PING!
Posted on 09/06/2006 5:02:18 AM PDT by GMMAC
Guess what, war is hell
Toronto Sun
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN
For all those who wondered what the mindless, idiotic repetition of the phony idea that we are a "peacekeeping" nation would do to Canadians over the long term, now we know.
Today, we can't stomach 32 military deaths fighting for a just cause before crying "uncle."
Shame on us.
Shame on us for betraying our soldiers, who continue to do the tough job we asked them to do for us in Afghanistan.
Where would we be today if our parents and grandparents had displayed the same lack of resolve toward Hitler? Was nobody listening a year ago when then defence minister Bill Graham -- one of the few Liberals who has acted with honour on Afghanistan -- repeatedly warned us that we were undertaking a dangerous new mission in Kandahar?
That our soldiers would be helping to free Afghanistan from the iron grip of the terrorist-loving Taliban and that there would be heavy Canadian casualties?
Was no one listening when Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier warned us our troops would be hunting down "murderers and scumbags" who would be firing back and that our soldiers would be killed?
Oh, but that's right. When Hillier said that last year, he was pounced upon by the high foreheads in the Ottawa press gallery for speaking out of turn. In other words, for telling us the truth. Such is the sad state of our know-it-all national media, who think a "nuanced" position in foreign affairs means forever proclaiming our "neutrality" in conflicts where we should not be neutral, while blathering about "peacekeeping" in places where there is no peace to keep.
And since, in fact, more than 100 Canadians have died in "peacekeeping" operations since 1956, would somebody please tell the cut-and-run crowd led by federal NDP Leader Jack Layton that "peacekeeping" was never without risk, contrary to the myths that politicians like him have spun over the years?
A year ago, when Gen. Hillier was explicitly warning us about the deadly and difficult task awaiting our soldiers in Kandahar and that "we're not the public service of Canada, we are the Canadian Forces and our job is to be able to kill people," Layton never said, as he is now, that we should abandon our military mission there. In fact, he said the exact opposite.
Back then, Layton said that "given what has happened" -- a reference to last July's terrorist bombings of the London transit system -- Gen. Hillier's "controlled anger" was "an appropriate response" and that "we have a very committed, level-headed head of our armed forces who isn't afraid to express the passion that underlies the mission that front-line personnel are going to be taking on."
Yeah, Layton said that.
So could someone in Ottawa ask him how he squares what he said then with what he's saying now, that we should run away and -- God help us -- negotiate with the Taliban?
Uh, negotiate what with the Taliban, Jack? The separation of mosque and state? Women's and children's rights? Union contracts with mandatory bathroom breaks for suicide bombers? C'mon!
The sad spectacle of Layton going wobbly on a mission he supported a year ago speaks to why the NDP isn't up to the job of running a lemonade stand, let alone the country.
And Layton isn't even the root problem. He's the symptom.
He sums up perfectly the attitude of too many of us who think that supporting our soldiers means shedding a tear when the latest war casualties are returned to Canada today, while demanding that our troops be brought home. This, while mindlessly screeching that "Stephen Harper is a Bush clone," which ignores the rather salient point that while Harper supports the Kandahar mission, Paul Martin sent us there.
In any event, respecting our soldiers doesn't mean shedding crocodile tears over our war dead. It means honouring their sacrifice by giving their comrades the support they need to finish the job.
It means deciding -- before we put our soldiers in harm's way -- whether we have the stomach for it. Because if we don't, we should never have sent them in the first place.
PING!
About a year ago or so, before the current Canadian government, I made a number of negative comments about the Canadian military. I am sorry about that, and am happy to see their commitment to the war against terrorism.
Save your negative comments for socialist/communist/leninist party leader Jack@ss Layton, who is a wicked anti-American b@st@rd, who needs to be grabbed by the neck, pushed up against a wall, and told in no uncertain terms to.....well, you know what i mean.
They may well be from a foreign country,but they were,[and are],brothers in arms.My heart goes out to these brave men and women who answered the call.Canada very well knows the dangers the radicals have planned for ALL of us.It is good to see that in their prior administrations,appeasement will not work.The citizens have seen it,and have chosen to do what needs to be done.No matter how ugly events may be.Bless those brave and honorable men and women.
Instant classic ... and so true. I'm glad to see facets of the media jumping on this.
Funny stuff.
What a jack@ss he is; a smiling, friendly, socialist jack@ss.
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