Canada joins the United States in the accusations against Syria over the alleged use of chemical weapons, but its troops used them in operations in Afghanistan, revealed the Global Research Center today.
Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper said last week that if the alleged Syrian actions in that field are not stopped, it will constitute a dangerous precedent for humanity in the long term, while for his part Foreign Minister John Baird urged the international community for an urgent action.
However, Canadian governments have repeatedly been complicit with the use of chemical weapons, and during the war in Afghanistan, Canadian troops used white phosphorus, which is a chemical agent that can cause deep tissue burning and death when inhaled or ingested in significant amounts.
In an October 2008 letter to the Toronto Star, Canadian Corporal Paul Demetrick claimed that the unit in which he was serving as reservist in Afghanistan used white phosphorus as a weapon against alleged enemy-occupied vineyards.
General Rick Hillier, former chief of the Canadian Defence Staff, confirmed the use of this defoliant in Taliban areas of the Afghan territory.
After accusations surfaced of western forces harming civilians with white phosphorus munitions, the Afghan government launched an investigation.
According to the Global Research report, in a much more aggressive use of this chemical, Israeli forces fired white phosphorus shells during its January 2009 Offensive on Gaza Strip that left more than 1,500 Palestinians dead.
However, Canadian Conservatives have failed to criticize Israel for refusing to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention.
According to the report, the massive Suffield Base in Alberta was for decades one of the largest chemical and biological weapons research centres in the world.
Via PL