Belgium urged to send more troops to Afghanistan
The United States has appealed to Belgium to send more troops to Afghanistan as part of the allied surge to stabilise the embattled country. Washington is also urging the Belgian government to take more prisoners from the notorious Guantanamo jail in Cuba.
Howard Gutman, the US Ambassador to Belgium, asked for more instructors to help train the national army and police in Afghanistan in a speech to businessmen in Brussels. “If Belgium marched forward, who would not join?” he said. “Of course Belgium has a limited budget and limited manpower. But, though Belgium may be short on men and dollars, Belgium leads in credibility.”
On Guantánamo, Gutman said that if every nation already hosting a Guantanamo detainee took in an extra two or three, the prison could be closed in a matter of weeks. He called on Belgium, which has taken in one inmate, to take more.
However, Vice Prime Minister Laurette Onkelinx immediately dampened the US hopes, saying there would be no extra troops in Afghanistan given that there were 600 there already. Later, Prime Minister Yves Leterme drily underlined that while the ambassador was entitled to make proposals, “it is up to the Belgian government to decide.”
-- Leo Cendrowicz
Source: Brussels Unlimited
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Troops Out!
Having members of NATO send their troops to fight a war of occupation in Afghanistan helps to legitimize America's imperial ambitions in that area of the world. To Pastor Jon Casola Leuze, so your god is on America's side? Which god are we supposed to pray to to protect the vulnerable bodies of Afghan women and children who are killed by NATO on a regular basis? Is this by any chance the same god that George Bush junior said told him that he was right to invade Iraq?
why us
I believed in the involvement of America in the 2nd world war and really I applaud it even I wasn't born yet in those years but it seems that any country who goes against AMERICA's interest whether politically or economically is labelled a bad one.
Belguim is of course gratefull for your intervention of the NAZI's before but we cannot always kiss your ass each time you think we should follow your lead, look what is happenning to Iraq and with Afganistan, now you're eyeing iran in the other corner. You want to look POWERFUL, then do it yourself cause conflicts I believe should be brought at the U.N. but seems you own that too!
Look at HAITI, you want to show the world that AMERICA is there so all other charities are irrelevant to you so you don't want to acknowledge them!
Never forget that the former great powers had fallen as history has revealed, you know which and we only see trhe remnants of the past.
Democracy is also the respect of one country's culture, aspirations and their wants withoiut your intervention!
pastor
i would like to put in a couple of cents worth of what i am thinking now.
it has been many years since the USA has of one way or another been the "police" for the world. i myself am from the VN days, with the scares to prove it.
i think it is time to let the world police the world and not let the USA young men get all beat up and die for others that are not doing a bigger share of the war effort.
my son is a fourth generation military person, and now he has had 6 times in Iraq becasue there are not enough others to do the job. he is now suffering from the post stress of being in a war zone to many times. it will be there for the rest of his life.
it is time for all the eurpean countries to do their fair share. not just Belgium, but France and Germany. they are two of the biggest countries in europe and can do more then they are doing also.
maybe the UN with all it's improfections of just standing around with their pretty blue hats while people get raped right in front of them and they do nothing because it is not in their orders to get that involved. let me ask those brave ones that stand and do nothing; if it was your daughter would you want a soldier to do something?
no they call on the USA and some of the other regular forces to do the job the UN was created to do. it will be the EC that will have to take the place of the UN in the future and they will have to do the fighting for themselves.
it will be to late for the USA; they will not have the money to pay for the military since they have put the USA in so much debt ti will have to come from somewhere. one of the places that will have to be cut will be the military.
so europe get ready your day is coming to be the police for your own area. the UN is so badly run they could not fight their way out of a match box. to many people getting to much under the table. just like the american bail out; it all went into the rich mans pockets.
it is time that every country takes on their own protection and join together to help each other out: not the rich taking from the poor. the world has seen suffering in the past. but once the God of the bible lets go of what HE has been holding back; the movies like 2012 will seem like kids stuff.
we need to pull back and start to pray for one another; and not take from one another. to learn to forgive and love the AGAPE type of love. we need to return to the HOUSE OF GOD. instead of filling the bars and drinking your self sick so you are to sick to go to church.
we need to live not against one another; but to pray for each other, even the people in government. their's is a job of responsability to the voters; not to their own pockets.
so as you read this please take a couple of minutes to pray for the boys and girls that are in the war zones all over the world, and lift them up in prayer.
take it from one that has seen both sides of the fence, they need it. it does not make any difference what country they are from, GOD is needed on the war front also. and here at home.
Pastor Jon Casola Leuze, Belgium