The decent Danish

The Danish went above and beyond ordinary decency during WWII, and they're being decent now with regards to Afghanistan:

The Danish government has found broad backing in parliament for its plans to meet a NATO request to increase its number of troops in Afghanistan, national broadcaster DR reported on Tuesday The additional soldiers have been requested to help patrol the southern Hemland Province, an area that has been described as a 'unsafe and complex', and would more than double the Danish contribution to NATO's Afghanistan contingent. Defence Minister Søren Gade confirmed the possibility that troops would be sent, but kept further details under wraps. 'The government has received a request from NATO, which we are willing to meet. Now we are discussing the matter with the other parties in parliament,' Gade said. 'Any troops we send would be under British command, but how many we send is still not decided.' The government has allegedly proposed to send as many as 290 additional soldiers, increasing the total number of Danish forces in Afghanistan to 360. Both the government's supporters and the opposition said they supported sending more troops. 'The Danish People's Party can support the mission, since it's already agreed on in the new defence agreement,' said Søren Espersen, the Danish People's Party's spokesman on foreign affairs. 'In contrast to Iraq, there has never been any debate about Afghanistan, so we expect there will be broad backing for the mission. It's logical to send more soldiers since NATO asks for it and we are already stationed there.' The opposition's Social Democrats said they agreed. 'We would even support sending more troops than the government proposes,' said Per Kaalund, defence issues spokesman for the Social Democrats. 'Basically, we feel that it's time to withdraw troops from Iraq, but it's the government's responsibility to make sure that there are enough troops to cover both areas.' Denmark's 173 soldiers currently stationed in Afghanistan are primarily responsible for coordinating cargo flights. Another contingent has been responsible air traffic control at Kabul's main airport. [Emphasis mine.]

What I find especially striking is the political unanimity on this point. I think I would drop dead on the spot if the Democrats put partisan positioning aside and agreed with the Administration on troop deployment. The weird thing is that, rather than lowering the Dems in most people's estimation, I think that kind of humane and realistic response to the war would garner the Dems more support. At least, it would garner them support in the broad center, which is infinitely more important than the support they would inevitably lose on the wacko fringes. UPDATE: Welcome, LGF readers! If you find this post interesting, I encourage you to look around my blog some more. UPDATE II: Welcome, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler readers! I'd be delighted if you'd take a minute to look around.