OTTAWA (CP) - The length of Canada's military commitment in Afghanistan will be determined in large part by the generals, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said Monday amidst sustained calls for a full parliamentary debate.
MacKay was responding to comments by Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of the defence staff, who said last week the dangerous mission will require troops for at least a decade and that Canada is in for the long haul.
Both Hillier and Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, who is leading a multinational force in Kandahar which includes about 2,200 Canadians, "have indicated clearly this is going to be a longer-term commitment than was perhaps originally intended as far as troop deployment . . . ," MacKay said following a meeting with the visiting Russian foreign minister.
"As for the length of time we will be there, that is an open question. It's one, of course, where we are going to rely heavily on the information we receive from Gen. Hillier and others who are overseeing this mission."
MacKay's comments came as a military analyst warned that Hillier is being set up as a political fall-guy in case the dangerous southwest Asian mission goes off the rails.
"He was set up by the Liberals and he's being set up by the Conservatives as the lightning rod for public discontent if this mission should go really sour," David Rudd of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies said in an interview.
"It's not his call."
Rudd believes Liberals and now Conservatives in government are skirting political accountability for the mission and that a full parliamentary debate should take place, if only to tell people exactly what Canada's role is in war-ravaged Afghanistan.
"I don't subscribe to the notion that fostering or sponsoring a parliamentary debate would be catastrophic for morale," said Rudd.
"If the government feels it has a strong position, it should articulate it."
The Canadian Peace Alliance, a group representing some 140 member groups, issued a call Monday for Canada to abandon Afghanistan.
"It is time for the killing to stop," said the peace group's release.
MacKay appears to be taking the advice of neither Rudd nor the peace lobby.
The foreign affairs minister was adamant Monday that a public debate of the mission's merits would be seen as undermining Canadian soldiers.
MacKay said Canadians are understandably nervous after a recent spate of insurgent attacks and casualties, including the deaths of two soldiers in a road accident and a horrific suicide axe attack that critically wounded a Canadian captain.
"Recent results have demonstrated this is life and death and we don't want to jeopardize or in any way have a psychological or a real impact on the troops who are in Afghanistan," said MacKay.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n030621A.xml
Not surprising.
MacKay was responding to comments by Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of the defence staff, who said last week the dangerous mission will require troops for at least a decade and that Canada is in for the long haul.
Both Hillier and Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, who is leading a multinational force in Kandahar which includes about 2,200 Canadians, "have indicated clearly this is going to be a longer-term commitment than was perhaps originally intended as far as troop deployment . . . ," MacKay said following a meeting with the visiting Russian foreign minister.
"As for the length of time we will be there, that is an open question. It's one, of course, where we are going to rely heavily on the information we receive from Gen. Hillier and others who are overseeing this mission."
MacKay's comments came as a military analyst warned that Hillier is being set up as a political fall-guy in case the dangerous southwest Asian mission goes off the rails.
"He was set up by the Liberals and he's being set up by the Conservatives as the lightning rod for public discontent if this mission should go really sour," David Rudd of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies said in an interview.
"It's not his call."
Rudd believes Liberals and now Conservatives in government are skirting political accountability for the mission and that a full parliamentary debate should take place, if only to tell people exactly what Canada's role is in war-ravaged Afghanistan.
"I don't subscribe to the notion that fostering or sponsoring a parliamentary debate would be catastrophic for morale," said Rudd.
"If the government feels it has a strong position, it should articulate it."
The Canadian Peace Alliance, a group representing some 140 member groups, issued a call Monday for Canada to abandon Afghanistan.
"It is time for the killing to stop," said the peace group's release.
MacKay appears to be taking the advice of neither Rudd nor the peace lobby.
The foreign affairs minister was adamant Monday that a public debate of the mission's merits would be seen as undermining Canadian soldiers.
MacKay said Canadians are understandably nervous after a recent spate of insurgent attacks and casualties, including the deaths of two soldiers in a road accident and a horrific suicide axe attack that critically wounded a Canadian captain.
"Recent results have demonstrated this is life and death and we don't want to jeopardize or in any way have a psychological or a real impact on the troops who are in Afghanistan," said MacKay.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n030621A.xml
Not surprising.
