Harper was roaring in 2006 and his first foreign trip was to Afghanistan to show his boss Bush how committed he was to defeat the Taliban/Al-Qaeda and insurgency. He made statements like, "we will never cut and run." Three years later all that has gone sour and now the temptation of Afghanistani cheese is simply not there for him. How times change and people change with it, especially politicians.
Now he says the insurgency will always be there and no on can end it. He added that Alexander the Great (which he was playing in 2006), Britain and more recently former USSR could not defeat the insurgency and Canada is in no shape to do it. I suppose up to now he did not bother to read the history of Afghanistan and now that he has finished that book his views have changed.
Lol...really good graphic!
ReplyDeletePenlan, I am glad you like it.
ReplyDeleteMr.Harper says that the military alone can't win in Afghanistan.He gets criticized for it! Shortly after our PM says this on CNN,U.S.President Barack Obama makes similar comments about the Afghan insurgents. But he isn't criticized for it by the liberals! How convenient it is. Oh yea if Mr.Bush was Mr.Harper's boss for having similar statements on Afghanistan,is Mr.Harper now the boss of U.S. President Barack Obama for having similar statements? But I digress! Just typical!
ReplyDeleteAs a matter fact Obama never talked about defeating anyone. He said overcoming insurgency whatever means were possible including negotiations. So he really never took hawkish position. He said about diplomacy including Afghanistan as far back as March 2008 when he was still a candidate Obama. So there is difference. That is where Right took a wrong turn and has been wrong ever since.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link for Obama's statement in Nov. 2008
ReplyDeletehttp://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9872
LeDaro you can spin all you want the fact of the matter is that Mr.Obama has said a similar statement that Mr.Harper was criticized for. Mr.Harper has never said that you will win with military alone. If he did please show the proof. Oh yea Mr.Obama will be increasing the military side in Afghanistan,what would your reaction be if Mr.Harper decides to do the same humm? Oh yes he would be criticized,but of course not Mr.Obama. But I digress!
ReplyDeleteHarper has yet to say that negotiation with the Taliban is a good idea. When Jack Layton said it Harper called him Taliban lover. Obama is way ahead of him in that respect.
ReplyDeleteYour argument is erroneous that Harper led Obama on conciliatory approach. Not true.
Harper repeated Bush's mantra over an over that "we will never cut and run". What did he mean when he said that. What does he mean now when he says insurgency cannot be beaten or defeated. It is a clear flip-flop. I do not know what more evidence you need. You are standing on very murky grounds in your argument and defending indefensible.
Here is another link which might help:
ReplyDeleteHarper's First Visit to Afghanistan
Harper so confident of winning at that time.
I will comment on this subject here for the last time. Mr.Harper has said that eventually it will be up to the Afghan people to take control of their own country. He hasn't said that we are going to leave now! Has a matter of fact he has left the door open to possible staying past the 2011 deadline.
ReplyDeleteYou said:
"Harper so confident of winning at that time."
Be serious will you! I don't know of anyone back then who send their military that didn't think they could win.
Name me a government back then that had send their military that thought they couldn't win!
You know what? You have your idea and I have mine.Lets just leave at that goodnight.
Right wrote:
ReplyDelete"Oh yea Mr.Obama will be increasing the military side in Afghanistan,what would your reaction be if Mr.Harper decides to do the same humm?"
I'm sure Harper would have sent more troops if he could have BUT we don't have them to send. That is the only thing that stopped Harper. We do not have the same size Forces that the U.S. does. And Harper extended the mission to 2011 from 2009, this year we could have been out of there. He was going to do it whether the House accepted it, voted against it, or not - in case you've forgotten. So the Libs worked with him on this - if you remember.
I still think Harper, if he's still in power, will try to extend the mission at the request of Obama, & not just "change" the mission to train Afghan soldiers & for restructuring. The man is not to be taken at his word. He has lied so many times it makes the head spin.
Penlan, thank you. You’re right that Harper cannot be trusted.
ReplyDeleteRight, thank you for your comments but you do perplex me. First you said that Obama followed Harper’s lead when he said that NATO could negotiate with moderate Taliban. When I pointed out that Obama has been saying that since early 2008 then you changed the subject and said that Harper never said that we could defeat Taliban. Ok, I referred to his press conference in March 2006 with Karzai where he said that we could win – which means we could defeat Taliban. Now you say who does not say first time to his troops that they can win. In other words he was lying to his troops and giving them false hope when he knew it was not possible.
Harper was all along trying to please his boss Bush and now that he has gone there is no need to brag that he can win which he should have never done to start with.