Quote of the Week

"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.""
-John Maynard Keynes

Sunday 12 October 2014

ISIS

Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently announced, during a rare address to parliament, that Canada would be going the fight against ISIS. He informed the MPs that, though there will be no ground troop deployed, air strikes will commence and continue for up to six months, at which point the situation will be reviewed and efforts will possibly be extended. According to Harper, the airstrikes are planned for Iraq, but could potentially be expanded to Syria. 
Additionally, Harper explained that Canada's participation will be limited to only countries where there is a supporting and legitimate government (thus excluding Syria). Parallely, the government will extend it's original 30 day advisory mission, which is supposed to contribute 69 special operations officers, in addition to the 280 aircrew personnel. Despite admitting that eliminating the Islamic State is likely impossible, he said that he does believe Canada's efforts will "significantly reduce" the threat. 
Parliament will vote on -and likely pass- the proposition on Monday, due to the Conservative majority. Both Thomas Mulcair and Justin Trudeau, leaders of the NDP and Liberal parties respectively, said that, as oppose to airstrikes, other means could be explored. Mulcair said “The tragedy in Iraq and Syria will not end with another Western-led invasion in that region." Similarly, Trudeau said that Canada can make a much more prominent impact on the war on ISIS by using some unspecified "non-combat roles", rather than "a few aging warplanes".
The US's airstrike campaign against ISIS has seemingly come to no avail. Not only has it cost them approximately 1 billion dollars to date, but it has cost them the literal heads of 3 citizens (The US refused to pay a 100 million ransom for each kidnapped journalist, and the journalists were hence beheaded). Other countries have joined the airstrikes and threatened to revoke the passports of citizens that go to aid ISIS, but it doesn't seem to be having a potent effect either. 
The only troops on the ground at the moment are Kurdish (An Islamic minority being targeted by ISIS) and Iraqi militia and soldiers. "Not good enough" according to a flurry of critics, who believe that the only remedy to the ISIS plague is ground combat. It is undeniable that ISIS must be stopped, but to what lengths should Canadians and the rest of the world go to? How much tax-payer money should be expended on this? Is there more that Canada can do? And most importantly, is this fight, especially from Canada's perspective, in vain?

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