Kennedy Lays it On the Line

Kennedy's campaign comes to life! Gerard Kennedy made the most important single statement of the Lib Leadership campaign today, calling for :

Canada to insist NATO drastically change its strategy in Afghanistan to a major economic reconstruction program or pull out its troops.

This is exactly what needs to happen. As the Globe also reported today (but damned if I can find the on-line version of the article), we are officially in a quagmire. No matter what we do around Kandahar, the Taliban leadership lies over the border in Pakistan and funnels an endless supply of weapons and fighters into the country. And there are no plans, and never will be, to carry the fight into Pakistan. So our guys are basically slapping at wasps while never being able to go after the nest. As Mr. Kennedy notes, a losing strategy. Mind you, I don't think much of his solution:

Instead, [Kennedy] said, NATO and Canada must mount a massive economic development and aid program to replace the opium trade that now dominates the economy.

Why? Because you can't build infrastructure while you're fighting, but if you don't build infrastructure, the fighting won't end. Catch-22.

But at least Kennedy's proposal is a prelude to getting out of a situation that will otherwise waste Canadian $ and Canadian soldiers for years and years to come. The key words are "...or pull out."."