"Peacekeeping" is the new "War"

[bcholmes]

The Harper government has been told to stop referring to "fighting terrorism" and the Sept. 11 attacks, and to banish the phrase “cut and run” from its vocabulary if it is to persuade a skeptical public that the military mission in Afghanistan is worth pursuing.

A public-opinion report says only 40 per cent of respondents across Canada, and almost none in Quebec, support the deployment. To change the perceptions, it recommends putting the emphasis on "rebuilding," "enhancing the lives of women and children," and "peacekeeping."

— "Change tune on war, PM told", The Globe and Mail

Last April, I heard a speech about Canadians' investment in the peacekeeper myth -- that we've been so proud, in the past, about our role as peacekeepers, that we've willing to support a great deal of stuff described as peacekeeping even though we really don't do peacekeeping any more. Most Canadians don't seem to be aware that we have only a fraction of the peacekeepers we once had (I'm going by memory, but I seem to recall that we have something like 80 peacekeepers with the UN, whereas we sent 1250 to Bosnia).

Heck, we're not even peacekeeping in Haiti (although we talk as if we are). MINUSTAH is primarily made up of Brazilian and Jordanian soldiers.

The report to Foreign Affairs was prepared last month by The Strategic Counsel . It paints a bleak picture of weak public support for the military mission, for which the firm blames "unbalanced, mostly negative" media coverage of the war and misperceptions about the mission's purpose.

Only 40 per cent of Canadians support the mission, according to Strategic Counsel data. And the firm says the public views information from Ottawa "through a thick lens of cynicism."

"They feel that much of what government says is propaganda, intended simply to appeal to the voting public and to spin stories in a positive manner," the report points out.

Um. So the report recommends spinning the story as "peacekeeping" and "rebuilding" because the public is cynical of spin? That's... interesting logic.