U.S. military urges Canada to maintain combat role

[CHIMO]

OTTAWA — A top U.S. military official cautioned yesterday, on the eve of a parliamentary debate on Canada's military mission to Afghanistan, that soldiers cannot separate the jobs of fighting Taliban insurgents, training Afghan soldiers and reconstructing the country.

Admiral William Fallon, head of U.S. Central Command and the officer responsible for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, would not say whether Canada's target of withdrawing from Afghanistan by 2011 was realistic. He did caution that the Taliban "pays close attention" to what happens in countries that supply troops to Afghanistan and gain confidence "if they perceive there's little commitment - or it's words and not a lot of action to back it up."

"And that's certainly not the mindset we want to leave them with," Adm. Fallon said on the CTV program Question Period, echoing controversial comments made by Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff Rick Hillier last week, who warned that the Taliban might step up attacks in Afghanistan to sway the political debate in Canada.

"We want them to have the idea that we're committed to helping this country of Afghanistan to achieve its potential," Adm. Fallon said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080225.wafghan25/BNStory/Afghanistan/home

Well with a war going on we should all put our shoulders into the effort. We did it before. We can do it again.

Don't think of thousands, think in multiples. Or in orders of magnitude. "You can do it."

Just think. We don't need forces to keep snow out of streets any more. We can rely on our neighbours.

If we want to. We can.

Look at all the top brass in Ottawa that could be out in the field. The last war had conscription if necessary but not necessarily conscription. We have much more that we can offer.


And a note for our bean counters. Found something that might make your requirements for air superiority within reach.

?

http://www.hammacher.com/publish/72434.asp

$200 bucks and at par!

[daleo]

1. The empires alway like the colonial troops to do their share

As it was with the British Empire, so it now is with the American Empire. There is no upper limit to the sacrifice that can be requested, in these sorts of open ended wars.