There's something missing here

Every week I listen to U.S. National Public Radio's Diane Rehm Show Friday News Roundup on podcast. It's a panel of journalists who get together to talk about the week's stories, after which callers from across the country have a chance to call in and comment. While it presents voices from across the political spectrum, this is hardly Fox News's version of "fair and balanced"; Rehm is the epitome of a fair host, the journalists usually come up with quite a layered analysis, and the listeners who call in generally skew left. National Public Radio is also the closest you get to real public broadcasting in the U.S.

Throughout the time I've been listening to the podcast--about eight months now--the panel has often discussed the war in Afghanistan. Casualties, skirmishes, insurgents, and the possibility of a pullout or a relocation of troops to Iraq. But in the midst of this, there's a word that hasn't been mentioned once: Canada. Not when Canada's troops were moved to southern Afghanistan, not when Harper extended the mission, not when Canadian soldiers have died, not when Canada was asked to take over the mission entirely. Not once. For all the Diane Rehm Show's listeners are aware--and we're talking about a pretty elite slice of the U.S., all things told--the U.S. is all alone out there.

It's just...it gives me pause.