There is no possible way Canada can keep its current tempo past 2011. If Harper flops on this he will lose a lot of support from soldiers in the military.
It's pretty harsh when we can't even maintain an extended troop commitment of 3000 for prolonged periods of time. That is of course not a reflection on our solders but wow, we really need to take a look at the level of manpower in our military.
Atleast Obama is sensable enough not to ask us for more commitment. However his good attitude is not going to convince the Canadian people to commit more. If hes hoping for a miracle on this, hes probally not going to get one because the Canadian people are sick of this war. Personally I love it because it gives us a chance to get away from our peace keeping for awhile and get into the real-thing to show politicians, the Canadian people and the military how bad our military is equiped and funded.
This war has also really developed our military in the past years. I just hope when we quit they don't shut off the funding tap like they usually do because the Airforce needs new jets and upgrades and so does pretty much everything else. Including the navy.
I recently saw a article about a possible military commitment to build Canadian bases in wartorn countries. Not for current use but for whenever we need it. Which is mostly going to be used for UN Missions so the soldiers have a place to sleep and operate. Which I doubt would have even been brought up if we wern't current in the middle of a war.
More funding into the military better developes our military which is return helps our defense and peace keeping efforts. Nobody knows what lays ahead, we might have to get into another conflict despite the unpopularity war is with Canada.
In which I would rather not have the begining of Afghanistan repeated where our soldiers were using there forest cadpats in the desert where they were requesting rides from NATO allies in there choppers. Borrowing tanks from Germany and so ill-equiped that they had a period where they took some of the training guns from Canada to equip some of the newer troops.
I would rather if we ever had to enter a new war, our soldiers were equiped and ready. Not having more casualties because they were not prepared.
If recruiting efforts step up after this war, maybe with a modernized 'cool' military would we get more manpower to step-up peace keeping efforts.
' OTTAWA - Michael Ignatieff bluntly told President Barack Obama that NATO's strategy for Afghanistan is confused and incoherent.
"I said Canadians have a sense of strategic drift there, a sense that we don't know where we're going, don't know what the plan is," Ignatieff told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with the rookie U.S. president.
"And the president said rather amusingly a lot of people in the White House feel exactly the same way."
Obama has committed 17,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, on top of the 36,000 already there. He's also launched a 60-day strategic review of the U.S. mission.
Obama made a point during his whirlwind visit to thank Canada for its "extraordinary effort" in Afghanistan, where 108 Canadian soldiers have died in the fight against the Taliban.
He did not specifically ask Canada to extend its combat mission beyond the parliamentary-approved deadline of 2011. However, it's widely understood that he'd welcome Canada's continued military presence beyond 2011.
Ignatieff seemed to leave the door open a crack to supporting an extension, appearing to hedge when asked what he'd do should Obama succeed in persuading Prime Minister Stephen Harper to commit Canadian troops to another few years in Afghanistan.
"We cross that bridge when we come to it," he said.
"We're bound by the parliamentary resolution. I've said clearly that our party's position currently is that the military phase of the mission ends in 2011."
Ignatieff spokesperson Jill Fairbrother later said the Liberal leader has not softened his insistence that the combat component of the mission must end in 2011.
"He's said repeatedly that we're not going to change our position on that. He's been 100 per cent solid on that," she said.
Ignatieff said he told Obama he supports continued Canadian involvement in Afghanistan "on the development side, on the political side, on the diplomatic side, on the strategic side."
But he also "very directly" told the president that "you can't get us to re-up in a situation of strategic incoherence. Canadians don't know where this mission is going."
Ignatieff said he also raised the issue of Omar Khadr, the only Canadian citizen at Guantanamo Bay. He told the president that if the Liberals were in government, "we would work with him to make good on his promise to close Guantanamo down" and would repatriate Khadr to Canada.
Obama responded that "all of the cases were under review (and) it would take some time" before Khadr's fate is resolved.
Some Liberal insiders had been miffed that Ignatieff was slated to get only 15 minutes of face time with the super-star president at the tail end of his six-hour visit. They blamed Harper's office for trying to ensure that the prime minister alone got to bask in Obama's reflected glory.
But in the end the Liberal leader got almost 30 minutes with Obama, who flattered him at the outset by remarking that he'd read some of Ignatieff's books and commenting on mutual friends.
"We just kept talking. The chemistry was very good," said Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae, who accompanied Ignatieff during the meeting.
Ignatieff was clearly impressed.
"I've been lucky in my life to meet famous people and some people seem smaller when you meet them. He was just as big as you think he was," Ignatieff said.
"He's a very, very big presence. He's very gracious, extremely polite, he has a gracefulness about him."
Ignatieff said he most struck by the fact that "when you talk, he listens very carefully, he locks in and then his replies are very substantial, they're very thoughtful."
The two leaders talked about their mutual interest in what Ignatieff called "the new politics" - putting aside partisanship in the midst of the economic crisis.
"This president is showing how we've got to do that and I think every politician, democratic politician in the world should take inspiration from what he's trying to do."
"dino_bobba_renno" said It's pretty harsh when we can't even maintain an extended troop commitment of 3000 for prolonged periods of time. That is of course not a reflection on our solders but wow, we really need to take a look at the level of manpower in our military.
Thats right and the best way to do that is getting our fiscal house in order and keeping it that way. I see a lot of people supporting the military who at the same time complain about high taxes.
If we want Canada to have a larger and better equipped military then we can't complain about taxes nor demand our politicians lower them.
Canada must pull its troops out by 2011, says Ignatieff Updated Tue. Feb. 17 2009 4:40 PM ET
The Canadian Press
QUEBEC -- Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says Canada should not prolong its military mission in Afghanistan even if U.S. President Barack Obama wants it to do so. Ignatieff says he intends to press that point to Obama when he meets him in Ottawa on Thursday.
Harper: On Oct. 6, 2008, Harper said, 'There's nothing on the horizon - notwithstanding the storm clouds, and they are significant - (that) indicates to me that we should immediately go into deficit.'
Harper: On Oct. 11, Harper said: 'You're asking me to say what would Canada do if our economy went to hell in a handbasket. This government is running the economy so it can't go to hell in a handbasket.'
Harper: On Nov. 22, 2008, Harper said, 'These are, of course, the classic circumstances under which budgetary deficits are essential.'
Pretty funny, if Harper and Ignatieff are moving so fast toward the middle that they are crossing each other and Harper is becoming more liberal than Ignatieff and Ignatieff is become more conservative than Harper.
"DerbyX" said Thats right and the best way to do that is getting our fiscal house in order and keeping it that way. I see a lot of people supporting the military who at the same time complain about high taxes.
If we want Canada to have a larger and better equipped military then we can't complain about taxes nor demand our politicians lower them.
Horseshit! If we cut all the wasted, meaningless billions from the government budgets, we'd be ABLE to provide the military and other legitimate government programs with the money they deserve AND cut taxes.
This war has also really developed our military in the past years. I just hope when we quit they don't shut off the funding tap like they usually do because the Airforce needs new jets and upgrades and so does pretty much everything else. Including the navy.
I recently saw a article about a possible military commitment to build Canadian bases in wartorn countries. Not for current use but for whenever we need it. Which is mostly going to be used for UN Missions so the soldiers have a place to sleep and operate. Which I doubt would have even been brought up if we wern't current in the middle of a war.
More funding into the military better developes our military which is return helps our defense and peace keeping efforts. Nobody knows what lays ahead, we might have to get into another conflict despite the unpopularity war is with Canada.
In which I would rather not have the begining of Afghanistan repeated where our soldiers were using there forest cadpats in the desert where they were requesting rides from NATO allies in there choppers. Borrowing tanks from Germany and so ill-equiped that they had a period where they took some of the training guns from Canada to equip some of the newer troops.
I would rather if we ever had to enter a new war, our soldiers were equiped and ready. Not having more casualties because they were not prepared.
If recruiting efforts step up after this war, maybe with a modernized 'cool' military would we get more manpower to step-up peace keeping efforts.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/ ... 01-cp.html
looks like Iggy might be doing some ass kissing.
'
OTTAWA - Michael Ignatieff bluntly told President Barack Obama that NATO's strategy for Afghanistan is confused and incoherent.
"I said Canadians have a sense of strategic drift there, a sense that we don't know where we're going, don't know what the plan is," Ignatieff told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with the rookie U.S. president.
"And the president said rather amusingly a lot of people in the White House feel exactly the same way."
Obama has committed 17,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, on top of the 36,000 already there. He's also launched a 60-day strategic review of the U.S. mission.
Obama made a point during his whirlwind visit to thank Canada for its "extraordinary effort" in Afghanistan, where 108 Canadian soldiers have died in the fight against the Taliban.
He did not specifically ask Canada to extend its combat mission beyond the parliamentary-approved deadline of 2011. However, it's widely understood that he'd welcome Canada's continued military presence beyond 2011.
Ignatieff seemed to leave the door open a crack to supporting an extension, appearing to hedge when asked what he'd do should Obama succeed in persuading Prime Minister Stephen Harper to commit Canadian troops to another few years in Afghanistan.
"We cross that bridge when we come to it," he said.
"We're bound by the parliamentary resolution. I've said clearly that our party's position currently is that the military phase of the mission ends in 2011."
Ignatieff spokesperson Jill Fairbrother later said the Liberal leader has not softened his insistence that the combat component of the mission must end in 2011.
"He's said repeatedly that we're not going to change our position on that. He's been 100 per cent solid on that," she said.
Ignatieff said he told Obama he supports continued Canadian involvement in Afghanistan "on the development side, on the political side, on the diplomatic side, on the strategic side."
But he also "very directly" told the president that "you can't get us to re-up in a situation of strategic incoherence. Canadians don't know where this mission is going."
Ignatieff said he also raised the issue of Omar Khadr, the only Canadian citizen at Guantanamo Bay. He told the president that if the Liberals were in government, "we would work with him to make good on his promise to close Guantanamo down" and would repatriate Khadr to Canada.
Obama responded that "all of the cases were under review (and) it would take some time" before Khadr's fate is resolved.
Some Liberal insiders had been miffed that Ignatieff was slated to get only 15 minutes of face time with the super-star president at the tail end of his six-hour visit. They blamed Harper's office for trying to ensure that the prime minister alone got to bask in Obama's reflected glory.
But in the end the Liberal leader got almost 30 minutes with Obama, who flattered him at the outset by remarking that he'd read some of Ignatieff's books and commenting on mutual friends.
"We just kept talking. The chemistry was very good," said Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae, who accompanied Ignatieff during the meeting.
Ignatieff was clearly impressed.
"I've been lucky in my life to meet famous people and some people seem smaller when you meet them. He was just as big as you think he was," Ignatieff said.
"He's a very, very big presence. He's very gracious, extremely polite, he has a gracefulness about him."
Ignatieff said he most struck by the fact that "when you talk, he listens very carefully, he locks in and then his replies are very substantial, they're very thoughtful."
The two leaders talked about their mutual interest in what Ignatieff called "the new politics" - putting aside partisanship in the midst of the economic crisis.
"This president is showing how we've got to do that and I think every politician, democratic politician in the world should take inspiration from what he's trying to do."
It's pretty harsh when we can't even maintain an extended troop commitment of 3000 for prolonged periods of time. That is of course not a reflection on our solders but wow, we really need to take a look at the level of manpower in our military.
Thats right and the best way to do that is getting our fiscal house in order and keeping it that way. I see a lot of people supporting the military who at the same time complain about high taxes.
If we want Canada to have a larger and better equipped military then we can't complain about taxes nor demand our politicians lower them.
Ignatieff softens on possible extension of Afghan mission
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/ ... 01-cp.html
looks like Iggy might be doing some ass kissing.
Impossible...
Updated Tue. Feb. 17 2009 4:40 PM ET
The Canadian Press
QUEBEC -- Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says Canada should not prolong its military mission in Afghanistan even if U.S. President Barack Obama wants it to do so.
Ignatieff says he intends to press that point to Obama when he meets him in Ottawa on Thursday.
Harper: On Oct. 11, Harper said: 'You're asking me to say what would Canada do if our economy went to hell in a handbasket. This government is running the economy so it can't go to hell in a handbasket.'
Harper: On Nov. 22, 2008, Harper said, 'These are, of course, the classic circumstances under which budgetary deficits are essential.'
Well, we all know where his flip-flops lead us.
Ignatieff softens on possible extension of Afghan mission
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/ ... 01-cp.html
looks like Iggy might be doing some ass kissing.
Pretty funny, if Harper and Ignatieff are moving so fast toward the middle that they are crossing each other and Harper is becoming more liberal than Ignatieff and Ignatieff is become more conservative than Harper.
Thats right and the best way to do that is getting our fiscal house in order and keeping it that way. I see a lot of people supporting the military who at the same time complain about high taxes.
If we want Canada to have a larger and better equipped military then we can't complain about taxes nor demand our politicians lower them.
Horseshit! If we cut all the wasted, meaningless billions from the government budgets, we'd be ABLE to provide the military and other legitimate government programs with the money they deserve AND cut taxes.