And op-ed from north o' the border brings up a very interesting point.
Convenient, too, is the Washington connection. Bruised by Iraq, Afghanistan and the economy, the U.S. is edging back into itself, a trend with profound implications for Canadian armed forces that function best and most comfortably in operations led by the Pentagon and blessed by the State Department. No matter how isolationist the U.S. becomes, the Caribbean will remain a vital interest and a region where Canadian assistance will be noticed and appreciated in much the same way as President Barack Obama is now making a public point of recognizing this country's Haiti effort.
Read that again:
for Canadian armed forces that function best and most comfortably in operations led by the Pentagon and blessed by the State Department
Wha?!
So the Canadians (or at least this one) seem to think that their military is best deployed in support of out missions? Wow... I'm sure we can find some Canucks to dispute that!
By: Brant
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1 comment:
Yes, you certainly can find some Canadians to dispute that. The current Prime Minister has overseen a dramatic increase in military spending, welcome after many years of deliberate neglect by the previous party - that nevertheless was quite happy to send an underpaid, underequipped and inadequately supported military into places it never should have gone.
However, this same PM has kept us in Afghanistan, a place where most Canadians (at least nowadays) think we shouldn't be either, because this was an "operation led by the Pentagon", etc. and he thinks that the best way to retain friendly relations with the United States is for our soldiers to be auxilia to the Legions.
In my view both PMs have, in their own ways, misused a fine military for bad political reasons and allowed it to shred itself to rags, either through neglect or overuse.
The article also neglects to mention Canada's role in the 1990s in participating in putting on the screws and eventually allowing the overthrow of Aristide. We helped to break it, and we've partly bought it.
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