O Canada! O Canada!

No, this is not a spoof from the Onion. A Canadian military peacekeeping team sent to restore order to Afghanistan has been told that they can't carry guns. Newspapers from the True North have reported that:

"Canadian Alliance MP Leon Benoit told the House of Commons on Tuesday that members of a Canadian military reconnaissance team in Kabul are not allowed to carry guns"

But before you consider this a case of political correctness run totally amuck, note that they have German bodyguards.

"The appropriate diplomatic papers have not yet been signed and so we are protected by the German forces who are in the field right now.

"Soon the papers will be signed and I can assure . . . the House that when the time comes in August for our people to be deployed, they will be fully and appropriately and legally armed."

Can't have Canadians walking around in Spin Boldak illegally armed. Some Afghan cop might pull them over and ask for their Carry Permits. 'Don't you know no one in Afghanistan is armed? Do you think we're like those bloodthirsty, gun-crazed Americans? Here, Abdul, hold my AK-47 while I ticket these guys'.

There's no cause for worry, even though "... troops have been subjected to frequent attacks in recent months from Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives, and loyalists of rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. At least 14 ISAF members were killed in its first year of existence, half of them in a German helicopter crash."

Stay close to your German bodyguards, boys. It's for your safety

Canadian troops will provide security for the grand council of religious and political leaders being held in Kabul in October to draft a new constitution for Afghanistan. This may be the first recorded case in history where the guarded will be more heavily armed than the guards.

Now  Canada.com has picked up this story. Illegally armed Canadians: they're the most dangerous kind.