Canadian Soldiers in Afghanistan

[Hannu Smail]

If the military were to pull out, or never get involved in conflicts such as these......I would question why Canada has a military at all. It has nothing to do with being GWB's puppet. It's about trying to make the world a better place. I support our troops 100%.

hs.

[razorsedge]

makhan said:

yeh but why attack now? theyv been like this for ages. if it wasnt for 9/11 you would never be there so dont give that crap about you caring about their rights. nonsense. the canadian government are being george bush's puppets NOTHING ELSE, because they want revenge and capture osama bin laden. and in the process there killing hundreds and hundreds of innocent civilians per day and wiping out their families by throwing bombs over their houses.

nobody cares about anybodys rights, these are just excuses for going to war

I agree that it shouldn't take a major attack against "US/USA" to start helping a country. But unfortunatly it did in this case. We finished the job of getting rid of the Taliban power and kicking out the El Queda HQ out of Afghanistan. Now were trying to rebuild the country in various ways. It's all done in stages and definitly over years and years. Right now were at the stage of getting rid of the threat and any militia groups opposing the rebuilding. It's slowly working, but like I said, it will be many years before it'll be complete.

[makhan]

hannusmail said:

If the military were to pull out, or never get involved in conflicts such as these......I would question why Canada has a military at all. It has nothing to do with being GWB's puppet. It's about trying to make the world a better place. I support our troops 100%.

hs.

that doesnt mean you should use the army like a tyrant. why not use it for peace keeping missions instead of taking away innocent peoples lives that have nothing to do with the terrorists. i notice that your a jew, so i guess the main reason your supporting the war is because these islamic extremists pose a threat to israels security? right or wrong?

[True Believer]

so the only thing you want to do is keep the peace that is already there or to keep the peace that the other militaries bring to you? htat can only work if someone BRINGS the peace. dont you want that to be us, as opposed to just keeping peace that the better countries brought? why dont we actually try making a difference in afghanistan. THIS WAR CAN BE WON!

[Hannu Smail]

makhan said:

hannusmail said:

If the military were to pull out, or never get involved in conflicts such as these......I would question why Canada has a military at all. It has nothing to do with being GWB's puppet. It's about trying to make the world a better place. I support our troops 100%.

hs.

that doesnt mean you should use the army like a tyrant. why not use it for peace keeping missions instead of taking away innocent peoples lives that have nothing to do with the terrorists. i notice that your a jew, so i guess the main reason your supporting the war is because these islamic extremists pose a threat to israels security? right or wrong?

What are you talking about? How did you "notice" that? If you must know, I am Roman Catholic, not that it has anything to do with supporting our troops. Nice try on the assumption though, son.

[makhan]

my bad i thought hannu smail was a jewish name.

[True Believer]

ask any veteran who fought for our freedom and hell tell you we should be in afghanistan, its pure common sense

[razorsedge]

This is a bit late, but I thought i'd post it anyways.

I was going through the coach's corner archives, and I watched the rememberance day broadcast. It was dedecated to the soldiers in Afghanistan. Don Cherry said it best when he said that we don't have to support the mission; "but while they're over there, we have to support them". God love them.

www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hnic/coachs-corner.html

[pbonomo]

I received this in an email, not sure of the date, and don't have a link to the source, but it's a good read:

Sunday Telegraph Article

From today's UK wires: Salute to a brave and modest nation - Kevin Myers, The Sunday Telegraph LONDON - Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian troops are deployed in the region. And as always, Canada will
bury its dead, just as the rest of the world, as always will forget its sacrifice, just as it always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does.

It seems that Canada's historic mission is to come to the selfless aid both of its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored. Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower still, while those she once helped glamorously cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet again.

That is the price Canada pays for sharing the North American continent with the United States, and for being a selfless friend of Britain in two global conflicts. For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions: It seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it deserved.

Yet its purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy. Almost 10% of Canada's entire population of seven million people served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.

Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, its unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular Memory as somehow or other the work of the "British." The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack. More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone. Canada finished the war with the third-largest navy and the fourth-largest air force in the world.

The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time. Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign in which the United States had clearly not participated - a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has any notion of a separate Canadian identity.

So it is a general rule that actors and filmmakers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality - unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American, and Christopher Plummer, British. It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.

Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves - and are unheard by anyone else - that 1% of the world's population has provided 10% of the world's peacekeeping forces. Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peacekeepers on Earth - in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.

Yet the only foreign engagement that has entered the popular on-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia, in which out-of-control paratroopers murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was then disbanded in disgrace - a uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians received no international credit.

So who today in the United States knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbour has given it in Afghanistan? Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac, Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun.

It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost. This past year more grieving Canadian families knew that cost all too tragically well.

[mcguire4]

^^... that is 100% truth. its also a known fact that we, the CANADIAN military, tought the GREEN BERETS how to fight, who in turn passed it down to the U.S. marines.
THANK YOU CANADA.

[prefy]

I know lots of you guys don't care about the moose but they are having a Military Tribute night. The more support the better.

www.moosehockey.com/

[razorsedge]

6 Canadian soldiers were killed recently. No names or details were given yet. When I read this my stomach just dropped. Over the winter with all the Taliban hiding in caves, I'm sure they've spent that time plotting and recruiting for the upcoming summer. It's gonna be a hard summer for our soldiers, and unfortunately there will be more deaths.

I have some friends over there right now, I just pray they get through there tour alright along with all the soldiers serving there right now.

Remember, you don't have to believe or support the mission, but it is your duty as a Canadian to support the soldiers and their family's. The jobs our boys are doing over there right now is the toughest job in the world.

[Bottsy]

Canadian soldier killed in massive offensive in Afghanistan

Updated at 11:28 AM
MASUM GHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - A Canadian soldier marching into battle alongside the Afghan troops he helped to train and mentor died Friday when he stepped on a jerry-rigged anti-tank mine during the opening stages of Canada's largest anti-Taliban offensive in nearly two months.
The soldier, identified as Cpl. Matthew McCully, was a member of Canada's Operational Mentor and Liaison Team helping to shape their Afghan counterparts into cohesive, organized fighting units.

He was killed by an improvised explosive device - or IED - the military acronym for a roadside bomb.

"As this soldier was moving forward, with other Canadians and other Afghan soldiers, an IED was triggered and he was killed," Col. Mike Cessford, deputy commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, said in Kandahar.

"We lost a good kid today ... It's a pretty sad day. But he was doing what he needed to do, what he wanted to do."

McCully, a signals operator from 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Headquarters and Signals Squadron based at Petawawa, Ont., was killed around 8 a.m. near the village of Nalgham, about 35 kilometres west of Kandahar City.

[jhendrix70]

6 More.......

[stannis]

mojo said:

Thanks for the well wishes guys.. I still have not left as we have been delayed a week.. But great to get Pms from Blackthorne telling me he plans to sleep with my gf while I am overseas and that the Candian army are Go Jets Go.

Way to go pal..Thanks for the support.

Uhh, Blackthorne, is this true?

[selannejets]

hannusmail said:

If the military were to pull out, or never get involved in conflicts such as these......I would question why Canada has a military at all. It has nothing to do with being GWB's puppet. It's about trying to make the world a better place. I support our troops 100%.

hs.

Canada should police the world? How about we only use our military force to defend ourselves if another country tries to come here and attack us? That is what the military should be for. What you are saying is that Canada should be a bunch of war mongerers and go to countries to stir up sh*t like what America is doing right now because that is what a military is for . Military should only be used for DEFENCE.

[razorsedge]

selannejets said:

hannusmail said:

If the military were to pull out, or never get involved in conflicts such as these......I would question why Canada has a military at all. It has nothing to do with being GWB's puppet. It's about trying to make the world a better place. I support our troops 100%.

hs.

Canada should police the world? How about we only use our military force to defend ourselves if another country tries to come here and attack us? That is what the military should be for. What you are saying is that Canada should be a bunch of war mongerers and go to countries to stir up sh*t like what America is doing right now because that is what a military is for . Military should only be used for DEFENCE.

How is Canada's involvement in Afghanistan "policing" the world?

[selannejets]

razorsedge said:

selannejets said:

Canada should police the world? How about we only use our military force to defend ourselves if another country tries to come here and attack us? That is what the military should be for. What you are saying is that Canada should be a bunch of war mongerers and go to countries to stir up sh*t like what America is doing right now because that is what a military is for . Military should only be used for DEFENCE.

How is Canada's involvement in Afghanistan "policing" the world?

By trying to establish a "democracy" there. I don't think you can force democracy down someone's throat and expect it to last. Also, why should it it be any of our business?

[razorsedge]

Well, on a political level we will always support the U.S and that will never change. Hopefully our politicians will make the right decisions in that aspect.

Now, I'm assuming you know what happened September 11, 2001. If not, I'll try to bring you up to speed in as little lines as possible.

4 planes were hijacked by members of al-Qaeda. 1 crashed into the Pentagon, 1 was brought down in Pennsylvania, and 2 crashed into the World Trade Center.

al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization that operated and trained in Afghanistan. Afghanistan at the time was under the Taliban regime. The Taliban was in full support of al-Qaeda and aloud them to train in Afghanistan.

So after al-Qeda has shown they have the motivation and the capability to attack the U.S, what will stop them from attacking any western country or European country? So the U.S and Britain decided to bring down the Taliban and to limit al-Qaeda's ability to operate. Canada's liberal party decided this was something Canada is obligated to support and now participate in.

Now you don't agree in "pushing" democracy onto a country. Fair enough, your aloud to have that opinion and you have the freedom to voice that opinion. That is something the people of Afghanistan did not have under the Taliban rule. Especially women. Our business as a civilized country is to help others.

Don't forget to, that Afghanistan now accounts for 92 per cent of the illicit global opium crop. Which is used to make heroin. I guarantee that most of the heroin in Canada comes from Afghanistan in some form or another. So how is it not our business to be there?

www.cbc.ca/news/background/drugs/heroin-afghanistan.html

To understand more about the country before 911 cbc has a lot of info on it. You should check it out:

www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/index.html

[selannejets]

razorsedge said:

Well, on a political level we will always support the U.S and that will never change. Hopefully our politicians will make the right decisions in that aspect.

Now, I'm assuming you know what happened September 11, 2001. If not, I'll try to bring you up to speed in as little lines as possible.

4 planes were hijacked by members of al-Qaeda. 1 crashed into the Pentagon, 1 was brought down in Pennsylvania, and 2 crashed into the World Trade Center.

al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization that operated and trained in Afghanistan. Afghanistan at the time was under the Taliban regime. The Taliban was in full support of al-Qaeda and aloud them to train in Afghanistan.

So after al-Qeda has shown they have the motivation and the capability to attack the U.S, what will stop them from attacking any western country or European country? So the U.S and Britain decided to bring down the Taliban and to limit al-Qaeda's ability to operate. Canada's liberal party decided this was something Canada is obligated to support and now participate in.

Now you don't agree in "pushing" democracy onto a country. Fair enough, your aloud to have that opinion and you have the freedom to voice that opinion. That is something the people of Afghanistan did not have under the Taliban rule. Especially women. Our business as a civilized country is to help others.

Don't forget to, that Afghanistan now accounts for 92 per cent of the illicit global opium crop. Which is used to make heroin. I guarantee that most of the heroin in Canada comes from Afghanistan in some form or another. So how is it not our business to be there?

www.cbc.ca/news/background/drugs/heroin-afghanistan.html

To understand more about the country before 911 cbc has a lot of info on it. You should check it out:

www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/index.html

Yes al quaeda bombed the wtc towers but why? How many years has America been sticking their nose in the affairs of other countries? The CIA calls this blowback. When you get into countries affairs and stir the shi*t pot it is bound to blow back in your face. I would call it just simply human nature though. You do something to someone they will want to take revenge and do it right back at ya. If you want to look everything from one point of view then things will only get worse and they definitely are getting worse. America's motto has been "its either our way or the highway" for a pretty long time. And just look at things now. America is now even more vulnerable to a more severe attack now than 9/11. If things need to get better America must change their foreign policy. I suggest you look up history about America and what their foreign policies have done to the world and how much it has affected them.

Here is a brief video of the history of American foreign policy.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuiIao49Xv0