What to do in Sudan

idealisttotheend · August 5, 2004

With all the interest in the military on this forum I thought I'd post this.

Are the Americans and the Brits going to end up being the good guys on this one and leaving Canada as the bad guy?

How will the Arab connection play vis a vie the United States?

Does the situation in Sudan require intervention by the North?

Does this justify the argument that the Canadian military is in a deplorable state as I am sure it's no secret that we have no one available to be sent?

People argue that spending money on the military takes it away from health care, does this case (and others around the world) provide moral justification for spending money on the military?

Don't usually agree with KK but found this post compelling and possibly true despite my insticts that Tredeau was right to decrease defence spending in terms or domestic social services:

Krusty Kid July 31 04 Is Canada too Dependant on the US
Our military system is great, we, as a supporting country are garbage. There you go, out of thirty million we have sixty thousand good guys and gals. Let the rest of us become great too and give them what the world needs, a Canadian military period so we don't have to make 'has been' posts al the time and have some efect on this panet instead of complaining about how others are doing it wrong.

Look forward to any responses.

Cartman · August 5, 2004

I am really torn on this issue. Setting aside the issue of having equipment that is safe to operate, I cannot help but think that if we build up our military, we will be more inclined and pressured to use it when we should not. I was against the war in Iraq and I suspect that if we had greater military prowess, we would have gone in there. I also believe that slavik is right that $$ would be taken from other valuable programs. Finally, I suspect that the US is a common target for other nations b/c of its military.

On the other hand, I might be more inclined to support military $$ if it was to only be deployed in cases of actual national defense (that has not been a problem for a long time) or in cases like Sudan. That was a sad news item. On the whole though, I am inclined to support a limited military.

I know some people will balk at this sentiment, but I watched my father deal with the mental distress after serving in Korea (on the front lines). He was never the same after watching kids blown up or raped etc. You gotta calculate the human costs of war as well.

jay74 · August 5, 2004

I believe that intervention is needed in Sudan. If the diplomats cannot get the job done, then force may be the answer. As for Canada, there is not much we can do. Our Foriegn Affairs Dept. has no real leverage because:

A) Our diplomats are pussies!

and

Our military is weak!

Whether we like it or not, a great number of countries gov'ts only understand the language of force.