PLEASE SIR, WE WANT SOME WAR

MPs extend Afghan mission (Mike Blanchfield, National Post, May 18th, 2006)

The House of Commons supported a Conservative motion to extend Canada's military mission to Afghanistan by two years, handing Stephen Harper a narrow victory with a 149-145 vote that came late last night.

The outcome of the vote was in doubt all evening, with MPs from all three opposition parties speaking out against the Tory plan to extend the Afghan mission through to 2009 without providing further details about what the extension would mean for the Canadian Forces.

"I'm obviously pleased," Mr. Harper said last night, "though the vote was a lot closer than we expected it would be even 24 hours ago."

The Prime Minister said three of the four parties in the Commons had supported Canada's involvement in Afghanistan, so he was surprised to learn the NDP, Bloc Quebecois and many Liberals voted against the extension.

Earlier, Mr. Harper had vowed to extend the mission by one year, regardless of the outcome of the vote.

"So what we would do is proceed cautiously for a year.... If we believe we need to go further than that, we will seek a mandate from the Canadian people."

The often-acrimonious debate, scheduled for six hours, started less than an hour after Canadian politicians learned of the death of Captain Nichola Goddard near Kandahar, the 17th Canadian and first woman killed in Afghanistan.[...]

During the debate, Mr. Harper provided several new details of Canada's future involvement in Afghanistan, including revealing that Canada had been asked to assume command of NATO forces in Afghanistan for one year starting in February, 2008.

Mr. Harper also announced that Canada would boost its aid funding to Afghanistan by $310-million, raising its contribution to almost $1-billion by 2011, and he promised to build a more fortified embassy in Kabul that could serve Canada's interests for 15 years.

A nice welcome for John Howard. With this coup, Harper effectively takes away the ability of the left to politicize every death, which is especially dangerous for him in Quebec, where he is popular but the war is not. Perhaps it is atonement for past sins, but despite the closeness of the vote it is surprising how widespread support/resignation for all this is among Canadians, if only in that hand-wringing, fussy Canadian way. Morale in the military is soaring and even many in the MSM left seem to understand what cowardice is.