The War on Terror - Another Perspective

It was great sadness that I read the news on the CBC website that another Canadian soldier had been killed in Afghanistan. This makes the third soldier to die since I have been in Tanzania and the 57th to die since the mission began. We don't get any Canadian news over here, so I do not know how people are reacting to the losses. I do, however, know that what the men and women of the Canadian Forces are doing over there is important. That is something the local Tanzanians understand.

Last week I visited the National Museum in Dar Es Salaam. Many of the displays were exactly what you would expect from a national museum, but there was one exhibit that caught me completely off guard. In the open courtyard between the various halls of the Museum was a collection of broken metal -- a car, a bike, and other scrap -- that had been salvaged from the scene of the bombing attack of the 1990s.

That is why I am not surprised when some of the Tanzanians I have met speak approvingly of George Bush. Tanzania, like Kenya, experienced the horror of terrorist attacks long before the terrible events of 9/11. They understand what it means to be attacked.

Canada has remained relatively unscathed by the war on terror, and for that I am grateful. I am also grateful that there are men and women who are willing to put their lives on the line to ensure that the people of Afghanistan have a chance to create an alternative way of life to the Taliban regime they had lived under. I just hope that the sacrifices of Afghan, Canadian, and allied service people are not in vain.