A rchive Date
[ 28-03-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/mansur_toronto.html
Chretien is out of step in a post-9/11 world
By SALIM MANSUR -- For the Toronto Sun
March 28, 2003
Prime Minister Jean Chretien's decision to keep Canada outside of the "coalition of the willing" in the U.S.-led campaign to bring regime change in Iraq is supported by a clear majority of Canadians, according to some polls.
Does this support mean Chretien is right in distancing Canada from its traditional allies, Britain and the United States, when a range of issues, from the nature of the security threat in a post-9/11 world to the reluctance of the UN Security Council in enforcing its resolutions, came to a head on the question of Iraq?
The terrorist attack on America was a defining moment in world politics. It reconfigured international politics, as did the beginnings of the Cold War more than a generation ago, so that we may now speak about a world before and after 9/11.
In this context, Chretien's decision will have to be assessed not by the extent of public support he enjoys, but in what manner he has secured Canada's well-being and influence in a post-9/11 world.
This required elaborating Canada's view on defence and security matters, and how to address them. Instead, the Liberals have provided Canadians with a deafening silence.
Indicating his reason not to join the coalition, Chretien stated, "If military action proceeds without a new resolution of the Security Council, Canada will not participate."
In an ideal world of multilateralism, wherein all member states of the UN willingly co-operate to place the interests of the global community ahead of their respective national interests, where collective security measures function smoothly and predictably against any violator of those measures, it could then be argued that unilateralism of any sort in defending against an imminent or potential security threat poses a greater problem than the threat itself.
But we do not live in an ideal world, and the UN's collective security measures have failed more often in punishing violators of international law than in protecting nations and peoples from rogue regimes.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in marked contrast to Chretien, has led his party, his government and his people from the front, more often at odds with all of them on the issue of Saddam Hussein's Iraq, but not for once wanting in clarity or eloquence in speaking about Britain's interests and security concerns.
Blair's speech in opening the parliamentary debate on the Iraq crisis two days ahead of the war was a remarkable discourse on the subject.
Blair framed the question before the country as follows:
"So: Why does it matter so much? Because the outcome of this issue will now determine more than the fate of the Iraqi regime and more than the future of the Iraqi people, for so long brutalized by Saddam. It will determine the way Britain and the world confront the central security threat of the 21st century; the development of the UN; the relationship between Europe and the U.S.; the relations within the E.U. and the way the U.S. engages with the rest of the world. It will determine the pattern of international politics for the next generation."
Chretien and the Liberals believe, and behave accordingly, that a measure of Canadian sovereignty is the distance Canada can maintain on its own choosing from the United States.
Such a measure of sovereignty may only be advanced given the certainty that Canada is well-protected.
Canadians now know, as U.S. Ambassador Paul Celluci indicated on Tuesday, "There is no security threat to Canada that the United States would not be ready, willing and able to help with. We would be there for Canada - part of our family."
This is the source of Canada's security and well-being in a post-9/11 world - the comfort that comes from the intimacy of its traditional alliance with the United States and Britain, a relationship bonded together by blood and steel.
And this is the relationship which Chretien and the Liberals have so flippantly and abrasively insulted by refusing to stand together with Canada's traditional friends and allies.
Salim Mansur is a professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario. His column appears alternate Thursdays. He can be reached at smansurca@yahoo.ca. Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@sunpub.com
 World Fact Book (CIA)]]
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