"We need a timeline..."

Two articles.

1) Today:

Stephane Dion says the Liberals will not budge from their insistence that Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan end as scheduled in February 2009.

"No, no," the Liberal leader said flatly when asked if his deadline for ending the mission is negotiable.

"The combat mission must end in February 2009."..

"We need a timeline. We will not say, 'If we have 1,000 (additional) troops, we're on a never-ending mission.' This is completely unacceptable for Canadians."

He added that if NATO allies can't agree to the principle of rotating troops from different countries through Kandahar "the mission will not hold for the long haul, it will not work."..

2) Yesterday:

...Twelve nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Pearson, who had replaced St. Laurent as secretary of state for external affairs when the latter became prime minister in November 1948. noted that Canadians "feel deeply and instinctively" that the treaty is "a pledge for peace and progress". For the first time in its history, Canada had joined a peacetime military alliance.

The treaty provided the legal and contractual basis for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but not the military strength to back it up. Communist aggression in Korea (June 1950) forced the issue by persuading Ottawa and all Western capitals that the USSR was moving into a new and dangerous phase. NATO created an integrated military force under American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first supreme allied commander in Europe (SACEUR). Canada, already helping to defend South Korea, now raised troops simultaneously for service in Europe. In November 1951, for the third time in less than forty years, Canadian troops again crossed the Atlantic. By the following year, 10,000 of them were based in West Germany and France. An infantry brigade group of 6,670 troops, an air division of twelve squadrons (up to 300 aircraft), and some forty warships constituted Canada's strong commitment in these early years [emphasis added, when Canada's population was less than half it is now-- MC], plus more dedicated as reinforcements in the event of war. These commitments were largely responsible for defence spending accounting for 45 per cent of the federal budget...

Canada's commitment of forces in the European theatre was always intended if necessary for, gasp, combat not peacekeeping--or even development or reconstruction. That commitment lasted some forty years. There was no timeline. No "rotation". There was a job to be done as a decent (and in the early days a truly leading) member of the international community.