Emergency! Jack Layton now wants (no, DEMANDS) an “emergency debate” on our mission to Afghanistan.
He Keeps forgetting that he wasn’t there when this was debated last year. And, in 2001,the only ones to vote for a vote in Parliament for military deployment was the Bloc and NDP.
Now, he has a new angle. In a page right out of the “Bush Lied, People Died” playbook, he has “concerns” about how detainees are being treated in Afghani prisons.
Layton demands debate over Afghanistan mission
…“When the decision was made, actually in the middle of the election, that through NATO there would be a new deployment and Canadian soldiers would be sent to the south of Afghanistan, we suggested at that time it would be important to have a debate as soon as Parliament could convene,” Layton told CTV’s Question Period on Sunday.
…“We need to support our troops by making sure that we’re very, very clear as Canadians what the mission is and, of course, it originally was supposed to be a NATO mission, but NATO has not taken charge yet.”
…Layton said Canadians need to know how long troops would be in Afghanistan and what the exit strategy is.
…The NDP leader also expressed concerns “there’s been an agreement signed with the government of Afghanistan, this was done under the Liberals, and our military leadership, to turn over prisoners to the Afghan government.”
…Layton said this raises concerns over the treatment of detainees who could be tortured by the Afghan government or turned over to the Americans. (There’s that anti-American bias. Again.)
…He admitted, however, that he had no evidence that this was happening and had not read the agreement. (Neither has Peter Mackay. But, he did say that “there has been an agreement since December with NATO to turn over prisoners to Afghan autorities” and that “defence staff would not be able to enter into an agreement with the Afghan government without consulting the Prime Minister and Defence Minister.”
but, according to Jack, “”(We) believe there was a different agreement that was signed between our military leaders at the time of the Liberal administration and the Afghan government. That’s what’s got to be talked about in Parliament.”“but, he stilll supports the soldiers ….“Layton underlined that he was not alleging that Canadian troops were complicit in the potential mistreatment of detainees.”
So, to recap: Jack Layton, who supported military action in 2001, missed the Parliamentary debate on the mission in 2005 and after the election, decides that we need another debate.
Nobody listens, everybody laughs at him, so he ratchets up the pressure by alleging (without facts) that there may be mistreatment of prisoners by Canadian soldiers and Afghanis and Americans by a different agreement, other than the one that was signed by the Liberals.
Get over it, Jack. We’re there for the long haul. Remember WHY we are there.
Read stories like this. Read about Nigel Williams a former CFL player who is now serving with the military and who is there to help. Then, on April 3, let the new Parliament get on with business that matters – Accountability, GST Reduction and childcare.
