King Arthur Movie Tristan

Maybe Jack Layton is right, maybe the time to pull out of Afghanistan is right now. With polls constantly showing a majority of Canadians want our forces out of Afghanistan, with a Parliamentary majority making it clear that extension of the mission will not be supported, and with Stephen Harper saying a Parliamentary majority will be needed to extend the mission, why should anymore soldiers die in a lost cause?

Let me be clear. I support this mission, I think we should be there until the bitter end, however long that takes. I think Afghani's want us there, I think we are doing what's good and right and I think we are making Canada safer by being there.

The results of pulling out? Well, we lose, we are at greater threat. Those who pretend to understand history, and recite the mantra that we created these guys in the late 70's and through the eighties, need to understand this: We did not create them by helping them; We created them by discarding them as soon as they served our needs. Not finishing the job is what got us into this mess, much like not finishing the job in Iraq in the 90's opened us up to the current war there. Not finishing the job in Viet Nam led to Pol Pot's Cambodian massacres of the mid-late 70's, not finishing the job in Korea in the 50's led us to a world were an insane lunatic like Kim Jong-il has the bomb. Not finishing the job in Afghanistan will be a disaster. Anyone who doesn't think pulling out will increase, not decrease the terrorist threat in Canada, anyone who doesn't understand that these terrorists prey on the weak, and a pull out is a show of weakness, is an idiot of the simpering variety.

But we, as a country, seem determined to not finish the job. Yesterday six soldiers tragically lost there lives in Afghanistan. If it is a lost cause, then the tragedy is greater yet. And if it is a lost cause, then every soldier who dies hence will be that much more tragic.

So Jack Layton is right. If we aren't going to finish the job, then lets get out now.