Our weakness, their strength

The recent demonstrations against Canada's mission in Afghanistan are disturbing.

Canadians still think they have ready options in this conflict.

The Afghan terrorists' only strengths are our weaknesses of will. Each sign of weakness of will, on the street or in Parliament - or the National Assembly - will only prolong the conflict.

That will cost lives - Canadian, allied and Afghan.

Last week, there was the public demonstration in Montreal when the Royal 22 marched through the city. Members of the National Assembly refused to stand for the troops. This appears to be part of the lingering anti-British trend in Quebec, one I honestly can't comprehend in the context of history.

The British have protected Quebec culture right from 1763, especially with the Quebec Act of 1774, which guaranteed, among other things, Quebec's distinct society. This move helped push the lower 13 colonies into the War of Independence. The colonies had other designs on Quebec: reflections of what had been done to Acadia by the New Englanders.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand: given their views on the mission, we have to ask, are the Liberals and NDP replete with military experts?

Well, are bears Catholic? Does the Pope poop in the woods? Mind you, this could be unfair to bears and His Holiness. Bears do have souls and could be anything spiritually; and we don't know what His Holiness' arrangements are while out in the woods on volksmarches with old comrades.

The short of it is, Canada has to stay the course.

As for the new open tack taken by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Tories, it was long overdue. In fact, it has been building since the early 1990s - starting in the Balkans.

Pure peacekeeping was a myth - as shown in Sinai in May, 1967, Cyprus in 1974, Somalia in 1993 and Rwanda in 1994. It was promoted in the late 1960s to keep the Americans at bay over Canadian non-participation in the Vietnam War.

Peacekeeping worked in the Balkans only because Canadians departed from the script. When Major General Lewis MacKenzie went to Sarajavo in the early 1990s, he was allowed 15 armoured personnel carriers - he took 85. Ordered to be benign, he put out active night patrols. The Second Princess Patricias fought well in a pitched battle against the Croats at the Madek Pocket in September, 1993. The Liberals kept that battle under wraps until then Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson honoured the veterans during her recent tenure.

In Afghanistan, those who want Canada to do the soft work right now don't understand the consequences. The only alternative is more American participation: more heavy firepower, sometimes in the hands of relatively hastily trained and prepared troops.

Do the Liberals and NDP really want that?

As corny as it may look - good cop/ bad cop - that is the way it will be without the Canadian combat presence and contribution in Kandahar.

Remember the Canadian way in history: the calculated assault on Vimy Ridge, the advance on Passchendaele later that year. Both done with minimum risk, as Canadian conditions have encouraged all through history.

Canadians have to get behind the Afghan effort and look to the next stage - which will, hopefully begin by February, 2009, if not sooner, depending on the enemy's will to continue and our will to contain them.

All else is unhelpful - in fact, dangerous - nattering.