Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Stephen Harper's Kandahar Reunion

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=031bb928-425f-40e6-bc6a-84cf04e536e0

Unlike Romy and Michelle, Stephen Harper didn't claim to invent post-its, but he is trying to create some positive press for himself. No matter how much he and his inner circle might suggest otherwise, this is an effort to boost Harper's public rating. I'm just not sure if this is the best way to do it. I have no doubt that Canadians support their troops, but I don't know if the sentiment is the same for the actual mission. Using an ill-favoured mission to bolster public opinion is somewhat reminiscent of Paul Martin's "Mad as Hell" tour as named by Mr. Kinsella. What's the point of bringing attention to something people might not agree with?

Despite that objection, I also find it hard to stomach Harper's sales tactics of trying to convince the troops that what they're doing is extremely critical. Of course Afghanistan needs to be rebuilt, but when most of our allies are reluctant to participate in the same way we are, something must be re-evaluated. Furthermore, there's no real focus that's apparent about this mission, so to convince "Canada's finest" to give 'er for a poorly organized mission is just a couple levels below urging some kind of suicide attack in my books. It just seems like so many of these youths are being robbed of their lives without good enough cause, and Harper seems to have no problem urging them on. That's that.

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