Peacekeeping pledge broken

[CHIMO]

Military said they'd be ready for Darfur
A year later, DND commitment has faded

Before committing troops to the current Afghanistan mission, Paul Martin exacted a promise the military now says it's too overworked to keep: Fighting the Taliban in Kandahar wouldn't stop Canada from peacekeeping in Darfur.

Martin, then the Liberal prime minister, set that condition at an extraordinary March 21, 2005 meeting with his top defence and diplomatic advisers. Originally skeptical of the rationale for another Afghanistan tour of duty, Martin finally agreed only after chief of defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier confirmed Canada would prepare itself to help in Sudan, where a 3-year-old civil war has killed some 200,000 people and displaced 2 million more.

Hillier was ordered to ensure Canada would be ready within about a year to respond positively if the United Nations was able to form a Sudan peacekeeping force and, more immediately, to help Foreign Affairs develop a broader Darfur strategy. It was the second of those plans that led to the deployment of about 100 support troops along with badly needed, if obsolete, armoured vehicles.

According to sources who attended the Parliament Hill meeting, Martin alone made a passionate argument for enough military strength to fulfill Canada's traditional humanitarian role.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1147297813034&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home

PM keeps door open on mission to Darfur

PM keeps door open on mission to Darfur
Message at odds with Defence Minister's

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada might send troops to the troubled Darfur region of Sudan despite insistence by his Defence Minister that the mission in Afghanistan precludes significant commitments elsewhere in the world.

"This government stands ready and is in consultation with our friends in the international community to do whatever is necessary to advance the peace process in Darfur," Mr. Harper said yesterday in the House of Commons.

"If that involves sending troops, that will be an option that we consider."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060511.wxdarfurharper11/BNStory/National/home

Guess that Harper is having second thoughts after Bush mentioned Canada a couple of days ago for help in Africa. And he owes one to Bush for all the concessions that Bush made on softwood. And just that little extra, it sort of sideswipes McKay.

[Spazito]

1. Hillier's appointment was a BIG mistake by the Liberals, imo

He is a gung-ho war monger inculcated by the war mentality south of the border. Martin buying Hillier's bullshit is one reason why he failed in his leadership, imo.

[MrPrax]

2. WhoHoo...Harper is scary!!

If you dropped the partisanship and simply look over what the government of Canada has done in the last 3 years, that inspite of a anti-war movement, it managed to change out traditional peacekeeping role closer to NATO combat role, used Darfur as a rationale to increased spending and troops and expanded the rhetoric of the Afghanistan campaign to co-ordinate with US aims, right at the moment the US/UK is might be rolling into the country right next to Afghanistan...??

At this point, I don't think party labels really make a whole lot of difference...I don't think they can commit to Darfur until the US plans have been finalized.