Thanks to Independent MP David Kilgour we could be sending peacekeeping troops to Sudan. I say could because I heard General Hillier on the radio this morning that we won't send troops to Sudan unless we have UN and AU (African Union) permission - in which case, not very likely.
...The minister wants military intervention to be only one part of an overall plan for the northeastern African country.
"We cannot invade Sudan. It requires United Nations action ... it requires political as well as military and aid matters," Graham told CBC.
But if we do send troops to Sudan it will put many of us in an awkward position - supporting the decision to send in troops to (attempt to) stop a Genocide but frustrated at the blatant politics that would lead to such a decision. Here is how Adam Daifallah puts it.
...Please. It's totally obvious this was done to buy off Kilgour's vote on the budget. The Prime Minister will go as
far as to send our troops into harm's way to get an extra vote in the House.I personally support the deployment, but am sickened that it took the threat of his government collapsing for Martin to do the right thing.
Adam Radwanski has a column in the Post today regarding this.
...To be fair, Darfur was on Paul Martin's radar back in December, when he visited Sudan to urge an end to the slaughter. But that doesn't stop a certain smell from hanging over both the timing of his new initiative and the way we're learning about it.
...One would like to believe Mr. Martin is motivated solely by humanitarian concerns. But while that might have been possible a couple of years ago, you'd have to have your head pretty far in the sand to believe that's all that's behind this planned initiative.
This is the same prime minister who threw the entire equalization formula out of whack, turning federal-provincial politics into an ugly free-for-all so he could win a few extra seats in Atlantic Canada. The same PM who, to give his government a modest chance of staying alive for a few extra months, tore up his own budget and adopted the NDP's spending priorities. The same PM who sunk missile defence to get a cheerier party convention. The same PM who ... well, you get the picture.
...a government that has become so fragile that it seems willing to let a single Independent MP guide what, in this country, passes for a major foreign policy initiative
What will the chants be?
Martin steals, now he deals
Soldiers dead, how does he feel?
So now MP Jack Layton is the defacto Minister of Finance and MP David Kilgour is the defacto Minister of Foreign Affairs. If MP Rona Ambrose could just cross the floor with the promise of scrapping Institutionalized Daycare I could start supporting this government.
Update: Check out this interview on CTV. Col. Michel Drapeau says that 150 troops in Sudan can't do much more than protect themselves.
..."I haven't heard any call from the United Nations to send any troops, let alone Canadian troops by themselves, to this far distant land," he said.
"So you have to wonder, for what aim is this deployment? It's certainly not in the national interests of Canada ... Could it be for political purposes?"
Nah...Our brave and great leader wouldn't do something like that.
