Eighty years after meeting his premature death in the trenches of Northern France, Canada's Unknown Soldier was finally brought back home for a final burial in 2000.Today his tomb stands in its final resting place before the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

The tomb is a monument honouring the more than 100,000 soldiers who have died fighting for Canada. It is there also to remind Canadians the price for our freedoms"the highest that can possibly be given.

Recently Canada's latest troop contingent returned home after their six-month tour of Afghanistan. While they rarely engaged the enemy Taliban and al-Qaida fighters, they handled themselves with the professionalism demanded by the uniform.

While most have now re-united with family and friends"save the Canadians who tragically died at the hands of American fire"they have also returned to a bigger political fray where they unfortunately have become pawns in a game of political cover-up and war-drum beating.

You see, Jean Chretien is looking to hold on for another term to the PM's office and he needs to justify the unnecessary loss of Canadian lives in Afghanistan.

So his government once again is following the lead of the Americans"the reason why Canadian soldiers died in the first place"and exaggerating the importance of the war of terrorism on everyday Canadian lives.

He is anointing everyone remotely connected to Afghanistan and the Canadian military into war heroes.

It is the latest scheme of hero-hatching. The 900 plus soldiers will be handed medals of honour for their effort in the war against terrorism despite having spent more time fighting boredom and heat than actual Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.

In a war that George Bush has called one unlike all other wars, these are also heroes unlike any other heroes.In the military tradition of any country, honour, discipline, gallantry, and heroism are not terms to be taken lightly nor used in a frivolous manner.

These words have lost depth in a post-September 11th world where everyone in notoriously corrupt organisations like the New York Police Department have been branded as heroes. If you know anything about the NYPD, you will know the police force's unsavoury pre-Sept. 11 reputation with everyone from different racial groups to gays and lesbians in the metropolis as well as the forces' questionable links to the city's underworld.

Like the four commercial airliners that fell to the ground late last year, heroes have been hijacked by media and jingoists seeking to create martyrs and icons for the public to rally around as the US government drums up support for its next war adventure, this time apparently in Iraq.No doubt with Sept 11 observances just around the corner, we will see and hear how every American citizen brandishing a flag is a hero. The Canadian soldiers who travelled to Afghanistan did their duty, and did so admirably.

They did what was asked of them. For the Chretien government and Canadian media to once again blindly follow the lead of its US counterparts is wrong. It led to disastrous consequences with the loss of life the first time around, and is likely to do so again.

We should never forget the meaning of the word hero as encompassed in the heavy sacrifices of our troops of the past, like that of the Unknown Soldier.To do so is akin to turning his resting spot into the grave of just another anonymous soul.