<>The way I see it, the difference between the way most Americans view the war and they way most Canadians do is the "spin" our governments have put on it: Although the "spin" as told may sound more vulgar to Canadian ears, the U.S. government is at least honest with its public

<>In Canada, the politicians and the media can't even wrap their tongue around the word "war". They keep using that kinder and gentler f-ing word "mission".

The first time Harper described what is going on over there as a war was on the second last day of the recent federal election. He was tired and my guess is it was a freudian slip. Here's what he said, "...Our invasion of Afghanistan." He probably meant to say, "...Our mission in Afghanistan." The second and, to my knowledge, only other time to date that he described Afghanistan as a war was in his March 1 2009 CNN interview: "My own judgement... quite frankly is we are not going to ever defeat the insurgency."

If we can agree that there is a war going on in Afghanistan and Canadian soldiers are fighting in it, then we need to come up with a definition of what war is to define what we are doing in Afghanistan.

War is killing, injuring and destroying.

What are we doing in Afghanistan?

Are we fighting a war?

Are we "helping" Afghans?

To find the answer to this question, all we have to do is 'follow the money'.

Here is the money trail:

Of the money we are spending on Afghanistan:

90% goes to prosecuting the war.

10% goes to reconstruction, development, humanitarian aid.

Clearly, our priority is prosecuting the war in Afghanistan.

Shooting, shelling and dropping bombs on Afghans - in other words - maiming, murdering and burning villages, homes, women and kids, is not 'helping' Afghans.

As I said, telling the truth may sound vulgar, but at least the American government (unlike the Canadian government) is more honest with its public in this respect.