On March 28, 2008, Naomi Klein gave the keynote address at the event at Canada’s first ever Independent Canadian Jewish Conference, attended by over 100 Jews against the occupation of Palestine from over a dozen organizations in over 20 cities across Canada.

The video of her talk is now online and covers the upcoming 60th anniversary celebrations of the founding of Israel, the boycott/divestment/sanctions movement, and the significance of the growing Jewish anti-occupation movement in Canada. »»»

This documentary draws from some of the best reports from five The Fifth Estate documentaries and was aired by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) on March 2007 and March 2008.

There is a link to view it on line on the The Fifth Estate CBC web site (click the picture above).

“The Lies That Led To War” provides context to the events of the previous six years, showing how political, diplomatic, media spin – which sometimes crossed the line into outright lies – have been used by the those in power to further their own agendas.

[ All Copyrights © CBC 2007. The Siriel-Media is a free on-volunteer-basis blog and has the democratic right to promote and share this link.]

March 3, 2008
by Malalai Joya, an Afghan MP currently appealing her suspension from the country’s parliament. She spoke to rabble.ca editor Derrick O’Keefe.

After 9/11, unfortunately the United States and its allies like Canada pushed us from the frying pan into the fire, by putting in power the Northern Alliance criminals and warlords. As long as they follow this wrong policy, the situation in Afghanistan will become more disastrous.

Eric Margolis: Manley report on Canada’s role in Afghanistan justifies failing mission
— The Real News network, Wed. Jan. 23rd, 2008.

Manley, a Canadian parliamentarian, had the task of leading a non partisan commission to study the Afghan situation and propose solutions or change. Eric Margolis gives his assessment of the report…

Eric Margolis is a contributing editor for The American Conservative and Sun Media.

:: Video interview >>

by Felicity Arbuthnot
Global Research November 28, 2007

Editors have a mantra, do not look back, move on, write what is current. But sometimes looking back is vital. Those who ignore even the recent past are doomed to understand nothing, sink deeper into quagmires – and bleat again : ‘Why do they hate us’ ?

Looking through material for the book that has been far too long in the making, I found a copy of a letter which I sent to a prominent (UK) Member of Parliament. It is dated November 1993 and clarifies for ever why the invaders were never going to be greeted with ‘sweets and flowers’.

Meridian Hotel, Baghdad, 4th November 1993.
As you know, when I was here in April/May 1992, I thought things could get no worse. Yet in July this year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations note in a Report: ”...with deep regret”, all the: “pre-famine indicators being in place”. Further that an appreciable proportion of the population now had less calorific intake than the most famine stricken parts of Africa. That was July. This is apocalypse. This is an internationally sponsored genocide. :: read on >>

[also visit our section about Sanctions or blockades]

A REAL News interview >>

Are assumptions about Iran wrong ?
Monday November 19th, 2007

To see on CBC Newsworld this Sunday July 29, 2007!

Siriel-Media comment :
This is an extraordinary documentary which, in our opinion, is an important moment for the popular history of the USA. Why? Because we hear US soldiers who claim, in their own voice, to have been part of murder and horror. From a human standpoint, the preview we have seen is touching, since we see young people, dressed in their civilian clothing back home, explaining with distress how they killed innocent people.

In order to make some horrible facts or ground truths reach people’s mind, this film uses a discourse intended for the Americain public.

Message from Veterans For Peace (USA), April 4th 2007.

April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. made a speech at Riverside Church in New York City . King understood the death and destruction the United States was causing in Vietnam was poisoning America ’s soul. “Now it should be incandescently clear that no one who has concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war.” This is no less true in Iraq .

April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. died on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis , Tennessee – one year after making his speech at Riverside Church . As we move forward in our struggle to end the war and occupation of Iraq , King’s words heed just as strong today, as they did forty years ago.

In Vietnam and Iraq we were told we would be seen as liberators. ...

by Stephen Lendman, Dec. 14, 2006 ( www.sjlendman.blogspot.com )
[ The Siriel-Media admin. considers this a good analysis with must-know information.]

Noted historian Eric Foner in a December 7 article on OpEd News.com calls George Bush “the worst president in US history….(who) in his first six years in office….managed to combine the lapses of leadership, misguided policies and abuse of power of his failed predecessors.” Equally noted historian Gabriel Kolko agrees, and along with his other comments, calls the Bush administration “the worst set of incompetents ever to hold power in Washington.” And referring specifically to the war in Iraq, Kolko colorfully describes what former Reagan administration National Security Agency (NSA) chief General William Odom calls ”....the worst strategic mistake in the history of the United States” by saying the Bush administration “shocked and awed….itself.” Hard to say it better than that.

by PEGGY MASON, Globe and Mail March 8, 2006.
[ Peggy Mason is a faculty member at The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, and former Canadian UN Ambassador for Disarmament.]

Much like in Iraq, the post-conflict security situation in Afghanistan has been badly mishandled with combat operations aimed at rooting out terrorists undermining — rather than building — the security of ordinary Afghans and foreign forces alike.

In modern complex peace operations, the essence of the military mission is to find the proper balance between persuasion and coercion — between consent and the use of force.

It may now be too late to properly apply the lessons learned at such high cost in the evolution of modern complex peace operations from Somalia, through the Balkans, to Sierra Leone, East Timor, to the Democratic Republic of Congo — the list is a long one.

But with Canadian forces daily facing catastrophic injury and death in a mission most Canadians just do not understand, we will not find our way out of the Afghanistan quagmire unless we get back to the fundamentals of modern complex peace operations.