Afghanistan

NATO says that most of the military deaths in Afghanistan are the result of road-side bombs. What NATO doesn't say is that Canada has suffered a disproportionate number of the dead and wounded caused by these innovative explosive devices. Those who say that Canada has invested too much in Afghanistan to pull out of the combat zones there in 2011 echo Lyndon B. Johnson's reason for continuing the U.S. mission-impossible in Viet Nam.

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Whatever role Ottawa has in mind for the Afghanistan contingent doesn't alter the fact that Canadian troops continue to be placed in harm's way by stupid commanders who insist on sending troops out in armoured cars that are no match for the enemy's IEDs. How many more of our soldiers have to be killed or wounded before Defence Minister Peter MacKay orders these commanders to change their stupid tactics? William Bedford Toronto

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