Posts Tagged by Afghanistan
Murder Charge Debate
| 1/6/2009 | Posted by Patti under General |
The new year started off with a Canadian soldier serving in Afghanistan being charged with second degree murder in the death of an unarmed presumed insurgent during a battle in Helmand province that took place in October. Captain Robert Semrau, a member of the Operational Mentoring Liaison Team who train and work with the fledgling Afghan army was charged Dec. 31st. He’s in custody and being returned to Canada where he will face a hearing to determine if he will remain in custody until his case is heard.
We all need to remember that Captain Semrau like any Canadian is entitled to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Until the details of the charges and the alleged incident come out, we don’t need to be rushing to judgement.
Dion Needs to Find a Posture
| 3/12/2008 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
You know, I’ve often been of the opinion that if you don’t really have the courage of your convictions, or for that matter, any convictions — you keep a low profile and keep your mouth shut. That likely came about from my late father often commenting about keeping ones mouth shut rather than opening it and proving yourself the fool.
These days, Dion and some other Liberals are doing a real good job of proving the wisdom of that advice. This behaviour of mouthing to the media and anyone who will listen that the Harper Conservatives are the ‘worse’ government ever for whatever soapbox of the day topic and then either walking out or failing to even show up to defeat them is utter spineless crap.
Ok, the Liberals aren’t ready to fight an election. Fine, believe it or not, Canadians are adult enough to realize that. If the Liberals aren’t able to vote in favour of the government policies and aren’t bothered enough by the government’s actions to bring them down then bloody stand up and say so. (more…)
Hillier Calls for Clarity ASAP
| 2/23/2008 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan, Canadian Politics |
Apparently I wasn’t really making a broad leap earlier this week when I speculated that the three suicide bombings in Kandahar province, one clearly targeting Canadians, may be as much about the Taliban terrorizing and killing as it was about them trying to influence politics back here in Canada:
Making a similar connection yesterday Canada’s top soldier, Rick Hillier, appealed to the government to bring the debate on the future of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan to a conclusion as soon as possible. He also suggested that once concluded that an all party motion declaring support of the troops could go a long way toward good troop morale. (more…)
Finally, Some Non-Partisan Action
| 2/22/2008 | Posted by Patti under General |
Looks as though Harper is determined enough to have the mission in Afghanistan continue that he was willing to meet Dion more than half-way in order to come up with a motion that would pass the House.
The government yesterday revised the motion on the mission to include most of the language that the Liberal counter-motion the week before included. There is one main which is, instead of the mission in Afghanistan ending February 2011 it would end in July 2011 with a full redeployment by the end of December. The motion doesn’t specify that the troops will be completely out of Afghanistan, just that they will be moved out of Kandahar province. It also doesn’t rule out combat action after February 2009 which the Liberals had originally demanded. (more…)
Violent Surge in Kandahar Province
| 2/19/2008 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan |
On Sunday a suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a dog fight event just outside Kandahar city killing about 100 people, including the anti-Taliban police chief of Kandahar province. The Taliban denied any responsibility for the attack, yeah right. The governor of Kandahar claims he warned the police chief several times that he was in danger but he was ignored.
On Monday, a suicide bomber apparently targeted a Canadian military convoy in Spin Boldak a busy town near the Afghan / Pakistan border. Four Canadian soldiers were slightly injured and about 38 Afghan civilians were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility and at the same time claimed that no civilians were killed, just security forces. (more…)
Baby Steps — Hopefully Forwarded
| 2/4/2008 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan, Canadian Politics, General |
CanWest is reporting today that Poland is prepared to let Canada share two of their helicopters that they have in Afghanistan. In a speech in Ottawa this morning, their foreign minister declared that Poland is unequivocal in their support for the NATO mission. Poland has 1,200 troops in southeastern Afghanistan and eight helicopters. They serve without caveats limiting where they are deployed. The foreign minister also indicated as the Polish troops are withdrawn from Iraq more contributions may be made in Afghanistan.
I read some where else on the web today that France has over 700,000 men and women in uniform. Now I’m beginning to understand why much of the spotlight is on both them and Germany to provide troops to actually take part in establishing security instead of taking up residence in less volatile areas of the country. France needs to remember that the very countries they are leaving to struggle getting the job done were the ones who liberated them 60+ years ago.
Meanwhile back on the ranch… Dion and Taliban Jack are supposed to be having a meeting today. Dion is reportedly going to urge Taliban Jack to recognize that Canada has international commitments that means we need to stay in Afghanistan and Taliban Jack is reportedly going to urge Dion to support him in pushing Canada into a cowardly exit right away. Two brick walls talking to each other, sounds like something that should be filmed for YouTube.
Taliban Jack Wants to Bolt From Kandahar
| 2/2/2008 | Posted by Patti under General |
Jack Layton the leader of the federal NDP party has long advocated that Canadian troops should be completely withdrawn from Afghanistan and brought home. Now he’s stated his willingness to have Canada raise the white flag for the first time in our history. Great warrior and military analyst that Taliban Jack is, he’s decreed that no international troops can win against the Taliban in that region, it is pointless to be there and our troops need to be brought home now.
His remarks were part of a speech he recently gave at the University of Ottawa. Geeze, that is the best the university can find to speak to our young people? The text of the speech is rift with lies and misrepresentations of the mission in Afghanistan which twisted his way to the conclusion that Canada should run while the running is good. (more…)
Strange Harper Clone Appears Before National Media
| 1/29/2008 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan, Canadian Politics |
Some guy looking like, sounding like and claiming to be Stephen Harper appeared before the media yesterday to talk about Manley’s report. What made the media, and others question, who this guy was is that what came out of this guy’s mouth was a bit of humble speak which included sounding like someone who would compromise and work with at least one other party to make the Afghanistan mission work.
It is a side of Harper that I don’t know I’ve ever actually seen in motion. I know I’d like to see more of it, a lot more. Who knows,
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