One of the great tragedies of our present time is Canada's abdicatio of its peacekeeping role.

In April of this year, the U.N. pleaded in vain with Canada to take command of a peacekeeping operation in Congo. Canada said no – because our country couldn’t find a Lt. General who was available. (Everything now goes to Afghanistan.) In effect, that refusal marked the virtual end of Canada’s role as a peace-loving and peacekeeping nation. It also marked the beginning of the end of Canada's support of the United Nations Organization as the guardian of global collective security.

The footnote to this - sadly - must be that the U.N. - as a corporate entity has become a sham in almost every respect. There are, however, within the U.N. thousands of individuals and hundreds of agencies, which act with good will, and good intentions. Nevertheless, the rich and powerful treat those decent men and women like dirt beneath their feet.

I pay homage to all Canadian Peacekeepers and honour them.

(Mike Pearson would indeed be turning in his grave).

www.reedwrites.ca

jimreed your right on the money. We just cant seem to get away from the polocies of our freinds to the south and that ism using force to solve their problems.

Cheers

I for one am glad we didnt fill the role of 'peacekeeper ' in the congo. We were not 'peacekeepers' in Rwanda. We were spectators. Hoestly, how much good did we do? If we are not going to fight, we cant keep the peace. As for our friends to the south, are you talking about NATO? I was under the impression that many countries in NATO were to the east, not south. The reason we fight and die in Afghanistan is because we have a fighting army. This same army won accolades from all of our allies in WWII. It is an honour which is I think a part of our national identity. It is a dis service to our soldiers when some people seek to use them as political pawns.
As for the UN, well the problem there is that many of the nations involved in UN decision making are our enemies. I realize this is not a politically correct term but lets face it, A lot of UN countries are violently opposed to our way of life and to the very existence of some of our allies. Seems a funny kind of organization to me.
The real problem in criticizing the US for everything they do is that eventually they refuse to do anything. Without the US there is no action. The UN is incapable or unwilling to act and our various 'friends' around the world simply refuse to do so. Remember Kosovo? France, Germany, England, Russia, China, how many others have larger populations and armies than we do. Why do we have to jump into UN operations when they will not? I am all for Canada as a peace keeping nation, but not at the beck and call of the UN.
As for our fallen peacekeepers, they are our true national heroes, each and every one. Something perhaps that should be remembered when people are talking about great canadians.