[Cappy]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I'm just curious about what Canada's top brass and our government think that's going to happen when they deploy on a peace keeping mission into these nations.

Do they think we're going to make a lick of difference?

Do they think that all sides in these conflicts aren't going to turn on the UN peacekeepers?

If they go in with the typical fumbling UN approach and think that white jeeps and blue berets and some rifles are going to settle things down they're fooling themselves.

I'm no expert here, I'm clearly not in the government or a senior member of the Forces.

But if we decide that Mali is going to be where we make our mark, we're fighting brutal Jihadists that are linked into Al-Queda, these aren't some poor schlubs who picked up rifles and just started fighting, we're facing well supported, fairly well armed and trained crazies. And if you don't think that a Western Nation going in there isn't going to attract even worse elements your fooling yourself.

This is going to make the butchers bill in Afghanistan look like nothing, I hope Justin and his government are prepared for a busy highway of heroes.

Because Mali isn't going to be a peace keeping mission, its going to evolve into a anti-terrorism mission, and the UN is ill equip to handle that and I have very little faith that the UN has the leadership ability to make the tough calls that are surely going to cause civilian casualties.

Look, I'd put our average troops against anyone in the world in terms of training and professionalism, its too bad that our government is so poor at recognizing this and supporting it.

But going into any of these nations is going to be a mistake unless you're willing to actually fight a war against a invested insurgency.

Its great that the government is talking about training them to deal with Child Soldiers, who tend to be far more vicious then other soldiers due to their complete indoctrination. But we'd better be training them for all of the other eventualities that occur in asymmetrical warfare.

Personally as a Canadian and a former member of the Armed Forces, I want nothing to do with Mali and the other African UN based "Peace keeping" missions.

The UN is terrible at handling them and the cost is going to be way to high.

Not at all. Its a political stunt based on the Canadian nostalgia of Lester Pearson.