Army Guy

Last year over 1.7 million people in Canada were on welfare. either way you slice it, 20%, 10 % or even 1 %, i think she has a piont it's alot of money that could be diverted into those cases that need it... welfare.

Musharraf's book, 'In the Line of Fire', is the source of the bold statement I made, you can read about it in this article: Thats some source, Musharraf would not confirm it in front of the US pres, because of a book contract....your source does not even say in what context is was given .....but i guess you read the book, oh wait it's not due out yet, according to your source .....give me a break. give us all a break....where not buying it either.... I think you should read some history about Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and the North-West Frontier Province ,of Pakistan it suggests that there was problems in these areas dating back to 1979, sorry but thats well before the twin tower attacks, in fact it's well before any US or NATO coalition decided to attack in fact it even sugests that most of the area is control by pakistani taliban...imigine that. 1979-1991 [edit] Soviet invasion The decade-long war in Afghanistan had a negative impact on the tribal areas and their infrastructure. With Pakistan becoming the frontline state in the war of resistance against the Soviet forces, the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan virtually ceased to exist. The tribal belt became the main supply route for the Mujahideen fighting the Soviets. The tribal areas provided a base for the Mujahideen, and weapons, supplies, and other war sustenance efforts were routed from these areas.[citation needed] Large numbers of Afghan refugees arrived in the FATA, placing pressure on the local resources. In some cases, refugees outnumbered the local population. The war also brought a culture of guns and drugs.[citation needed] During this period, the economy of the tribal areas, which was already underdeveloped, suffered enormously. The local administration, which already exercised only nominal control over the tribal population, was rendered totally ineffective under the impact of the ongoing war in Afghanistan. The result was that all kinds of illegal activity, like smuggling, drug trafficking and gun running, flourished in these areas. tribal areas. And with everything that was on going it was not until 2007 that the Pakistani government decided to get serious.... 2007 anti-militancy campaign On June 4, 2007, the National Security Council of Pakistan met to decide the fate of Waziristan and take up a number of political and administrative decisions to control "Talibanization" of the area. The meeting was chaired by President Pervez Musharraf and it was attended by the Chief Ministers and Governors of all 4 provinces. They discussed the deteriorating law and order situation and the threat posed to state security. To crush the armed militancy in the Tribal regions and the NWFP, the government decided to intensify and reinforce law enforcement and military activity, take action against certain madrassahs, and jam illegal FM radio stations.[13] waristan Actually i did'nt come up with it, so i won't take credit....I do recognize the purpose of people that challange our everyday practices and way of life, and i do think that some people who invoke change for the better are productive and nessicary for our society to grow.....but i think you give yourself way to much credit... i don't see your posts as challanging our everyday practices or our way of life, but rather as whinning, coming across as someone who is not happy with our way of life, in fact blaming it for some of the worlds more serious problems....your a finger pionter....you offer no solutions,in fact you don't really even piont out the problem....except to say our entire way of life is why the third world is the way it is today.... And while you pat your self on the back, wrap yourself up in the flag and start including yourself as one of the great evisionaires of our country, you seem to forget that this country was built by and defended by us little common people that put aside our lifes, to ensure that those rights and freedoms you say you gave us which are really just fancy words strung together and mean nothing until they are put into action and defended by us common folks. SO really what i'm trying to say is sit back down, and put your hands together for the real hero's of the nation....the little people.... I'm sure there is, if your pionting to the fact that we are all slaves in todays world, all chasing the almighty dollar then yes lets talk about it....my slavery has paid for 3 kids education, a new home and guess what just purchased a new dodge truck, that eats gas like it's poring out of the ground....and you know what i one happy SOB....i'm sure most Canadians can share a good slavery story with us....But for some reason i don't think your so lucky....or maybe your luckier than most and have reached that piont you have everything and don't see the piont....well i'm not there yet... I'm still looking for the piont actually, help an old guy out.....your right it was not the Afgan peoples fault, they where held like hostages by thier government of the day, which decided to play chicken with the US and NATO and lost....Nations must pay the price for thier misdeed....The Taliban and Al-Qaeda are still trying to force the Majority of Afgans into a way of life and they want nothing to do with....Our Nation has decided that we will help with both crushing those little scumbags into dust, plus assist where we can to re build a nation....it's the crushing the scumbags into dust that you have a problem with , i know you intelects are a bit squimish....but if you have seen with your own eyes what this group of men have done to thier own people, you may not be of the same mind frame...Holy shit your right again, there is no good war, all wars bring about nothing of any real value except death and destruction, it's out of the ashes of war that good things grow...things like freedom, basic rights for all, hey even the right to post shit on the internet....

Show's in the polls, in Fact they are third in a three man race, Jack's leadership abilities are so strong that he is behind MR Dion's....that fact has got to say something....

I think our welfare system across the nation is over due for a major overhaul. it's riddled with problems some of them mentioned here, not enough staff to ensure all recipants are recieving the proper care the need, or to catch those abusing the system, the 20 % figure of those that abuse the system is the ones we know about i'm sure thats alot higher, everyone knows someone who's abused it..... Most welfare programs do have job placement,or job assistant programs, disability programs etc etc...for those that want it or qualify for it.... and i'm sure Canadians on both side of the fence will agree there is alot more that could be done for those that deserve it... My sister has abused the welfare system for years, as a single mom of twins , she once told me she could not afford to get off welfare and work as she made more money on the welfare system....She must of taken about 20 courses for different jobs, all payed by you and me, always finding an excuse not to accept a job in that field....and this went on for years, and it was not just my sister, it was all her friends, all taking advantage of the system, and all able bodied people....anyways i developed a bad taste in my mouth when it comes down to welfare recieptants....atleast my sister and her friends... Had the system been tougher, had more hands on, with my sister i sure she would not have lasted as long as she did... The key is Assistance, to assist you in your time of need, no where does it say support you, or provide for you....it says assist....Sorry but there are millions of Canadians that go thru some hard times and crawl there way out....for those that abuse the system they should be charge with something under the criminal code, then drug down to those that really are in need of assistance and ordered to perform community service...maybe repairing homes, cleaning up nieborhoods....

Which leads to the question, why can they do more with less money....each country divides up it's defense budget differently, so it's not really fair to directly compare. for example, most nations Militaries do not pay for foreign deployments such as Afgan, or UN missions...While the UN pays Canada to take part, only a small percentage of those funds goes back into DND coffers.....other things that come out of the budget, are our National disaster preparedness funds, some Equipment purchases, O&M funds, which include infra structure update and up keep, pay, equip maint costs, etc etc... Other things that need to be taken into context are how well we are payed, our benifits, standard of living, it all costs money in some cases major amounts.

Read the rest of the column in your link, active duty is your full time regular force pers, S, The swiss have 320,000 reserve pers, which was reduced to 220,000 in 2004. Visit My Websiteswiss

Maybe i'm wrong but i thought i seen US pres Bush declare it shortly after 9/11. Yes they had and when the US government called them on it , somehow mr Bin Ladin could not be found.....imigine lost in a country that knew the where abouts of every last dog, and donkey, but could not find someone so well known as bin ladin.... Now your fishing, but i'll bite anyways...Techinical your right, they have not been very forth coming in there actions to keep the terrorist out of Afgan....but then again we are not dealing with the average run of the mill third world country here are we, this one has nukes....so needs to be handled alittle different don't you think.....but as the leader of Afgan government would you not expect a neibouring country to police it's own borders....So could we not expect the US and NATO government along with the Afgan government to do the same, put some presure on the Pakistani government to control it's own borders....and if they can not how long must Afgan submit to these conditions before it takes action.... Such as the remote attacks across the border we see now,,,

I stand corrected , i was looking at the wrong figures that was the debt, not defense budget....

Denmark has 25,000 full time , and 63,000 home guard pers.and spends 1.3 of the GDP on defense. denmark population of 5,468,120 people http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107460.html Switzerland. has 220,000 soldiers, spends about 1.06 % GDP Population of 7,554,661 people. I think when we you compare everything such as population, and size of country i think you'll find that they do have sizable militaries, and they are doing there job of keeping thier nations defense....But they are far from keeping no military or token forces.... Compared to Canada's commitment they are in the big leagues, We have 59,000 reg , and 40,000 res But we have over 33,mil people.

Thats some stretch, name two and what they have contributed to the european landscape that has been earth shattering.

I'd be curious to know just how the US started the the war on terror, where things quite at the white house and they just randomily picked Afganistan, and said hey lets have a war, call it the war on terror.....or was this whole war on terror started when serveral nut bars drove planes into some buildings killing over 3000 people. They were forced to take more than 7 bil dollars in aid, and military funding ? then the US government had the nerve to ask the Pakistani government to control thier own borders, to keep thier problems from spilling into afganistan.... But you go beyond that and make the bold statement that someone actually called up Musharraf and threaten him with " Pakistan would be 'bombed back into the stone-age" if he did not comply.... Could you please provide a quote on that on who called, when they called you know some basic facts.... But it is much easier to package them all up in a nice little box with a fancy bow and say, to the world see this is all the US fault....it had nothing to do with the Pakistani government and it's decisions it made to control a portion of thier own country, trying to contain refugees or pakistani pushtuns from entering Afganistan for one purpose only...."So they are linked to the war on terror"....But thats not what this is about....it's not about pakistan not be able to control a porous border, which allows terrorist to come and go, when they please ,giving them a huge advantage when operating in Afgan again'st NATO soldiers....No it's about blaming the US , despite what the terrorist scumbags do.... Sort me out here we should care about them but we should'nt get involved, what is it that your trying to say here....and your right it's all about self interest no matter how thin you slice it.... This is the part i'm suppose to take my hanky out and wipe away the tears right, Capitalism and the free market are what built most western countries, if you feel guilty about having so much then move, another great option of Capitalism and the free market your not forced to take part....And while you are quick to piont our our shortfalls you neglected to piont out that any of it's good pionts, maybe you where saving that for another post.....And just how many Canadians actually question why or for that matter give a shit....how Walmart can sell sneakers at 3 dollars, would they actually put them back if they were made in China, pakistan...or what ever country.... and that is a big leap on your part to suggest that they might all be made by child labour...

I think Argus hit the nail on the head with this one...Puchasing equipment our military needs today off the shelf would cost well over 150 bil....can you imagine the price tag if we had to foot the bill for R&D as well, not to mention we can't afford to wait 8 to 10 years for them to come up with a product that may or may not work....Then have to pay for more R&D money to keep that product updated with the latest in tech.... And you want this from a country who's military has problems with keeping 2500 soldiers in Afgan, good luck with that...

The size of the current us mislitary is 2.5 million, there defense budget is in the trillions and it's peace time, Canada increasing it's military strength to 3 million is a war time scenio....with a war time budget.

Has anyone really taken a close look at this 22 bil price tag.....The actual cost of the Afgan mission todate has been 7 Bil, you can't include something that has not been billed or happened as of yet, such as long term care for our soldiers....nor can you include equipment that was purchased for the mission, as we needed it anyways, and it will used for other missions as well....the 2 Bil for a new LAV fleet has not even happen yet....and how can you charge that to the mission when the entire army is getting them.... The cost have been inflated, for some unknown reason, what is not included is other governmental depts expenses such as aid monies, etc where are those estimates, this is another example of poor media coverage, and some reporter not doing his homework.... Afgan war

What ever happen to voting for the party that will be the best for our ridings or nation. Last time i checked this was not a hockey game, with all of us sitting and cheering for our favorite team....it was an election which will decide whom, and how our nation is governed...we should be choosing the best person for that job regardless of party... I'll never understand people who vote for one party all thier lives, regardless of the quality of thier canidate or where they stand on the issues..It seems a pretty closed minded, some what lazy way of casting a vote, and hear i thought it was the issues that counted, i guess not... Voting for another party just to keep another out seems a bit childish if you ask me....or maybe i got it all wrong, maybe it's me that has a misguided sense of how we should choose our countries leaders....to me it's where they stand on our nations issues, how they plan to solve our problems, thats what is important, and that is where i will place my vote...yes even if they will not get elected. Voting for someone who does not even represent your stand on the issues is just silly, and if they get elected then what, well they'll be better than so and so....And the nation is run by, or becomes the oppostion party... what should have been second or third place finisher, mean while your orginal party or person of chioce is regulated to serving in the back ground, and your interests go unserved until the next election.

No we have not, the job is still not done, there is no time frame or limit to these type of missions.....how long where we in Cyprus... 100 is not some magical number, it means no more or no less than number one....perhaps we should take a look at the numbers, and ask the majority of Canadians when they are going to wake up and start doing something.... No, Afganistan is a world problem and it needs a world solution and as soon as Canadian see that then the sooner we will be able to solve this thing and move on. but hey why let a little thing like pride stop us from acting....i wonder what Canadian soldiers where thinking as the stood at the base of vimy....after everyone said it could not be done or taken....was it "this is frances problem lets go home".....or was it lets make a plan and kick thier ass... Then you should take the time an educate them, our equipment in Afganistan is world class, the LAV III is actually better than the Strikers, or lavs that the Marines are using, better armed, bettered armoured....the Leo IIA6M is one of the most heavily armoured tank in the world today.... most of out other equipment is being used by US forces at this time the RG 31, bufflo IED trucks, etc etc ,..... What we do lack is helo support, and well the Canadian public is going to have to eat that one, becuase we suck in that dept... As for our training not being good enough, i wonder how many Bristish and American units have thier plaques hanging in Canadian unit halls expressing how greatful they are for having Canadian soldiers save thier butts....in the south , on the ground we are the heavy wieghts, we have the armour, the troops, and we are the Calvary that comes riding to the rescue.... Wonder how many other countries have had presidential unit citations awarded to them for thier actions with US forces, how many recieved medals of bravery such as the silver , and bronze stars, why is it that everyone when given the choice calls for the Canadians.... Our training is second to none, don't let anyone take that away from us....our soldiers are as brave as the americans, plus we can do more with less, something our government taught us along time ago.... besides i'll let you in on a small secret, our balls are actually bigger, comes for years of drinking real beer and living with real women....YA thier beer is not bad, and thier women are good looking , but what can i say can't argue again'st science, and we'll just have to learn to live with bigger balls and real women.....

Like it or not we as a nation do have alot of international defense commitments, NATO is just one of many, there are separate ones with the US as well. We must as a nation stand up and honor them all, we can not live under they're protection they provide just when it is suits us.... 9/11 was a direct attack on the US, and our government offered any assistance we could provide.... Lets remember that over 3000 people died that day, well over 20 Canadians, some where forced to jump to thier deaths, definately a response was required. As for being a pawn of the US, we agreed to get on this ride, for the right reasons, nobody knew where it was going to take us, or how it will end. Canada has it own reasons for being here, getting rid of a few terrorists is just one of them. Anything can be twisted or turned to fit any theory, An oil pipe line that has not yet been built and would be years in the making, lets take a look at the cost here, how much has uncle sam put into Afgan as of today, is the investment for one oil pipe line worth it, one i might add could be disable by a small amount of explosives at any time.... Base to attack Iran, like i said the US already has that ability to power project and could open an invasion route any where in Iran with very little notice....it does not need Afgan, and the small amont of US troops inside her... I'm no expert in plane crashes, i once guarded a F-18 crash in germany, it crashed straight down into a parking lot, all that was found was twin tail pipes, at the depth of 30 plus feet, nothing else that looked like an airplane or the pilot...so is it possiable, it was at this crash scene, would it be possiable for an airliner ....like i said i'm no expert... But at the start of this thing the Majority was waving flags and cheering us as we boarded aircraft, everyone knew we where about to carry out our nations policies via the end of a gun barrel...now things have changed, things are not progressing as fast as everyone wants, and they have now changed thier minds...we have grown bored, and this mission is stale....we want another, and we want it now. scream the people ...we have done our time, we have held up our end of the bargin....But we have not!!!!, the job is not done, nor will it by 2011....and the only ones that seem to care is our nations soldiers.

That was my very piont to PC, if the US wanted those very objectives he listed they could have easily taken them....so why hav'nt they... it takes much longer to rebuild a nation, than it takes to destroy one... That leason was not taught by the US, but much earlier in history. And until man grows up it is they way things will be....until then there will always be a need to arm one self in order to protest his rights and freedoms....

Thanks, things have been, lets say very interesting and busy over the last couple of weeks...now if i could only get over the time change i'll be laughing...

yes lets look at facts, and when you compare the size of militarys along with the equipment they pocess, and it's capabilities....you'll quickly find that there is no one on the world stage can come close to the US military machine... Iraq and Afgan is a walk in the park, and while yes it is a small form of projecting power, don't let it fool you the US military machine is very much able to project 3 to 4 times that amount on very short notice.... I think you should re read those history books, the US was well on it's way to pushing the Japanese back, japanese navy was all but broken, it's airforce was in effective, and it's army was not capable of offensive operations on a large scale....The use of WMD was a polictical decision meant to actually save US military lives...by forcing the Japanese into a quick surrender....The taking of each of the occupied islands was a costly endevor, and was chewing up alot of US military pers due to the fact the Japanese were not ready to surrender, and perfered to fight to the last man.... So it was not a matter of being forced to resort to using WMD, but rather a way of saving lives.... Any wpn sys can be used both offensivily and defensivily, Aircraft carriers where used defensivily in the pacific threater...as well as offensiveily such as the attack on pearl Harbor...NATO was concieved to counter Russia expansionism, and the spread of communism....very effectivily i might add, as we don't have to line up for hours for bread, vegs, toilet paper, and all the rest of our comodities....at that time the Russia military machine had well over 300 divsions in uniform, a division is made up of any where from 18 to 25,000 troops do the math ....on both east and west borders,you see they don't get along with China either....and defending Europe was NATO with it's 30 divisions, relying on troops and equipment sent from across the atlantic....mostly US, some British, etc....anyways one can not afford to have to many offensive operations when your out numbered 10 to one....Over time Russia has let these capibilties erode....and that has left the US in sole ownership of the bigest guy on the block with the most toys... It's not new, it's been that way since man first learned how to pick up a stick and beat someone with it....Let me ask you this lets take one of Canada's worldly good deeds, like the ban on land mines....do you think that the results may of been different if say the US championed it....Why ? Like or not having a massive military does get you a seat at the table...and when Nations start throwing thier wieght around, the biggest army normally wins....I'm sure the Rwanda thing could have been solved if the US had parked serveral A/C carriers of the coast and said stop or i'll start bombing....it is what other nations notice, it is what most men understand....

Historically how would mother Russia explain poland during the Second world war, or for that matter the Czechs conquest, i know they were on the fringes of russia, and needed to be secured for Russia's safety...And while the Soviets did not claim any sat for themselfs they did enjoy spreading communism, around the globe. I think Russia misses that world super power feeling and with it's new found wealth will be developing it's military once more...but that is going to take years to complete...until then it will have to be content to occasional get slapped around on the polictical map by the US...as for finding anyone else to partner up, it may be possiable in certain areas of the world such as tawain a russia /China operation but in most other areas thier is no one equal to the US ability to power project, not individually or combined...Russia is not looking for a partner, it's looking at the whole pie for itself...

Much has been written in regards to the mission in Afgan and it's legality, and it's argued by many lawyers, whom are more educated than myself. That being said lets look at a few organizations that have said for the most part operations in Afgan are legal. The UN itself has authorized not only ISAF portion but also the US and coalition portion...And perhaps it is a fault of mine, but if the UN has given the green light, one would hope they have studied it, ensured it was legal before they put there stamp on it... Human rights watch.... i mean come on your not going to get any more unbais than these guys....and i'm sure they have also studied the crap out of it and gave it there thumbs up... I'll leave it to you to decide but when i'm in dought i always go with the UN for law anyways...and that info is available on thier web site. Legal True enough, but bin ladin confessed without any duress or capture, and is quit proud of that achievement. along with all of his chain of command, it is quit a coup for them to hurt the worlds only major super power the way they did... As for America setting this whole thing up, Afganistan has nothing to offer, except opuim and rock, and maybe a oil pipe line route...hardly worth all the expense for what the US has already paid out...and for the amount of effort the US is really putting into getting said goals....i mean with well over 2.5 million troops under arms why not just crush afgan with one major campiagn....instead they have placed just under 30,000 troops there not enough to really do anything but keep the status quo.... Crashing an airliner into a building is hardly performing aerial acrobatics, one has to remember that these terrorist where schooled to fly in the US, albiet on smaller aircraft, reprograming the aircrafts computers, being familar with cockpit layout can be taught by book or for that matter a number of flight sims available at your local gaming shop....really not hard for someone that was determined... For good reason, for a short period of time we live here, we interact with the Afgan people daily, we see the ups and downs, we see thier pain, we see it live everyday it's not clouded with political agenda's, personal opinions, media slant....we see it as it happens....and we think we can make a difference here. But this mission was suppose to be a Canadian one, and thats not what it is now, it is a Military one, in which we do all the heavy lifting and work, and yet have no say in anything....and with the exception of the minority we have been abandoned. I'm a little confused, by your comment, first you say we are involved in the wrong cause or mission, perhaps even an illigal conflict ,...then say we are keeping them at bay...which would lead me to believe that you agree we should be here fighting them scumbags....and while i thank you for your concern, it sounds like your on the fence.... The reason i even said anything was for 99.9 % of the soldiers here know exactly, what we are here for and why we need to be here, and why we need to stay....and we bring that to this mission every second of everyday we are here....what we need the folks back home to do is bring that same type of energy to this mission, either get us out of here , or throw your support in with us and our fight....because we can not win until you do....with out your support all of our effort is for naught...

Your facts are not 100 % correct, how do you explain the below link Canadian armed forces units where on the ground in 2001 and in combat by early 2002. So there was definatly a "coalition of the willing" CAF "Alleged" you did see the tape which aired across the globe where he annouces he was responsable for the 9/11 attacks, plus the mountains of evidence compiled from numerous other persons that all piont thier fingers at Bin Ladin, and his merry band of thugs, shit confessions obtained from his chain of command all said he was in charge assisted with the planning, and very much knew what was going on....he is guilty without a dought, even he has said as much.... what more do you need a court of law to prove it...There was enough edvidance for the UN to sanction the attacks....but not enough to make a believer out of you.... 2 out of 3 is more than just some.... Have a read of this sites they may provide you with some insight, if you need more there is more, it's getting early here and i have to get some rack time. CF Afgan

Don't get me wrong, the are still very powerful nations, just they do not come close to the power that NATO or the US can project...I guess i should have been more specfic, Yes both Russia and China does have limited abilities to project power, Russia used to have a massive ability to project power. which would include the ability to land marines in large numbers, or Aircraft carrier battle groups, massive amounts of Airbourne soldiers with aircraft to get them there....and large follow-up forces and the means to get them there....The US on the other hand can land several divsions of marines, Airbourne troops plus they have the navy to secure the waterways and the Aircraft carriers to protect the entire force, for as long as it takes....Russia and china lack that capibilty....and that was what i meant to project power any where in the world... So over all having a few Russian bombers in South America is not a large threat, and would be easily swept away by US defenses....but park serveral US naval aircraft carriers battle groups off the russian coast and see what kind of reaction you get....

Yes but to be a global superpower you must be able to project your military strength globally....Russia or China can not do that. Which is why they are not really taken seriously, there're threats are kind of hallow so to speak....I'd say they are listened to by NATO and the US , but not to the level they (russians, or china) are demanding...