Thanking our military

4 responses

  1. Bernard says:

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  2. jp says:

    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.

  3. Mark McQueen says:

    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

  4. jp says:

    “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

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