Saturday, October 07, 2006
The Stop Iggy movement has risen to the surface
The one area where I think former Liberal foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy is just dead wrong is his assertion that the next election can be won or lost on Afghanistan.
a) If Bush, Blair, and Howard can all be re-elected, even though they all created one of the most unpopular wars in history, then I don't think Harper will have much difficulty with doing the right thing in Afghanistan. Foreign wars don't impact domestic politics to the degree that people like Axworthy like to believe.
b) The position on Afghanistan of anyone who becomes leader of the Liberal party won't serve as an alternative to the Harper position in the way Axworthy believes either. Only Jack Layton wants to cut and run. Liberals Axworthy alludes to only make it seem like they might want to cut and run, but they don't. Any Liberal leader would leave our troops in Kandahar until at least 2009 without significant changes to the mission. You can bet on it.
One thing's for sure, however. This public stance by Axworthy against Iggy is sure to be the hot topic among Liberal party members for the next little while. Pass the popcorn.
