Friday, January 12, 2007

He "Hopes" They Won't?

Canada's defence minister, Gordon O'Conner, hopes - yes, that's right, he hopes - the US won't draw down its forces in Afghanistan to meet the need for more non-existant troops that George Bush has promised to send to Iraq.

Gord, this isn't something you hope about. You're the defence minister, our soldiers in harm's way in Afghanistan are your responsibility, we're there fighting America's war while it has chosen to embroil itself in an adventure elsewhere that's going sour. You don't hope, you damn well get solid commitments.

The problem Gord isn't just that American units might be drawn down for the Iraq surge, it's that the US only has 22,500 total in Afghanistan now. That's just 1,000 more than the entire surge Bush wants to send to Iraq. That is a fraction of the US forces needed in Afghanistan and you're not saying 'boo' to Washington, Gord.

As for the nonsense coming out of the states that, in case of an emergency, they would rustle up some Guard or Reserve units to send to Afghanistan, Gord, look at the lead time these units typically take before they're ready to go anywhere. We're talking months. If we get hammered in this Spring offensive we won't have the luxury of that sort of time. The Taliban are banking on that and they've got every reason to be confident in our inability to reinforce.

Gord, it's "fish or cut bait" time. What's it going to be? Are you going to take your responsibility to our forces and the Canadian people to make sure the nation we're over there filling in for is going to reinforce Afghanistan or are you content to leave our soldiers to twist in the wind? What's it going to be Gord?

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