Trudeau didn’t go far enough

Re: Is This Really What Canada Is All About?, Terry Glavin, Feb. 11.

I was pleased to see the Trudeau government end Canada’s bombing mission in Iraq and Syria, and refocus some efforts on humanitarian aid, diplomacy and development. But rather than expand Canada’s military mission in other ways as he has done, I wish Justin Trudeau had ended it altogether. Western intervention, wherever it takes place, only creates more recruits for extremists like the Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant. And anyway, why should Canada mop up the messes created by U. S. foreign and defence policy blunders?

I think Trudeau would have liked to end the mission altogether, but felt he couldn’t, thanks to domestic political concerns and pressure from allied nations. As he noted in his news conference, military action alone won’t bring the desired victory over ISIL or stability to the region. Only diplomacy and a political solution will do that.

Much Canadian blood and treasure were expended in Afghanistan for little apparent result, but maybe the lessons are finally being learned. Trudeau rightly characterized ISIL as a bunch of murderous thugs, not the existential threat many claim.

Andrew van Velzen, Toronto.