The Afstan "quagmire" being created at the Globe and Mail

[MarkOttawa]

John Ibbitson of the Globe Ibbitson raises the spectre without actually using the "Q" word (full text not online).
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v4/sub/MarketingPage?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20060613.wxibbitson13%2FBNStory%2FNational%2Fhome&ord=14820738&brand=theglobeandmail&redirect_reason=2&denial_reasons=none&force_login=false

   

Bob Rae...is...presenting himself as the candidate who has all Michael Ignatieff's smarts, eloquence and bilingual fluency, but who, unlike Mr. Ignatieff, isn't prepared to risk turning Afghanistan into Canada's own little Vietnam, which many Liberals now fear that engagement could become...

Funny, I haven't seen any news stories of Liberals linking Afstan with Vietnam (yet). A Google News search doesn't turn up anything either. Now some Liberals may indeed be thinking quagmire, but why is Mr Ibbitson highlighting this so strikingly?

And it wouldn't just be "Canada's own little Vietnam". It would be the US's, NATO's, indeed that of the coalition of 37 countries.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008508

Funny also that the Canadian media so rarely mention the breadth of the international military commitment; they seem intent on creating the impression that basically it's just us and the Americans. Hmm.

On June 2 the Globe grouped together three letters to the editor on Afstan. Not one of them used the "Q" word. Yet the Globe's heading for the letters was "The Afghan quagmire" (full text not online).
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v4/sub/MarketingPage?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FLAC.20060602.LETTERS02-3%2FTPStory%2FComment&ord=14827422&brand=theglobeandmail&redirect_reason=2&denial_reasons=none&force_login=false

On May 27 Geoffrey York, reporting from Afstan, also declared a quagmire without actually using the "Q" word (full text not online).
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v4/sub/MarketingPage?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FLAC.20060527.AFGHAN27%2FTPStory%2FInternational&ord=14832858&brand=theglobeandmail&redirect_reason=2&denial_reasons=none&force_login=false

...
Just like the U.S. troops in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s [See! It is a quagmire!], the coalition is trying to prop up a corrupt and unpopular government. Local governments are dominated by so many warlords and gangsters that many Afghans express nostalgia for the Taliban regime of 1996 to 2001, which at least was not perceived as corrupt and immoral.

"The Afghan population is throwing up its hands," a veteran aid worker in Kandahar said. "The disorder today is coming from the government itself. Its mandate was to clean out the warlords, but instead it's engaged in an endless dance with them. Everyone says that the Taliban regime, if nothing else, at least stopped the corruption and created law and order."..

Mussolini made the trains run on time. Hitler both built the Autobahns and eliminated unemployment. Stalin and Mao both increased literacy remarkably. Pol Pot excelled at population control.

This is the same Mr York who called the B-1 a "stealth bomber" in his recent article, "Bombs kill Afghan villagers".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060523.AFGHAN23/TPStory/TPInternational/Asia/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Michael Dorosh]

which many Liberals now fear that engagement could become...

I want to see Ibbitson name one, then. We should write to him and ask.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Once NATO takes over I wonder what the Globe will say then about international involvement?

 

[Haggis]

Once NATO takes over I wonder what the Globe will say then about international involvement?

"Canadian-led NATO mission"

 

[Cloud Cover]

Meanwhile, we find this little nugget buried deep within todays news feeds - whoever gets thanked for a "quagmire" these days?

U.S. Congress votes unanimously to thank Canada for extending Afghan mission
12:16:30 EDT Jun 13, 2006
WASHINGTON (CP) - The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a resolution commending Canada for its commitment to Afghanistan.

Indiana Republican Dan Burton introduced the resolution saying he wanted U.S. legislators to recognize Canada's vote last month to extend the Afghan mission by two years into 2009.

The resolution passed by a vote of 409 to 0.

Burton says Canada's decision signals its commitment to the global war on terror and its friendship with the United States.

Burton says the vote is a small token of appreciation to Canada, which he says is facing its own growing threat of terrorists inspired by al-Qaida.



© The Canadian Press, 2006

 

[Michael Dorosh]

409 to 0....impressive.

I posted at the Huffington Post today, in other news. It was a very scary place. Glad their government does not feel the same things the Huffington posters do...

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Just evidence of Harper sucking up to Bush.  :

 

[zipperhead_cop]

How does this come off as a "quagmire" if we are kicking ass and cleaning the place out?  I hope all of our future commitments get "bogged down" in success like this one is. 
So that is three for the bag jobs to take over to the battlefields.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

How does this come off as a "quagmire" if we are kicking ass and cleaning the place out?  I hope all of our future commitments get "bogged down" in success like this one is. 
So that is three for the bag jobs to take over to the battlefields.

It's all about the perception, baby.  The US in Vietnam kicked ass and took names in the Tet Offensive and wiped out the Viet Cong as a fighting force. Cronkite had them leaving the country four years later anyway...

 

[paracowboy]

It's all about the perception, baby.  The US in Vietnam kicked ass and took names in the Tet Offensive and wiped out the Viet Cong as a fighting force. Cronkite had them leaving the country four years later anyway...

'zackly. And the media is desperate for a repeat.

 

[Journeyman]

Just evidence of Harper sucking up to Bush.  :

Hardly. It's obviously Bush sucking up to Harper! We're bigger. We're on top.  ;D

 

[GAP]

And, from a Canadian perspective, they are succeeding. Watch this whole operation go south, all over the politics played over it. And don't think the enemy will not create the sensitive issues to supply ammunition to the politicians wanting us to pull out. The Taliban have already stated they will do it, now they just have to keep it up for a few horrible pics and soundbites back home, and voila...Canada's gone. :

 

[Cdn Blackshirt]

The problem is Stephen Staples and ilk always make themselves available, the media are lazy and won't do their own homework, and there is no counterperspective being provided.  What we need is an independent foreign policy panel with a media spokesman to speak the same truths we discuss here anytime the media wankers are looking for a soundbite. 


Matthew. 

 

[MarkOttawa]

US House more supportive of Canadian Afstan mission than our House.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/05/19/pf-1588643.html

'Canada thanked for Afghan help

WASHINGTON (CP) - The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a resolution commending Canada for its commitment to Afghanistan...The resolution passed by a vote of 409 to 0...

Our vote was 149 to 145.

Mark
Ottawa

 

[a_majoor]

Our own Ruxsted Editor has been busy putting out some good pieces on this very subject, start getting your friends and neighbours to log on and read them, if you know Bloggers or other "New Media" (or Old Media) reps, pass on the link. It can't hurt.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Exactly.  The media no longer has sole reign of the news (and I think that pisses them off).