|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Home | Introduction | Our Fiscal Mess | Our Declining Defences | Accountability Gap | Discussions |
|
|
| :.A Proud Tradition | :.Years of Neglect | :.The Myth of "Peacekeeping | :.Being Realistic about National Security |
|
The Myth of Peacekeeping
In The Chance of War, Captain Sandra Perron describes the challenges of contemporary peacekeeping: We had to deal with two belligerents that had very little respect for the peacekeeping forces there. So here we were, not at war, but we were in a war. It was frustrating. In Canada when we do our infantry training, we’re trained to “close with and destroy.” We got to Bosnia and we were dealing with taking care of abandoned children at a mental facility and escorting convoys and going through barricades. We were trained to do that, too, but the mental aspects of closing with and destroying the enemy, where you actually get rid of the rage, were so different from peacekeeping, where you’re between the factions. Major-General (Ret.) Lewis MacKenzie, in the following clip from A Question of Honour, describes how “peacekeeping” missions today require well trained and well armed soldiers who may have to kill to protect themselves and others who are in immediate danger. This is a hard truth that the federal government and many military brass try to keep from the Canadian people.
Further Study Books Talking Heads Talking Arms (3 volumes below)... Video We continue to send Canadian troops into these dangerous life-threatening “peacekeeping” missions without proper equipment and support, and most often, without any parliamentary debate. We need to pay more attention to these important issues and we need to be realistic about our national security.
|
|
|
Canadians
rightfully take great pride in our nation’s role as peacekeepers
and “honest brokers” in the world’s conflict zones.
These are indeed noble causes. However the nature of peacekeeping certainly
has changed since our participation in peacekeeping in the Suez conflict
of the 1950s. One of the popular misconceptions about international peacekeeping
today is that it is much like police work. You quietly walk “the
beat” making sure that everyone is behaving themselves. This is
no longer the case. More often than not, our peacekeepers are placed in
the middle of dangerous combat zones with adversaries in the midst of
trying to kill each other. There is no peace to speak of, no peace to
keep.