry would serve to open the chance for people in
Canada to stand up and hold the government accountable
for this vicious war, which has already been handed a
military budget of over 25Billion dollars.

“Canada is part of the problem in Afghanistan – that’s
why we are demanding the immediate withdrawal of all
Canadian forces from Afghanistan now.”, concluded
MAWO's Co-Chair, Shannon Bundock. Since Canada’s
announcement of the deployment of 2,000 Canadian
troops to Kandahar Afghanistan in July of 2005, MAWO
has organized consistent picket actions in front of
the Canadian Forces Recruitment Centre in Downtown
Vancouver under the call “BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!”

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