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Canada's Defence Minister Says We're Not At War

Tell that to the soldiers who are getting shot at and returning fire in war-ravaged Afghanistan. Tell that to the families back home that have buried their sons and daughters.

The Press Thinks We're At War

The price of war is a high one
Bob Vrbanac, Waterloo

(Oct 18, 2006) Reports came in over the weekend that two more NATO troops were killed in an ambush in the Kandahar area of Afghanistan. With Canadian Forces doing the bulk of the fighting in that area, too many of us knew what that meant -- two more flag-draped coffins coming home to Canada. That brings the number of Canadian service personnel killed to 42. To put that in perspective, Canadians haven't suffered casualties of that magnitude since the Korean conflict more than 50 years ago. Even now some people have trouble calling Korea a war, but that's exactly what it was. And that's exactly what Afghanistan is -- it's a war with casualties. And that's something more Canadians have to realize. It's the slow realization that young Canadian women and men are making the ultimate sacrifice for this country. And with the mission extending until 2008, we'd better get used to it. I, like many Canadians, am conflicted in my feelings regarding Afghanistan. It pulls at your heart strings every time you hear another Canadian has given his or her life for this country. We're not used to asking people to pay that price. A lot of us have grown up as Cold War warriors -- children of the atomic age -- with the nuclear clock poised near midnight. In those days, war was an all or nothing proposition, with no hope of winning. That all changed in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, signalling the end of the struggle between communism and the western democracies. Some proclaimed it the end of history, saying it would in usher an era of peace and better understanding. But the first Gulf War in 1991 showed how short-sighted that perspective was, as did the many examples of man's inhumanity towards each other over the next decade in places like Bosnia and Rwanda. It's cliché now to say the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 changed things, when it was really places like Bosnia and Rwanda that showed there was a new dynamic at play. Canadians couldn't just sit on the sidelines and play referee while warring parties committed atrocities against non-combatants. We saw that new doctrine at work in Kosovo when NATO intervention, including Canadian war planes, prevented a genocide from unfolding. Peacekeeping doesn't work as well in modern conflicts where tribalism and religion have upped the ante. It requires peace-making missions with well-equipped troops on the ground, ready to take an active role in the conflict. That brings us to Afghanistan, not to be confused with Iraq and mistakes made there by the George W. Bush regime. There was universal agreement that Afghanistan was the rogue nation after 9/11, serving as a terrorist staging area, while committing its own genocide against women and others who didn't share the Taliban's strict interpretation of the Qur'an. That's who Canadians are there to protect. And it's a mission that should be supported, upholding our own Canadian ideals of tolerance and the freedoms found in our Charter of Rights. It's a shame politicians like Jack Layton, who was in Waterloo last week, leave a confusing impression of our role in Afghanistan. Yet, in the very same breath they ask us to do the same work in areas like Darfur, which is facing its own genocide. The price of defending our Canadian ideals in the world is high, as we're finding out in Afghanistan. But it's a price that Canadians have paid before. Just ask our Second World War veterans if it was worth it.

Our veterans of WW2 and Korea fought a different type of war. Things changed drastically in the Vietnam War - the tide changed for superior-powered troops when their enemy started fighting a guerrila war. Now the Allied soldier doesn't know who his enemy is. He could be relaxing in his compound off duty while his enemy meanders around unchallenged. Civilians driving ordinary vehicles are crashing into our troops.
How do you defend against that?

The time has come for all concerned to realize that the enemy cannot be defeated in a guerrila war. If Canadian troops are to participate in this war on terrorism than they must fight a conventional war. President Bush and his generals calling the shots must start carpetbombing the enemy and destroying anything and everything inhabitating the enemy's land. That means killing men, women and children. It's not a nice thought, but war is hell and if you want to win a war you have to be prepared to fight a war.

Better That Than Continue Burying Canadian Troops Fighting A War That Cannot Be Won

On Monday you drop leaflets advising everyone that this area for one hundred miles will be bombed in two days. On Wednesday you start bombing from the western border of the enemy's land and destroy everything for a hundred miles. As the bombing moves east, troops are dropped in and they follow the bombing until the eastern border is reached or the enemy surrenders.

It would be interesting to see how the easterly fleeing civilians suddenly drop their support for the Taliban and give up Osama Bin Laden.

It's That Simple

Too harsh you say? Tell that to the families who have buried their sons and daughters.