Voted with his feet?_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Voted with his feet?

- Petrus visits The Homestead, Homestead.org.za, August 2, 2005.

2. The Canadian presence in Afghanistan has been mired in criticism since it was announced. When the federal government announced in February 2003 it would send peacekeepers to Afghanistan rather than provide military support to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, many pundits said it was because the military was too small and already stretched too thin.

Then-Defence Minister John McCallum denied the claims. “The government’s commitment to Afghanistan does not reflect any lack of confidence in the combat capabilities of Canada’s army,” he said, speaking at a defence conference in February 2003. “Quite the contrary, our soldiers are outstanding Canadians who are fully capable of carrying out difficult combat missions.”

But some high-profile military critics have questioned the timing and wisdom of the mission.

Prominent among those is retired major-general Lewis MacKenzie, a veteran of nine peacekeeping tours, and commander of UN troops during the 1992 siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian war. He says Afghanistan will by no means be a cakewalk.

“The idea of peacekeeping as being helping old ladies across the street in Bangladesh is false,” he said in an interview with CBC News Online, explaining that peacekeepers are very much in a dangerous position, especially in Afghanistan.