As rumours fly that members of the armed forces don't feel like they have been properly prepared for this type of mission, and that their training is inadequate to deal with the situations they face, the Canadian government continues to spout platitudes guaranteed to sentence more young men and women to death.
Not a single one of these people needed to make the supreme sacrifice on the altar to Steven Harper's ego. How dare he and his Defence Minister claim to know the soldiers in the field and speak of their being honoured to do their duty. These people wouldn't know responsibility and duty if it bit them in the butt. If they did they wouldn't be able to sleep at night for their shame at stealing a family's children, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives from them.
When they say things like they are determined to stay the course until 2009 all I can think of is a line from an old Phil Ochs song: "It's always the old who lead us into war/it's always the young who die." But we can't just lay the blame at the feet of the Conservative Party of Canada. We have to ask ourselves how did it happen that a party without a majority of the seats in the House of Commons was allowed to involve us in a full scale combat situation?
Steven Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada are arrogant bullies who need someone to stand up to them. Hopefully the opposition parties are finally beginning to show some backbone and will stand behind their public rhetoric and call them on their actions. These people have to be stopped before the damage they do is irreparable.
The Canadian military has a long and proud history dating back to World War One. It is a shame to see such a glorious history treated with such disrespect and callousness. There are times and places when a country's soldiers must expect to find themselves in potentially life threatening situations. But we owe them the courtesy of making it something worth dying for. Afghanistan and their current situation is not one of those times and anyone saying otherwise is lying.
Article comments
1 - sfontaine
I cannot begin to count the ways that this article has it wrong. Maybe by declaring that Canadians are trained for peacekeeping (as someone who has gone through the training, and will be doing so more in the future I can tell Mr. Marcus that the training is centered on killing the enemies of Canada first and foremost) or by declaring that our Defence Minister knows nothing of the soldiers in the field, or of service and duty (Minister O'Connor is a former Brigadier General in the Canadian Forces, starting off as a Lieutenant in the Armour Branch).
To debunk this entire flawed article would demand an article all itself, and this isn't coming from a partisan supporter of the war, but a Canadian who has found many right out factual faults with this article.
2 - Perry
ya know, having been in Afghanistan for two years you would think i could just ignore this type of journalism. I've been here as part of both the presidential and parliamentary elections, neither of which were 'shams'. The work of dedicated international staff with local counterparts and most importantly the people of Afghanistan made both elections possible while meeting international standards.
our military was never 'trained for peacekeeping', our soldiers are trained to kill and fight wars, always have been. they are doing lots of killing right now so that development and infrastructure building can proceed safely. how else can that happen but with a secure stable environment? (you must have really cringed when i said 'killing'..)
try coming here to get an idea of what is really happening and then you might have something interesting to write. as a proud ex-soldier, i am here contributing to a better Afghanistan for the sake of the good people here and for the safety of all Canadians, you should try it sometime.
3 - SphinxMontreal
Funn how not one Canadian politician has explained to the public what exactly it is that Canadian troops are doing in Afghanistan. Yeah, they all use the feel good catch phrases like protecting democracy and buliding a better world, but this provides no specific information.
This article sheds some light on a multibillion dollar industry in Afghanistan that may play a role in what is going on there globalresearch.ca
4 - Kel
I have to agree with the first 2 post, I am not sure where Mr. Marcus get's his facts but I think most Canadians back this mission. I am far from a Conservative supporter but on this issue I do back them. Canada is apart of NATO and this is a NATO mission, and for anyone that calls for us to pull our troops out is crazy. Instead of showing no support it's time that all show them the support they need to help them finish this mission. When family's of the fallen soldiers public say that their son/daughter knew full well what their mission was and ask the rest of Canada to support the troops only goes to show that it is people such as yourself that dis-respect the rest. When you write your next article it should be what your views are not what you think the rest of us are thinking.