What can one say about a country where a public family event can feature an exhibit in which children can don camouflage and learn to throw grenades at the ‘enemy’. . . You have to weep for this country.
The Afghan mission started in early 2002, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government, although some Canadian soldiers on exchange with the American military were in Afghanistan months earlier.  To date, 98 Canadians, including one diplomat, have lost their lives serving in the conflict.
The economic ramifications are rarely included in debate over the war.

The Rideau Institute said in a study entitled The Cost of the War and the End of Peacekeeping, that the total cost to date of Canada’s mission has been $17.2 billion. The institute said Canadians can expect another $11.1 billion to be spent between now and our 2011 pullout.
The report goes on to say that the Canada has reduced its United Nations peacekeeping contributions by more than 80 per cent since the Afghan mission began, because “the cost of the war in Afghanistan has essentially resulted in the abandonment of Canada’s 50-year commitment to UN peacekeeping.”
Then the Iraq war hit Wall Street, and has contributed to an economic earthquake that threatens us all. The cost of the Iraq war is nearing $1TrillionUS. The drag placed on the domestic economy is staggering.  We are waging war that our grandchildren will be paying for.
The money to pull out of this situation is definitely there. Budget deficits can be eliminated by halting gratuitous wars and cutting extravagent military budgets.

One can only imagine the amount of good that could come from a budget like these. In schools, child care, housing, health care, tuition fees, and a host of other causes in need of funding. This expensive war is not in my interests, but instead serves the needs of Washington.