Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, I guess what I would say to you is a line that I used when I was in Iraq, because of how complicated it was, that the further you are from the sound of the guns, the less you understand. When you're there on the ground and the situation is going really bad, and you're trying to relate what the heck is going on to a higher headquarters that is beyond the sound of the guns, beyond the sound of the impact, and you're trying to get as many tools as you can to save your people, and nothing's perfect, and the situation's awful, you need every tool you can get.
Sometimes you try to define what a theatre of war is, and you can't even define the theatre of war. The fact is you're in that box, and no matter where you are, whether you're inside the wire or outside the wire, it doesn't matter; you're in that theatre of war. Again, I've had chaplains wounded because they were there.
This idea that somehow you can compartmentalize this is really something that is back here at home, where we are so lucky, because Canada, with the U.S., is kind of an island. But once you leave our shores, and whether you're in Europe or whether you're in the Pacific, or whether you're in Asia, the situation is very complex.
I would say to you that when we send our men and women offshore, as we have in the past, and the government allowed me to go to Iraq, we go in with one assessment, one evaluation of what might occur, and then it changes. It changes on the ground. There's no one who's writing up the story. It just evolves. The enemy has a vote and they write the script. We're talking about the blood of the sons and daughters of Canada, whether they wear a uniform, whether they're civilian. How do we ensure that we give them the tools so they can achieve their mission to bring peace? That's what it's all about.
You started, sir, talking about Korea. Korea was a peacekeeping mission. It was a United Nations mission, and yet the 2nd Battalion of PPCLI were calling artillery on themselves in order to save the day.
There is no rhyme nor reason. What we're talking about is how to conduct ourselves legally in war.
Thank you.