Posts Tagged by afghanistan war
Galloway’s Banning Raises Questions
| 3/22/2009 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News, Canadian Politics |
The Conservative government has denied controversial British MP George Galloway entry to Canada. He was due to arrive here next week for a speaking engagement. There appears to be some confusion over what the ban is about.
The Sun (British paper) reported it as being about his stand against the Afghanistan war while papers and some so called ‘officials’ this side of the pond attribute it to their claims of his supporting terrorism. In particular, they condemn him for his recently leading a convoy of 100 British citizens and vehicles into Gaza with humanitarian aid to the people there.
Canada, actually the minority Conservatives, refuse to recognize the elected Hamas government in Gaza as they are so staunchly supportive of Israel. Hamas and Hezbollah are legally terrorist groups under Canadian law. Galloway claims he will use every legal means available to him to fight the ban and will look at other ways of speaking to the group from outside Canadian borders, like presumably, teleconferencing. (more…)
Let Them Not Die in Vain
| 3/5/2009 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
Tomorrow, at about 2pm, a plane carrying the remains of three fallen Canadians will touch down in Trenton, ON. They were killed in Afghanistan late Tuesday by a roadside bomb as they returned from dismantling another roadside bomb. With great ceremony and dignity the caskets will be borne to waiting hearsts and family watched from a respectful distance by the press and the public.
A motorcade will form, containing the hearses, the families, military escorts and eventually police. The motorcade will travel the portion of Canada’s busiest highway known as the Highway of Heroes where Canadians will turn out on bridges along the route to show their respects to these brave men who went to this far off land in the belief they could make a difference.
Last week during an interview on CNN Stephen Harper, as he is so want to pontificate, pronounced the Afghanistan war unwinnable. On the face of that statement, it must have really left ours and other troops wondering just what the hell they are doing there. Part of the problem is that Harper was so busy trying to be a big man on stage that he didn’t give much thought to what he had to say.
If the definition of “winning” is based on the terms of a conventional war, he’s right. Afghanistan, like Iraq, are not conventional wars. They are wars against an enemy that is rather loosely definied and clearly not organized enough to fight in conventional terms. Unconventional wars aka insurgencies demand a different definition of ‘winning’. (more…)
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