Posted on 04/11/2009 9:08:53 PM PDT by adanaC
Canadian warship thwarts pirates again
For the second time in a week, a Canadian warship has helped fend off a potential attack from pirates off the coast of Somalia.
The HMCS Winnipeg — which is taking part in the NATO-led counter-piracy mission known as Operation Allied Protector — and a Spanish ship responded Friday night after a civilian vessel sent out a distress call following an apparent pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden.
(Excerpt) Read more at canada.com ...
And on so many other deals.
The Shaming of America
No dispute there...it's always the U.S., U.K. and Canada. I give credit to Denmark and the Netherlands...but these are tiny countries and you know exactly who I'm referring to. NATO is a joke.
"Whatever the reason, Canada didn't join us in Iraq. The UK, Spain, Italy, and others were under no obligation to join us, but they did. Canada didn't join us in Vietnam either."
Yes, and every country you mention had conservative leaders at the time with the exception of the U.K. Leadership matters - countries don't take plebecites on whether they go to war. The Left is the Left everywhere. The U.K. didn't join us in Vietnam either though, so please, if you're going to hold that against Canada, than piss on the U.K. too huh? Of course we didn't help the U.K. in the Suez Crisis or in the Falklands...
"Canada's military has become a joke with just 50,000 personnel on active duty. Canada spends about 1% of its GDP on defense. And Afghanistan has weaked the military so much that the army must take a year off."
Canada shares a border with two NATO allies - Denmark, and the U.S., the world's only superpower...do you blame them for finding other spending priorities? Especially in light of having a population of just over 33 million people, about the same as California. If Canada with 33 million people, and 50,000 on active duty, spending 1% of GDP on their military is pathetic, then I assume you would make the same argument about the U.K., with a population of 66 million, with just 180,000 active duty, spending 2.4% of GDP...and you could make the same argumnet about the U.S. using similar raw data...numbers don't tell the whole story. Especially when you consider that Canada has suffered the 3rd highest combat deaths in Afghanistan. They are more than pulling their own weight there.
"The military may need a one-year break from operations starting July 2011 when the Afghanistan mission winds down, the head of Canada's army said Monday. Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie told the Senate defence committee Monday that the Canadian Forces have been strained by the mission that began seven years ago and need time to regroup."
The U.K. has taken a similar break by pulling almost completely out of Iraq. Smaller countries need breaks...and I'll bet our troops could use one too. France has taken a break since 1815.
"I am in no way diminishing the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, but Canada is not pulling its weight as a member of NATO generally and has allowed its military to wither and almost die. It is far easier to have the Americans shoulder the burden, both in blood and treasure."
No, referring to their military as a 'joke' and claiming that they're not pulling their weight...particulalry as members of NATO (despite being 3rd on the combat death list in Afghanistan) is no diminshment!
canadian population = 32 million approx.
USA = 300 million
USA economy probably well over 100x that of Canada
remove (ah) quebec from the picture... not much left, people that is:)
Well stated! Plus the fact Canada has a conservative Prime Minister.
Wouldn't it be interesting if one msm outlet would bring up why teddy is nicknamed "the swimmer"?
Oh, give it a rest
Everyone here knows about their socialized medicine, extreme taxes and inflation that many years of socialist rule has wrought, but they now have a conservative leader to lead them out of the abyss, while a majority of our citizens voted to jump in.
Beating them up on successful news of thwarting pirates while our POS leaders screw the pooch in the same arena with an infinately larger and more capable force is, well, extremely poor form.
Have a Happy Easter.
I await the story linking the pirates with American guns.
The only problem with the Canadian military is there isn’t enough of them!
Canada also took in our planes full of people on 9/11. There was no telling who was on the planes at the time. They treated our people like family.
Maybe the Canadians can do what Herr Hussein cannot bring himself to do - save our ship captain!
not much good is it just intercepting them by rolling a banner satying stop
all this means is that the pirates move on to another ship to rob
placing a banner saying stop is hardly doing much is it.
The pirates waved to the helicopter and then went away to find another ship.
not much good is it
the UK has lost more soldiers than Canada in Afghanistan and Canada refuses and has refused to help us in Iraq.
The UK is by far the best ally we have,They have been in helmund province for year and by far the worst place there. though I am thankful for at least Canada helping along with other countries in Afghanistan
Maybe the Canadians can rescue our hostage as US forces are stymied from doing so by Obama.
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