Let me address it in this fashion. Any counter-insurgency war is a psychological war. We've focused on dealing with the psychology of the population; let's talk about the psychology of the enemy, and the psychology of our population, and the psychology of our friends.
Let me backtrack. I can draw a distinct line between the Americans leaving Somalia, after what everybody knows as the Black Hawk Down operation, and 9/11. We can draw that line. Osama bin Laden, in his own writings, was emboldened by that event, that the Americans would cut and run after taking 18 casualties. He called the United States a “paper tiger”, and that emboldened further operations.
In this case, the precipitous withdrawal of the Canadian contingent would be a significant psychological victory for the enemy. So I view with great circumspection questions or suggestions that we negotiate with the enemy or withdraw from that place. Our reputation in the world would be severely damaged--I mean severely damaged.