The tragic news of Capt. Nichola Goddard’s death in battle with Taliban insurgents outside of Kandahar came just as the government was opening debate on a resolution supporting a “two-year extension of Canada’s diplomatic, development, civilian police and military personnel in Afghanistan.”
The Conservative government’s position was set forth with sufficient clarity. Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor summed up the rationale of the Canadian presence, stating we are there “because it is in our national interest, because we have the responsibility to take a leadership role in world affairs and because Afghans need us and want us to help them.”
Any time our bravest men and women in uniform are deployed in harm’s way, whether it is for peacekeeping or peacemaking, there is risk. Our soldiers are professionals and they have measured the risks in volunteering to serve their country’s needs, when called upon by elected officials.
The question lingers, however, whether our politicians in Ottawa are professionals or simply opportunists depending on which side of the House they are seated.
After all, in recent times retired Justice John Gomery and Auditor General Sheila Fraser have lifted the veil on our politicians showing how phoney a great many of them are.
Captain Goddard’s death in a fire-fight is a reminder to Canadians, lest they deny or deceive themselves, about the ugly, asymmetrical nature of global war unleashed by forces opposed to the values of freedom and democracy.
Values we take for granted, but that are desperately sought by most peace-loving people around the world.
Her death is a reminder why Afghanistan is a frontline in this global war that must be fought to victory through military force, humanitarian assistance and diplomacy.
Afghanistan is a case study of what happens to a failed state when it is seized by men driven by an ideology at war with the modern world, and then made into a sanctuary for terrorists to plot and wage their asymmetrical assault on civilization.
O’Connor reminded Parliament why Canadian troops are in Afghanistan. As he put it: “The terrible attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 during which 24 Canadians were killed, and the events that occurred in Bali, Madrid and London, exposed our vulnerability to terrorism.”
Then O’Connor asked the horrible question: “Do we have to wait for terrorists to attack Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal or here in Ottawa before recognizing the real threat that is hovering over our safety?”
It is necessary to debate weighty issues such as the deployment of Canadian troops in Afghanistan, the risks involved and the importance of remaining firmly behind our soldiers.
In the darkest hours of the Battle of Britain during the Second World War, members in the mother of parliaments remained engaged in asking questions of the government so that democracy, for which her sons and daughters were fighting, would not be placed in doubt at the moment of its greatest trial.
But we need debates that inform and educate, not ones our enemies might read as indications of our feebleness.
We need politicians who understand that at times, securing something as basic as safe drinking water in places like Afghanistan requires soldiers to make and then hold the peace.
Capt. Goddard understood this and she made the ultimate sacrifice in serving on a mission to make the world a somewhat safer place for all of us. If only most politicians in Ottawa understood half as well, as do our brave soldiers, the enormous sacrifices which freedom demands.
He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Center for Islamic Pluralism based in Washington, D.C., a Senior Fellow with the Canadian Coalition for Democracies, and an academic-consultant with the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C. He has been a consultant with CIDA on development issues and has published widely in academic journals on foreign policy matters and area studies of the Middle East and South Asia.
Mansur is featured on the documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West produced by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He also unsuccessfully ran for the Canadian Alliance party in 2000.
Mansur has been accused by Canadian Islamic Congress of using "provocative, self-serving rhetoric", and for "promoting an anti-Arab and anti-Muslim agenda".
He is an Ismaili Muslim.
At a press conference on October 2, 2008, Mansur stated that "Islam is my private life, my conscience...[but] my faith does not take precedence over my duties...to Canada and its constitution, which I embrace freely;" "I am first and most importantly a Canadian;" "only in a free society will you find Islam as a faith and not a political religion." Mansur also criticized New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton, whom Mansur said "has gone to bed with Islamists", because he is running candidates in Ontario and Quebec who are closely identified with the push for Sharia law.
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