His Master's Voice

Further to yesterday's post on the waste of lives and money in Afghanistan...

When Hillary Clinton visited Canada just before Easter, she asked Canada to extend its commitment to the war in Afghanistan beyond the 2011 exit date set by the Harper government. Perhaps Canada wouldn't have to do so much of the heavy lifting in future, she said. Steve said no way, come 2011 Canuck troops are out of there.

Then came Afghan President Krazee's "unhelpful" remarks, as reported this week and summarized here yesterday. And there was Steve on the TV yesterday saying Canada was definitely pulling out on time, just like the CPR.

Today Defence Minister Peter MacHackey has announced that Canada will send 90 more soldiers to Afghanistan next month. Their assignment will be to train the Afghan National Army to be more adept at killing at other Afghans. Big Mac did not say how long these fresh troops would stay.

Watching Canadian reaction to "suggestions" by the U.S.A. always reminds me of the old RCA Victor record labels. (That's HMV, for British readers.) Do you remember those? The picture of the old wind-up gramophone with the little white and black dog sitting with its ear cocked to the sound trumpet? The dog was named Little Nipper. (You can look it up.) And what was Little Nipper listening to? "His Master's Voice".

Footnote: With the addition of the 90, the number of Canadian troops in Afghanistan will be almost 3000, the highest yet.