Friday, January 12, 2007

Our Clueless Defence Minister

Via CBC:

Canada's defence minister says he hopes the United States won't pull any of its troops out of Afghanistan to boost its war in Iraq.

Gordon O'Connor said Friday he doesn't object to U.S. President George W. Bush's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq, provided it doesn't mean the Americans "draw any troops from Afghanistan to reinforce Iraq."
[...]
O'Connor also said he's not aware of any U.S. resources leaving Afghanistan to participate in Iraq.

It looks like no one in the Pentagon or NATO informed O'Connor about this:

A US Army battalion fighting in a critical area of eastern Afghanistan is due to be withdrawn within weeks to deploy to Iraq.

But what else would you expect from a defence minister whose reaction to the escalation of US troops in Iraq was this?

He said that's the only aspect of the U.S. decision he's thought about.

Bonus Flashback, June 29, 2006:

When asked by CBC's Peter Mansbridge on Thursday whether Canada is at war with Afghanistan, Defence Minister O'Connor replied as he has before: "No we're not at war. We are in an armed conflict with the Taliban."

On May 31, 2006, O'Connor also said:

"To me, war would be — well, I can start going into what war would be, I just don't consider this to be war."

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