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| Have our cake and eat it too |
| 09.25.04 (12:22 pm) [edit] |
|
I supported the US going into Iraq, but I never supported Canada getting involved. (The Bush administration’s gross adminstrative incompetence and political hubris has greatly undermined my belief that going in was the right thing. This worried me before going into Iraq, but I fooled myself into believing that they could not botch both Afghanistan and Iraq.) There was nothing to gain for Canada by supporting the US efforts in Iraq. Nothing. Supporting the war would only have increased the chances of Canadians being attacked by terrorists at home and abroad and needlessly endangered the general well being of Canadians traveling and working abroad. This was especially important because, as the Conservatives never tire of telling us, Canada is not prepared to fend off a terrorist attack. A second reason had to do with Quebec. As the vast majority of Quebecers were against the war and going into the war would have seriously strengthened the sovereigntists. Preventing the breakup of the country may not be important to Stephen Harper, who said before the 1995 referendum that whether Canada survives is less important than reducing the size of government, but to the vast majority of patriotic Canadians such things matter. (In 1995 49.6 of Quebers voted to separte. Quebec makes up about 25% of Canadian population and a large portion of its total land mass.) Third, supporting US unilateralism would have undermined Canadian foreign policy. Forcing countries, but in particular the US, to work through international bodies such NATO and the UN serves to magnify Canada’s diplomatic clout and has been our policy for decades. This was France's policy during the whole episode too. France saw it as the best way of constraining the “hyper power”. Most important of all though, the US was going in regardless of what Canada was going to do. Canadian supporters of the war could have our cake and eat it too. Now, Harper might describe such a position as amoral and even unmanly, but “moronic”, “moralist” “macho” not only all start with the letter “m” they are also adjectives that should not describe Canada’s foreign policy. |
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