Repeating a Failed Policy

The Canadian government seems to have a problem with the returning military men and women from their combat mission in the far east. Already our minister of defense and the prime minister are talking of creative ways to utilize these seasoned military personnel on their return to Canada. So far they collectively think that we, Canada, should send these assets to countries in Central and - more particularly - South America to aid in the fight in the drug wars and help stabilize matters in Columbia and other countries that we recently signed trade agreements with.

It is interesting that these countries are not asking for help and in fact Mexico and other southern countries are considering making drugs legal and thus solving the crisis they are having with the drug lords. It is also significant that all the countries being considered have huge mining developments with huge Canadian interests. Could we be following the American policy of having troops in countries where they say they have interests of national security?

Large international companies always look to have the support of their military to protect their monetary or financial interests. The Canadian Government has a policy of making our future well being on huge development of our mineral and oil resources by international or foreign capital. Many of these mining ventures have a short life and when the minerals are mined we are left with an environmental mess and the profits are safely in foreign hands.

The USA has always had the policy of protecting their big business by the use of it's military and has led to terrible and destructive wars. Case in point would be Iraq where a whole country was destroyed with huge loss of life and info-structure. However the oil resources were protected and were in production shortly after the war ended.

I might be a good plan to have the military return and retrain for peaceful missions in our far north and in countries where natural disasters occur. We would once again be seen in the world as the wonderful country we really are. Our status on the world stage could be recovered and once again we could be leaders in the free world in matters of the environment, peace keeping and independent of the American influence which seems to control Ottawa politics at this time.