The Opposition and many Canadians are in an uproar today over word most of our ground troops will be pulled out of Afghanistan by this summer—despite a request from the U.S. military that we stay on to help fight the war on terrorism there.
The reason? We simply don’t have the manpower or resources to extend our current six-month tour in Afghanistan while maintaining other commitments to peacekeeping missions around the world.
That Defence minister Art Eggleton admitted the military is “stretched” puts it mildly.
The easy scapegoat, of course, is deep cuts to the defence department’s budget over the years, particularly under the Chrétien Liberals. “The crunch has come. It’s a real black eye for our country,” charged Leon Benoit, defence critic for the Canadian Alliance. “This is a collapse in our ability to deliver . . . when our allies need us.”
Words like “disgraceful” and “embarrassing” are being bandied about today, but that’s being downright hypocritical. It wasn’t until Sept. 11 that Canadians collectively woke up and realized our freedoms and way of life are under attack. Before that, support for military spending, particularly in the face of a spiralling deficit, was non-existent.
And when push comes to shove, it’s highly doubtful Canadians are willing to spend what’s needed on defence at the expense of health care, education, and high-speed Internet access? Or fork over more in taxes?
As usual, we want the top of the line in everything—at bargain-basement prices.
Yes, the war on terrorism is real. And, sadly, four of our soldiers already have paid the ultimate sacrifice in our defence. But what’s disgraceful here isn’t the hard truth that Canada’s military is too under-manned and ill-equipped to go gallivanting off to fight terrorism, it’s that we allowed it to get that way in the first place.
Talking tough on terrorism is one thing, paying for the resources to fight it is quite another. And we’ve no one to blame for that but ourselves.
That has to change—immediately. We are at war, you know.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
