True, LH. The single thing that bugs me most about Canadian troops being in Afghanistan is this: When we refused to join the 'Coalition of the Willing" (US, UK, Spain and Bulgaria--recall that sad scene with four people, one from each country on TV) for the invasion of Iraq, we got our peepees slapped big time by the USA and that sonuvabitch Bush. Cost our economy about five billion dollars. I think the trade off was that we send a few thousand soldiers thereby releasing a few thousand American soldiers to then go to Iraq. That pissed me off.

I do not think we should be there, either. However, we ARE there. Give the troops a mission they can do within a few years. NOT some vague "We are helping the Government of Afghanistan--what f#ckin' Government of Afghanistan?--to learn to rule themselves."

Soldiers need to be trained for peace-making. It does NOT come naturally to soldiers. It come from training.