Wilber

Not really. Those who never do anything never make mistakes. FTA has the gist of it.

And Israel is dependent on Iranian oil as well and therefore will allow them to have a nuclear bomb. Got it. So, if Iran stops selling oil and goes into a financial meltdown while the rest of the world is undergoing uncomfortable prices, they will be showing us eh? Iran can pick and choose who it stops selling oil to, it doesn't just have to shut down. This is not the seventies. The demand is greater, supply is tighter and there aren't the easily exploitable reserves out there that there were in the seventies.

I keep hearing this but for some reason the ones who ask people to do the fighting believe someone else should do the job. I'm not referring to you but to Bush and Cheney who somehow didn't make it overseas in Vietnam. There were people back then who said that a domino theory was taking place and if you didn't wanted the Commies in your own backyard, you had to fight them in Vietnam. Why then don't you listen to the people who are doing the fighting instead of constantly pushing your own dogma? I don't believe anyone in Vietnam actually attacked anyone outside of Vietnam. Why do you and others keep using the US as a reference point? Don't you think Canada is capable of doing anything other than what the US doesn't do? One reason we are in Afghanistan is because of a NATO commitment we made nearly 40 years ago. I like the idea of living in a country that lives up to its commitments. It's Canada's commitment not the US's and I for one think we should be gown up enough to do something on our own without always referring to the US. Just because they are involved doesn't automatically make it the wrong thing to do.

To keep a peace you need two parties who want peace, then you step in and do what they have already decided. Of course someone else had to do the real work before you got there.

Give up everything for a commodity they can get from any other place in the region? Get real. If Iran stops selling then they go down so in reality, they need to sell as much if not more than others need to buy. The oil argument is crap as the Saudis learned in the seventies, it nearly destroyed them. Except that the spread between world supply and demand wasn't nearly so tight in the seventies. Alaska came on line and it is now declining. Demand from traditional markets has increased substantially since then. Chinese and Indian demand wasn't even part of the equation back in the seventies. Oil producing countries don't have the dependence on North America that they used to and would have no problems taking Euros or Yen for their oil. Even China has it's currency pegged to the US dollar.

Yet when those soldiers speak to these people and tell them they believe in what they are doing and want to be there, rather than listen, they stick to their own prejudices. How is that supporting the soldiers? The day the soldiers no longer believe they should be there is when we should be calling for them to be brought home. That is supporting the soldiers.

What is the point of having a forum if the only thing that matters is what we personally say?

In view of the rhetoric that has been coming from the likes of Syria, Iran, Hezbollah etc I find it laughable that some are suggesting it is the Israelis who need lessons in diplomacy. It would seem that some people can mouth off anything they please and there will always be someone around to apologize for them.

True, things often don't translate word for word but assuming what he really said was the above, what do you think he meant by it? What is your concept of "vanishing from the face of time"?

"Our dear Imam (referring to Ayatollah Khomeini) said that the occupying regime must be wiped off the map and this was a very wise statement. We cannot compromise over the issue of Palestine. Is it possible to create a new front in the heart of an old front. This would be a defeat and whoever accepts the legitimacy of this regime has in fact, signed the defeat of the Islamic world. Our dear Imam targeted the heart of the world oppressor in his struggle, meaning the occupying regime. I have no doubt that the new wave that has started in Palestine, and we witness it in the Islamic world too, will eliminate this disgraceful stain from the Islamic world. But we must be aware of tricks." "Anybody who takes a step toward Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury," Mahmoud Ahmadinej "We live a tradition of martyrdom, When I see a Jew before me, I kill him. If every Arab did this, it would be the end of the Jews." Mustafa Tlas, Syrian Defence Minister

"if they [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide." "There is no solution to the conflict in this region except with the disappearance of Israel." "they are a cancer which is liable to spread again at any moment." Hassan Hasrallah

That is very beautiful post ArmyGuy. Please know that you have my support and that I don't know if I will ever be able to thank you for the sacrifices that you and your fellow soldiers have made so that we can live freely here in Canada. Well said tml12.

This much I agree with, the Americans consentrated on the wrong country. Instead of finishing the right war (Afghanistan) which it may very well could have had the Americans remained commited to it, they blundered into Iraq and now seem incapable of winning either one. Unfotunately their committed NATO allies such as Canada don't have the capacity to take up the slack in Afghanistan. The latest "friendly fire" incident once again points out Canada's inability to provide air support for its own army.

Nice theory but I don't believe it. What action can other countries take when they need Iran's oil so much. Pakistan developed nuclear weapons and Iran is just as capable and far wealthier. They haven't made Saddam's mistake of putting all their eggs in one basket where the Israelis can take it out with a few well aimed bombs. I agree that they will play if for everything they can get in the meantime but I have no doubt this regime does ultimately want nukes. My guess it they will get them despite world opinion.

Israel has managed to make peace with it's more moderate neighbours, Egypt and Jordan. If the rest are publicly committed to the eradication of their country, their first priority should be addressing its military shortfalls. How does diplomacy cope with a countries such as Iran and Syria which maintain that the Jews and their country should be exterminated and are maintaining a proxy army in a neighbouring country in order to further that policy? If the Israelis have a diplomatic failing it is in their inability to convince many westerners that they have the right to do what is necessary to defend themselves in face of the above.

One sometimes wonders whether he would be happier if we were fighting Americans.

Will Jack be the first?

Prejudice doesn't need to have anything to do with race. Prejudice against someone just because of their race would be racism, any other kind of prejudice would not. Many are prejudiced against smokers, that doesn't make them racist. In my book, prejudice has more to do with what people do, rather than who they are.

This and most of the delegates badmouthing ther PM for not showing up. An easier solution would be to make this the last conference held in Canada.

Yes, Iran needs nuclear energy to provide electrical power. Right, the fourth largest producer of oil in the world has a pressing need for nuclear power to provide electricity. Right. B freekin S, they want the bomb. I would have a lot more respect for them if they just cut the crap and were honest about it.

Provinces should be picking their own Senators but until we have an upper house similar to the US model that gives equal representation to each province, the Senate shouldn't have any more power than it has now.

First they need to change the name to something more honest. There will never be anything safe about injecting illegal drugs bought on the street.

There were conscripts in both wars. Thus the argument I'm having with some others about Borden in another thread. True but I don't believe any conscripts served overseas in WWI (to placate Quebec) and only around 2500 ever reached operational units late in WWII with less than 70 killed in action.

Layton just sees the world as he would like it but doesn't seem capable of seeing it the way it is. That doesn't make him a bad person but definitely not someone you want to lead a country.

Canada put an army of 600,000 into Europe in WWI (all volunteers) with a population of 7 million. In WWII it was over a million (almost all volunteers) with a population of around 13 million. If what you say is true it doesn't say much for the country Canada has become.