POPPY PURGE DANGERS REJECTED

TORONTO -- Canadian politicians and military leaders are rejecting a
British report suggesting both troops and Afghan civilians are being
killed because of Canada's backing of failing U.S. policies on
elimination of the opium poppy crop.

The poppy eradication campaign has driven rural farmers into such
extreme poverty that they are shifting their support to the Taliban
as the international community and the Afghan government fail to meet
their basic needs, says the report by the London-based Senlis Council.

"Canadian troops have been handed an impossible mission which can
only lead to significant casualties," says the report released yesterday.

"Until Canada fundamentally re-evaluates its approach and creates its
own new strategy for its presence in Kandahar, with a clear split
from the failed U.S. policies there, the Canadian mission in
Afghanistan is blindly following a path that will lead to senseless
military and civilian casualties."

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said Canada isn't blindly following anyone.

He admitted poppy eradication is a tough sell in a country where its
cultivation is often the only form of livelihood. "We have to find
some way to compensate the farmers," he said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended Canada's activities in the
war-ravaged country.

Canada is working to eliminate the threat of terrorism, but also
wants to eliminate drug trafficking which is causing problems in our
streets, he said in Ottawa.

But at least one observer said that Canada had made mistakes in its
drug policy in Afghanistan.

"It was stated to me by the senior diplomats or bureaucrats involved
with Afghanistan that Canada certainly had made some very serious
errors," said Sunil Ram, an ex-Canadian soldier who now teaches at a
Virginia university.

Opium poppies, which do not require irrigation in the
drought-stricken re-gion, represent a huge chunk of the local economy.

The drug harvest brings in 10 times more money to impoverished
villagers than a crop of wheat.