The Manley Report fails the simplest test

I have a lot of respect for John Manley but I hope that his study and report on Afghanistan didn't cost more that about $4025. That amount would pay for a researcher to Google on the Internet for a month to collect the background and foreground information that Manley claims he and his team discovered. There is nothing new here!

Let's pick a couple of issues that show the best of what I am talking.

The report claims that the mission must be working because the Taliban have resorted to IEDs and other small skirmishes rather than taking on NATO directly. It is interesting to note that Manley even mentions that the largest number of Canadian casualties occurred when Canada went on a major offensive in 2006. Guess what, John. It is a different kind of war; different than the one's starring John Wayne. IEDs and ambushes are tactics that work when you have no deadline to end a war. And make no mistake about it, the Taliban are not in any hurry.

Second, on page 21, the report talks about our goal of not allowing Afghanistan to revert to being the headquarters of global terrorism. But guess what? The headquarters for global terrorism is a figment of an over centralized imagination. Do you think that nuts in Spain and Indonesia and other hot spots around the world sit down around a table in Afghanistan like NATO does in Brussels. Terrorism has its headquarter all across the world; when ever two or more bizarros get together to foment hate!

I have some ideas on Afghanistan that I will impart later. In the meantime maybe I can get CGG (Canada's Greatest Government TM) to pay for a trip south to collect my thoughts.