If we lined 66 Canadian flag-covered coffins in a row, would we care any more?
Six Canadian soldiers died yesterday. Now is not the time to call the troops home from Afghanistan, our prime minister tells the nation.
I agree with Stephen Harper 100 per cent. Now is not the time to pull Canada's troops out of harm's way. The time was yesterday.
In fact, in keeping with Canadian sentiment, we should have brought the soldiers home before they got there.
I listened as Mr. Harper, Liberal leader Stephane Dion and New Democrat Jack Layton dance around the dead.
Mr. Harper keeps echoing George W. Bush's outdated and empty sentiments, while the best the Grits and New Dippers can do is not support extending the Canadian tour of duty beyond 2009.
In other words, the message from the Opposition is this: It's OK to keep killing. However, once we reach the magic day in February 2009, it will not longer be OK. lt will turn into a bad thing.
I can see it now — every damned politician will take to the stage, endorse the pullout, salute in military style and praise the dead.
As the days creep by, it saddens me who is in charge and who wants to be in charge. We are, indeed, living in leaderless times.
Worse yet, the country has slipped into a bloody coma.
Canada is so deep in sleep, we couldn't see 66 coffins standing in a row. Every damned one of us deserves to have a spine-chilling nightmare.
For the love of 66 dead soldiers, wake up.
Many members of the Canadian public are aware and upset at the state of the Afghanistan mission. Many do not understand the controversies surrounding the mission due to lack of reliable information.
It is a crass political tactic to suggest that those of us who do not support the mission are somehow unpatriotic or do not support our brave troops. This is just not true.
Many of us feel that Canada's troops are better suited to a mission more in keeping with Canada's reputation as a peacekeeper, negotiator, and rebuilder.
To be clear on the Green Party's stance on this issue, see this press release from April 2007.
http://www.greenparty.ca/en/releases/09.04.2007
Posted by: Glenn Hubbers | July 07, 2007 at 01:39 PM