The Canadian Armed Forces has announced plans to hold
a week of urban warfare exercises in Winnipeg
beginning on April 30. The exercises, nicknamed Operation Charging Bison, will
involve about 500 soldiers, including a number of American trainers, and will
be the largest urban warfare simulation ever held in Canada. The initial announcement
earlier in the year indicated that the exercises would take place throughout
downtown Winnipeg.
However, at a recent press conference the military announced that the operation
will be confined to two small areas outside of the downtown area. The rationale
presented for the exercises is the need to prepare Canadian soldiers for the
new role they will be playing abroad.
Beginning in the early 1990s the Mulroney government
began to describe the role of the Canadian military as one of
“peacemaking” rather than peacekeeping. From the time of the
U.S.-led invasion of Kosovo in 1999 the Canadian government has been systematically
transforming the role of the Canadian military abroad away from either
peacekeeping or “peacemaking” and towards a more aggressive combat
role. With the recent transfer of command of the Kandahar region of southern Afghanistan to Canadian troops,
that role is now becoming clearer. The U.S.
armed forces are suffering from a severe shortage of money and manpower and the
Bush administration is demanding that its allies shoulder more of the burden of
defending and expanding the U.S.empire. While many U.S. allies have resisted the
American pressure, it is clear that the Canadian government has acquiesced. It
is rapidly converting the Canadian Armed Forces into an auxiliary to the U.S. military machine and is training Canadian
soldiers to take on the role of an occupation force in Afghanistan.
This will free up American troops for new military adventures elsewhere.
Operation Charging Bison not only represents an
escalation in the transformation of the Canadian Armed Forces into an
aggressive combat and occupation force, but is also an exercise in shaping
public opinion about this new role for the Canadian military. It is an attempt
to get Canadian citizens used to the presence of soldiers in their streets and
to convince them that the Canadian military is a force for peace and security.
This, coupled with the massive propaganda barrage unleashed on Canadians with
every fatality in Afghanistan, is part of a concerted effort to change the
minds of Canadians, a majority of whom are opposed to the presence of Canadian
troops in Afghanistan and an even larger majority of whom are opposed to
Canada’s participation in the imperialist military adventures of the
United States.
Until recently, Canada has enjoyed an international
reputation as a country committed to peacekeeping and the diplomatic resolution
of international disputes. Despite the fact that this reputation is largely
undeserved, it is clear that the vast majority of Canadians supports a foreign
policy based on these principles. Operation Charging Bison and other attempts
of the Canadian state to transform the Canadian military into a force for war,
aggression and occupation are an unacceptable affront to the aspirations of
millions of Canadians and must be opposed.