11.12.2010 09:59 AM

Ten points: When democracy loses all meaning

You know, I was busy with last night’s gig (and a big shout out to my buddy BCL, who came by to take in the show) and feeling sorry for myself for my Man Cold©, so I didn’t get a chance to fully reflect on the following:

1.  The Prime Minister said last Fall that our combat mission in Afghanistan would end, and would be “a civilian humanitarian development mission after 2011.”

2.  The Liberal Party’s leader said this Spring that his party also favoured “a different role focusing on a humanitarian commitment” after 2011.

3. “Humanitarian.” They both used that word.

4.  After the Liberal leader abruptly changed his mind about all this “humanitarian” stuff, so did the Prime Minister.  Both of them now favour extending the war, and yet more combat roles for at least 1,000 troops.

5.  There’ll be no debate about any of this in Parliament, which is, you know, the Supreme Legislature of the People.  No one seems to give a shit about that.

6.  To drive in the final nail in democracy’s proverbial coffin, the Prime Minister emasculates his Minister of Defence, and sends out his press secretary to tell the rest of us that we’ll be at war for a few more years.  On political info-tainment shows.

7.  Got all that?  Whiplash-inducing reversals on all sides, open contempt for the legislature, cabinet ministers neutered in public, unelected hacks wielding the power of the executive.  Oh, and, more war.

8. More war.  Just like that, in the week where we are all supposed to be remembering why war is a bad thing.

9.  And political people actually wonder why both the Liberals and the Conservatives are dropping below 30 per cent in the polls, and why the NDP is moving up.  And they wonder why people are growing more and more cynical about democracy, and democratic institutions, and are angrily lashing out at politicians.

10.  Wonder no more.

79 Comments

  1. Sean says:

    …can’t agree more…

  2. Tim says:

    Liberal voters need to hold the Liberal Party’s feet to the fire on this issue in the next election. Or vote NDP. Absolutely disgraceful. Nonsense like this prevented Michael Ignatieff from becoming leader on the first go round. And now Bob Rae is riding shotgun. I’d like to say “Unbelievable!” but sadly it isn’t.

  3. Anthony says:

    Don’t hold back, Warren. Tell us how you really feel.

    • Warren says:

      Sorry, is that supposed to be funny? It certainly isn’t original.

      • Cath says:

        not even original Warren. I agree with your sentiments. Both the LPOC and PM have made huge errors, ones that may cost them both.
        My bet is the Peter McKay’s taking his walk in the snow…or whatever climate change is bringing the Maritimes today.

  4. Dave says:

    I remember how irked I was about two decades ago when the Mulroney Government sent our military to attack Iraq without calling parliament. I think that was the summer we had our army at Oka with no need for parliament to say anything, one way or the other.
    I thought that a couple of elections ago that the two large parties got through a deal on an extension in Afghanistan before the election campaign, so that, on the hustings, there was no need for anyone to talk about the ‘mission’ in Afghanistan. If Harper is right about the Libs then it looks like another move to go ahead and keep our military involved over there without the messiness of having to argue with any naysayers among the Canadian public.
    I guess it is easier for both the parties that hope to govern. They know that they will get foreign pressures. In this case, NATO needs a reason for being, and really needs at least a draw in Afghanistan. So if the parties can do a deal without debate either in the House of Commons, or, especially, with the Canadian public, then , when in government, they have only hte foreign pressures to deal with.NPMW

  5. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    I plan on enthusiastically supporting this extension of the mission as soon as I drop dead. Folly of the highest order — at least as it relates to training the Inept-istan Army…NATO allies be damned.

    Can you spell highly forseeable and obviously avoidable quagmire?

    • Warren says:

      It’s their Personal Viet Nam.

      • terence says:

        You are wrong.

        The Russians are now on side with the Americans. The Pakistanis have finally tired of the Taliban and want to make sure they don’t let the Iranians run the show in Afghanistan.
        Things are changing. The Saudis are ready to pour a lot of money into the Country for the same reason Pakistan is moving away from the Taliban.

        Canada needs to be there.

  6. James Bow says:

    I really wonder what will happen if we have an election and the two leading parties each get less than 30% of the vote.

    That’s a historic low for confederation. The Liberals and the Conservatives together (if you count together the Reform and PC vote through the 90s) usually poll around 70%. They’ve been dropping in the past few years, but they’ve NEVER polled below 60%. What sort of parliament results when 4 out of 10 voters pick parties other than the top two?

    And I think you’re assessment is dead on. The Conservatives and the Liberals are both campaigning and/or governing very cynically, and it’s turned a lot of voters off. Never mind the NDP’s near 20% level of support, look at the Green total: over 10% when, three elections ago they’d have never pulled more than 2%? You can bet that at least half of that support isn’t because 8% of voting Canadians have suddenly developed a new environmental consciousness. Rather, they’ve moved to a well spoken alternative that exists outside of the three-way dance.

    • Ted says:

      Worse than that, James.

      The last three elections have seen the government with the lowest level of support from eligible voters in our entire history: Harper – 2008 with 21% of eligible voters, Harper 2006 with 22% and Martin 2004 with 23%.

      (But I would look at the Green Party polling and even the NDP polling as a parked vote that will not turn into a real vote. The Green and the NDP have been up that high before elections before but it all evaporates on election day.)

  7. PL says:

    Hi Warren,

    Thanks for the post. As a Canadian soldier, I have my obvious biases with regards to the conflict in question, yet at the same time, I have some sympathies with your post. A few thoughts, some in disagreement, and some in agreement:
    a) Afghanistan and “Viet Nam” – how about you guys travel FIRST to Afghanistan and see myself and my comrades interact and act?!? I’ve lost 3 good friends in this war that you call a Vietnam…and each of those 3 felt very strongly about this mission, unlike the many American draftees that perished. Furthermore, that myself and my friends form a VOLUNTEER army! Big difference! As an aside, as a past IR major, I must say that I believe the war in Vietnam was lost on American soil, just as this conflict in Afghanistan has had its greatest weaknesses and difficulties on Canadian soil – in the the streets AND in the halls of the decision-makers!
    b) your understanding of the “conflict extension” – NOWHERE have I seen that this extension of 1000 CF members is an extension of a combat role – in fact, even as of yesterday I must say that many of my peers (infantry soldiers) HOPE for a combat tour to Afghanistan (knowing that all present opportunities have now passed given the end of our combat role in 2011). What I must say is that, from an infantry perspective, it would be offensive to call any extension of our involvement in Afghanistan a combat role. Training troops BEHIND the wire isn’t particularly dangerous OR combative, and is very similar to the job that Canadians have done around the world since the Suez Crisis! This is NOT WAR! It is combat training, to be sure, but HARDLY the incredibly difficult, tear-jerking and fear-inducing experiences that many soldiers have experienced in the combat of the last 4 years…your civilian understanding derides an professional/appropriately intellectual comment on that matter.
    c) this extension is, in my opinion, a mistake. Too many Canadians, like yourself, see any involvement of any CF member in Afghanistan (be they Navy, Army, or Air Force) to be a tremendous mistake. As I said earlier about wars being won and lost at home – I believe that, though Afghanistan is not, nor will become, the failure that Vietnam was. The tremendous gains in allowing personal freedoms which our coalition has achieved – or the smiles on the little girls’ faces of the 90% of the country that desire our presence – shall speak alone. However, I believe that I, as a Canadian soldier, am not there to be a tool of International Relations according to how I SEE FIT. Rather, I believe that I am a tool to be used as the Canadian PEOPLE see fit…and I believe that the people, for wisdom or folly, do not see any further military (combat or NON-combat) role in Afghanistan to be worthwhile.
    d) Finally, I must say that this decision not to vote on Afghanistan/debate the issue in the House of Commons is a terrible one. As a Canadian, I am not impressed by the lack of debate on what is, clearly, an important matter for Canadians!
    Yours,

    A Canadian Infantry Master Corporal
    ps, I find it ironic that this post was made the day after Remembrance Day.

    • Ted H. says:

      I appreciate very much this post from a Canadian soldier. If and when the national debate that should take place on this issue does take place, those who have experience of the front lines deserve to be part of it.

    • Thanks to our soldiers who are in Afghanistan. However, the war is lost because most Canadians, like myself, do not know why Canada is fighting in Afghanistan. Are we searching for Osama bin Laden? If we are, then we might be in the wrong country. Are we trying to open up schools for little girls? Are we trying to stop any imperial expansion of China or Iran. If we are just trying to bring freedom to some people, then there are other countries that deserve our soldiers. How about North Korea or Zimbabwe? Are we in Afghanistan just to protect an area for some proposed oil pipeline from the central Asian “Stans?” Are we just helping the United States?

      Why is Canada in Afghanistan?

      • PL says:

        If you paid attention to what the people in military have said about reasoning for the conflict – or bothered to talk to some of the infantry soldiers who’ve been over there, you would discover that my peers are participating in Afghanistan not to look for OBL (as much), or to prevent “imperial expansion” (I don’t think I’ve even heard that point raised before), but we deploy in order to open schools, foster conversation, bring a new sense of the world to the Afghan people. Some of these people don’t even realize that the Russians have left! It’s a country that deserves the opportunity for free expansion and development, just like those other countries do! I support international engagement of 3rd world countries! However, you’re arguing via a slippery slope that just because we’re trying to improve 1 country, we should (or why are we not) improving all the other worthy (or worthier) nations! But we need to begin someplace, and personally, I feel that given our historic involvement in A, after 9/11, we might as well try and do good SOMEPLACE!

        • So we’re sending thousands of soldiers over to Afghanistan so that little girls can go to school? As for fostering conversation, I think a round-table on the BBC World’s “Doha Debates” could be more fruitful than sending soldiers to Afghanistan. We are sending soldiers in order to enlighten the population of Afghanistan–to get them out of their primitive mindset.

          I do mention stopping Chinese imperialism because Afghanistan and Pakistan are on China’s backdoor route to the Indian Ocean. From there, the Chinese have another route to Africa in order to expand their economic and social empire.

          Canada is not in Afghanistan for the little girls of that country. We are there to assist the United States in order to expand the American empire (and to stop other empires from encroaching the South and West Asian regions of the world).

      • ck says:

        Why is Canada in Afghanistan?

        It’s really quite simple. War is big business; pure and simple. Why do you suppose the US is always at war with some country? I mean, how long was it after the cold war ended that Desert Storm began?

        Now, particularly during recession times, it’s also a huge jobs program, if not the biggest; both military and non-military employment.

        http://www.truth-out.org/robert-reich-americas-biggest-jobs-program-is-us-military62313 More than likely the same thing in Canada.

        With big business with deep pockets, no doubt, comes some very powerful lobbyists.

        Don’t be fooled, it’s not about helping girls and women, it’s most definitley not about catching Osama Bin Laden and his bushwhacking thugs. Everyone knows the war is not winnable. The precedents have taught us this. Hell, even the once mighty Soviets knew to pack up and leave in the 80s and cut their losses.

        I’m also sure that those lithium deposits we’ve heard about has a lot to do with the extension as well.

    • Brian says:

      PL, my brother is on active duty, and I’m from a family of several generations of British and Canadian combat veterans.

      I actually support an *increased* combat role in Afghanistan, and certainly think a training role is a fair compromise. But I don’t support setting either policy on the basis of offhand remarks by a minority Prime Minister made from the safety of a press conference in a foreign country. I think that’s insulting to both Canadians, and Canadian servicemen and women; if you’re not willing to stake political capital on a mission when soldiers are willing to stake their lives in the same mission, that’s pretty sad.

      • PL says:

        I agree…I would prefer a solid stand

      • I think what Warren is articulating quite clearly are two important things:

        a) The Parliament of Canada, our elected representatives don’t get to debate this.

        b) Because MP’s don’t get to debate this, because a decision is being made without a debate, it sort of makes you wonder why we even have a government at all.

        I don’t think I read anything in Warren’s post where he didn’t say we’ve done good work while in Afghanistan. I believe all soldiers deserve to have this thing debated before the people of Canada. They deserve that much, God knows, when they get wounded, they’re going to get sweet @@#$ all from Veterans Affairs!

        Finally, it’s important to remember that Harper is doing this … because he can. There is no effective opposition and therefore he doesn’t see any political downside of making an arbitrary decision.

        It’s pretty insulting. Then again, it’s pretty sad that Canadians bend over and take it from this guy but that’s a story for another day.

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      Master Corporal,

      May I take the tremendous liberty of speaking for all who populate this page: thank you to you and your comerades for the outstanding service you have performed in Afghanistan and across other missions. Make no mistake — all Canadians are both grateful and proud of your service. Your sacrifices are worthy of our respect and Canadians along with their government can never fully repay our service personnel for what they have done for us. We need to do better towards CF, RCMP and other members than we’ve done so far in the way of peacetime support. Empty words and promises are not now and have never been enough.

  8. michael hale says:

    I love and respect a lot of people who count themselves part of the Liberal family and up until about a year and half ago, I was right there. Then I left the party. Still love and respect the people, but just felt the party had moved too far from what Liberal actually means to associate myself with the party.

    Months later, I’ve been questioning that decision. Mostly, I just missed some of those people who are Liberals and missed being on the same team. And then this happens.

    Turns out the party is even further from Liberal than I thought it was.

    • Ted says:

      I don’t understand how the party that brought us into into WWII, the Korean War, the Balkan War and this Afghanistan War is any less Liberal because it wants to train Afghanistanis on how to protect themselves.

      Training soldiers has always been a part of our peacekeeping role since Pearson brought it.

      I get the criticism of the leadership and communication and lack of clarity on this issue, but this comment is way over the top and shows a a total lack of historical knowledge about the country and the party.

      Peacekeeping and training local soldiers to do their own protection is and has been pretty much a core Liberal foreign policy since Suez.

  9. allegra fortissima says:

    No, I don’t wonder no more when reading this article:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html

  10. Namesake says:

    Well, for the record, Harper said a _bit_ more to the media this morning: that he _is_ open to a debate in the House of Commons on this, soon, if the other parties have something to add.

    But clearly, it would only be a ‘pro forma’ debate, inasmuch as he’s ruled that this is purely an Executive decision as far as he’s concerned (convinced as he is that he’s actually our President), since this is “simply” a training mission, so it doesn’t need, and won’t be getting, Parliamentary approval.

    Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/11/12/harper-vote-afghanistan.html

    But the irony is, when Harper’s being iron-fisted like this domestically in the ways WK describes/deplores, it’s all in service of: being a lapdog to the USA internationally.

    In Looney Tunes terms, he’s Chester the Terrier to the US prez’s Spike the Bulldog (and gets just as much respect: “Ahh…. shaddup.”) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_the_Bulldog_and_Chester_the_Terrier

    That’s what’s happening:
    — here in the (‘it’s not a’) mission extension; and,
    — in the latest (failed) G20 (shh… the impending trade war will all be China’s fault, not the US’s), and in the decision to host the first one (in a vainglorious attempt to try to _look_ like a bulldog on the world stage); and,
    — in the decision to buy the F-35s in particular (even tho’ that’s not the plane we need, to subsidize the Americans, who decided that _they_ need it, but it’ll only be affordable to them if their allies buy them, too); and,
    — perhaps especially in his, to him, horribly shameful (the counterpart to making him swallow it) decision to secretly agree to repatriate Omar Khadr after all.

  11. Darren K says:

    I use to call my local Conservative MP – James Moore in BC when ever another Canadian life was lost in the Afghan War. I never did get to talk to him, he never returned a single call. I eventually got the impression – yes, I am a slow learner – that he didn’t care. It certainly didn’t make a difference. So, when I read this week about the total reversal, and that now the LPOC didn’t seem to want to object, it didn’t surprise me that much. It disappointed me, that was for sure, but no surprise.

    Democracy died a long time ago in this world.

  12. jade says:

    Sometimes I think you’re pretty smart. Other times, occassionally, just the opposite or worse. Today you are on the mark in more ways than one.

  13. nic coivert says:

    This is a touchy one, but I don’t see how we could do otherwise, corporate imperialism trumps all here, especially with the arms of the western military’s up to their armpits, and what with an oil pipeline going going gone in and untapped mineral reserves plus all that opium, everyone wants a piece. This is realpolitik. I wish it were a better world. Afghanistan was never about altruism anyway, but altruism sold it.

  14. robert says:

    I understand your points as it applies to Ignatieff (he’s gotta go!) but on Harper? Cmon’, The day Harper said he was pulling out in 2011 I called BS. If I can see through the opaque pronouncements of ll Duce II how is it that the entire Liberal machine missed it, including the press? This was no surprise and Harper should have been held to account from day one of the pronouncement. All he did then was spout out to take the heat off.

  15. CQ says:

    What?s the alternative? Cut and run? Abandon our Nato and American allies (sorry, must never mention Amercian Troops) in Afghanistan? Wait for the UN?s Portugal and Germany to tell us our role?
    As to point #8: War is not a bad thing by default. It might be lousy, and it might be hell. I?m not so sure if I am still glad that there wasn?t a needed military call when I was a younger man ? never even heard of a recruiter at my Toronto area grade 9-13 high school or community college.
    I suspect my parents would rather that I had died in a military mission than simply limped along as a meaningless ineffectual failure in life.

    • Em says:

      Wow!

      You have dire choices …and unusual parents CQ! Limping along as opposed to goose-stepping, maybe?

      • CQ says:

        Not really.
        Things become clearer with 20+ years as an adult. I paid my way thru Ontario schooling and career ed., I worked in non-govt offices, made some fancy spreadsheets etc. Privately and smugly thought of myself ‘as better’. Never once earned a pot to piss in as the saying goes. Plus, throughout all these past couple of decades, I don’t think I’ve met what – as I readily knew of back when – a genuine ‘stand up guy’ (or gal) from my generation or younger, here in Toronto yet. I think a LOT of older Southern Ontarians, like my average folks, see it – just no one voices’ it. There’s just so much Namby Pamby talk bouncing around here.

  16. MississaugaPeter says:

    It’s sad that the first Liberal MP to speak out on this will be officially massacred, when they should be idolized.

    All you Justin backers, where is your idol?

    • James Curran says:

      Sure Pete. Where’s Gerard on this?

      • MississaugaPeter says:

        Honouring Canada’s Nobel Peace Prize Prime Minister …

        KennedyandFriends.ca

        … and taking his role as Environment Critic very seriously. In Japan 2 weeks ago and Alberta last week, working on a coherent Liberal Environmental Program.

        • James Curran says:

          I see. And Justin was sitting around watching Coronation Street or something. The point is the leader and his co-leader are out to lunch on this one. Why youre blaming Justin is beyond me. Why Kennedy and Justin aren’t going public with indignation and disgust is beyond me too. As I told you years ago, the fight within the Liberal party is generational. And the youth haven’t won yet.

          • MississaugaPeter says:

            Unfortunately, Justin, could make a principled attack at the status quo and survive, Gerard, if he was against the present stance, like all other MPs, could not.

            Thus, even though the far majority of Liberal MPs even voted against the present extension, they must sit with their mouths shut.

            The dauphin, on the other hand, can make a stance. If he is watching Coronation Street or not, I have no idea.

            WK can make a stance. So can you. And Justin, who even has middle aged men fawning over him, can make a stance.

            James, I don’t know why you brought up Gerard. He is like every other sitting MP who needs to get their nomination papers signed. He is not the dauphin. Even if he wanted to, and I am not suggesting that is the case, he could not make a public stance. Justin, the dauphin can, and if he had the backbone of his father, he would. If he did, he might have another middle aced man supporting him.

  17. I think that politics is best left out of military matters, at least as much as possible. If the military wants something, and the majority of the house, and Canadian people support it, then the petty bickering of the House should be avoided.

  18. Greg says:

    War missions should always be debated and voted on by parliment. This is the latest sad chapter in our nation going to war with no input from the people via their representatives. Other sad examples include:

    Mulrooney sends military to war in the first Gulf War, no vote
    Chretien send the Airforce to bomb the Serbs, no vote
    Chretien sends the Army to Afghanistan the first time, no vote
    Martin sends the troops south in the far more volatile southern part of the country, no vote.

    It keeps going on and on and on.

  19. Back in 2006 I started warning about Harper’s drive down the road — U.S. style — toward an unelected and/or unaccountable executive branch.

    You’ll remember that Harper did a secret deal with former Liberal cabinet minister David Emerson to do party switch the day after the election, and also appointed the unelected Fortier to cabinet despite having promised to Quebeckers during that election never to do so. Net result: Harper established a new precedent and reinforced an old but bad one. Not only that but in the process he devalued the very meaning of the vote directly for hundreds of thousands of electors and indirectly for everyone.

    Ever since election 06 we’ve witnessed Harper engage in attacks on our electoral democracy and on the purpose of parliament. For the most part the opposition has been ineffective in fighting him off during any of these skirmishes, and here we now have the defence fraternizing with the enemy itself to the detriment of us all.

    Shame on them all.

  20. Art Williams says:

    If it was important to Iggy and the Liberal Party they could use an Opposition Day to bring this matter to the house. They could even use it as a basis for a non-confidence motion. Sadly, I fear they won’t.

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      Art Williams,

      Tough decision, eh! Let’s see, do we go for a principled stand against training the Afghan Army, a failed excuse for a military force (which is implicitly recognized by Karzai and the Saudis as they “negotiate” (read surrender) to the Taliban” or do we continue on the current political trajectory — that of a protracted reach for power by the inevitably “successful” strategic tactic of delay.

  21. J Michaels says:

    You hit the bull’s eye.

  22. S. Peterson says:

    Proportional representation please. No other way out of this quagmire. And at all costs get rid of the dictator in the making. I will hold my nose and vote liberal to do that. The liberals may be quite dumb sometimes but their instincts are 1000 times better than those of the cons.

  23. Mattt Enss says:

    Warren, can you offer any insight into why the Liberals are going along with this? That’s what confuses me. It seems like they would be better off in the next election fighting against keeping troops in Afghanistan.

    • Warren says:

      I don’t have any connection with them whatsoever, sorry. I was appalled by the way the upper echelons of OLO treated some people who are near and dear, so I resigned any affiliation with them in a letter I sent to Ignatieff.

      This latest mess is worse than bad political strategy. It suggests they don’t really believe in anything. And it is the rule, sadly, not the exception.

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        Warren,

        You may have heard of this guy — a longtime Liberal by the name of Kinsella. Anyway, that guy has the strange idea that an opposition is meant to vigorously oppose a sitting government. I don’t quite get that. Watching the Liberal machine in action has left me with the impression that the options have narrowed considerably: there’s always agreement by default, consent by opting for radio silence and who can forget principled pronouncements followed by political inertia…

        I once thought we knew better than that. I now know we don’t.

      • Sean says:

        Isn’t there a biennial convention coming up this spring? Might be a good time to have a proper leadership convention…

  24. Michael Reintjes says:

    Warren wrote.. “and yet more combat roles for at least 1,000 troops”

    Where did you hear this part of your statement?

    • Namesake says:

      Well, this has kinda just been left hangin’ here, so allow me:

      The (up to) ‘1,000 troops’ was widely leak-nounced on Monday, with the caveat that it was to include up to 750 military trainers and at least 200 support staff.

      http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/11/08/afghanistan-extension-reaction.html

      Granted, it was also announced then & emphasized by Soudas & Hawn & various other gov’t spokespersons over the ensuing days that they are all to be deployed outside of Kandahar, and that this is intended to be a training mission ONLY.

      However, as most analysts & informed observers immediately pointed out, in that context, there is no absolute distinction between combat and training roles (only one of degrees): both because all the actual training there to date (and in the future, if it’s to be worthwhile) includes mentoring / accompanying the trainees into battle, and because anyone going in & out of “the wire” is at risk of being killed by roadside bombs, and indeed, even INSIDE the wire they’re at risk of being felled by incoming missiles.

      Greg Weston addresses some of these issues today, and not only questions whether it’s even true that 750 Canadian trainers are even needed, but also quoted no less an authority than Gen. Rick Hillier that,

      “You can come up with all kinds of schemes to hide away in a camp and train people for the Afghan army or police, but they lack credibility. If you try to help train and develop the Afghan army or police in southern Afghanistan, you are going to be in combat.”

      http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/11/11/greg-weston-troop-extension.html ; Hillier interview quote from:
      http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/10/23/gen-rick-hillier-on-his-biggest-strategic-error-the-talibans-comeback-and-whether-canada-should-stay-in-afghanistan-past-2011/

      And as the Prog blogger ‘pogge’s pointed out, just yesterday a NATO supply truck was attacked en route to the supposedly safe capital of Kabul where we’ll likely be based next.

      http://www.military-world.net/Afghanistan/4480.html

      http://www.pogge.ca/archives/003072.shtml

      • Michael Reintjes says:

        Interesting and informative reply…..but as someone with some knowledgge of the current mission, it is a little dishonest to outright claim the new deployment is a “combat”role. Having had friends and family in both Kandahar and Kabul I,m told that the situations are vastly different.I will say you are quite right to point out that any training or mentoring roles that Cdn forces take part in anywhere in the world are dangerous.
        I would say that we have certainly done our part and its probably time that some others should step up.I have no issues with Canada staying involved in mentoring roles in the Kabul arae and it sounds like most of parliament agree.

  25. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Namesake,

    This has about as much chance of building consensus as getting behind the statement that Harper is a great PM!

    Rightly so, the NDP and Bloc are a definite NO right out of the gate. That leaves Liberals twisting in the wind and awaiting further clarification other than what was personally conveyed by Cannon. You can flesh this one out until the cows come home but in the final analysis, we either bend to NATO pressure and cave — or we break and walk. I’m already on my second pair of running shoes.

  26. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,
    Namesake,

    I’m thinking Harper’s worst nightmare: It’s called a Free Liberal Party Vote in the Commons on Extended Afghan Training. Bring it on, please!

    • Sean says:

      uhhh… that would be the Liberal Party’s / Ignatieff’s worst nightmare… The caucus is guaranteed to be divided, while every other party will be strongly united one way or the other. The vote would definately be for an extension because the Tories only need about ten seats for a majority. Unless you are inferring that this would be the final nail in the coffin for Ignatieff’s disastrous, fiasco ridden leadership. Then, I would strongly agree with you.

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        Sean,

        With respect, what you suggest falls within the realm of the possible. But personally, I’d rather go down with most hands fighting than to spend one more interminable day as the convenient enabling party to this Conservative government.

  27. Michael Behiels says:

    This is a very black day for democracy in Canada.

    Even for those who have supported the Afghan mission from the start. But, like many others most of the liberal supporters are of the view that the Liberals badly mismanaged the process because they have lost their way.

    Now Harper’s hawkish Conservatives have demonstrated not once, not twice, but thrice how it is so easy to use the end, prosecuting an unfavourable war, to justify any means.

    The Liberals and Conservatives are trashing our Constitutional democracy, one in which the Constitutions is supreme over the executive, the Parliament and the courts.

    Harper always despised the Constitution Act, 1982 so he is doing his level best to destroy it. The real shocker in all of this is that Ignatieff is helping him along!!!!

    Check out section 52 of the Constitution Act, 1982.

    I said many months ago that the unthinking Liberals and the hawkish Conservatives would resort to anything to ensure that Canada’s Armed Forces would continue to wage war in Afghanistan after2011.

    And, as on two previous occasions the Liberal Leader has been badly outmanoevred by Harper once again on this most crucial of files.

    This back room accommodation of Canada’s autocratic Conservative and naive in the extreme Liberal political elites, with their respective media in tow, in order to trash our Constitutional democracy, is despicable and condescending.

    Harper is now guaranteed to win the next election before the Spring budget because many disillusioned liberals will now either stay home or vote NDP. Irate moderate NDPers will stick with Layton.

    And after their defeat, the Ignatieff liberals will be toast. And none too soon, I might add.

    The death of the Liberal Class in Canada and elsewhere is a very painful thing to watch.

    • terence says:

      Michael,
      The Liberal class is far from dead. I see grass roots revival all over the place. the party is staying close to the tories and waiting for an election. Iggy has put forward some good Liberal planks that will get newsworthy in a campaign.

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        terence,

        Please explain something to me. If Michael does not insist on a Commons vote, what effect will that have on the progressive forces in the party — not to mention the centrists who oppose further involvement in Afghanistan?

        To say ready, aye, ready, is to commit political suicide. It entrenches the pro-Afghanistan vote in the hands of Conservatives while alienating the left and much of the center.

        To my mind, not the winning recipe for an “eventual” federal election, is it…good, or even great, Liberal election planks aside.

  28. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Michael Behiels,

    Briefly put, hear, hear!

  29. I realy don’t understand the problem with a training mission. Are you suggesting that they are using the word “training” in a misleading manner?

  30. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    We need an opposition motion. I prefer that it be a Liberal one but hey, I’m not that particular who finally gets the credit. If it takes an NDP or Bloc opposition day to get the job done, so be it. But then again, watch this Prime Minister “reschedule” opposition days to avoid a vote. He may think he can get away with that. Canadians, on the other hand, are likely to provide him with evidence suggesting otherwise.

    Those favouring an extension are breaking their word to the Canadian people. There have to be political consequences — and trust me, there will be.

  31. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    It might be instructive to hear what Turner, Chretien and Martin have to say. Will they all potentially sing from the same song book or will they also reflect the true and legitimate divisions in the party and in Canadian society as a whole?

    We need to get their input as former prime ministers. After all, they can’t undercut the leader — unless, the Liberal position is already final and sealed in concrete.

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