Supporting our troops
“You cannot say you are for our military and then not stand behind the things they do,” said Harper. (From A ‘sea of red’ unfolds as troop supporters crowd Parliament Hill)
This space welcomes guest blogger The Right Hon. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada.
Friends,
One week ago, as I addressed loyal Canadians on Parliament Hill, I made a statement that has ruffled a few weak-kneed feathers, and rattled a few yellow-bellied cages.
There are some who would tell you that this is a democracy, and that it is possible to support our troops while criticizing the orders that they are given.
I’m here today to tell you those people are wrong. If you truly want to support our troops, you cannot question their orders, or the people giving them, or the political party that got those people elected.
It doesn’t matter whether you disagree with those orders. It doesn’t matter whether those orders are patently stupid, dangerously insane or utterly incoherent. If we told the Canadian Forces to dress up in Ronald McDonald outfits and march into the maw of an erupting volcano while playing the theme to The Bob Newhart Show on kazoos, you would be honour-bound to support those orders to the hilt.
Just wanted to clarify.
technorati tags:politics, canada, conservative, stephen_harper, troops, afghanistan
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October 8th, 2006 at 16:34
jmac says:
A fine bit of obfuscation.
Perhaps a bit sarcastic for someone with your credentials… I was expecting you would provide something to help readers perhaps gain fresh perspective on Canada’s current difficult position, but McDonald’s uniforms and kazoos? Not that enlightening.
October 8th, 2006 at 21:44
Rob says:
Well, I’ll leave it to others to decide for themselves whether this was an appropriate use of hyperbole. All I’ll say is that you can’t really cook up a piping hot reductio ad absurdum without a heaping tablespoonful of absurdity — hence the kazoos.
(By the by, “hence the kazoos” is not a phrase I really ever expected to be writing in this lifetime…)
October 10th, 2006 at 18:27
jmac says:
Ha ha. Glad to see you have your sense of humour intact!
October 17th, 2006 at 21:16
Rob Cottingham » How to support the troops and not necessarily the war says:
[...] Commenting on my post a few weeks ago, Darren Barefoot isn’t sure you can support the troops without supporting the war: That always struck me as wishy-washy, and seemed to render these troops as unthinking automatons or poor saps who are just doing their job. The latter, of course, is kind of true. [...]