MORE BODYBAGS FROM A FUTILE WAR

Re: Routine mission turns deadly for Canadians in Afghanistan, Dec. 31

It is hard to understand why our "leaders" advocate a war on drugs and
terrorists, instead of a war on the root causes: inner city despair,
Third World poverty, and a foreign policy designed to project our
strategic and energy "interests." Eradicating these causes would be
far cheaper than fighting these endless wars, which result only in
huge profits for the suppliers, huge national deficits, and death to
innocent civilians and soldiers.

Now 142 Canadians are dead. Many more are crippled for life. Over $20
billion has been spent. And public services have been cut.

And from our federal politicians we mostly get emotional, patriotic
and partisan rhetoric designed to keep us from thinking.

Graeme Gardiner, Sidney, B.C.