4 Canadian Soldiers killed in Afghanistan

[Azure]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

This is ****ed. The Taliban can do whatever they want to our soldiers, why our men and women have to live by the rules.

I agree 100%.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

(3) I really think that the Green party makes a good point. There are many Muslim members of the United Nations. Having Canadian troops there makes it look like an occupation by overwhelmingly Christian countries. Canada should send supplies and money and help with the training, but these suicide bombers *might* think twice before blowing up other Muslims. Our troops are needed in other areas of the world where it wouldn't be seen as a Christian occupation.

First of all, Canada is not a "Christian" nation. Secondly, it seems like Muslims have no problems killing fellow Muslims in Iraq.

The whole world, including moderate Muslims are dealing with the problem of Sunni extremism. And we aren't going to solve it by pulling out.

Also, where exactly are our troops needed more then Afghanistan? We're talking about Canadian troops, not the troops that Canada provides to the UN.

[metallicat]

I don't know what I want our soldiers to do. What else can they do? These wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would have been over a long time ago if the troops were fighting conventional armies. But they aren't. They're fighting cowardly terrorists, whose only answer is to shoot RPGs and hit convoys with suicide bombers. These people aren't human.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by Azure

First of all, Canada is not a "Christian" nation. Secondly, it seems like Muslims have no problems killing fellow Muslims in Iraq.

You do see how your average Afghani might make that assumption though... right? Seems pretty obvious? Canada is over 80% Christian, and as white as they come. Afghans probably believe Canadians are Christians just like we believe Afghanis are Muslims. True for the most part, but missing some key facts.

Why didn't you respond to point 2 in his comment, given that you agree that its bad that Canadian troops 'have to play by the rules'. What specific rules are you chafing under?

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

You do see how your average Afghani might make that assumption though... right? Seems pretty obvious? Canada is over 80% Christian, and as white as they come. Afghans probably believe Canadians are Christians just like we believe Afghanis are Muslims. True for the most part, but missing some key facts.

I think your percentage is a bit high, but whatever.

I do believe Afghanistan has more Muslims then Canada has Christians, in terms of percentage...but I still wouldn't look at Afghanistan as a Muslim nation.

More Arab then Muslim.

Why didn't you respond to point 2 in his comment, given that you agree that its bad that Canadian troops 'have to play by the rules'. What specific rules are you chafing under?

Point 2 wasn't addressed towards me, so I didn't respond.

Either way...rules? I think oilers_fan pretty much said what was on my mind.

[metallicat]

I didn't say I think it's bad that Canadian troops have to play by the rules while the enemy doesn't, I said it was ****ed that they do. Because it is. We are fighting an "army" that abides by no rules, that doesn't care about poll numbers back home, and certainly doesn't care who it kills or maims in the name of Islam, no matter how screwed up their view of Islam may be.

[Agamemnon]

nm

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by Azure

I think your percentage is a bit high, but whatever.

I do believe Afghanistan has more Muslims then Canada has Christians, in terms of percentage...but I still wouldn't look at Afghanistan as a Muslim nation.

More Arab then Muslim.

Well, you'd be wrong, they're not Arabs. Kind of goes to show how Afghanis could make a similar mistake.

Point 2 wasn't addressed towards me, so I didn't respond.

Either way...rules? I think oilers_fan pretty much said what was on my mind.

Were any of the points addressed to you?

[Azure]

Were any of the points addressed to you?

So why ask me to address them then? He asked oilers_fan, not me. Maybe you should go reread the question.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

Well, you'd be wrong, they're not Arabs. Kind of goes to show how Afghanis could make a similar mistake.

Whoops.

Seems to me that most Arab countries are classified that way by the language they speak. Which I was not aware of.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Azure

Whoops.

Seems to me that most Arab countries are classified that way by the language they speak. Which I was not aware of.

Can we have another 'Whoops'. Only 5,000 Afghani's speak Arabic.
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_count...me=Afghanistan

[Vulcan]

Like I said in another thread, it would be nice if we had a lot more troops in Afghanistan. I mean a large force of allied troops but other countries don't seem to have the stomach for it. Are we ready to commit a lot more troops and do it right?

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Azure

Whoops.

Seems to me that most Arab countries are classified that way by the language they speak. Which I was not aware of.

And there you go. You are a literate person with an internet connection and a library card and you didn't know. Neither did/do I. I would imagine that very few people in Afghanistan have access to the kind of information you and I do.

I don't think there can be any doubt that Canada is viewed as a predominantly white, Christian nation to everyone in the Middle East.

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

You do see how your average Afghani might make that assumption though... right? Seems pretty obvious? Canada is over 80% Christian, and as white as they come. Afghans probably believe Canadians are Christians just like we believe Afghanis are Muslims. True for the most part, but missing some key facts.

Well according the the CIA fact book and Wikipedia:
CIA -Fact Book - Afghanistan
Wikipedia - Afghanistan
CIA - Factbook - Canada

Religiously, Afghans are overwhelmingly Muslim, with approximately 89.2% Sunni and 8.9% Shi'a.

Which makes up 98.2% of the Afghan population Muslim. That would be pretty much the entire population.

Compared to Canada

Roman Catholic 42.6%, Protestant 23.3% (including United Church 9.5%, Anglican 6.8%, Baptist 2.4%, Lutheran 2%), other Christian 4.4%, Muslim 1.9%, other and unspecified 11.8%, none 16% (2001 census)

70.3% in Canada are of the Christian faith.

[metallicat]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Like I said in another thread, it would be nice if we had a lot more troops in Afghanistan. I mean a large force of allied troops but other countries don't seem to have the stomach for it. Are we ready to commit a lot more troops and do it right?

I don't think we CAN commit a lot more troops. Canada just doesn't have the numbers. More across the board from all NATO nations would be nice though.

We're not fighting conventional armies, but more troops can't hurt.

[icarus]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

(3) I really think that the Green party makes a good point. There are many Muslim members of the United Nations. Having Canadian troops there makes it look like an occupation by overwhelmingly Christian countries. Canada should send supplies and money and help with the training, but these suicide bombers *might* think twice before blowing up other Muslims. Our troops are needed in other areas of the world where it wouldn't be seen as a Christian occupation.

Well if that is the Green Party's stance then they haven't done their homework because the ISAF is a NATO force, not a UN force. The UN has no mission in Afghanistan, and I don't think it will any time soon.

The UN does allocate its security forces with a mind to cultural sensitivity. Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India are, I think, the top three providers of peacekeepers in the world.

I personally think the UN is much more urgently required in Darfur than anywhere else in the world, but that is another tragic matter altogether.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

And there you go. You are a literate person with an internet connection and a library card and you didn't know. Neither did/do I. I would imagine that very few people in Afghanistan have access to the kind of information you and I do.

I don't think there can be any doubt that Canada is viewed as a predominantly white, Christian nation to everyone in the Middle East.

I actually thought Arab would be the classification for race, and not religion.

Most people in Canada are White...most people in Afghanistan are Arab. My POV though.

Guess I was wrong...although it has been pointed out that Afghanistan is overwhelmingly Muslim.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Azure

I actually thought Arab would be the classification for race, and not religion.

Most people in Canada are White...most people in Afghanistan are Arab. My POV though.

Guess I was wrong...although it has been pointed out that Afghanistan is overwhelmingly Muslim.

I think Arab is a language classification. Most Arabs are Islam but many Moslems such as in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Indonesia are not Arabic. From pictures and people I have met most Arabs are white but some seem to have some other blood. Being at the crossroads of civilization they've had many cultural and racial influences. Probably makes them stronger but we're all the same beneath our skins.

To add, most Arabs that we think of in the Middle east are Semites. Most Jews are also semites and are caucasion.

To add again, I was told by an Arab that they don't call their language Arabic but call it Mediterranean. Seems logical as the language is spoken by many people around that Sea.

[White Doors]

[quote=Devils'Advocate;557722](1) As for why the Liberals are "making hay" on this issue is because our original mandate was the secure the urban areas and keep the Taliban, run out of the cities by the US, from coming back to the urban areas. Under the Conservatives, the mandate has changed from defensive to offensive. We're heading out into the country and taking out targets. quote]

~sigh~ Wrong. The mandate changed under the liberals. The Conservatives merely inherited the change.

[metallicat]

It shouldn't matter what government did what for this mission. Canada is there, and that isn't changing. Even if the Liberals were still in power, we'd be at the same juncture.