jingo all the way

This story about Haper and the 'dangers' of a debate on Afghanistan is a couple of days old. But I've been astounded over the course of the last few days to watch the comments pile up. I'm compelled to write now for the simple reason that Canadians are actually buying in to this crap.

"...any lack of resolve by any Canadian party will weaken our troops and has the possibility of putting our troops in more danger."
We daren't question this mission - this would be tantamount to a betrayal of our brave men and women in uniform. Would you to that to our servicepeople?

Does this sound familiar? It ought to. These are the bully tactics employed by Republican and played into by Democrat that have hamstrung the Iraq war debate in the official political arenas of the south.

I happen to believe that the Afghanistan mission is the right mission for Canada. I believe that though it might not look like 1957, it is still a peacekeeping operation. I have no reason to believe our troops aren't up to the task. But these are questions that need to be asked. And waving a flag at the them is no answer.

Did Canadians cut and run at Dieppe? No. Did we cut and run on D-Day? No way. Is any of that remotely relevant to this discourse? Not even close.

Ultimately, this is just an eye opener. So some Canadians have been harbouring a latent desire to delve into this primitive jingoistic rhetoric. Surprising, forgivable, but worthy of rebuke.