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Don't say you didn't see it coming ... it's Jack Layton 'Lite':
Shared in accordance with Fair Dealings provision of the Copyright Act. Shazam!
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=b476faeb-cd0e-4567-95f2-0c56cb1d6375&k=35236
Jack Aubry, CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen
Published: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
OTTAWA - Liberal leadership contender Stephane Dion says Canada should withdraw its troops ''with honour'' from Afghanistan before 2009 because their current mission is ill-conceived and misguided.
In an interview with CanWest News Service, Dion said the current military mission is not making progress. But he quickly added any pull-out of troops would only occur after discussions with the other NATO countries involved in the military mission.
Highly critical of the mission, Dion's position seems to differentiate himself form the other three frontrunners Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and Gerard Kennedy in the Liberal leadership race.
''Canada must say: 'Look, we are very willing to work with you, to design something that makes sense, because I don't want to risk the life of our soldiers if we are not making progress','' said Dion.
The former intergovernmental affairs minister in the Chretien government said Harper blackmailed the House of Commons when he extended the mission by threatening an election unless the MPs approved it in a vote. Dion refused to put a deadline on any withdrawal, saying that would be a mistake.
''We need to involve the other nations much more. It is really sad what happened because Mr. harper last spring played the macho the one who will be able to carry us out of Afghanistan. He copied the speeches of Mr. Bush, I think President Bush should request copyright from these speeches,'' said Dion.
He blames Harper's leading role in Afghanistan for making the other NATO countries feel less involved than they perhaps planned, adding that Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor's recent request for others to do more in the war-torn country is ''a contradiction'' for the Canadian government.
Dion said his position is different from that of New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton and the NDP because he would never act unilaterally.
''I would really try to work with the other countries. Canada does not act unilaterally and I will try, definitely, to work with them. Between a complete withdrawal and the mission the way it is designed, I want to think that there is something that makes sense,'' said Dion.
He warned if the current mission continues, there will not be progress in Afghanistan and the priority for Canadians will be to simply avoid casualties.
''That is to see all soldiers remain in a certain perimeter and become less and less involved with the population,'' he said.
Dion said the ''divisive'' prime minister had told Liberal Leader Bill Graham in the House that Canada would be able to intervene in other parts of the world, if necessary but that instead, Canadian peacekeepers posted on the West Bank were relocated to Afghanistan before hostilities broke out in the Middle East.
''So it doesn't seem that we have the capacity to intervene elsewhere. It is not certain we have the capacity to continue in this mission the way it is designed now, I understand from the last report I read,'' said Dion.
He said the situation in Afghanistan is more complex than presented by the Harper government, which views it as a battle with the Taliban.
''You have the Taliban, you have warlords, it is a complex situation. E and we need to work with the other nations to see if we can create a type of Marshall Plan like the one for Europe after the Second World War to be sure that the poppy can be used for licit activities. Otherwise I think it is very very difficult to make progress,'' said Dion.
During question period Tuesday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Layton was ''on the wrong track'' by opposing the United Nations mandate the Canadian mission received. Layton had cited reports more and more Canadian reservists were needed to ''backfill for the inadequate preparations'' for the country's obligations in Afghanistan and experts that reported ''we are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.''
O'Connor said his department has no problem recruiting people for the country's special forces, saying the Armed Forces had been dramatically reduced under the previous government. ''What we are doing now is we are being innovative. We are using community colleges, we are using training institutions, we are using retired military to help train in the skills of the military, but everybody who is trained by this means must be fully qualified before they are accepted in the classes,'' said O'Connor.
Ottawa Citizen
© CanWest News Service 2006
Shared in accordance with Fair Dealings provision of the Copyright Act. Shazam!
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=b476faeb-cd0e-4567-95f2-0c56cb1d6375&k=35236
Jack Aubry, CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen
Published: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
OTTAWA - Liberal leadership contender Stephane Dion says Canada should withdraw its troops ''with honour'' from Afghanistan before 2009 because their current mission is ill-conceived and misguided.
In an interview with CanWest News Service, Dion said the current military mission is not making progress. But he quickly added any pull-out of troops would only occur after discussions with the other NATO countries involved in the military mission.
Highly critical of the mission, Dion's position seems to differentiate himself form the other three frontrunners Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and Gerard Kennedy in the Liberal leadership race.
''Canada must say: 'Look, we are very willing to work with you, to design something that makes sense, because I don't want to risk the life of our soldiers if we are not making progress','' said Dion.
The former intergovernmental affairs minister in the Chretien government said Harper blackmailed the House of Commons when he extended the mission by threatening an election unless the MPs approved it in a vote. Dion refused to put a deadline on any withdrawal, saying that would be a mistake.
''We need to involve the other nations much more. It is really sad what happened because Mr. harper last spring played the macho the one who will be able to carry us out of Afghanistan. He copied the speeches of Mr. Bush, I think President Bush should request copyright from these speeches,'' said Dion.
He blames Harper's leading role in Afghanistan for making the other NATO countries feel less involved than they perhaps planned, adding that Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor's recent request for others to do more in the war-torn country is ''a contradiction'' for the Canadian government.
Dion said his position is different from that of New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton and the NDP because he would never act unilaterally.
''I would really try to work with the other countries. Canada does not act unilaterally and I will try, definitely, to work with them. Between a complete withdrawal and the mission the way it is designed, I want to think that there is something that makes sense,'' said Dion.
He warned if the current mission continues, there will not be progress in Afghanistan and the priority for Canadians will be to simply avoid casualties.
''That is to see all soldiers remain in a certain perimeter and become less and less involved with the population,'' he said.
Dion said the ''divisive'' prime minister had told Liberal Leader Bill Graham in the House that Canada would be able to intervene in other parts of the world, if necessary but that instead, Canadian peacekeepers posted on the West Bank were relocated to Afghanistan before hostilities broke out in the Middle East.
''So it doesn't seem that we have the capacity to intervene elsewhere. It is not certain we have the capacity to continue in this mission the way it is designed now, I understand from the last report I read,'' said Dion.
He said the situation in Afghanistan is more complex than presented by the Harper government, which views it as a battle with the Taliban.
''You have the Taliban, you have warlords, it is a complex situation. E and we need to work with the other nations to see if we can create a type of Marshall Plan like the one for Europe after the Second World War to be sure that the poppy can be used for licit activities. Otherwise I think it is very very difficult to make progress,'' said Dion.
During question period Tuesday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Layton was ''on the wrong track'' by opposing the United Nations mandate the Canadian mission received. Layton had cited reports more and more Canadian reservists were needed to ''backfill for the inadequate preparations'' for the country's obligations in Afghanistan and experts that reported ''we are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.''
O'Connor said his department has no problem recruiting people for the country's special forces, saying the Armed Forces had been dramatically reduced under the previous government. ''What we are doing now is we are being innovative. We are using community colleges, we are using training institutions, we are using retired military to help train in the skills of the military, but everybody who is trained by this means must be fully qualified before they are accepted in the classes,'' said O'Connor.
Ottawa Citizen
© CanWest News Service 2006