Loading...
The Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-02-17, Page 4Fri 4 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, February 17, 2016 www.lucknowsentinel.com The Lucknow Sentinel PUBLISHED WEEKLY P.O. Box 400, 619 Campbell Street Lucknow Ontario NOG 2H0 phone: 519-528-2822 fax: 519-528-3529 www.lucknowsentinel.com POSTMEDIA AWL, JOHN BAUMAN Group Manager, Media Sales john. bauman@sun media.ca JOYJURJENS Office Administrator lucknow.sentinel@sunmedia.ca LINDSAY THEODULE Media Sales Consultant I indsay.theodule@sunmedia.ca MARIE DAVID Group Advertising Director 519 376-2250 ext. 514301 or 510 364-2001 ext. 531024 Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO SENTINEL CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT P.O. Box 400 Lucknow ON NOG 2H0 For any non -deliveries or delivery concerns: 519-528-2822 • lucknow.sentinel@sunmedia.ca SUBSCRIPTIONS Regular one year $40.00 + $2.00 =$42.00 Senior one year $35.00 +$1.75 = $36.75 Two year regular $70.00 + 3.50 = $73.50 Senior two year $60.00 + $3.00 = $63.00 Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. All advertising and editorial deadlines: Friday 2 p.m. Changes of address, orders for subscriptions, and undeliverable copies (return postage guaranteed) are to be sent to The Lucknow Sentinel at the address indicated here. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the portion of the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid at the applicable rates. The Sentinel is available on microfilm at GODERICH LIBRARY, (from 1875) 52 Montreal Street Goderich ON N7A 1 M3 Goderichlibrary@huroncounty.ca KINCARDINE LIBRARY, (from 1875 to 1900 & 1935 to 1959) 727 Queen Street Kincardine ON N2Z 1Z9 The Lucknow Sentinel is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For more information or to file a complaint go to www.mediacouncil.ca or call toll free 1-844-877-1163. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association Den Tandt: For better or worse, Trudeau will wear this revamped war in Iraq prime Minister Justin Trudeau's revamped military mission in Iraq — because he wears it now, for good or ill — is neither cowardly appeasement, as the Conservatives allege, or a perilous escalation, as New Democrats would have you believe. But of the two themes, the second is closer to the mark. As is the custom with Cana- dian military ventures, clarity and directness vanished or were non-existent from the start. The Conservatives' soon -to -be -former combat mission, fronted by six Royal Canadian Air Force CF -18 fighter-bombers, was never as robust or aggressive as they or their critics let on. The effort unveiled Monday, with its tri- pling of the special forces contingent from 69 to 207, will be far more combative — that is to say, risky for those who will carry it out — than the PM's swords -into -plough- shares rhetoric suggests. This isn't to say the new mission is wrong-headed. On the contrary: It appears to be robust internationalism, backed up with lethal force, of a kind Canada hasn't engaged in since the final pullout from Afghanistan in 2014. The irony is that politics prevents any of the waning tribes in the House of Com- mons from saying so. This is, more than anything else, a replay of 2005, when then -prime minister Paul Martin and then -defence chief Rick Hillier conceived n t Column Michael Den Tandt of a multi -pronged military and humanitarian project for Canada in Afghanistan that would clear away any cob- webs left by this country's non -participation in presi- dent George W. Bush's cata- strophic invasion of Iraq in 2003. That wasn't the Kandahar mission's tactical purpose, obviously, but it provided the context. We didn't do that for you (thank God), the Martin government was saying to Washington, but we can do this for you, and this is both better, and more difficult. The crack to be papered over in the current case, of course, is the withdrawal of Canada's CF -18s from the air war in Iraq and Syria, which happens in two weeks, despite the Liberal govern- ment still not having man- aged to articulate why. In their disquisitions about this the PM and his ministers have tied themselves in one rhetorical knot after another, apparently out of a desire to avoid saying the wrong thing, or embarrassing their Obama administration allies. In the process they've sus- tained far more damage than they would have had they been more blunt from the get -go. If there is a rationale for withdrawing the fighters (beyond that this was a cam- paign promise), as near as I can figure it, it is as follows: First, the carnage in northern Iraq and Syria, the emer- gence of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant itself, are primarily an American responsibility. ISIL, formerly al-Qaida in Iraq, formerly members of Saddam Hus- sein's Sunni praetorian guard, would not now exist had the Iraqi dictator been left to rot. "If you break it, you own it," General Colin Powell told his commander-in-chief before the invasion. That was true. Therefore, the Ameri- can military should be at the sharp end in wiping out ISIL. The second reason, now coming to the fore with details on the new mission: If Ottawa is tripling the special forces component, boosting overall troops deployed from 650 to 830, and spending a total of $1.6 billion in the region over three years, the cost has to come from some- where. The PM alluded to this Monday in French, in answer to a question from reporters: "In any mission, there are choices to make. We can't do everything." Like Reason #1, this is laced with political pitfalls, which may be why Trudeau mentioned it only in passing. Is the gov- ernment placing nickels and dimes above preserving human life? The direct answer is that resources are finite and no political party in Ottawa is calling for increased defence spending (though they should). Finally to a third reason, related to the first two: The Trudeau government is keen to put its own stamp on for- eign policy. It wishes to brand itself, domestically and internationally, as a gov- ernment more interested in helping the needy than oblit- erating the wicked, to put it simply. Therefore it symboli- cally sets down Thor's ham- mer, the CF -18s, and extends more helping hands, earning it kudos from agencies such as UNICEF and CARE Can- ada, while also throwing enough new ground muscle into the fight to appease the Pentagon. This makes a certain kind of sense, from a Liberal polit- ical perspective, as it puts them squarely in the centre of the spectrum, taking shots from both left and right. The wrinkle and the great risk in this, for Trudeau and his government, is precisely that it is so symbolic. For all the Harper government's vaunted bellicosity, six CF - 18s formed a relatively small hammer, in the context of the broader war, and their pilots were not routinely at risk of being shot at or blown up. This changes now. The risk of casualties has at least tripled. Aid requires transport and protection, all of it vulnerable to attack. That is the news here, not the CF -18s. In a modest but deliberate way, Canada is stepping back to war. A return to winter and more Lucknow News Ruth Dobrensky Lucknow News Did we have a return to win- ter last week or what? Just when I was getting used to not wear- ing my boots and cleaning snow off the car, down it came again. The more snow we get, the more it makes one yearn for an early spring, Despite the inclement weather many people young and old celebrated Valentine's day this past Sunday. I certainly do hope that you and yours had a lovely Valentine's Day. A certain favourite cousin of mine named Diane recently celebrated her 65th birthday and can now be included in the ranks of us senior citizens. Ripley held their Winter Car- nival this past weekend with many things to keep everyone busy and entertained. If you weren't able to get out, you missed a good weekend. Also this past weekend in St. Helen's, the Hall held a very successful Valentine's Roast Beef Supper, a good evening and supper was had by all who attended. I received some good news the other day from my cousin Bob Dobrensky, his grand- daughter Kyra, who I told you about last year when at 10 she had a stroke and was in a cata- tonic state, is now talking and is getting up and moving about. According to Bob, she will never be as she was, but it's like a mir- acle that she has come this far. It just goes to show that prayers really do work. Congratulations to Mark Kolohon who is the new princi- pal at Lucknow and District Public School. Welcome to Luc - know Mark.