Unsexy War News - New Media and Politics

There was supposed to be a post yesterday on the Canadian troops handing over Kandahar city to the US Forces. You have to wonder how the Afghans feel about it though.  Apparently it's all part of a major reorganization of NATO's forces in southern Afghanistan, due to the influx of thousands of fresh U.S. troops into Kandahar. After the worst month for NATO fatalities in the nine year history of the war, Lt.-Col. Craig Dalton of the Canadian Forces told a news conference in Orwellian speak that, "This rising tide of security will set the conditions for the Afghans to defeat the insurgency."

Good luck with that!

Here's a report on an an attack this week on a major Afghan police base in Kandahar that killed nine — including three American soldiers that suggests an increasing sophistication in Taliban attacks - all part of a pretty bad week for NATO forces in Afghanistan.

As my radio show guest William Ray suggested would be the case last week, armed militias of the type used to fight the insurgency in Iraq are to be introduced to Afghanistan as part of the new strategy of General David Petraeus to counter the tide of Taliban attacks.

CBC has an excellent news report and video on Canadian soldiers and the caution they must exercise as they fight for the hearts and minds of the Afghans.

Peter McKay is in a spending mood - funny that he would wait until Parliament was on a summer break to do all this spending. Afraid of the scrutiny perhaps? Anyhow, $2.6 billion for some boats and $16 billion for some planes (sole sourced - or no competing bids). Jeffrey Simpson of the Globe and Mail thinks the fighter jets don't fit Canada's current needs.