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

To: Cogito Ergo Sum who wrote (10900)	11/10/2006 11:15:22 PM
From: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 37601

Clinton urges Canada to hold the line in Afghanistan SCOTT SUTHERLAND Canadian Press VICTORIA — Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is urging Canada to stay the course on Afghanistan and continue providing aid and military muscle to defeat the Taliban. Mr. Clinton, sporting a poppy in his lapel, was the main draw at a noon-hour event that packed the B.C. capital's largest arena with people willing to pay up to $175 for the privilege. The focus of his speech was on the power ordinary citizens have to affect the public good, both locally and globally. But he also took time to thank Canada for its efforts to bring aid and peace to Afghanistan. Related to this article Articles NATO bombing strike kills group of Taliban Afghan gunmen erase a beacon of hope Afghans losing confidence in their country's direction: survey Internet Links Canada's mission in Afghanistan Latest Comments Take that, Taliban Jack. holding the line may sound fine but i fear ultimatley that unless... Do not confuse a hard edge Democrat like Bill Clinton with a... Finally, someone who can see the difference between Afghanistan... 6 reader comments \| Join the conversation “I promised myself that as long as the situation in Afghanistan persists, I would never come to Canada without thanking you for your participation through NATO in the effort to save a genuine moderate, pro-western democracy,” he said. “I am grateful.” Canada is “doing a good thing,” Mr. Clinton said. “Because we have to pursue both these things together: a security policy and a policy to create more partners and fewer terrorists.” In an half-hour question and answer session with B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell after the speech, the two-term Democratic president urged the deployment of more troops. “We have under-forced the mission there,” he said. “We have 20,000 American troops there, 20,000 NATO troops there, and there are 140,000 troops in Iraq.” He is urging the U.S. government to free up more troops to go into Afghanistan to stem the Taliban and send a message to NATO allies that it's a fight worth waging. “We can't expect NATO to send more unless we (the United States) send more first.” The 60-year-old Clinton apologized for looking a bit haggard, explaining that Tuesday's mid-term U.S. election had kept him busier than he could ever remember. He said he'd caught a morning flight to the B.C. capital from New York. “If I somehow faint in the middle of the speech you'll have to cut me a little slack,” he said. His speech touched on citizenship, rather than partisan politics, and what ordinary people in the 21st century can do to ensure they leave a better world for their children. It boils down to providing security, making friends and partners and home improvement, both locally and globally, he said. “Your power as a private citizen to deal with some of these challenges is greater today than at any other time in human history,” he told the crowd. He used a nine-year-old Victoria boy who had raised money for the Clinton Foundation's AIDS initiative as an example of what ordinary people can accomplish. Jamie Poncia had made “conkers,” a horse chestnut on a string, and sold them to schoolmates to raise money for medicine for AIDS-infected children. Mr. Clinton read the boy's letter out to the crowd while singling him out in the front row, then held up his cheque for $204. “This money will save a child's life — a child he will never know, who may never know him, who will live and grow up just like Jamie because he did this.” Mr. Campbell asked Mr. Clinton about his wife Hillary's political future. She was re-elected as New York senator earlier in the week but many see her as a contender in the 2008 presidential campaign. “Nobody will believe me, but I don't know,” the former president responded. “I think if my wife had made a decision to run for president I would probably know it. I think it would be unlikely that she wouldn't tell me first.”