No, not all of them, and not all the time. Some in our country would let incidents in Somalia and Bosnia cast doubt on every peacekeeping operation. Whatever the failings of a few, our peacekeepers have almost always done the right thing and done it well. If a soldier in the trenches kills a hundred opponents, he is a great warrior. If a peacekeeper in a village square saves a hundred people by heading off a confrontation, those lives are harder to count.
Peacekeepers have little glory, no battle hymns, no movies.
Yet peacekeeping appeals to Canadians. Only this country has raised them a monument. I mention peacekeepers to make two points. First, about the kind of causes Canadians will support. Second, that this country has a wealth of low-key leaders.