Support our troops ... bring them home alive!

[Dee]

*sigh*

How I long for the days when Canada was still a peace-keeping nation.

Damn politicians.

NDP delegates vote in favour of pulling troops (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060908/NDP_Afghanistan_060909/20060909?hub=Canada)

Canadian Press

Updated: Sat. Sep. 9 2006

QUEBEC —

Delegates attending the New Democratic Party's convention in Quebec City have voted in favour of pulling Canadian troops out of Afghanistan.

About 90 per cent of delegates voted for NDP Leader Jack Layton's resolution, giving him a massive endorsement from his party's grassroots in his push for a withdrawal of troops from the war-torn country.

After the vote, there was a loud standing ovation.

About 1,500 delegates to the weekend NDP convention are only voting on foreign-policy positions today.

Layton is the only federal party leader and perhaps the most prominent Canadian politician to have called for a withdrawal from Kandahar, where 2,200 Canadian troops are battling a pro-Taliban insurgency.

Layton's push comes amid a spate of Canadian casualties, and following poll numbers that suggest the mission is becoming increasingly unpopular with Canadians.

[moe75]

Yes, we're certainly not winning any hearts and minds over there. The NATO counter-insurgency is killing Taliban fighters, but we cannot defeat them and we're killing innocents as well. The most we can hope for here is a kind of Korean penisula standoff by keeping the Taliban in the boarder regions. However the locals want us out, Karhzhai is criticizing the NATO tactics and our boys are dying every day for what? A dozen in the past month + one killed by a friendly fire American warthog. We've made a helluva mess over there, but have yet to sink any kind of rebuilding capital into the Khandahar region. I'm not sure what the answer is here. I don't fall for the Bush/Harper bleeting of "no cutting and running", but we have some sort of moral duty to make sure the country is in some sort of order before we leave, don't we? The Americans poured millions/billions into Afganistan in the 80's to help drive out the Soviets and yet couldn't be bothered to stick around when the cold war ended. The Taliban filled the vacuum, and Al-Quaeda was able to set up training camps, and look where that led us. I just don't see an easy answer here. For the Americans, British or us.:(

[david uk]

Moe you said it perfectly... nothing to add.

We create the s**t, then run away and blame everyone else for the consequences.

[Dee]

I don't see an easy answer either, Moe. I am just tired of seeing these men and women coming home in coffins.

[Dee]

Canadians are not 'warmongers': Layton (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060909/NDP_Afghanistan_060910/20060910?hub=TopStories)

Sun. Sep. 10 2006

NDP Leader Jack Layton called on Canadians to reward his party for its anti-war stance, and to punish Prime Minister Stephen Harper for keeping soldiers on a misguided mission in Afghanistan.

"On this mission, Stephen Harper is out of touch with ordinary Canadians," Layton said Sunday to about 1,500 party faithful at an NDP convention in Quebec City.

"Canadians are not warmongers."

Layton made his comments in a fiery, election-style closing speech after delegates gave him a 92 per cent-strong endorsement to stay on as leader.

Calling Harper "a cheerleader for President George Bush," Layton said ordinary Canadians don't want to keep soldiers in Afghanistan so the prime minister can keep in good stead with the U.S. government.

"Canada doesn't commit our soldiers without the certainty that their efforts are part of a carefully constructed and balanced mission that holds real prospects of making the world a safer place," Layton said.

"Canada doesn't do these things, but (former Liberal prime minister) Paul Martin and Stephen Harper did in Afghanistan.

"Paul Martin and the Liberals are gone and my friends, the time is coming for Stephen Harper and the Conservatives to go, too."

The announcement of Sunday's leadership-review results brought a sustained standing ovation from party members.

The vote comes a day after the NDP made it official party policy to oppose the current Afghan mission and to call for the immediate withdrawal of Canadian troops.

About 90 per cent of delegates voted for a "safe and immediate" withdrawal from the region, which has seen a spike in Canadian casualties recently.

The decision gives the NDP a clearer anti-war policy than the Bloc Quebecois (the Afghanistan operation is particularly unpopular in Quebec) or the Liberals, who are currently debating the issue as part of the party's leadership campaign.

'Grave' implications: Tories

Critics, including a few members in his own party, have accused Layton of using the Afghanistan mission as fuel to further his political ambitions.

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay on Sunday called Layton's stance irresponsible.

"It would have grave implications in a number of areas," he said in an interview on CTV's Question Period. "It would be extremely demoralizing for our troops; it would jeopardize an important part of the mission in the south (of Afghanistan) where progress is being made."

MacKay said Layton's ill-informed comments also come at a crucial time for the NATO mission, which is now "pushing the Taliban to the outer perimeters of the country" in a major operation in insurgent territory.

The minister also said by withdrawing troops, Canada would be reneging on a NATO obligation -- "a UN-backed mission, and we would be letting down the Afghan people and all of the important signposts such as people voting, women being allowed to participate fully in society, children in school, four million Afghans returning to that country."

Layton, however, argues that few countries have contributed to NATO missions as extensively as Canada has, "and in the south of Afghanistan, there's only a very few NATO countries that are agreeing to participate at all."

He said Canada's "massive" investment in the war effort isn't going to lead to peace in the region.

"There is no balance between humanitarian aid, reconstruction and the aggressive attempt to search out and destroy the Taliban," Layton told Question Period on Sunday ahead of his speech.

"We're not correct on not having a plan. We've laid out a plan which is that, in addition to notifying NATO that we would be removing our troops and that that would be happening in very short time, that we would also work with those NATO partners who want to craft a new approach which would involve diplomacy, discussion, aid and reconstruction."

The NDP Parliamentary caucus is now expected to come up with strategies on how to pressure the Conservative minority government on Afghanistan when it holds a retreat next week.

The party could choose to table a private member's bill or hold a vote on a non-binding motion in the House of Commons. Parliament will resume sitting on Sept. 18.

Layton wants all 2,000 Canadian soldiers removed from the violent Kandahar province by February. But he favours keeping the few dozen Canadians currently working on reconstruction efforts in safer northern areas.

The Conservative government has committed Canada to staying in Afghanistan until February 2009. There are media reports that the government may send Leopard tanks to Afghanistan to help support the ground troops.

Layton on Sunday also criticized the Tories for lacking a strong plan for the environment, and for selling out the Canadian forest industry with the controversial softwood deal with the U.S.