Americans Getting A little Nervous

[Senior]

Well some predicted Iraq would be a cake walk and that the U.S. led coalition would be greeted with flowers and gifts. In some ways it did play out a bit like this but now over a year later that is definitely not the case any more.

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"Army officials said Tuesday that involuntary callups will begin in July and run through December. The Army is targeting its recall at those who recently left the service and thus have the most up-to-date skills. "This was inevitable when it became clear that we would have to maintain significant combat forces in Iraq for a period of years," said Dan Goure, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute, a think tank.

The military has relied heavily on National Guard and Reserve soldiers in Iraq, in part because some essential specialties like military police are found mainly in the reserves rather than the active-duty force and partly because the mission has required more troops than planned.

Reserve troops make up at least one-third of the U.S. force in Iraq, and this month they have accounted for nearly half of all troops killed in combat."

Quoted from,
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040630/D83H09000.html

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I guess what this brings up for me is that it's starting to seem more and more that this is going to be a long term conflict. We know that as an example the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel has been going on for decades and at this point some definite parallels are starting to emerge. The most obvious being that it's a low intensity conflict between well armed occupiers and guerrilla fighters (or terrorists, if you'd rather call them that).

So to the point, I think that with the Conservatives having so much power right now and Martin's interest in improving Canada US relations that there is a very real chance of Canada getting involved in a major way. What I want to know is if you think Canada should get involved and if so what should be our aim (peace keeping, medical support staff, communications...).

[MissBehavior]

I think that if Canada DOES get involved, it should be as we always are: On humanitarian grounds and peace-keeping. There's a reason that Canadians are given the respect that they get on the global level. We should continue to give our support to whoever is in need of it, and contribute to rebuilding efforts to give all people the opportunities that everyone should have.

[cheebus420]

The only difference between this and Vietnam, is that we are aware of what's happening right now, instead of years later.

[DJ Ponz]

Originally Posted by cheebus420

The only difference between this and Vietnam, is that we are aware of what's happening right now, instead of years later.

Truth.

But the Yanks still aren't going to do a fucking thing about it. Those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it.