Canada ping!
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
Posted on 07/05/2006 7:32:53 AM PDT by Clive
WASHINGTON - George W. Bush will spend much of his 60th birthday tomorrow in White House meetings with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but it is doubtful the U.S. President will worry how much his Canadian counterpart spends on a gift.
What is more likely is the U.S. President will thank Mr. Harper for opening his government's pocketbook and spending billions to buff up Canada's military.
Senior Pentagon officials are thrilled with the Conservative government's plan to spend $17.1-billion on new military hardware, an investment viewed by the Bush administration as payoff for years of lobbying to get Canada to beef up its military.
"What's really significant about it is that you're doing it with upfront money," said Admiral Edmund Giambastiani Jr., the vice-chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. "You are setting an example for the other 25 nations within NATO to make these kinds of investments. It's a really big deal."
Admiral Giambastiani's comments, in an interview with Global National, follow a string of announcements last week by Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor detailing Ottawa's plan to purchase new tactical airlift planes, 16 new helicopters and 2,300 military trucks and to build three naval supply ships.
The announcements were carefully timed in advance of Mr. Harper's meeting with Mr. Bush, who has long favoured leaders he perceives as hawkish on national security and the war on terror.
The Conservative government's decision to extend the deployment of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, and its emphasis on reinvesting in the military, has only enhanced the positive first impression the White House had of Mr. Harper after the first meeting with Mr. Bush last March in Cancun, Mexico, U.S. officials say.
During the first years of Mr. Bush's presidency, the U.S. frequently complained Canada was not pulling its weight in NATO. Federal cuts in military funding were part of the reason the U.S. President never warmed to former prime minister Jean Chretien.
Paul Cellucci, a close Bush ally and former U.S. ambassador to Canada, credits "new leadership" for the change in military policy, while also praising former prime minister Paul Martin for beginning the reinvestment in the Canadian Forces.
"To see that those commitments are now being followed through on, I think it is quite significant and quite important," Mr. Cellucci said at a recent forum on Canada-U.S. relations sponsored by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
With the United States engaged in a protracted war in Iraq, American military officials welcome any sign their NATO partners are investing in areas that can ease their burden in other war theatres.
"Canada is putting its money where its mouth is and it's transforming and reinvesting in new capabilities," Admiral Giambastiani said. "Canada will not only be able to take care of Canadian Forces but they'll be able to help out the rest of the [NATO] alliance. They'll help to transport others. They'll help to resupply others."
Mr. Harper arrives in Washington late this afternoon for a 24-hour visit that is heavy on business and light on pleasure.
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As if $17 BILLION is a big deal on military ?
Hell, we spend over $100 BILLION a year just on pandering to illegal, law-breaking, alien Mexicans.
Alien Mexicans make up 10-30% of our armed forces.
Many are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Canada ping!
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
"Federal cuts in military funding were part of the reason the U.S. President never warmed to former prime minister Jean Chretien."
That and also being a flamingly arrogant, liberal idiot didn't help relations either I suppose.
Do you have an authority?
My son-on-law is a US Navy P3 pilot, currently "on loan" to the RCAF in Nova Scotia =teaching their boys how to fly...
He and my daughter, and 3 little granddaughters, love it up there. (It's fun to watch the little girls, in school up there, sing, "Oh Canada.....God Bless the Queen.)
Their next deployment will be Corpus Christi - they have been there before - and not overjoyed at the thought...
Two years ago Mexicans were reported to make up 8.7% of the U.S. Military.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3326.htm
Alien Mexicans make up 10-30% of our armed forces.
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This issue is, and always has been, ILLEGAL aliens, not legal aliens.
"hawkish on national security and the war on terror"
A new descriptor = "hawkish". Is there an equivalent for the Liberals who cut spending on equipment vital to the safety of our troops?
"feeblish", "weakish", "derelictish", "negligentish"...
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3326.htm
Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy demanded that Mexican immigration authorities ``act with greatest firmness and the heaviest hand,'' and state officials implied U.S. recruiters would be detained the next time.
More Mexican hypocrisy following closely after Fox's US victory tour.
... how 'bout "chickenshitish" or the still more concise "gutlesslyandmoronicallypoliticallycorrectish" or the by far most accurate descriptor: "treasonous".
center for immigration studies says 4-5% for all nationalities
http://www.cis.org/articles/2003/markoped042203.html
As most people didn't know until a month ago, the military welcomes enlistment of non-citizens; more than 37,000 lawful permanent residents (green-card holders) serve in the military, where they account for about three percent of active-duty personnel.
"This issue is, and always has been, ILLEGAL ALIENS, not legal aliens"
That may be the case for you, but not all on FR. There are many that hate and despise illegal, legal Mexicans, and Americans of Mexican ancestry.
A $17 billion defense spending increase in a country about one-tenth the size of the U.S. is equivalent to a $170 billion increase in U.S. defense spending.
It is if you spend it wisely..
We are rich enough to piss away hundreds of billions like y'alls do..
I hope it stays that way because that is not always the sense I have gotten from several threads.
That and the Canadian Military has gone through years of budget cuts. The libs basically starved them out. The $17 billion is a start ... there will be more as long as the Conservatives can stay in power.
My take is that if Canada is finally on a war footing, which like back in 1944 means the Allies are finally really allying, that spells big trouble for the scumballs. It is now out of the political arena.
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