Don’t Forget The Decima Point - Poll and Gen. Hillier Disagree on Afghan Mission
October 2nd, 2006 | by MadHacktress |According to General Hillier, after reviewing the inside of his butt (where he stores his head), the majority of Canadians support the war in Afghanistan. According to a Decima poll released yesterday, 59 per cent of the 2038 respondents claimed otherwise. They are accurate to 2.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20; Hillier on the other hand, I don’t know.
From this math I then glean that the population of Canada has now reached at least 119 per cent - give or take 2.2.
Hillier claims that the concern of Canadians has more to do with the poor leadership of the Bush administration than with the decisions made by either the Liberals or the Conservatives.
I think, and this is just me, that the concerns that Canadians have probably has more to do with the fact that our young men and women who’re fighting in Afghanistan are coming home in pine boxes - a fact that General Hillier might have missed, what with his head being up his ass and all.
That Canada is participating in a war is not a big concern for me. Canada has had young men and women overseas in areas of conflict for my entire lifetime. It probably will for the rest of my lifetime as well. The fact of the matter is, however, that in Afghanistan things just aren’t being done right. Period.
I’ve mentioned it before, other bloggers have as well (and more betterly, too): the mission in Afghanistan has changed. We’re no longer a bit player in a coalition; Canada has taken on a de facto leadership role in the nation. Operation Archer, supposedly dedicated to the reconstruction of Afghanistan and the training of its National Army, has been a bloodbath. 30 soldiers have died since the start of Operation Archer in February.
Canadian soldiers either shouldn’t be there at all, or there should be a hell of a lot more of them. I said it before, if we’re fighting this war with anything less than a 15:1 ratio with the insurgents, then we’re fighting it wrong. There’s no way to win a war against zealots except with extraordinary force. There is no way that the insurgents are going to surrender - five years in and they’re going strong. They are going to demand to be killed to the man.
This seems to me like another Vietnam.
I live with a Canadian veteran who has served our country overseas and it pains me to hear of each death that occurs within the ranks of our troops. I see it in his face when these young people are killed - needlessly.
That Decima poll indicates that 68 per cent of the population believes that the United States will eventually withdraw from Iraq having never achieved its goal. I believe that is true not only of Iraq, but of Afghanistan as well. These wars are unwinnable when they’re being fought from the outside, not the inside. The majority of the people in those two countries need to be willing to fight - if not actually doing so - for the cause at hand; this is not the case.
I am not going to get up on a soapbox right now because I truly don’t understand all the many and varied facets of the issues. But I have strong opinions regarding what I do know. I think we need many, many more boots on the ground in Afghanistan, or we need to get the hell out altogether.
Seventy-four per cent of Canadians believe that Bush has made the world a more dangerous place. I agree, wholeheartedly.
Entry Filed under: General, In The News
That’s math.
Couldn’t have said that any better myself.
Good read! It’s unfortunate that people in powerfull positions such as Gen. Hillier are so blind to the pain they are causing Canadians by allowing this pointless war to continue. Why are we even over there? This isn’t our war, is it?
With not a whole bunch information on the question asked by the poll I do not think I can make a fair comment on this but just like the Québec referendum question; you can tailor make a question to be answered yes or no. A thought in passing as well do most Canadians understand or want to understand Afghanistan? I would say no. I am a son of a service personal who will be going back to Afghanistan. Population size, it is about the size of Canada and the country has been at war or civil war for too long I believe this is a great chance for Canada to step forward and do something truly great. W need to forget about Bush since Afghanistan is a UN sanctioned job where Iraq is not. As Canadians and just people in general we like to say everything bad is Bush which it is not I am not a Bush fan he is just not the root of all evil. Gen Hillier has served in Afghanistan and I look to parts of the country that do have success stories specifically around Kabul the north just about everywhere but the south west. Unfortunately these are not news worthy as negative news. Am I sorry that people are dieing oh yes but we must way the pros and cons remember that the Taliban did sanction all terrorist training they knew what was going on in their country (they eradicated poppy growing) so they new about al quada; and wanted women to be less then property I believe the mindset of getting Afghanistan back into the people of Afghanistan is what Canada should and is doing. Just have to remember though at the same time there is just about ever major player in the nuclear arms race involved here Pakistan Iran the Us Russia and China. I believe this is are war we are stopping something sooner then having terrorist and more problems in the future. I do apologize about all the typos