Someone has their fingers crossed in a big way:
MacKay expects NATO will supply more troops
Defence Minister Peter MacKay thinks NATO will come through with an additional 1,000 troops to bolster beleaguered Canadian forces in Afghanistan's Kandahar province...
Arif Lalani, Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan, told CTV's Question Period on Sunday that he was also confident that NATO would come through for Canada.
As to who would supply them, "I think those discussions are ongoing," he said.
And a pony. Peter wants a pony, too.
Hit it, boys:
7 comments:
France mb. Poland has already ponyed up (see what I did there?) more special forces.
Oh I’m sure they’ll manage to cobble together sufficient forces to meet their arbitrary threshold for continued pointlessness in this misshapen multinational venture. Because, you know… a few hundred French paratroopers, some Polish helicopters, a couple of drone aircraft, and bit more surplus equipment from the German Wermacht is all going to be sooooooo entirely helpful to our troops’ “mission” of “re-building” Afghanistan. Yes, it’s a truly brilliant plan the DoD has got cooking now! I mean, how could something that’s the product of ill-considered, reality-challenged expediency by two parties that between the both of them couldn’t find their own rectums with a GPS tracking system possibly fail?
I tell you, sometimes it's awfully lonely being one of the only lefties that thinks we should be in Afghanistan...
I bet. It’s not like our “good intentions” are lacking, but the effort is fundamentally misguided. In my opinion, at least.
I just posted this at another place, so pardon my cut and paste and the fact that it doesn't totally sync with the flow of discussion here. Oh, and the fact that the guy I was replying to is playing semantic games with me to the point that I'd be happy to bash his head in with a hammer...
"No it doesn't. Not at all. If even a few kids get to experience a period where they can go to school and learn, where they can see their dad's and Mom's live a bit longer, where they can get medical treatment, mb some nice clean water, even if only for a few years, it creates a small pocket within a generation that will stand up and say "fuck you buddy, I'm not going backwards again.".
That's all that peacekeeping and making is, a buffer. Any of the places we've been, either under Chapter 6 or 7, are only that, the gift of time.
When the UN rolled into Cyprus there is no way that people could reasonably expect that it would calm down, same thing with the Balkans, with any number of other places. The goal has always been to give them time, time to see that there is a better way, time to have a few people develop skill other than "child soldier", time to be kids, to get a chance to do something else than die.
That's it. That's all we've ever given them, whether our troops were wearing blue berets or camo helmets.
So yes, we can accomplish things. We already have. Things aren't great, they aren't all flowers and sunshine, but the point is that we're trying to give them that time.
This shit where people say "oh they should stand up, we've given them time to do it" is BS. It's a fucking pathetic cop out. Afghanistan is like a guy sick with cancer. After the first course of chemo doesn't seem to do anything you don't just throw up your hands and go "oh well, his body isn't fighting back. Fuck it." and give up..."
Red Tory, to be clear, the annoyance in that cut and paste is not at all directed at you...
None taken and I fully appreciate the humanitarian sentiments of many people who support the war for the best of reasons. Who wouldn’t want to see the lot of these unfortunate people improved; to see them experience freedom from religious oppression, a sense of personal security and the basic amenities and standards of civil society? Unfortunately, that’s not what appears to be happening for the most part. The heinously inept government that our troops is helping prop up is a deeply corrupt criminal enterprise that couldn’t give a toss for the common welfare or aspirations of its own citizens, being more concerned with exploiting the illicit drug economy and siphoning off aid and “reconstruction” money for the selfish gain of its own tribal elites and their networks of cronies.
Post a Comment