touchy topic may offend some........

[mainerjohnthomas]

Its easy to chant "Out of Iraq now", but if you are paying attention to the news (not unheard of in Canada) then you might feel a little less like chanting "Out of Iraq now, and let them slaughter each other without outside interference" .  Not only does it roll off the tongue a lot less well, but its a lot harder to feel all shiny happy about.  The situation in Afghanistan is similar in its volatility.  Democracy requires that you accept the views of those you disagree with fundamentally, even as they must do yours.  Afghanistan, under both the local warlords and the Taliban has a long tradition of might makes right.  If two dozen gun wielding killers believe women should go covered from nose to toenail, be beaten if found walking without their husband or father, and hundreds of women and any number of unarmed men disagree, too damn bad.  The guns veto any and all votes their owners disagree with.  Here in the west we accept the rule of law, and find Mao's saying that political power flows from the barrel of a gun, or Alexander's claim that all law is based on the sword to be trite.  In Afghanistan both sayings have been accepted as gospel for generations.  Having our troops there to support the building of a true nation, one founded on laws, and answering to an elected and responsible govt, means making sure that our troops are there to keep the "veto by gunfire" from undoing the attempts of the Afghans from impose order in their own land.  In a land dominated by local strongmen, we have to be the hardest, coldest, and toughest thing around, if we expect to make the local strongmen swallow the orders of a govt founded on principles other than absolute tyranny.

 

[gnplummer421]

There are some very valid points here,

My2cents, After scouring through news articles and googling percentages, I've come to the conclusion (as other replies have indicated) that the average civilian is pretty naive to most things Armed Forces, they are just following blindly a cause they know nothing about. So if you filter out the 90% who have uninformed opinions, leaving you with about a tenth of the protesters that actually have an informed opinion.

Using this formula it is save to say that our Forces are well supported by Canadians, ones that know I mean. The other ones well...they just don't count, sorry


Gnplummer

 

[Kiel vonAachen]

Mainerjohnthomas, thanks so much for your post.Your comments regarding "veto by gunfire" say exactly what most of us were trying to convey. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. I greatly appreciate the quality of the posts on this site. Thanks. 

 

[The Gues-|-]

Apologies for the 'off-track' but could someone tell me where I could get a 'yellow support the troops ribbon magnet' without saying the word "CANEX"? Thanks!

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/19718.0.html

Try there....

 

[raymao]

I've  posted this on other threads with similar topics of discussion.

I've been writing a paper on Canada being in Afghanistan. I would appreciate those who have a chance to read and make some comments on it. It's work in progress, but the majority of my points are in there already.

Thanks.

raymao

 

[Mitch...]

Maybe the support for the troops are low because the canadian doesn't the task ask to army in afghanistan.

Peut -etre la raison du peu de support est cause par le manque d'information sur la tache de l'armee en afghanistan transmis a la population canadienne.

 

[theseeker]

one of my sons serves in the army. he is still here in canada. he called yesterday to let me know how warm and welcoming people were to him and his fellow soldiers, everywhere he goes, telling me how people shake their hands, and than them for being willing to serve, and fight, for not only our own freedoms but so that others may have them also.

but he also told me about an incident in the grosers shop he stopped at yesterday, on his way how for the barracks. he said that ahead of him a woman stood dressed in a burkha. he said that when she got to the check out she loudly remarked about the canadian Flag lapel badge the cashier wore on her blouse. the cashier reached up and touched the badge, and said proudly, "Yes I always wear it and probably always will." the woman in the burkha then asked the cashier" when are you going to stop bombing my countrymen." explaining that she was Iraqi. a gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward, putting his arm around my sons shoulders, and nodding towards my son, and in a calm and gentle voice towards the lady said" Lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young man have fought and died so that YOU could stand here, in MY country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen. Is it my belief that had you been this outspoken in YOUR own country, we wouldn't need to be there today. But, hey, if you have now learned how to speak out so loudly and clearly against injustice, I will gladly buy you a tickit and pay your way back to Iraq so you can strighten out the mess in YOUR country- that you are obviously here in MY country to avoid."



NOTE THIS WAS GIVIN TO ME FROM MY FATHER IN-LAW HE ASKED ME TO POST IT HERE

wether or not i agree with this does not matter.....  

 

[Strike]

Someone should have also said something about the Canadian military not being present in Iraq (as part of the Canadian Forces anyway -- yes there are people there on exchange).  The quick reply if it was said that Canada and the USA are the same would be to say that Iraq and Iran must be the same then too.

This reply also works on cab drivers in Scotland who like to refer to us as American.  Call them English.  Worked for me.

I think the reply from the other gentleman was well done.  As for the woman's own attitude, we get this from various types of people in our very own country, all from varying backgrounds.  For an example, Google "Ex Charging Bison" and see what drivle you get.

 

[Michael OLeary]

snopes.com

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/lapelpin.asp

He said when she got to the cashier she loudly remarked about the U.S. flag lapel pin the cashier wore on her smock.

 

[Armymedic]

Good thing I read the snopes article, before putting this up. I was going to post up that a Burkha is Afghan, not Iraqi. Irregardless, the immigrant woman would not have the freedom to say anything like that in public in her home country.

Nice urban legend though.

 

[theseeker]

yeah snoops is prettywell the same, i just wrote it out the same way that i recieved it. and ty for the link to the other one i will have to print it out for my father-inlaw,

 

[George Wallace]

This is only the third time I have seen this posted on this site.  It has been debunked three times as well.  Perhaps we should run Snoops as a regular feature.   ;D