Kinsman: Should Canada’s military support the intervention in Mali?
Former ambassador to the European Union and high commissioner to Britain
Yes. The UN Security Council urged members to do so. We are either part of the democratic international community or not. The jihadist force moving South long ago pushed Touareg independentists aside and declared cruel war on what was recently an African democracy. They can only be stopped by military force. France gets it and needs our support in a role to be determined, short of combat boots on the ground while we recover from the costs of over-commitment in Afghanistan. Training Mali’s army is not timely enough and went sour when US-trainees then went to the other side with their new equipment. Canada and France cooperated well over Libya, which as Fowler points out, is connected.
