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In reply to the discussion: While You’re Bashing Russia for its Homophobic Laws, Remember… [View all]MADem
(135,425 posts)71. Oh, let's see....Iraq? Afghanistan? Canada even played the "Nudge, Wink" in Vietnam
Those that do not know their own history are condemned to be called out on the internet....
Iraq: http://www.globalresearch.ca/canada-s-secret-war-in-iraq/8110
Escorting the US Navy: Thirteen hundred Canadian troops aboard Canadas multibillion dollar warships escorted the US fleet through the Persian Gulf, putting them safely in place to bomb Iraq.
Leading the coalition Navy: Canadian Rear Admiral Roger Girouard was in charge of the war coalitions fleet.
Providing war planners: At least two dozen Canadian war planners working at US Central Command in Florida were transferred to the Persian Gulf in early 2003 to help oversee the wars complicated logistics.
Commanding the war: In 2004, Canadian Brigadier General Walt Natynczyk commanded 10 brigades totalling 35,000 troops. He was Second-in-Command of the entire Iraq War for that year. When Governor General Clarkson gave Natynczyk the Meritorious Service Cross, her office extolled his pivotal role in the development of numerous plans and operations [which] resulted in a tremendous contribution to Operation Iraqi Freedom, and brought great credit to the Canadian Forces and to Canada.
Helping coordinate the war: Canadian military personnel working aboard American E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System warplanes helped direct the electronic war by providing surveillance, command, control and communications services to US war fighters.
Yep, Canada was one of the most valuable "coalition partners" in that effort--they weren't a "You Forgot Poland"--they were providing warfighting expertise and personnel to the effort. On the down-low, sorta-kinda...so I guess the Canadian Government was a bit shy about touting these details to the citizenry, since this is news to you, but you'll want to go back and ask them about that, I guess.
Afghanistan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada's_role_in_the_Afghanistan_War
Canada's role in the Afghanistan War began in late 2001. Canada sent its first element of Canadian soldiers secretly in October 2001 from Joint Task Force 2,[1] and the first contingents of regular Canadian troops arrived in Afghanistan in JanuaryFebruary 2002. Canada took on a larger role starting in 2006 after the Canadian troops were redeployed to Kandahar province. There were 2,500 Canadian Forces (CF) personnel in Afghanistan in 2006, of which 1,200 comprised the combat battle group.[2] Roughly 950 are currently deployed in Afghanistan as part of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). At the 2012 NATO Summit in Chicago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that an undisclosed number of Canadian soldiers would remain in the country to help train and mentor the Afghan National Army until 2014 (though Canadian troops ended their combat role there in 2011).
Vietnam, and a little plausible deniability: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_and_the_Vietnam_War
In counter-current to the movement American draft-dodgers and deserters to Canada, about 30,000 Canadians volunteered to fight in southeast Asia.[36] Among the volunteers were fifty Mohawks from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal.[37] One-hundred and ten (110) Canadians died in Vietnam, and seven remain listed as Missing in Action. Canadian Peter C. Lemon was awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor for his valour in the conflict. (This cross-border enlistment was not unprecedented: Both the First and the Second World War saw thousands of Americans join the Canadian Armed forces before the U.S officially declared war on Germany)[38]
In Windsor, Ontario, there is a privately funded monument to the Canadians killed in the Vietnam War.[39] In Melocheville, Quebec, there is a monument site funded by the Association Québécoise des Vétérans du Vietnam.[40] However, many Canadian veterans returned to a society that was strongly anti-war. Unlike the United States, there were no veterans organizations nor any help for them from the government, and many of them moved permanently to the United States. There has been ongoing pressure from Canadian Vietnam veterans to have their comrades' deaths formally acknowledged by the government, especially in times such as Remembrance Day...
Canada's official diplomatic position in relation to the Vietnam War was that of a non-belligerent, which imposed a ban on the export of war-related items to the combat areas.[citation needed] Nonetheless, Canadian industry was also a major supplier of equipment and supplies to the American forces, not sending these directly to South Vietnam but to the United States. Sold goods included relatively benign items like boots, but also aircraft, munitions, napalm and commercial defoliants, the use of which was fiercely opposed by anti-war protesters at the time. In accordance with the 1958 Defence Production Sharing Agreement, Canadian industry sold $2.47 billion in materiel to the United States between 1965 and 1973.[5] Many of the companies were owned by US parent firms, but all export sales over $100,000 US (and thus, the majority of contracts) were arranged through the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a crown corporation which acted as an intermediary between the U.S. Department of Defence and Canadian industry.[5] Furthermore, the Canadian and American Defense departments worked together to test chemical defoliants for use in Vietnam.[41] Canada also allowed their NATO ally to use Canadian facilities and bases for training exercises and weapons testing as per existing treaties.
So.....whatever. It may not be a full-blown glass house, but it's got more than its share of picture windows. And plenty of "secrecy" too.
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The worst of "our" assholes can't jail and fine people for the "crime" of being gay.
MADem
Aug 2013
#3
Yep....no saying "My nephew married his partner" in the wrong crowd over there! nt
MADem
Aug 2013
#7
They're gonna be rich, too, seeing how Louisiana denied 'em their constitutional rights. nt
MADem
Aug 2013
#14
Yep, it will take years and years in America for LGBT to achieve 100% equality. America
RKP5637
Aug 2013
#34
What is clear to me is that you are approaching this from a theoretical point of view
riqster
Aug 2013
#62
I didn't "argue against that point" -- see post 11 (which I wrote WAY before your post 65)
MADem
Aug 2013
#72
Of course we're not saints from back in the day...but the big difference between us and them is that
MADem
Aug 2013
#11
Trying to remember when us Canucks last invaded a defenseless country . . .
ConcernedCanuk
Aug 2013
#70
Oh, let's see....Iraq? Afghanistan? Canada even played the "Nudge, Wink" in Vietnam
MADem
Aug 2013
#71
In KS, for one example, it is still a criminal act to be gay. They kept it on the books. As you
RKP5637
Aug 2013
#35
There are laws on the books in Georgia that say you have to eat fried chicken with your hand.
MADem
Aug 2013
#58
Yes, fortunately they are superseded! I wonder what is going to happen now DOMA was
RKP5637
Aug 2013
#61
What YOU should remember is that the corner has been turned here, in the right direction.
stevenleser
Aug 2013
#10
Yes, but degree of suckage and trajectory matter. Compare where we are now to where we were
stevenleser
Aug 2013
#66
By the OP's logic, the US was wrong to boycott apartheid South Africa because some
Bluenorthwest
Aug 2013
#13
No, your use of the word 'bashing' to characterize criticism of these Russian laws
Bluenorthwest
Aug 2013
#28
To the extent that you "extrapolated", I feel comfortable in my response to you.
riqster
Aug 2013
#31
By the way, you did not answer my question and you took a personal jab at me
Bluenorthwest
Aug 2013
#32
I don't think that illustrating the degrees of difference between the two nations, in this context a
LanternWaste
Aug 2013
#40
Calling out the deltas is not the same as acting like we are done with the fight here. nt
riqster
Aug 2013
#41
Almost all countries in Africa and the Middle East have harsher anti-gay laws than Russia.
former9thward
Aug 2013
#68