In 1954 my father, with three weeks notice, was ordered away from his pregnant wife and six year old son, literally to the other side of the world, to serve for a year in one of the fledgling UN’s peacekeeping forces, known officially as the International Commission for Supervision and Control in Indochina. After eight years of war and four hundred thousand dead, peace was coming to the region and Canadian troops, along with Poles and Indians, were sent to maintain order while the countries involved could get their own infrastructure up and running.
Along with his role in organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis, our Canadian Prime Minister of the time, Lester B Pearson, was integral to these negotiations as well and thus the presence of Canadian personnel in Indochina. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for these and other efforts on the international front.
Many countries experience civil war. To name a few, England in the 17th century, the US in the 19th, Mexico and Spain in the early 20th. Now countries of the Middle East are going through it. Yes we need military action, and there are lots of countries champing at the bit to provide it, but eventually some nations with credibility for longer term vision are going to be needed to assist in establishing a peace and beginning the process of addressing the underlying issues.
Scaling back from bomber to more supportive roles is a shift in emphasis from violence toward the eventual need to address underlying problems. I think my Dad and Lester Pearson, coming from their own first hand experience in such matters, would be proud of the current government’s more far sighted decision on the change of direction of our role in the Middle East. I know I am.