Wednesday, August 22, 2007

It's Not Going Well

How tragic. The body of one brave soldier is being repatriated to this country and two more are killed today.

The soldier coming home, Private Simon Longtin, received an incredible reception, including in Toronto, but obviously his death was felt the most in Quebec.

So, now we have this. Quebec no doubt, will react badly. I don't have enough fact's to make a real comment. I wonder though, are these new troops operating in an area that was thought to be secured?

I don't know, but I will do what I can to find out. I do know that such places, Provincial Reconstruction areas, are being attacked. One step forward, five back?

This idiotic pursuit, that obviously encourages attack, needs to be looked at now. Losing a 23 year old young man....think back to being 23.... for a pursuit to nowhere, is terribly disturbing to me.

This is a Bush led mission. Bush himself compared Iraq recently, to Vietnam. What does that tell you?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

KNB Our Military people on the ground are saying that progress is are being made but your saying things are not going well are you there to say this or your just base it on the numbers of death?

KNB did you know that
many of these people have
volunteer to go to Afghanistan and all support this mission?

"This idiotic pursuit, that obviously encourages attack, needs to be looked at now. Losing a 23 year old young man....think back to being 23.... for a pursuit to nowhere, is terribly disturbing to me." The name of this poor 23 year old is Pte. Benoit Longtin did you know that he volunteer to be in Afghanistan? I guess not! These brave people know very well what they are doing unlike people on the left. This is not an idiotic pursuit sorry to disappoint you and the left. I suppose you would have said the same thing in the second world war when we were going after fascism. Now i know you and the rest of left are going to use me as a punching bag over this. Don't expect me to respond to this event because every thing has been said for it and against it. We would just be going in circles.

"This is a Bush led mission. Bush himself compared Iraq recently, to Vietnam. What does that tell you?" People
get off your high horse
and get over this its becoming sickening to the stomach its not a Bush led mission.Its a U.N / NATO mission France has veto power at the U.N. they didn't veto it did they ? China has veto power at the U.N.they didn't veto it now did they? Great Britain has veto power at the U.N.they didn't veto it now did they? Russia has veto power at the U.N
they didn't veto it now did they? It was a unanimous vote at the U.N security council can you get that straight? You want to know a Bush led mission IRAQ!! IRAQ!! IRAQ!! that is a Bush led mission.

You said:

"Bush himself compared Iraq recently, to Vietnam." What the heck
does this comparison (Iraq) have to do with
Afghanistan??

Now I know what will
be said to me.
1) Sarcasm will be ramped
about me.
2) Name calling!!
3) Insults!!
4) Last i have no idea what I'm talking about!!

All of this will be said
about me because the left
is so predictable when you confront them. I repeat i will not answer any questions about this
because i've gone threw it before.

Anonymous said...

The Chretin liberals put us in Afghanistan.

The Martin liberals put us in Kandahar.

The first thing that goes bad and you run for the doors - pathetic.

Steve V said...

"Our Military people on the ground are saying that progress is are being made but your saying things are not going well are you there to say this or your just base it on the numbers of death?"

Johnny, just curious if you can cite one historical example where the military didn't over-state the relative climate of the theatre involved? If you are taking your cues for success, based on military opinion, then you are simply seeing what you want. It's their mission, do you expect them to say "we are spinning our wheels". They only time people seem to acknowledge the reality is in response to talk of cut and run, then they point to all the dangers to justify continuing.

wilson said...

''Bush himself compared Iraq recently, to Vietnam.''

No he didn't:

'President George W Bush has WARNED a US withdrawal from Iraq could trigger the kind of upheaval seen in South East Asia after US forces quit Vietnam.'...
Mr Bush said the Vietnam War had taught the need for US patience over Iraq.''...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6958824.stm

Red Canuck said...

Wilson - Instead of blithely regurgitating Bush's comments, take a moment to consider what he was proposing:

Namely, that the Vietnam war, which lasted roughly 15 years and resulted in nearly 60,000 American casualties and an estimated 800,000 Vietnamese casualties, would have turned out better, if the Americans had just had more patience.

Apparently Bush believes the big mistake in Vietnam was leaving too early, and this is the "lesson" he thinks should be learned with respect to Iraq.

What a colossal asswipe.

Dame said...

I just discovered your blog and Your thoughts could be copies of mine so allI say is you are right about Afganistan . It is not our war it is a grossly misunderstood country and culture we can't change . Not with the 2500 person "army" we put on that impossible terrain and altitude with airconditioned tanks...or so.. with the mentality of Hillier "TO KICK ASSES IN AFGANISTAN "" the bad guys good guys scenario...ect...

It is a WASTED effort /yes the taxpayer is talking here / no army will ever win against the thousands years old culture prevailing there..

Harper /the THUMBS UP GUY/ should prove his manhood in other ways like noticing people are not on his side .

Some days he looks as an arrested teenager who just must say something against all of us..
such a moron..

marta

burlivespipe said...

KNB - wise comments.
Yes, the Liberals ok'd this operation but they did not inject a more offensive component. Most commentators and military experts have said that Afghanistan was where the war on terror should have been fought - it was Bush and the rightwing that decided to shift direction and change the mission to 'vengeance' instead of 'justice'.
Had the US remained militarily focused on Afghanistan along with their NATO partners, perhaps we'd be truly seeing the Afghan people feeling free. Now they are just trapped between the devil they know (taliban) and the devil they fear is making a mess like Iraq (international forces)...
Funny how after spreading his diarrea-ic diatribe, accusing those who disagree with them (oh that familiar 'left' paint brush in use!) Jonny doesn't want to face the music.
Ain't that so Harpor-ish.

Karen said...

John, of course I'm aware that we have a volunteer army.

It's a NATO mission in name only, imo. Did you know that immediately following 9/11, NATO voted to invoke article 5 of the Treaty? That's the core article that states if one of us is attacked we consider it an attack on all of us. Do you know what the US said? "No thanks, we can handle it."

In 2003, NATO moved peacekeepers into Kabul and the north. In 2005, when it was clear that the US was too preoccupied with Iraq to be effective in the south, the US turned to NATO and sold the mission in Kandahar as a "beefed up" peacekeeping mission. The NATO mission was patterned after the strategy the US were using.

I base my views on the reading I've done on the subject John. Not what my political party may be saying and certainly not on popular rhetoric.

Karen said...

agent smith: The first thing that goes bad

This is hardly the first think that has been problematic.

Karen said...

Welcome marta. Some days he looks as an arrested teenager who just must say something against all of us..

That sums Harper up nicely.

Karen said...

Thanks burlivespipe. Yes, there is an argument to made that had NATO and the US gone in right away, throughout the country, things may have been different.

I'm not entirely convinced of this however. The Taliban and Al Queda seem to have endless patience. In the time it would have taken to secure the country and train their forces, who knows what those two groups could have been planning, or worse yet, instead of so many going to Iraq, imagine them wreaking the havoc we see there in Afghanistan.

It's one of those things I guess we'll never know the real answer to.

Red Tory said...

RC — I believe the memo says that Iraq is nothing like Vietnam, except when it is. Or something like that.

Karen said...

Precisely RT!