[Freakinoldguy]

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

It was the Liberals who sent out troops into Afghanistan. For decades they offered up our soldiers in blue Berets and put them into impossible situations with ridiculous (or perhaps non-existent) rules of engagement to "keep a peace" that never existed. The blue beret bit made the government look good but it lead to some dismal failures that really hurt the army (see: Somalia, Rwanda, Cyprus).

Maybe, that is why the "peacekeeper" phase of our history has come to an end.

East Timor where the Minister of National Defense refused to ride in a Sea King Helicopter off Provider because it was unsafe but had no problem making the service men ride in it after they had shit canned he EH101 deal.

Maybe Liberal Cheerleaders should stop shouting Conservative hypocrisy when it comes to the military since they were no better and all things considered maybe even worse.

[saturn_656]

History has proven we have some of the finest and most capable men and women in uniform anywhere in the world who will get the job, whatever it may be, done.

However when we handicap them with shitty ROE, obsolete or otherwise insufficient gear, lack of support, etc. we will get failures like Rwanda and Somalia. Those weren't the military's failures, even though they were punished for them.

[andyt]

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

It was the Liberals who sent out troops into Afghanistan. For decades they offered up our soldiers in blue Berets and put them into impossible situations with ridiculous (or perhaps non-existent) rules of engagement to "keep a peace" that never existed. The blue beret bit made the government look good but it lead to some dismal failures that really hurt the army (see: Somalia, Rwanda, Cyprus).

Maybe, that is why the "peacekeeper" phase of our history has come to an end.

And I fully supported sending troops to Astan when the goal was to get Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. It's then the US decided that wasn't really important, contracted it out and went to Iran that we should have left. That was still Chretien. But it's the disgusting display of the CPC while in opposition and then in power that I object to.

Peacekeeper - it was the thing to do at the time. Lots of countries involved, and again, not really much flag waving about it. No insinuating the other parties weren't patriotic.

[BRAH]

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

It was the Liberals who sent out troops into Afghanistan. For decades they offered up our soldiers in blue Berets and put them into impossible situations with ridiculous (or perhaps non-existent) rules of engagement to "keep a peace" that never existed. The blue beret bit made the government look good but it lead to some dismal failures that really hurt the army (see: Somalia, Rwanda, Cyprus).

Maybe, that is why the "peacekeeper" phase of our history has come to an end.

[Vamp018]

Hear, I thought we in the US where the only Blue Helmet hater's lol.

[saturn_656]

Vamp018 Vamp018:

Hear, I thought we in the US where the only Blue Helmet hater's lol.

I have no problem with Blue Helmets (berets, whatever), its the BS rules that come with having your troops wear them. How many times were our troops forced to bear witness to atrocities and were forbidden (or left unable) to intervene?

Our soldiers do much better work when they wear their own head gear.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

I find it odd that the govt was all hot and bothered to spend billions on the F-35 but now suddenly we're cutting back on the military, AGAIN?!

Then again, I guess the money's gotta come from somewhere to keep feeding the epicenter of entitlement known as the Senate.

[Jabberwalker]

Vamp018 Vamp018:

Hear, I thought we in the US where the only Blue Helmet hater's lol.

A Canadian (Lester B Pearson) invented the "blue beret" UN peacekeeping during the Suez crisis. It was jigged together an acceptable and honourable way of allowing the British and French to withdraw their troops from the canal before a real shit-storm broke out. In a sense, the Canadians were there as "neutral" surrogates for the Americans, who were not yet as engaged in the region. (Eisenhower was a more cautions president than his successors, apparently). It put the brakes on the 1956 war but, as a lot of other UN missions did, it did not fix any of the underlying problems in the Middle East. It merely postponed the conflict for 11 years.

[Jabberwalker]

PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:

I find it odd that the govt was all hot and bothered to spend billions on the F-35 but now suddenly we're cutting back on the military, AGAIN?!

Then again, I guess the money's gotta come from somewhere to keep feeding the epicenter of entitlement known as the Senate.

All that they have to do is knock ONE F-35 off of the order sheet to make up their $3.1 Billion.

[bootlegga]

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

It was the Liberals who sent out troops into Afghanistan. For decades they offered up our soldiers in blue Berets and put them into impossible situations with ridiculous (or perhaps non-existent) rules of engagement to "keep a peace" that never existed. The blue beret bit made the government look good but it lead to some dismal failures that really hurt the army (see: Somalia, Rwanda, Cyprus).

Maybe, that is why the "peacekeeper" phase of our history has come to an end.

I'd like to think we made a difference at times in peacekeeping roles - Cyprus, where we kept two NATO countries from going to war with each other; Sarajevo, where we helped people survive; Medak, where fought to prevent another atrocity, etc.

I agree there were lots of screw-ups (like sending the CAR to Somalia for a peacekeeping mission), but we certainly helped lots of non-combatants in the regions where we served.

Even the father of Shidane Arone (the kid tortured and murdered during the Somalia Affair) didn't want Canadians to leave - that to me says that despite the mistakes we made, we did some good while we were there.

[bootlegga]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

East Timor where the Minister of National Defense refused to ride in a Sea King Helicopter off Provider because it was unsafe but had no problem making the service men ride in it after they had shit canned he EH101 deal.

Maybe Liberal Cheerleaders should stop shouting Conservative hypocrisy when it comes to the military since they were no better and all things considered maybe even worse.

I don't have one problem with cutting defence spending to help balance the budget. When times gets tough, you've got to make tough decisions and cut things.

But when one party wraps itself in the flag and claims that everyone else is terrible for cutting defence spending, then turns around and does the exact same thing, it is nothing but hypocrisy.

Say what you want about the Liberals and Chretien, but he never promised all sorts of big ticket items during his time in the PMO, then backed away from the table when the bill came. He said that times are tough and we need to tighten our belts and that's what he did. Harper promised $490 billion for ships, planes, trucks, etc. in 2008 and hasn't gotten any of them going (beyond perhaps the design stage). What's worse is that some of them have been outright cancelled (Close combat vehicles for example), while others have been stalled for his entire time in office (new trucks, SAR planes, while others reduced in numbers and/or capability (JSS).

[andyt]

Exactly what I was saying. The Libs were less hypocritical on this particular matter. I thought the Reformacons behaviour nothing but disgusting they way they played the US game of wrapping yourself in the flag and "for the soldiers."

[Jabberwalker]

My wife's cousin was a trooper in Cyprus ... a Lynx driver. He did not have many nice things to say about the Greeks but the Turks always treated the Canadians with respect and professionalism. They are both our NATO allies but they despised each other. After a decade and a half of maintain a green line between them, our presence didn't make the slightest difference when the Turks decided to invade in 1974. It's as if we were never there. What a waste of three decades.

[2Cdo]

Just for info, Somalia was not a blue beret peacekeeping mission.

[Jabberwalker]

2Cdo 2Cdo:

Just for info, Somalia was not a blue beret peacekeeping mission.

I'm sure that you are right. We tend to lump all of these things together, I guess. It sure ruined the Airborne, though. The press were like piranhas.