The Taliban just doesn't get public relations

Now they're trying to influence Canadian voters. They want us to vote for someone who will pull our soldiers out of Afghanistan. To make sure we get the message, they're stepping up attacks on our troops.

You've got to feel sorry for Jack Layton. Both Harper and Dion have made it clear that they are committed to staying in Afghanistan, and that they won't be intimidated by Taliban threats. The only major nation-wide party calling for a withdrawal is the NDP. By default, the Taliban is saying, "Vote NDP." Which puts poor Layton in the awkward position of trying to defend a platform plank that gets a stamp of approval from the Taliban.

Somehow I don't think they'll be mentioning this "endorsement" on the NDP website.


Technorati tags: Taliban, Canadian election

The General has a point

General Roméo Dallaire (that's Senator Dallaire to you civvies) is upbraiding the Conservative government over the case of Omar Khadr. (In all fairness, the Liberals didn't do any better when they were in power, which may be why Stéphane Dion is threatening to discipline the senator, in yet another stunning example of Dion's lack of political and good sense.)

Dallaire's central point - and whatever you think of the General or Khadr or any of the political parties, it's a very good one - is that Khadr was only 15 at the time he was taken into custody and sent to Guantanamo. Someone that young is normally considered a victim of indoctrination and/or intimidation and is rehabilitated, not charged. He asks what makes this case different. And he's right. You cannot have two sets of standards, applied according to the political winds of the times. Either we stand for human rights and justice equally applied, or we don't.

Dallaire said Canadian soldiers have helped rehabilitate more than 7,000 child soldiers in Afghanistan. None of them have been prosecuted, he said.

"What is the political reason? What makes [Khadr] different from the others?" said Dallaire.

Technorati tags: Romeo Dallaire, Omar Khadr

The good news from Afghanistan

Shere Khan at Dust my Broom is a little weary of all the gloom and doom reporting coming out of Afghanistan, so he took it on himself to do some research. Truck on over if you would like a good, meaty report on successful reconstruction and other good news in Afghanistan. You certainly can't count on the traditional news sources to give you this kind of information.

Gleanings from the blogosphere, Sept. 25

Paul Kretkowski of Beacon is defending the Coke plant in Afghanistan. He doesn't buy the argument that it's a waste of water resources or harmful to the country in any way.

The point of Coca-Cola being in Kabul is that someone in the country has the capacity to purify water in very large amounts, and this over time leads to more people being able to do the same. The people at Coke aren’t stupid; if they’re in Afghanistan it’s because a) Coke (and its local bottler) thinks there’s a market, and b) Coke can do business there, which means it can assure access to a water supply, electricity, glass bottles, trucks, pallets, gasoline and so on.

Coke’s need for these civilizational essentials creates infrastructure, and so Afghan civilians should eventually benefit from the Coke plant both directly (jobs) and indirectly (steadier supplies of the items needed to make Coke, which are the same items needed for at least 20th-century life).

Big day in Ottawa

It was a busy day in the nation's capital.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai addressed a joint session of Parliament, thanking Canada for its military presence in Afghanistan and specifically thanking the families of fallen soldiers. In response to a reporter's question, he also made it clear that Canadians were welcome to stay even beyond their present mandate. (This in stark contrast to the highly deceptive spin put on some of his remarks taken out of context on the NDP website.) In his speech to Parliament, he presented in concrete terms the progress that has been made in Afghanistan. And, without naming names, he ascribed his country's problems to abandonment by the international community after the Soviet withdrawal.

He later laid a wreath at the National War Monument, and reacted to a protester's curses by smiling and waving his hat. The man definitely has class.

I don't know if he stuck around to see it, but at noon there was a large rally (8-10,000 people, which is huge by Canadian standards) on Parliament Hill in support of Canadian troops. There have been conflicting polls in Canada lately on whether the majority of Canadians support the Afghan mission, but it is clear that the supporters are more willing to stand up and be counted in public. Prime Minister Harper addressed the enthusiastic crowd.

Technorati tags: Hamid Karzai, Stephen Harper