Iraq and Afghanistan Two Sides of Same Coin

by Haroon Siddiqui
The Toronto Star

"On the sixth anniversary of 9/11, Canadians have been inundated with what are largely American concerns.....

All this underscores the need for a holistic view of the world, difficult as it is amid the CNN-ization of our media and the Americanization of our politics under Stephen Harper.

America is mired in Iraq and we are mired in Afghanistan. Bush does not have a clear exit strategy there, nor does Harper in Afghanistan. The instincts of both are to keep the wars going and “win.” Yet neither quite knows how......

The problems are the policies.

More and more allies understand. Distancing itself from Washington, Britain has abandoned Basra city to the mercies of Shiite militias. The Germans and other NATO allies won’t join us in southern Afghanistan. Either they are cowards or they are smarter than us.

Unless Ottawa comes to grips with these realities, Harper will be spinning his wheels as much as Bush - at the expense of our troops, our international credibility and, more ominously, perhaps our security."