Going to war is not like a boxing match or a football game where two groups get together and decide they are going "to fight" each other and there are referees who will see that the rule books are followed. War is more like a neighborhood spat where two people have a disagreement and they can't find a win/win situation so they start doing stupid little things that fester and get other people involved until the resolve of one of the antagonists reachs the limit and things get physical. In the matter of Afghanistan the UN, who are supposed to be the referees, decided on a course of action, our leaders signed on and we have sons, daughters, brothers, sisters and friends put in harms way. Eventually it comes down to in for a nickel in for a dime. What a stupid way to run a world but it is the price we pay for what we consider to be the best system of government.
August 28, 2007
Mark Abley "The last temptation is the greatest treason," St. Thomas Becket says in T.S. Eliot's great play Murder in the Cathedral: "To do the right deed for the wrong reason."
I've been thinking a lot about that couplet in the past few days, as the rhetoric swirls back and forth about Canada's military adventure in Afghanistan. Let's avoid the word "mission," which comes with unhelpful religious baggage.
Whether or not you support our involvement in the Afghan conflict, it's important to do so for the right reasons. Clarity of purpose matters, especially when lives are at stake. And to my mind, some of the arguments on both sides are downright murky.
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