As our troops are fighting and training Afghanis in Afghanistan. I cannot help but be outraged at the comments from the members of the opposition about Libya.
First and foremost Bob Rae making comments like PMO Jihadists, I feel he needs to publically apologise to the PMO staffers. Despite the fact that I am related to him through my mother Christina Rae. This foreign affairs critic should know that language and terminology like he used is not what we expect from a parliamentarian. As for Iggy and taliban Jack weighing in and saying that the Government is not doing enough to get Canadians out of Libya. They should realise that despite the terrible events, there are diplomatic protocols which must be observed. One of the Chartered aircraft that went in to Libya left with Zero Canadians on board. As for sending in JTF2 and a C-17 once again to use our military there are protocols and security to be concerned about.
The numbers of Canadians registered says that many Canadians have never registered with our embassy. 300 one report then a thousand how many Canadians are actually there?
I can say this with full personal knowledge, when you work or visit any foreign country you should register with the Embassy or Consulate. If no Canadian Embassy in that country then register with a commonwealth embassy ie: UK, Australia, even India. While I was working in Azerbaijan there was no Canadian Embassy nor consulate so I registered with the UK Embassy.
In Algeria 1992 the FIS separatist Islamic party started to cut throats of foreigners working in Algeria in an effort to have all westerners leave. We were on a phase 2 alert which was one lower than a 3 Full Evacuation. At no time did I or anyone I worked with expect the Canadian Military to come and evacuate us. We had 3 escape plans by road to Morocco, by sea to Spain or if we were able to get to the Oran airport wait for any aircraft departing. When you work for expatriate companies most of them have an evacuation plan in place for their workers and their families. This is a normal procedure in expatriate work. When one goes to a dangerous area of the world to earn a living one takes their chances.
We eventually went to phase 3 and were fortunate enough to get an Air France flight out to Marseilles.
Read this site about the FIS if you are interested and compare it to Libya.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algerian_Civil_War
So I say to Bob Rae Izzy and taliban jack perhaps if you had experience as a civilian expatriate you could speak with confidence and personal knowledge about evacuations.
Canadians on the whole are respected the world over, part of this is that we do not use military solutions as the first means of evacuating Canadians from foreign soil.
This link was sent to me by a Veteran and friend it is an ABC news video. It shows you what troops in Afghanistan face.
Subject: One Heck of a Video - Be Prepared
What you are about to see. You know that a "RPG" is a rocket propelled grenade.
This is above beyond any definition of bravery! Read before watching this video.
The story is about Channing Moss, who was impaled by a live RPG during a Taliban ambush while on patrol.
Army protocol says that medevac choppers are never to carry anyone with a live round in him.
Even though they feared it could explode, the flight crew said damn the protocol and flew him to the nearest aid station.
Again, protocol said that in such a case the patient is to be put in a sandbagged area away from the surgical unit, given a shot of morphine and left to wait (and die) until others are treated. Again, the medical team ignored the protocol.
Here's a short video put together by the Military Times, which includes actual footage of the surgery where Dr. John Oh, a Korean immigrant who became a naturalized citizen and went to West Point , removed the live round with the help of volunteers and a member of the EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) team. Moss has undergone six operations but is doing well at home in Gainesville , GA. I think you'll find the video absolutely remarkable.
http://www.militarytimes.com/multimedia/video/rpg_surgery/ <http://www.militarytimes.com/multimedia/video/rpg_surgery/>
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Nil Sine Labore
Robby
