The road to Kandahar

[rodeodance]

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1157753409549&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154


The road to Kandahar

At an afternoon meeting in Ottawa, a decision was made that would cost soldiers' lives, billions of taxpayers' dollars and, perhaps, Canada's reputation
Sep. 9, 2006. 01:00 AM
BILL SCHILLER
STAFF REPORTER

It was the afternoon of March 21, 2005 — 48 hours before Prime Minister Paul Martin's first visit to the ranch with presidents George W. Bush and Vicente Fox in Waco, Texas.

Members of Martin's inner circle were filing into Room 323-S in Parliament's Centre Block, among them, freshly minted Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier, a charismatic and articulate man hand-picked by the Prime Minister himself.
...........

But Hillier and planners in the defence department were fixed on one thing and one thing only: Afghanistan.

The meeting was the perfect opportunity to win confirmation for an idea they'd been planning for months, one that had the potential to transform Canada's military and embolden its reputation worldwide.

[annabanana]

1. an "emboldened" Canda?

(lord I am beginning to hate that word)

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. Axworthy points to recent polls . . Canadians turning against the mission

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From the posted Article:

"And even more important is the fact that this is identifying us with American foreign policy. And in this world, that's a dangerous proposition."

While pleasing the Bush White House might not have been the determining factor in the decision to send combat troops to Kandahar, "pleasing the Americans and earning our spurs" was definitely part of the equation, says Heinbecker, now director of the Laurier Centre for Global Relations in Waterloo.

Was that wise?

"The United States, for a whole series of reasons, from exceptionalism to neo-conism to hubris to ignorance about the world, is conducting itself in a way that is creating a lot of enemies. And I just don't see how our association with that helps," he says.

In fact, he stresses, "it's endangering Canada."
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Last thing we want to be known as, is the US's "buddy"

Because in great circles, the friend of an enemy makes IT an enemy too.

And the US has made too many enemies in the last few decades, and accelerated it's "collection" in the last 5 years . .

WE don't need the inevitable "spill-over" effect thank you very much