Afstan: it's the immature anti-Americans, stupid
Jack Granatstein also indentifies another culprit responsible for opposition to the Canadian military mission: the peacekeeping myth that will not die.
...
...the word "peacekeeping" triggers a series of powerful memories and positive images in the Canadian mind: Lester Pearson's Nobel Peace Prize; a Canadian soldier in a blue helmet interposed between warring factions; the peacekeeping monument in Ottawa, and the widely believed mantra that, while Americans make war, we Canadians keep the peace.
Canadians are fixated on peacekeeping. We believe that Mike Pearson invented it, that Canadians are the best in the world at it, and that if we do peacekeeping, ideally for the United Nations, then we will not need large numbers of troops or much expensive equipment. The idea of peacekeeping as our métier has certainly shaped Canadian defence policy, and not for the better. The billions of dollars that Liberals and Conservatives have belatedly pledged to rebuild the Canadian Forces will take years to make a difference and to undo four decades of neglect...
...Canadians need to consider what they want their military to do in the 21st century. The war on terror is a reality and Canadians are targets, no matter how we try to convince ourselves that the world loves us. It doesn't...The Canadian troops in Kandahar are working to prop up a democratically elected government that is under attack from fundamentalist Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists. Participation in that operation is in Canada's national interests, and it is very much in the interests of democracy...
[Many Canadians think] Afghanistan is still the Americans' war, George W. Bush's war, and, automatically, large majorities of Canadians believe it must be wrong.
Canadian anti-Americanism is at a record peak in 2006, and this strong feeling colours every question...
...a mature nation....understands reality and faces it and acts to protect and advance its national interests. Peacekeeping is a cherished part of our past and, even if it has dwindled in utility, it might once again become important. But the reality now is one of terror attacks on the democracies and those struggling to build free societies. Canada's national interests demand that we employ the Canadian Forces to help the new democracies and protect the old...
Historian J. L. Granatstein is chair of the Advisory Council of the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute.
Perhaps Canadian troops in Afstan should be equipped, to ward off the myth, with garlic amulets--though I suspect crosses would be thought de trop.
Update: An excellent letter by Alain Pellerin, executive director, Conference of Defence Associations.
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
...
...the word "peacekeeping" triggers a series of powerful memories and positive images in the Canadian mind: Lester Pearson's Nobel Peace Prize; a Canadian soldier in a blue helmet interposed between warring factions; the peacekeeping monument in Ottawa, and the widely believed mantra that, while Americans make war, we Canadians keep the peace.
Canadians are fixated on peacekeeping. We believe that Mike Pearson invented it, that Canadians are the best in the world at it, and that if we do peacekeeping, ideally for the United Nations, then we will not need large numbers of troops or much expensive equipment. The idea of peacekeeping as our métier has certainly shaped Canadian defence policy, and not for the better. The billions of dollars that Liberals and Conservatives have belatedly pledged to rebuild the Canadian Forces will take years to make a difference and to undo four decades of neglect...
...Canadians need to consider what they want their military to do in the 21st century. The war on terror is a reality and Canadians are targets, no matter how we try to convince ourselves that the world loves us. It doesn't...The Canadian troops in Kandahar are working to prop up a democratically elected government that is under attack from fundamentalist Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists. Participation in that operation is in Canada's national interests, and it is very much in the interests of democracy...
[Many Canadians think] Afghanistan is still the Americans' war, George W. Bush's war, and, automatically, large majorities of Canadians believe it must be wrong.
Canadian anti-Americanism is at a record peak in 2006, and this strong feeling colours every question...
...a mature nation....understands reality and faces it and acts to protect and advance its national interests. Peacekeeping is a cherished part of our past and, even if it has dwindled in utility, it might once again become important. But the reality now is one of terror attacks on the democracies and those struggling to build free societies. Canada's national interests demand that we employ the Canadian Forces to help the new democracies and protect the old...
Historian J. L. Granatstein is chair of the Advisory Council of the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute.
Perhaps Canadian troops in Afstan should be equipped, to ward off the myth, with garlic amulets--though I suspect crosses would be thought de trop.
Update: An excellent letter by Alain Pellerin, executive director, Conference of Defence Associations.
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 8:59 a.m.
6 Comments:
There are near new, well made planes sitting in the used aircraft *car lot* in Arizona.
The planes made by our own Bombardier mfng. are efficient and ideal for moving military personnel.
They are only parked there because of the recent airlines shake-out. Being in chapter 11 means the price is a bargain.
Harper should buy some of these for our military.
There are likely to be CF-110 Hercules transport replacements on sale there as well. TG
Shorter Jack Granatstein: Al Qaeda! In your cities! With nuclear bombs!
Gawd, how anyone could read this tripe and consider it worthy of discussion is beyond me.
More tripe, from a review of Dr. Granatstein's "Who Killed Canadian History"?
http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0002557592/qid%3D1141146842/sr%3D1-1/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F2%5F1/701-4967618-1327540
" Granatstein believes that the provincial educational systems are producing people who have debilitated identities and little cultural capital. He blames bureaucrats in provincial education ministries for draining Canadian history of most of its content and context. They have vetted writers' work according to politically correct criteria, so that school textbooks are now "the blandest of mush" and "air-brushed accounts of the past"...the result is a history of grievance and victimhood, in which individual and national accomplishments are sadly neglected. Regional concerns eclipse national and global contexts. The emphasis is on pluralism and the diverse experiences of ethnic groups, not on the efforts that created and united a nation. This is particularly true in Quebec, where history courses paint the rest of Canada almost as an "alien backdrop".
While the provincial educational systems are at fault for not demanding that students study history in their senior years, multicultural policies are also remiss for not giving new Canadians the cultural knowledge necessary to thrive in our society..."
His "Who Killed the Canadian Military" (you, for one, did Robert)is also excellent.
http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0002006758/qid=1141221769/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2_2/701-4967618-1327540
Mark
Ottawa
Take your ground and stand for it! There's no reasons for this kind of behaviour from our politicans. Personnally, I'm bittersweet from that kind of comments. It's Mr Graham job's although he is in the opposition to explain again the reasons why we are involved in Afghanistan. I totally support this commitment to Afghanistan and there's no turning back. We're not a 5 years old kids who's boring by his new toy....
Hey Mark. Propaganda in, garbage out. Think for yourself and reject this silly brainwashing. You'll be all the better for it.
Whether anyone likes it or not, the best peacekeeping forces are well-trained combat capable troops. For some inexplicable reason that fact seems to be lost on people like our NDP friend.
It amazes me at how many people will inject commentary on "why we should restrict ourselves to 'peacekeeping'" when they have no idea what a peacekeeping mission is or can become.
When a peacekeeping force arrives in one of the world's failed states, both sides of the fight assess the arriving blue berets. If they look and act undisciplined, if their equipment is old and in bad repair, and if their deportment doesn't look clearly "warlike", the situation will rapidly deteriorate and one side or the other will start fighting again.
Granatstein is absolutely correct. How the Canadian Forces came to wear peacekeeping as the premier badge of their existence is beyond me. Peacekeeping was the poor sister of military operations until the 1980s. The prime focus of the CF and DND was the other side who had their finger on the trigger; the Soviet Bloc.
I participated in more than my fair share of peacekeeping missions. They were less effective than most people realize. In fact, Haiti still hasn't been resolved and the Congo is starting to look like Peacekeeping Redux.
As for propaganda, I would suggest it comes from both sides of the argument. But then who are you going to believe? Somebody who actually studies the subject, or somebody who can't even tell you on which side of the head a beret badge is worn?
Post a Comment
<< Home