Re: Many Things

Hi,

>5) Adrian, I'm not sure Canada has been 
>involved in a war in the last 50 years. If so, only 
>1. The current "War on Terror" (a lot like the 
>"War on Drugs") is not a war by any act of 
>parliament of which I am aware. You cannot, I 
>believe, by definition, declare war on an NGO. 
>This is semantic, but it has some important 
>ramifications.
>

The "Gulf War" was a war by anyone's definition, I would think. 
Canadian
F18 pilots used live ordnance on Iraqi troops, boats, tanks, etc.  In
fact,
a couple of Canadian pilots were awarded US Bronze Stars...  Canadian
ships
were aggressive in enforcing sanctions, a Canadian army field hospital
was
deployed into Saudi Arabia and up against the combat zone, etc.  Sure,
our
politicos wussed out and refused to put the brigade in that the US and
Brits asked us for, but in any event, this would be safely "involved in
a
war", I would think.

Would the bombing of Serbia and Kosovo be considered a war?  It wasn't
on
the scale of the Gulf conflict, but I would think so...  NATO decided to
beat on the Serbs to get them to do what NATO wanted.  Pretty warish.
Canadian F18's were active again there, with live ordnance...

That's two.  Afghanistan is 3.	The fight there wasn't just against the
terrorists, it was also against the Taliban who were (arguably) the
government in control of the country.  Ok, so we didn't mail them a
declaration of war and make it "official", but saying the fighting in
Afghanistan isn't a "war" is like saying the "conflict" in Vietnam was a
"police action".  It might not be like WWII, but it certainly isn't like
"the war on drugs".  Canadian infantry don't get bombed in the war on
drugs...

********************************************

Adrian Johnson