Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the parliamentary secretary has missed the point that what is going on in theatre today has already been ratified. For what our troops are going to be facing, it is too late to start talking about root causes.
Conflict prevention down the road is an admirable goal, but we know that we have to eliminate those terrorists now. For whatever reason, people from all different walks of life have been attracted to the jihadist movement. They have been radicalized by religion, by philosophy, and by their hatred of the west. For that very reason, we need to go in there properly equipped and properly commanded.
General Vance, the Chief of the Defence Staff, was at committee today. General Vance quite clearly said that he is going to make sure that the troops have rules of engagement and a command he has control of.
We are also dealing with the United Nations, which brought us the mess in Bosnia. It brought us the mess in Rwanda. People like General Roméo Dallaire came back with incredible operational stress injuries and PTSD.
We have to address this head on. We have to make sure that our troops are properly equipped so they can eliminate the terrorists, protect the civilians, and ultimately be under the command of someone other than the United Nations.