# NATO general wants Canada to stay in Afghanistan



## JBP (11 Aug 2006)

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060731/afghanistan_nato_060808?s_name=&no_ads=

Interesting... I thought we already decided on staying until at LEAST 2009 right???
 ???


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## Ansibomb (11 Aug 2006)

He's probably refering to this,

And a report on the weekend said Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office received 1,453 letters and e-mails in May about the deployment to Afghanistan, two-thirds of them calling on the government to get the troops home.


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## exsemjingo (12 Aug 2006)

That's democracy for you:  Democratically putting pressure on the government to quit building democracy elsewhere.
It would hurt Afghanistan a lot more to see Canada go (and if we go, why not all of NATO?), than it will hurt us to stay put and finish the mission.
It will take commitment long past 2009.


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## vonGarvin (12 Aug 2006)

1453 letters, most of which say "bring us home" mean nothing.  Don't forget that there are over 30 000 000 people in Canada, so less than 1 tenth of one percent have written, and not even all of them say "bring us home".  Givieng in to small demonstrations (even though numbering in the thousands) is not democratic at all.  Harper knows that and he's sticking by his principles.


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## civmick (12 Aug 2006)

von Garvin - depends on how many usually write.  There is probably an assumed multiplier of people who wouldnt spend 51c + GST on a stamp (are letters to MPs free?) but who think the same way.


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## George Wallace (12 Aug 2006)

Letters/postcards to MP's are free.


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## Scoobie Newbie (12 Aug 2006)

I wonder where the sheep feel we can help out better given our limitations and the political opposition with weak stomachs to force and bloodshed.


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## exsemjingo (13 Aug 2006)

People never write to their government by the millions.  All we can really go by are representative samples.  If 1400 constitutes a significant portion of the letters written, then it would be significant.  I do not have the numbers, so I cannot say.  If some of these people mobilized and started petitions, it might be enough to make things happen politically.
That aside, it was the view itself that I was criticising, not the numbers of those who hold it.


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