Back for a minute...
Some obscure tropical illness has rendered me useless for the last couple of days, but I've summoned the energy to not post about the State of the Union address.Once upon a time, I blogged in sardonic detail about the inanity and vicious falsehood of King George's yearly blather. But this one just didn't seem worth the trouble, nor would it have had I not been fighting off this unfathomable Costa Rican dizzy-flu (don't ask). This speech was neither offensive enough nor detailed enough nor sufficiently hilarious to warrant even this brief post. Which I why I'll stop writing now.
posted by Paul @ 2:25 PM
2 Comments:
Now that Harper will be Prime Minister, I see that General Hillier has announced a new command structure for Canadian forces.
A Canadian North American Command, a Canadian Expeditionary Force, Canadian Special Operations, and Canadian Operational Forces.
Underneath the politically inspired antagonism between our two countries, the members of our militaries have always enjoyed more friendship and mutual respect. This is also true with American and Canadian intelligence services. (A big American thanks to all you Canadian spooks -- you know what I'm talking about.)
As ex-military myself, it looks to me that in as much as General Hillier has announced his preference for the Tories, and Harper has suggested that he will update and re-supply Canadian forces, it now looks to me as if we will see more integrated operations.
I know that the brass at the top of both of our countries have long since worked out the particulars about how they want our joint operations to go.
So what do you think? Do you see a lot more participation by Canadian forces integrated with American colleagues in an expanded universe of military missions?
--Greg outside Dallas
I wish I knew enough about military affairs to comment in detail, but I'll improvise. I'm strongly in favor of increased funding for the Canadian military, which was once a source of national pride but has long since fallen from grace in many ways. However, the reason I'd like to see that increase is because I'd like to see more Canadian independence - to participate in peacekeeping missions, in particular - rather than more integrated missions with the US military.
Ultimately, I don't foresee an expanded universe of military missions. Whether you predict victory in Iraq or not, there's no denying that the mission there has gone much worse than expected. As a result, I think it very likely that the number and scope of American military missions abroad after Iraq will decline significantly, partly because the American public and political class will lose their taste for military adventurism for a while, and partly because the war has been an unexpectedly severe strain on US ground force reserves.
More cooperation for North American security is inevitable and probably a very good idea. But international missions are a very different story. I want the Canadian military to be stronger, better-organized, and better-financed specifically because I don't think we can expect the same degree of overseas military cooperation with the US that we've seen in the past.
Post a Comment
<< Home