Afstan update: about four months late
The Ottawa Citizen outlines (with a very loaded headline, From peacekeepers to Taliban hunters) the background to the Canadian Forces' Kandahar mission. The authour, David Pugliese, has been described to me by one who should know as
...basically the only military beat reporter in the daily press...
That is disgraceful and a a clear indication of our media's utter inadequacy.
It is also disgraceful that it took Mr Pugliese so long to pull the pieces together; and that our politicians and media generally paid so little attention to the issue.
See these guest-posts at Daimnation!:
OH MY GOD! CANADIAN TROOPS WILL BE FIGHTING IN AFGHANISTAN (Dec. 3)
ARE THE CANADIAN PEOPLE READY FOR THE BODY BAGS? (Nov. 24)
Update: For an excellent report of what our soldiers are doing, see in the Globe, March 25, Christie Blatchford's: The bomb and the 'Belly Button': 'What they lack in skill,' a Canadian says of Afghan soldiers, 'they make up in heart -- balls out all the way' (full text not online).
Upperdate: Douglas Fisher gets to the heart of the matter.
...
...Canadians are growing uneasy about the extreme dangers to life and limb in this mission. Many believe that Canada’s particular national “gift” is that we are peaceable, with a distaste for muscular patriotism and warrior bombast. Yet this assignment is more than just war-like — it is war, and as General Sherman is alleged to have told graduating cadets, “I tell you, war is hell!”
After five years of a George-Bush-led America (three more to go), many of us are hung up on our aversion to his regime, on our recent military associations with the Americans, and on the fact that the U.S. is the most significant pillar of our prosperity...
Many of us want Canada to be an agent of good deeds and high ideals — a nation proud of its moral superiority, especially over the United States. For these folks, Canada ought to be a peacekeeper, not a warmaker. They detest the idea of militaristic “hard power.” Better, they think, to spend Canada’s money promoting social and economic progress in the world than on risky soldiering and hi-tech weapons...
As for our military’s needs, MPs should spell them out so that they are consistent with our aims. This is sure to mean more soldiers, sailors, and air crew — matched with the means to airlift them to hotspots of our government’s choosing...
Sadly, the tradition of the Commons on military matters is for woolly talk and unctuous piety, not for clarification. Perhaps we will be pleasantly surprised — but don’t bet on it.
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
...basically the only military beat reporter in the daily press...
That is disgraceful and a a clear indication of our media's utter inadequacy.
It is also disgraceful that it took Mr Pugliese so long to pull the pieces together; and that our politicians and media generally paid so little attention to the issue.
See these guest-posts at Daimnation!:
OH MY GOD! CANADIAN TROOPS WILL BE FIGHTING IN AFGHANISTAN (Dec. 3)
ARE THE CANADIAN PEOPLE READY FOR THE BODY BAGS? (Nov. 24)
Update: For an excellent report of what our soldiers are doing, see in the Globe, March 25, Christie Blatchford's: The bomb and the 'Belly Button': 'What they lack in skill,' a Canadian says of Afghan soldiers, 'they make up in heart -- balls out all the way' (full text not online).
Upperdate: Douglas Fisher gets to the heart of the matter.
...
...Canadians are growing uneasy about the extreme dangers to life and limb in this mission. Many believe that Canada’s particular national “gift” is that we are peaceable, with a distaste for muscular patriotism and warrior bombast. Yet this assignment is more than just war-like — it is war, and as General Sherman is alleged to have told graduating cadets, “I tell you, war is hell!”
After five years of a George-Bush-led America (three more to go), many of us are hung up on our aversion to his regime, on our recent military associations with the Americans, and on the fact that the U.S. is the most significant pillar of our prosperity...
Many of us want Canada to be an agent of good deeds and high ideals — a nation proud of its moral superiority, especially over the United States. For these folks, Canada ought to be a peacekeeper, not a warmaker. They detest the idea of militaristic “hard power.” Better, they think, to spend Canada’s money promoting social and economic progress in the world than on risky soldiering and hi-tech weapons...
As for our military’s needs, MPs should spell them out so that they are consistent with our aims. This is sure to mean more soldiers, sailors, and air crew — matched with the means to airlift them to hotspots of our government’s choosing...
Sadly, the tradition of the Commons on military matters is for woolly talk and unctuous piety, not for clarification. Perhaps we will be pleasantly surprised — but don’t bet on it.
Cross-posted to Daimnation!
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 3:04 p.m.
2 Comments:
Stephen Thorne and Chris Wattie would take issue with the idea that Pugliese is the only guy with military on the mind. Thorne went into the Whale's Back with the PPCLI in '02, and Wattie's ex-military and in Afstan right now.
Babbling: I think Pugliese's beat is a bit more consistent, but even with Thorne and Wattie three reporters in the whole country is still a disgrace.
Thanks,
Mark
Ottawa
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