"Afghan peace will only come at the point of a gun" by Roy Harding

[Gimpy]

I found a copy of the Post lying around today and happened to start flipping through it when I saw a column in the editorial section by Mr. Roy Harding. Very nice piece Mr. Harding, and congratulations on getting printed in a national newspaper.

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=286213

Re: Would-Be MP Takes Up The Challenge, letter to the editor, Feb. 2.

Letter-writer and federal candidate Teresa Townsley states, "Afghan families need disarmament, development and aid" -- and she's right. But I have a question for Ms. Townsley -- a question informed by military service in Afghanistan, Croatia, Serbia, Iran, Iraq and other odd and sundry places. Just how do you propose to provide "disarmament, development and aid" without fighting? All the folks I ever met -- I was with many units, the last one being 3 Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry in Kandahar in 2002 -- who needed to be "disarmed" weren't exactly voluntarily compliant with my request that they disarm, even when that request was made on behalf of the United Nations. Those folks, as I recall, took some serious convincing to see the error of their ways; some of them even needed killing before they complied.

I applaud your principles, Ms. Townsley --but I deplore your logic.

Roy Harding, Warrant Office (ret'd), Terrace, B.C

 

[PMedMoe]

+1

 

[Roy Harding]

Couple of clarifications:

I didn't pick the headline.

The "letters editor" added the bit about "I was with many units, etc, etc" after he and I exchanged a couple of emails.  Guess they thought it added "weight" to the letter.

It's only a letter to the editor - not quite the same as being "published" in the editorial sense.