Should Canada send anti-terrorist forces to Mali?

It is hard to imagine how the government could dedicate sufficient resources to counter terrorism when there are so many much more fundamental problems demanding attention. My experience was limited to the capital and I can only imagine how much worse conditions are outside Bamako.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was recently quoted as saying that his government is taking the 'appropriate amount of time' to make a decision on deployment, adding 'we have to make sure that it’s the right approach, that it’s the right mission, that they have the right training and equipment.' Our allies’ frustration notwithstanding, caution is the right course of action here. If we send men and women to Mali, some will die, writes Phil Gurski.The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

Opinion

BY PHIL GURSKI

May 22, 2017

OTTAWA—There are few places on Earth more pitiable than Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa that is about the size of South Africa. It ranks in the bottom 10 with respect to poverty, has one of the world’s largest birth rates (six children per mother), and has a serious terrorist problem...

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