What I said was, this mission is worthwhile … and you are the right kind of folks to do it," the chief of defence staff told reporters.
Infamous words from Gen. Rick Hillier as he saw off 140 soldiers for a six-month deployment in Afghanistan.
The deaths of four soldiers again have raised questions about what is exactly Canada's role in Afghanistan.
Two roadside bombs hit a Canadian military convoy just west of Kandahar on Friday, a day after the deaths of four soldiers. One of the bombs detonated between two vehicles, but there was no major damage and the convoy continued to drive through the danger zone.
A day earlier, four Canadian soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in attacks near Kandahar in the bloodiest day of fighting so far for Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
Sgt. Vaughn Ingram, Cpl. Bryce Jeffrey Keller and Pte. Kevin Dallaire of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry based in Edmonton were killed Thursday when Taliban militants attacked soldiers with rocket-propelled grenades on the outskirts of Kandahar.
Earlier in the day, Cpl. Christopher Jonathan Reid of Truro, N.S., was killed near Kandahar when a roadside bomb exploded near his armoured vehicle. Six other Canadians were wounded on Thursday.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is playing word games with the people of Canada. He is distorting and changing the scope of the mission in Afghanistan with every misleading syllable that spills from his forked tongue. Canadians believed that the focus of this mission when it began was one based on reconstructing a country destroyed by the Taliban. The mission's original mandate was development, diplomacy and defence. Today it appears to be solely combat.
Harper insisted it's only through combat missions that Afghanistan will eventually be at peace.
Twenty four Canadian soldiers have paid the ultimate sacrifice, another eighty-four have been injured, for what? For Harper's piece of mind. So he can report back to his American chess masters and say what a good boy am I?
Canadian soldiers role in the UN is of one pacifism, not as a pawn in a war we can't win.
Later,
Kenaz
