Reality check: Ignatieff’s many positions on Afghanistan

Iggy opposed to Harper on Afghanistan:

“But make no mistake. When I supported the renewal of the Afghan mission I did not give the Harper government a blank cheque. The Conservatives must remain consistent with the Liberal mission and the mission must continue to serve Canadian objectives. We are nobody else’s auxiliaries. As I said in the House of Commons, if Harper changes course and the mission loses sight of its humanitarian goals, I will hold the Harper government to account.” – Michael Ignatieff, Speech to the Saint John Board of Trade, 16 June 2006

Tuesday, April 24, 2007 Mr. Coderre (Bourassa): "… this House call upon the government to confirm that Canada’s existing military deployment in Afghanistan will continue until February 2009, at which time Canadian combat operations in Southern Afghanistan will conclude; and call upon the government to notify NATO of this decision immediately." Michael Ignatieff voted yes

We can't pull out:

“Canada is in Afghanistan at the invitation of the country’s democratically elected government, with the approval of the United Nations, as part of a NATO engagement, Ignatieff said. If we pull out now, Afghanistan could fall prey to a terrorist militia, leading to a civil war, and “the last war cost a million lives,” as he points out. – Michael Ignatieff, Georgia Straight, 31 August 2006 (http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=20113)

Get the job done:

"You can't deliver humanitarian aid and reconstruction, you can't protect people . . . unless you have the capacity to have a military that can stand up and if necessary respond with fire," Mr. Ignatieff told the audience of about 500 Liberals. "We should stay there until we get the job done and return with honour." Globe and Mail, June 12, 2006.

"I don't want us divided into a bunch of angry Canadians who just got off the boat and established Canadians who just don't care," Ignatieff said at the Best Western Lamplighter Inn. The thing that Canadians have to understand about Afghanistan is that we are well past the era of Pearsonian peacekeeping," he said. “I voted to support this mission and to renew it because I believe profoundly that Canada can be a leader (in the world). And leadership . . . does not come cheap or easy. It is costly, difficult and sometimes painful." – Michael Ignatieff, London Free Press, May 20, 2005

Imperial Rule:

“Afghans themselves know they have only one more chance. They understand the difficult truth that their best hope of freedom lies in a temporary experience of imperial rule.” – Michael Ignatieff, The New York Times, 28 July 2002