Rightfully so, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been taking a beating from the Conservatives and military supporters for sticking to his campaign promise to end Canada's active involvement in the aerial campaign against the Islamic State.
The six CF-18 fighter jets involved in bombing runs over hostile territory in Iraq and Syria are coming home while Canada is stepping up its efforts in training local troops and offer support services. Trudeau haters are happy to portray the new prime minister as a weak playboy, better suited for selfies at international summits than wielding hard power and ordering members of the Canadian Forces to put themselves in harm's way. Trudeau has played right into the hands of his critics with a lot of waffling and meaningless rhetoric about the Islamic State and Canada's mission with the international coalition. He could have at least made it funny by shrugging his shoulders and opening up his hands like his father did in office, when he started with "well, uh, what would you have me do? This is, uh, a complex issue, uh, a difficult matter..."
Instead, he just looked like a lightweight.
Ironically, it was the wrong message for the right decision.
Ordering Canadian fighter jets to the Middle East was a political exercise to appease Stephen Harper's vanity and to convince the handful of Canadian voters that Canada wields meaningful military clout. The men and women of the Canadian Forces, past and present, are noble in their devotion to "stand on guard for thee" but they don't have the numbers, the equipment, the weapons and the public and government support to do that work on a grand scale.
Sending the CF-18s out into the field did nothing to dispel Canada's international reputation as a fringe player when it comes to military strength and sophistication.
Trudeau is still in his honeymoon period, both with the national media and also with the voting public. To throw his predecessor under the bus and say his new strategy for Canada to help its allies confront the Islamic State threat is fixing the mess Harper left behind on this file would have made perfect political sense, with the bonus of being actually true.
Canada's present and future role, in the Middle East in general and the war against the Islamic State in particular, is in providing military support for our larger, better equipped allies, particularly the United States.
That role is significant.
The long-term goal of containment and elimination of radical groups requires the people and the governments of the region to set aside their differences, banding together to stop the endless violence. That requires the patience and expertise to train local forces with both military and security expertise, a major task Canadian soldiers have earned a reputation for providing well.
Harper wanted to bomb his way to victory and peace. The real solution is training the people of the region to handle problems like the Islamic State on their own, with the backing of the big military muscle of the United States on standby. In other words, it's "boots on the ground," a policy that former president George W. Bush implemented to turn around the growing civil war in Iraq in 2006.
Canada's way develops meaningful relationships and important intelligence sources with the Kurds and other groups opposing the Islamic State in the region, while freeing up its allies to concentrate on diplomatic and military efforts to extinguish the Islamic State threat.
Canadians should be proud of this essential role in the international coalition, starting with the prime minister. Trudeau, however, seems to lack the education and experience in military issues and foreign affairs to believe his government's change of direction was the right one, hence his unfocused and lacklustre defence of a decision that actually makes perfect sense.
He could have had it both ways in this case.
He could have stressed his pride and support in the Canadian Forces by stressing the value of this new mission, taking some of the wind out from beneath the wings of the Conservative hawks, while pointing out to the doves and peacekeepers that working with the people of the region is a much smarter, long-range plan for peace and security in the region than simply dropping bombs and hoping for the best.
A missed opportunity for the prime minister to also be a credible commander-in-chief.
