Not many men or women can claim to be responsible for the death of 158 men and women and not be put in jail, but Stephen Harper the Prime Minister of Canada can. That is the number of soldiers who died on his orders to deploy to the most dangerous part of of Afghanistan over the 20002-2011 years of that war.
A war, and not to be too cynical or backhanded, that was supposed to reorganize and bring a country and it's people, living in a virtual 14th century world, forward into this day and age. And do it in 9 years by killing a lot of bad guys, who it seems don't want to live in the 21st century but like and seem to relish living in the 14th century and determined to continue.
Did we underestimated their stamina, commitment and fearlessness. It seems we were training the Afghan Army, with the best equipment and training available but we could not match the Taliban's zeal and as we all know, zeal and commitment trumps all, in human behaviors.
Now ISIL is the monster and we need to stop him, it, from trying to keep more of the region living in the 14th century. They are the real monsters and as we all know, have torn the norms of war asunder. No rules. So we are bombing them and have no boots on the ground. I think that's good and the pundits who say we have to have some ground troops are blind to the lessons we learned over the last 10 years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Boots on the ground are our problem, not solution. ISIL see us as monsters. Infidels. They behead our citizens and claim to be planning attacks on our soil. So lets keep them over there. In misery they so badly want to see us live in.
Let's keep bombing those bad guys from the air and with Cruise Missiles from our ships and do it for next 2 years or 3. What ever it takes to wear them down. It worked in Belgrade and Bosnia. Bombing like that is scary for those being bombed. It rattles the fighters confidence and zeal and they can't move around and secure more munitions and food and no one gets in or out of the region because we are bombing everything that moves or threatens. We can do that. They can't. It will work. Go with our strengths with least possible suffering to ourselves. When they surrender or are mostly all dead we can go in and help rebuild.
If we put boots on the ground, civilians will die just the same, including our troops in boots, maybe more than from bombing. I mean, is that not why we built these planes and bombs, so we could overpower bad guys without losing our fine boys and gals. And our PM can say he didn't send 158 more Canadians to their deaths. And we killed a lot of bad guys.
I don't know how leaders live with the knowledge that they, in their role and power, as head of the nation are responsible for those deaths. It's a daunting thought and I suppose a damn good rationalization is the only way out of that reality.
The other reality is; thinking back on the week that the USA invaded Iraq with all that firepower and advanced armaments and how their great tanks rolled over the Iraq ones, we have to wonder does the firepower trump human determination and hatred, like the Iraq fighters mustered and instead of rejoicing in their freedom and possibilities for the future, they made monkeys of the occupiers, fought against them, killing and injuring tens of thousands of them, then held an election under American rules and drove the guys, who freed them from murderous Saddam Hussein, and dumped tens of billions of dollars on their revitalization,the USA, out of the country without so much as a thank you.
So BOOTS on the ground? I don't think so.
Since the world of health is so sure that alcohol is responsible for so much sickness and early death; Governments everywhere, like Ontario should get out of the business of managing the sale and distribution of the substance and leave it to the suffering. Why should the governments benefit from our misery.
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