Dion will never be a friend of the Canadian military

I came across an interesting article, Dion will never be a pal of soldiers, by Peter Worthington in the Toronto Sun. The main premise is that the CAF would be reduced to its previous depleted strength with their role and capabilities severely limited, as it was during the Trudeau years, if Dion was to become Prime Minister.

In his press conference on leaving Afghanistan, Dion seemed to think our role should consist of turning soldiers into social workers -- no more seek and destroy stuff our troops have been doing so effectively.

Instead he wants our troops building schools, enhancing women's rights, digging wells for fresh water, training and assisting local communities. Silly ass. What escapes Dion's limited comprehension is that our troops have been doing all this social work stuff from day one, as well as kicking butt of the Taliban.

By his actions since becoming leader of the opposition, Dion has not helped to overcome this perception. In his news conferences and statements in parliament, he is almost always very critical of the military.

Dion and members of his caucus had a field day last Spring defending the words of murderous Taliban thugs, who would not have a second thought about killing women and children, when they were making allegations of torture and mistreatment, as instructed in their training manuals. Other members of the Liberal caucus did their best to smear our military, by trying to make them appear as incompetent violators of human rights in Afghanistan, when all they were doing was fulfilling an agreement involving prisoner transfer that was made while the previous Liberal party was in power.

In a May 27, 2005 letter from Graham to Martin, the former prime minister was told that Canada planned to negotiate an agreement with the Afghan government that would spell out "explicit undertakings" on how the detainees would be treated.

The same day as the letter, Graham "authorized the Canadian Forces to seek arrangements with relevant authorities on the transfer of detainees," according to a Defence Department briefing note.

The other thing that Dion and his Liberal caucus does not seem to be able to understand is that our military needs good equipment and military hardware to be able to carry out its duties effectively, wherever they are deployed. For many years under previous governments, they were forced to operate using sub-standard equipment, which was badly in need of being replaced. A good example of this are the sea king helicopters, which are over 40 years old and require several hours of maintenance for every hour they are in the air.

When Prime Minister Harper announced increased spending for the military to upgrade its equipment, including replacing the ageing sea king helicopters, Dion and members of his caucus were all over him, condemning him and his party for doing what was desperately needed for many years.

... the Opposition is accusing Harper of an American-style defence buildup that seems "more attuned to offensive warfare" than peacekeeping.

"We have a prime minister who has George W. Bush as American Idol," Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said.

Then there is the lack of appreciation for the CAF. You almost never hear Dion utter words of support for our military. It’s mind boggling, especially since many of them are risking their lives everyday in hostile environments and are serving our country honourably.

The problem with Dion is that he never seems to be able to think things through before opening his mouth to make ridiculous statements. He does not seem to have a firm grasp on world affairs, as was evidently displayed by his gaffe on Pakistan.

He needs to realize that he is the leader of the Opposition and not a university professor anymore. In university, one can make all kind of wild theories and hold utopian world views, as they will never be required to implement it. In the real world things are different. It is a very rough place people full of people who would not give a second thought about destroying our way of life.

Dion also needs to realize that in order to have development in Afghanistan's Kandahar region, including construction of new schools, digging wells and other infrastructure, security is required. Security is needed because this work is being done in Taliban territory and our soldiers and other aid workers would be sitting ducks without a strong military on the ground to thwart any Taliban attack and to proactively remove any pending Taliban threat to the community. That is why we need to ensure that our military is strong, has the necessary equipment and our full support when we deploy them in hostile territories.