Article content continued

Wednesday’s sorties could potentially be the last such action the Royal Canadian Air Force takes in the fight against ISIL. At roughly the same time our jets were releasing their ordinance, Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau was taking the customary congratulatory phone call from Barack Obama, president of the United States. Among the usual pleasantries and chit chat that leaders of such closely allied nations exchange when a new person is elected to office, the Prime Minister-designate informed the President that it is his intention to withdraw our jets from the anti-ISIL campaign after he is officially sworn in next month.

The Prime Minister-designate has that right. Mr. Trudeau will soon become the highest elected civilian authority in our country, and while the Governor-General is the commander-in-chief of our forces, as a practical matter, the Armed Forces answer to the government. In a democracy, this is how it must be. Mr. Trudeau, further, has moral authority here. He did indeed state, clearly, during the campaign, and for the year before it, that he and his Liberal party did not support the RCAF mission in the Middle East. The voters knew that on Oct. 19, and they elected a Liberal majority.

That’s democracy. The decision is Mr. Trudeau’s to make. But it’s still the wrong decision.

Realistically, speaking, of course, the withdrawal of our half-dozen 30-year-old jets is not likely to materially change the facts on the ground. The war against ISIL will drag on for years. Local military forces will combat it. The United States, and increasingly Russia, will combat it. Local militias, in fear of seeing their homes destroyed and loved ones raped, enslaved and killed, will fight it. Our modest contribution of fighter jets, tanker planes and recon aircraft, with the several hundred personnel required to support them, can fairly be deemed largely symbolic.