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Politics : Canadian Political Free-for-All -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (4467)	11/20/2004 9:50:14 PM
From: twmoore	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 37183

"Well I'd like to see our military revitalised" Even our peace keeping forces get killed by the Americans,so why bother???

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (4467)	11/21/2004 11:17:44 AM
From: Stephen O	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 37183

Well if missiles are launched at North America we are in the line of fire. I could see North Korea using Canada as target practice. The bad guys in the world pretty well think of us as Americans anyway.

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (4467)	11/21/2004 12:34:46 PM
From: Michael Watkins	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 37183

Missile Defense is a complete and utter waste of money. The "Patriot" system - a "relatively" simple close in weapons system - doesn't even work any where near reliably. NMD is a huge boondoggle for the military hardware complex, with nothing proven and hundreds of billions away from even having the chance to prove something tangible. In my view NMD is more of a sovereignty grab (by the American's, away from other participants) than anything. Its a big barganing chip, and not one we should call them on. I agree with you that I'd like to see our military revitalized, but its unclear where you'd like to see the focus. My focus is mostly inward: - we have the longest coastline in the world but are unable to effectively patrol it. Between the military and Coast Guard we have serious funding and long term planning shortfalls. - we have a difficulty in asserting our sovereignty in the north and this has to be a priority. The half-hearted attempts we are making this year are not enough. This has been an issue on our plate for decades - made only worse by warming in the region which is making the seaways more passable with every new year. - we have no ability to airlift tons of gear, machines and men from one side of the country to the other in times of crisis whether that crisis is man-made or natural in cause. We should not be relying on the US for airlift capability. - we need to make the Canadian military a "Canada First" force, not an international peacekeeping first force. This doesn't mean that I don't think we have a role in peacekeeping - I think we can have an expanded role in the UN if we choose to, but we have issues at home that need to be jacked up the priority list first. And finally we need to treat our military with the respect they deserve and fund them properly. Years of neglect have undermined our forces and consequently its going to cost even more in today's dollars to bring them back up to where they should be. First and foremost, Canadian sovereignty is my focus.