Red Rally 02 Nov. Remembrance day 11 Nov...Lest we Forget!!
General Hillier said that he feels 10 years are need to bring the Afghan Troops up to snuff. PM Harper has asked for an extension till 2011. This is fine. As the Libs attack again on the wrong information Ignatieff said that the Conservatives have Bungled the Afghan Mission. Well if he checks Hansard he will find that troops were sent to Afghanistan under the previous Government,the PM is simply trying to correct a bad decision by the Libs.
As for comments from Canada's Comic party, Dawn Black of the NDP states...
NDP defence critic Dawn Black, whose party has called for the immediate withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan, said Hillier's and the Tories' wildly different assessments have left the prime minister's office fuming.
The assements she mentions are different because they are exactly that Personal Assessments. As for saying the PMO is furious. I know from 91/2 years in the PMO that feelings would never nbe made public let alone to the NDP. PM Harper is stuck with the Afghan mission he inherited, where as Gen.Hillier is talking from many years of Military experience.
Perhaps these Opposition MP's should check historical records. Canada was in Germany over 40 years after the Second world war and in recent times, Cyprus was supposed to be a 6 month deployment in 1963 it lasted 23 years. ,Egypt, many years as well as all the missions from Saigon to Somalia that Canadians have done their work.
These are facts of military operations as opposed to Political views.PM Harper has created an Afghanistan Panel to report back in January. I pray that they listen to the military before making any recommendations.General Hillier as a professional soldier is on side with the Government and has his thoughts on the mission. Quote.....
The speech from the throne was crystal clear about government intentions and we wait to get direction from the government of Canada, Hillier said Friday. What I talked about in the long-term was merely the continuation of a professional military force.While Hillier praised Afghan soldiers as top notch, he said it takes about three years to train a single battalion of about 500 to 600 troops, and so far training for two battalions of Afghan soldiers has been completed. I'll be very clear: we're not going to be finished that train-up by February 2009, Hillier told the CBC.
So once again as Canadians we can be proud that we have the right to express our opinion for or against the mission.
Nil Sine Labore
Robby
