More reaction to Sen. Kenny's defeatism/The real retreat

Big guns firing back:

Senator assailed for calling mission futile

The death of the 130th Canadian soldier to fall in Afghanistan triggered an unusual public-relations offensive yesterday as the Governor-General and military brass took on a high-profile senator who declared the mission futile.

Private Patrick Lormand died and four other soldiers were wounded Sunday when their armoured vehicle was bombed just southeast of Kandahar city.

Pte. Lormand died the same day Senator Colin Kenny, chair of the Senate committee on national security and defence, urged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to organize Canada's retreat.

"What we hoped to accomplish in Afghanistan has proved to be impossible. We are hurtling toward a Vietnam ending," the senator wrote in a letter published on the weekend.

Pte. Lormand's commander in Afghanistan, Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance, attacked Mr. Kenny's position while trying to bolster morale at home.

"Neither [Pte. Lormand] nor his family benefit from uninformed opinions about what his goals were and the techniques he used to achieve them," Brig.-Gen. Vance, the commander of Task Force Kandahar, told reporters in an unusually pointed statement.

"The thousands of young, clear, determined eyes that remain wide open here in Kandahar are working hard every day to protect and stabilize the population - not an impossible mission, as some might suggest."..

Governor-General Michaëlle Jean departed from the usual short statement of condolence, instead cataloging the concrete improvements to schools and hospitals she witnessed during a recent trip to Afghanistan.

Afghans told her "the actions of our soldiers to insure security ... are helping them to move forward as they face the forces of destruction in their country."

An emotional Governor-General told reporters in Quebec City that the soldier's death came as a terrible shock: "It was certainly a difficult day for me."..

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office confirms a complete retreat (not just an end to the combat mission), though in a more, er, timely fashion:

Canada will not extend its mission in Afghanistan even if President Barack Obama asks him to when the countries' leaders meet this week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office said Monday.

Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas reiterated in a briefing Monday that Canada will withdraw its troops in 2011.

One hundred and thirty Canadian soldiers and a diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan, where Canada has 2,500 troops.

"Canada's position is clear," Soudas said. "The military component of the mission ends in 2011."..

And, as Norman Spector puts it in THE COLUMN I’M GLAD I DIDN’T WRITE:

If Mr. Harper wishes to maintain an iota of personal credibility with a President facing some difficult decisions, he’ll safely ignore advice to him that amounts to sucking and blowing in the European way on Afghanistan.

Make this summit about Afghanistan - The Globe and Mail

Update: See this post by Milnews.ca for an illustration of the difficulty in pinning down the government's real position on the mission and 2011, especially the confusion (deliberate or simply unconcerned with clarity?) between "combat" and simply "military".