Troops best as peacekeepers, Canadians say

The results of the exhaustive survey, obtained by The Canadian Press, come despite the best efforts of both the Conservative government and the military to rebrand the Canadian Forces as a combat outfit.

The Canadian Forces ARE a combat outfit. That is what a military's PRIMARY role is, to combat enemies of the country and defend its interests.

Peacekeeping?
Like in Rwanda?


Unless we're actually willing to do something, I don't want our troops to go through that crap anymore. Reporters and senators are cheaper, send them instead.

Troops as peacekeepers. Yeah. Seems that someone needs to explain to the Canadian public the difference between soldiers and cops.

well unlike the US Canadians are not war mongers.... and harper wont be getting the military vote... lol..

well unlike the US Canadians are not war mongers.... and harper wont be getting the military vote... lol..

Like I said. Someone needs to explain to the Canadian public the difference between soldiers and cops.

If you want peacekeepers then start and train a professional constabulary force to go make peace in whatever pisspot nation catches your fancy. And then disband your actual military since it bothers you so much.

soldier =/= cops

I find the concept of being regarded as a peacekeeper embarrasing. All I have to do is look back at Rwanda and feel shame. But their is more to it then that.

Peacekeeping, as it is now, is a joke. I don't look forward to the day I'm off in some pisspot nation watching women get raped and their kids murdered in some of the most gruesome forms imaginable (think being strangles by your own intestines so some warlord can prove a point), while the ignorant millions back home think that i am making a difference in the world and bettering the Canadian image. Maybe sometimes it works, but I have yet to talk to a Canadian former-peacekeeper who doesn't have some horrible or gruesome story to tell about their peacekeeping days, if they are willing or able to talk about it without being brought to tears.

I would take a tour in Afghanistan over a tour in Dafur anyday.

What's embarrassing about preventing conflict?

well unlike the US Canadians are not war mongers.... and harper wont be getting the military vote... lol..

Like I said. Someone needs to explain to the Canadian public the difference between soldiers and cops.

If you want peacekeepers then start and train a professional constabulary force to go make peace in whatever pisspot nation catches your fancy. And then disband your actual military since it bothers you so much.

soldier =/= cops

Nah.

What's embarrassing about preventing conflict?
I'm thinking that he means that even by being there he was unable to prevent the violence that was still occuring. Might not have been an external conflict but was damn sure an internal one. And when you are not allowed to interfere because you are "keeping the peace" it kinda makes you want to drag the politicians over and force them to watch the "peace" first-hand.

What's embarrassing about preventing conflict?

Look at the next sentance.

I am fully aware that there was nothing anyone there could do, and it was no fault on their part. They did what they could. But Rwanda has been engrained into my mind as what a useless concept peacekeeping is in its resent form, and I find the participation in the beurocratic, disfigured, self-handcapped mess that peacekeeping is embarrasing.

I also think I would be far more than embarrassed if I was ever limited by my SOPs to simply watch as a woman is raped and her kids killed, probably begging me to help in a language I don't understand. I also find the concept of people wanting their military to be all about participting in what I just described above to be nationally embarrasing; because of the ignorance of the people of what really happens much of the time, because fo what happened much of the time, and because the military is regarded, as Bart describes, as glorified cops.

I joined to be a part of this nations defense, not some warlords babysitter (observer) as he lines a bunch of kids up behind a school and fills them, and the wall, with bullet holes.

If peacekeeping actually worked, it would be something to be damn proud of, like what Pearson did in 1956. What he fostered in Suez was a fucking miracle.



explained what i wanted to say in not nearly as many words.

Exactly. What good can soldiers do in they are powerless to stop the criminal events? In Rwanda, the troops were not equiped, not staffed and not allowed to prevent with the genocide. All they could do was watch.

The dream of Canadian peacekeeping requires both sides to have already agreed to peace and I think the days of honorable forces is past.

The problem with this war isn't our role. I don't see anything wrong with us fighting for what is right. I believe that the problem with this war is that we have chosen to engage an enemy in Afghanistan while they have safehaven in Pakistan.

Until we have open access to western Pakistan where the terrorists are holed up, we are going to be in constant threat on the battlefield while they are left alone to plan and regroup.

As long as they have access to western pakistan, they get to decide when to attack, while we must wait until they enter the battlefield and then defend against them. This puts us at a serious disadvantage and means that we will always be in a defensive position.

I believe this war is winnable but we really need to put pressure on Pakistan to grant access to the areas where these terrorists hide. Otherwise, they are just going to continue the stick and move tactics they have been using, and can extend this war for as long as they want.

I am hoping Mushariff's departure will open the door to a leader who might work with us to eliminate this problem, but somehow I doubt it.

Very vauge connection to the current topic. But I agree. More co-operation from Pakistan would be a great help.