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Soldiers from Recce Platoon 3rd battalion of the Royal Canadian regiment battle group from the NATO-led coalition walk during a foot patrol in the Taliban stronghold of Arghandab district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, April 2, 2009.Stefano Rellandini

A fictional military mom packs an AK-47 and a stuffed doll into a duffel bag and laments that she might not have had kids had she known they'd grow up to become "cannon fodder" in Afghanistan.

The images are part of a new anti-war video designed to shock - and they appear to have succeeded.

A women's group created the video to protest the Afghan war and the Canadian military's efforts to sign up new recruits in schools.

The Quebec Women's Federation has posted the clip on its website and on YouTube.

But soldiers' families are condemning the video, which has triggered an online flood of angry comments.

The video features an actress portraying a distraught mother whose daughter was recruited at school by the military.

"If I had known that in giving life, I would be providing cannon fodder, I might not have had a child," the woman says as she tucks a stuffed lamb, a bra, bright-coloured underwear and an assault rifle into a dark-green duffel bag.

The fictional mother says her oldest child was killed in Afghanistan, while her youngest returned from the war with mental problems.

"People say, 'Make love, not war,' but, come on, that's not what they should say," the actress says as she stares into the camera.

"What they should say is 'Make love for war,' because it takes a lot of children to build an army."

Celine Lizotte, whose son was killed in Afghanistan last year, says the video shows a total lack of respect for the mothers of dead soldiers.

Ms. Lizotte is demanding the video be taken down.

"Because they died in combat, [these women]have the nerve to describe them as cannon fodder," Ms. Lizotte wrote on a Facebook group she started to denounce the video.

The Facebook page, titled "Soldiers aren't cannon fodder," attracted a wave of condemnation directed at the video.

"Get rid of this video," Christiane Collin wrote on the Facebook group's wall.

"I am the mother of a solider who leaves for Afghanistan at the beginning of December and my son is not and will never be cannon fodder!

"He is a soldier by choice and I respect his decision!"

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