Thanking our military
As we enjoy a beautiful, sunny, Toronto winter weekend, there are a few thousand Canadian soldiers in Afganistan right now who are probably not asking themselves how many of us are thinking about them. But they should be.
You might be visiting a grandparent, shovelling the walk, nipping into Starbucks or getting ready to take your kids to the Backyardigans show at the Hummingbird Centre.
Its not like that in Kandahar. There is too much mud and bad food and plinking of 5.56mm rounds from a C-7 to worry about Pablo’s latest adventure. But the mission in Kandahar is all about our ability to enjoy ourselves, free of fear. Perhaps our Afgan Sappers are succeeding too well at it, as the recent debate on Parliament Hill implied.
The Canadian military’s presence in Afganistan is about September 11th. And Gulf I, Kosovo, Korea, WWII, WWI, the Boer War, and or and on. Since our Nation’s founding, Canadian soldiers have been dispatched around the world so that we might enjoy the many freedoms that we do. Fight them “there” or fight them “here” was a familiar, and accurate, refrain.
September 11th might cross through your mind as you pass through security at a domestic airport. To think box cutters, and a will, changed thousands of lives for ever. The people and their familes that suffered on September 11th. The military members and their families that have been killed or wounded in Afganistan or Iraq in the years that followed.
Canadians may wash their hands of Iraq; it is a complicated story and not suited to this forum. But you need to think about Kandahar and September 11th in the same context. For the Taliban gave many of the September 11th planners a safe home in Afganistan, which led to the loss of Canadians such as David Barkway, age 34.
I have no doubt that each and every Canadian soldier knows exactly why they are in Afganistan. The connection to protecting Canada is very real, and the fact that they are fighting rather than rebuilding water filtration plants (the reconstruction work the NDP favour) is unlikely to be a source of anger for them. CFB Gagetown conducts no more courses on civil reconstruction than a New Brunswick highschool might.
Why is it so hard for Canadians to accept that Canada has an incredibly proud military history? As many a politician have said: Canada is not a neutral nation. The Afgan mission is the latest in a 125+ year history.
Had 19 determined men with box cutters not killed more than 3,000 people from some 70 nations on September 11th, our troops wouldn’t be needed in Kandarhar. And the intense action that Canadians are seeing in Afganistan may be the luck of a bad draw on our part – as a dithering Canadian government commited troops to NATO’s mission after all of the safe regions had been snapped up. But someone had to fight, and just as with Vimy and the Somme and Normandy, it is the Canadian military.
Let’s thank them as we luxuriate in the safety they provide.
MRM
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You are assuming that our occupation of Afghanistan will not create hatred and bitterness among the next generation of Afghanis towards foreign troops. All it takes is a poorly coordinated air strike or a stray bullet to create an enemy forever, even if the original intention was honorable.
Canadian troops and those from other nations have been making these sort of mistakes, and will make more of them the longer we stay there. Mistakes are unavoidable, and in a place so different from Canada, so complex in terms of language, religion, and tribe it is impossible not to ruffle feathers. Please don’t buy into the propaganda issued by our government that has locals treating our troops as cuddly Canadian teddy bears, crowds of smiling children hugging our soldiers. There is anger and resentment and this is growing according to polls.
The foreign occupation of Afghanistan is supposed to free the world of terrorism. It is in fact helping to nurture the next generation of terrorists. Your ra ra blow em away boys! post ignores these sorts of issues.
JP
I think you misunderstood my post. We are either there or we are not. Canada has a tradition of “being there”, and I’m proud that we don’t completely rely on the protective wings of other nations. There is no delight and no “suggestion of ra ra blow them up”. What did Canada or the U.S. do to the Taliban in the 70s and 80s that led them to house the planners of Sept. 11th? Wasn’t it the Russians who were at war with Afganistan? And the CIA providing arms to aid and assist the Afgani battle against the Russians? But how many extra-territorial terrorist attacks have been directed at Russian civilians subsequent to that war?
Is it that you believe our presence in Afganistan will breed hatred against Canada for decades to come? Perhaps, and if CIDA can never get to work you might be right. Safety now must trump hatred later if the sole reason for the hatred is a misdirected air strike.
This isn’t an exact science, and the choices aren’t easy. But let’s not be simplistic. If pulling NATO troops out now will ensure that future Afganis won’t hate us — but will provide Al-Kaida with a base for near term attacks — is that a choice you’d prefer?
It’s an untenable position, but you are welcome to hold that view.
In the meantime, let’s be grateful that some among us are prepared to put their lives on the live for the rest of us. There’s no ra-ra in that. Just gratitude.
MRM
“If pulling NATO troops out now will ensure that future Afganis won’t hate us — but will provide Al-Kaida with a base for near term attacks — is that a choice you’d prefer?”
The world’s a big place, Mark. It’s silly to think that by taking parts of Afghanistan we’ll stop terrorists from training. They’ll move to Pakistan, Sudan, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Western Sahara, Indonesia, Algeria, Morocco, Yemen, or any of a handful of other countries who have trained terrorists in the past and still have such sympathies. Or they’ll just train in the parts of Afghanistan we don’t occupy. Even the Soviets with over 100,000 troops never occupied more than 10% of the country. So should we send troops to places like Syria too, like Hans trying to block up all the holes in the dyke? By the sort of logic that says “all-housers-of terrorists-must-be-attacked” we should. I think that’d be an overly idealistic idea, impossible to achieve. Better to get out of the hornet’s nest before things get worse.
“What did Canada or the U.S. do to the Taliban in the 70s and 80s that led them to house the planners of Sept. 11th?”
The real question is what did the US to the countries of the planners of Sep 11 to get them all riled up. Of the 29 9-11 terrorists most of them were Saudis, a number were from UAE, there was a Lebanese and an Egyptian. Many of them met in Germany, where they established their common ideology. They trained in the U.S. There are many countries involved in the process, not just Afghanistan. Do you want to send troops to Saudi too?
Not one of the 9-11 terrorists was an Afghan. They were mostly Saudis made bitter by U.S. troops in their country. Afghans were not interested and had their own battles to fight. Bin Laden bought them off, funded certain sides, supplied troops to fight domestic squabbles, and was given use of the country for training.
“But how many extra-territorial terrorist attacks have been directed at Russian civilians subsequent to that war?”
Afghans certainly used terrorist tactics against the Russians occupying their country, much like they are using against Canadians now. Car and camel bombs were popular. Not only did they target Soviets with these terrorist attacks, but also any Afghans suspected of complicity. We are seeing this now too: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23219696/
Once the Soviets left, the terrorism stopped. We can do the same. I only hope the terrorist tactics don’t expand beyond Afghan borders before we finally decide to leave.
Anyways, I don’t think we’ll ever agree here so I won’t post anything else, but I appreciate the opportunity to trade thoughts in a logical and civil manner. A lot of these arguments tend to devolve into “cut and run” accusations, which doesn’t help dialogue. Enjoy your blog,
JP