12-March-2006
The Honourable Gordon O’Connor
Minister of National Defence
National Defence Headquarters
Major-General George R. Pearkes Building
101 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1A 0K2
Sir,
I wrote to you on February 15th of this year wishing Prime Minister Harper’s government “every success.”
I also wrote to take you to task over your comment regarding publication of some “notorious” Danish cartoons in the Western Standard. You said,
“It doesn’t help. Radicals in Syria and Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq, they get people roused up because their religion’s being offended. We don’t need any more risk in the area than we have.”
I did not consider these remarks helpful; noting,
“I think you insult “real” jihadists, the ones who would be the attackers in the war-zone, by suggesting that they are spurred to more effective effort by some cartoons – several of which had to faked up. This is an invitation to attack Canadian troops; because a) as noted, it insults the jihadi, and b) it tells them attacking Canadian troops will have a significant political effect.”
Since I last wrote attacks against Canadian troops in Afghanistan have surged, and 43% of Canadians are opposed to a Canadian military presence there when polled in a certain way. As Agence France-Presse spun the question in their reporting:
“Asked whether Canada should participate in US President George W. Bush’s “war on terrorism,” respondents were split with 48 percent in favor, 43 percent against.”
This is the wrong question, of course. Another way to ask it would be, “Should Canada stand behind its military obligations to our NATO allies and to the fledgling democracy in Afghanistan?”
I write today to congratulate you on your intent to honour that pledge, and to urge you to continue, as noted by The Globe and Mail on February 24th,
“Yesterday, Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor promised unflagging government support for the deployment of the 2,200 Canadian troops in the country. The soldiers are facing an increasingly dangerous insurgency bent on the downfall of U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai.
“Not only is our deployment to Afghanistan the largest and most important Canadian Forces operation at the moment, it’s also quite representative of the type of missions that our military will be called upon to perform in the future,” Mr. O’Connor said.”
I am certain your government will continue to suffer the stinks and bellows of a world press intent on its own anti-Western agenda. Please keep letting Canadians and the world know what Agence France-Presse would rather they not know.
In deepest appreciation for Canada’s defence of western standards,
Duane Hershberger
Williamston, MI
cc: Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Update: 1:59PM. Forgot to include this link from Dust My Broom.