MD, George is right. Believe me when I say that those who would visit harm upon us in Afghanistan know full well we have a minority government in power right now. They know that any amount of pressure placed on our government to withdrawel from Afganistan is a small victory for them. They want public opinion to shift in overwhelming favour of a full withdrawel of CF personnel from that theatre. ANy means by which they can accomplish this goal is what they will do. IED attacks, suicide bombers, propaganda, terrorist attacks home and abroad.......... it all adds up for them.
We must stand firm and not let our resolve be broken by their fear and intimidation tactics. Peace and stability do not come with a cheap price tag. The western world gave in to Hitler time and again to appease him at the expense of other Nations freedom until we could not afford to give in any longer and we paid for it in the long run. We give these scumbags what they want by pulling out now, our men and women who have so far gave their all there will have died for nothing. We cannot accept this....... we cannot affod to accept this. They will only get stronger if we leave and Afghanistan will once again revert to a lawless haven for them to breed more of their kind to come back and kick us right in the a$$.
Our forefathers built a reputation that many Canadians have forgotten. We became a "peacekeeping" nation, a Country who is afraid of seeing their sons and daughters come home in bodybags. Canadians gradually became accustomed to the CF doing these missions and came to believe that was our role on the world stage. However, there are many a senior NCO in the military today who remember the heady days of training for the big red war machine to come from the East, guns blazing. These men in West Germany who wore the red and white on their shoulders were not daisy eyed peacekeepers - they were warriors who trained hard for the war that never came. Our reputation was built in the blood soaked fields of Flanders - Second Ypres, Mount Sorrel, Vimy, Third Ypres, Arras & Amiens. The reputation was added to in the Second World War. Almost 112,000 Canadians paid with their lives to get this proud reputation of the Canadian soldier being a force not to be reckoned with.
It's reasons just like the above mentioned that give concrete reason for us to remember the past. We cannot forget their sacrifices they made for us by turning tail and running at the first sign of trouble. We must dig our heels in and refuse to budge, show them that their cowardly attacks will not break our resolve. We've stood up against much more formidable foes in the past and came out the victors.
This is my view on the situation.
Regards