Sarkozy Rides to the Rescue in Afghanistan

Menton, France: As a consequence of the Canadian media coverage and the fulsome claims of Stephen Harper, Canadians could be forgiven for thinking that Canada got its way at the recent NATO summit in Rumania. It is understandable that many now are convinced that French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to send an extra battalion of troops to Afghanistan was in response to Canada’s insistence that European NATO countries must help Canada deal with the war against the insurgents.

The version of events which Canadians now perceive as the “truth” is the kind of truth you get when you stand in front of one of those funny mirrors at the Canadian National Exhibition that make you look as if you’re three times as tall as you actually are.

Here is what actually happened.

Following the disastrous showing of Sarkozy’s party in the recent municipal elections across France, the regime was preoccupied with how to raise the standing in public opinion polls of the president from the dismal lows to which it had fallen.

Just ahead in Sarko’s intinerary was a state visit to Britain, a chance to be photographed beside his new wife, Carla Bruni, with the Queen and Prince Philip. As well this was an opportunity for the president to cozy up to the Anglo Americans whose social model he admires and with whom he hopes to establish a closer alliance, in part to offset the fact that German Chancellor Angela Merkel can’t stand him.

The French media built up the visit of France’s first couple to London and speculated at length about whether Carla Bruni Sarkozy would curtsey to the Queen---she did, and with considerable grace, as was later reported. This helped counter the sensation caused by the publication in the tabloid papers of a years-old nude photo of Carla Bruni.

In all this, the French and British media managed to refrain from paying any attention to Stephen Harper’s warning to NATO that more troops must be sent to Kandahar or else.

Then Sarko delivered an impassioned address to a rare joint session of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. In it, he fulsomely praised the British for providing a socio-economic model for France to emulate and he thanked the British for their role in liberating France in two world wars.

In his plea for a new politics---Sarkozy sees himself as the agent of a mission civilatrice---he mentioned Afghanistan and said the NATO mission there must not be allowed to fail.

Back in France, where Carla got most of the coverage, the speculation was that France would likely send a battalion of soldiers---between a few hundred and a thousand, it was said. Again the French media managed to ignore the Harper ultimatum. Throughout the whole drama, Carla’s curtsey received a hundred times as much coverage as Canada’s showdown with NATO (probably more).

When the French government announced that it would send troops to eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan---the exact number still is not known---the thinking was that the French would help out the Americans in the region. To date the French troops in Afghanistan have been stationed in and around Kabul and its airport. (Canada’s casualties in Afghanistan so far, on a per capita basis, are about fourteen times as high of those of France.)

The reaction in France to Sarko’s extra battalion was disdainful. How many troops would actually be sent, it was asked? This was a president with a new idea every couple of days, and most of them ended up being discarded. What would this deployment do to France’s burgeoning government deficit?

The French are even more negative about the war in Afghanistan than Canadians are, with over sixty per cent of them, according to polls, opposed to the war, with only fifteen per cent of them supporting it.

In the end it was the Bush administration that bailed out Harper at the NATO summit by promising to shift some of its troops to Kandahar.

Canada’s global reputation has not grown more lustrous as a result of its military mission in Afghanistan. When you get more than a hundred meters from NATO Headquarters in Brussels or from the White House, nobody’s heard a thing about our mission. The talking heads on Canadian television who are claiming otherwise are looking in the crazy mirror at the CNE.

That’s not to say that Canada is not widely admired around the world. It is admired---as a country that is fair and just and that welcomes immigrants. And a very large number of people do know about our role (now sadly diminished) in peacekeeping. Canada is well-liked for all the things the Harper government hates about us.

I was in San Francisco the week Stephen Harper was sworn in as prime minister. I met a woman from France at a café in Union Square who had heard about our change of government. “How could Canadians have done such a thing?” she asked.