The Only Canadian Columnist Who Knows Afghanistan

[Bragi]

There is but one Canadian columnist who actually knows about Afghanistan. I am referring to Eric Margolis, who wrote a book on the subject eyars ago, and whose columns appear -- oddly -- in the Toronto Sun.

Here is the opening of his latest column:

At this week's NATO conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, an angry U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates accused some Europeans of not being prepared to "fight and die" in Afghanistan in the battle against the Taliban.

The undiplomatic Gates is quite right. Most Europeans regard the Afghan conflict as a. wrong and immoral; b. America's war; c. all about oil; or d. probably lost.

To many Europeans, the NATO alliance was created to deter the real threat of Soviet aggression, not to supply foot soldiers for George Bush's wars in the Muslim world.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2008/02/10/4838323-sun.php


Every time I read Margolis, I realize how most Canadian media commentary on the war is ideological and/or uninformed.

- B

[glarius]

1. Eric Margolis is an American who has been against Bush's war adventures

in Iraq from the beginning. He has many contacts in the middle east and elsewhere and is considered quite an expert on that area. I know he has said that he is a Republican, but is completely against what the Republican party has become. He has been writing for the Toronto Sun and living in Toronto for a few years. It surprises me too, that the right leaning Sun allows him to voice all his anti-American government views. He has been in Toronto for so long that I guess most people think he is Canadian.

[Bragi]

2. Thanks for the correction...

I read his book "War at the Top of the World" some time back, and it was very useful in understanding Afghanistan.

- B

[glarius]

3. I have been reading his columns and even emailed him before the Iraq war....

...which he actually answered with a thoughtful reply.

[HEyHEY]

4. Google Jared Ferrie

A friend of mine and good Afghan-based writer