Believe it: Canada is in al-Qaida gunsights
By RORY LEISHMAN
In an address welcoming President George Bush to Halifax last week, Prime Minister Paul Martin said: "The terrible events of Sept. 11 have redefined many realities in the world and on our own continent. We are in a war against terrorism and we are in it together: Americans and Canadians."
Some Canadians would challenge that statement. They suppose that Canada is safe from terrorist attack, because al-Qaida is targeting only members of the United States-led coalition that have taken part in the liberation of Iraq.
Martin, however, is undoubtedly right. In a report released last month, the Integrated National Security Assessment Centre -- the body responsible for collating the information gathered by Canada's various intelligence agencies -- noted that
al-Qaida has ranked Canada as "the fifth most important Christian country to be targeted, following the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain and Australia."
Al-Qaida especially hates Canada for having dispatched a few hundred crack troops to help free Afghanistan from the Taliban. While most Canadians honour our troops in Afghanistan as brave liberators, Muslim fascists throughout the world denounce them as foreign occupiers.
In an effort to appease al-Qaida, the socialist government of Spain hastily pulled Spanish troops out of Iraq following the terrorist massacre at the Madrid railway station last March. Some Canadians think the Martin government should do the same: Withdraw all Canadian troops from Afghanistan and all other participation in the overseas dimensions of the war against Muslim terror.
Bush noted in his Halifax address that isolationists in the United States advocated much the same approach at the beginning of the Second World War. They insisted that by keeping out of the conflict overseas, the United States could best avoid attack by the Nazi and fascist powers.
In contrast, Canada, under the leadership of Mackenzie King, promptly entered the war in September 1939 and dispatched troops overseas to take the fight to Germany.
Bush recalled that this brave decision was not universally popular in Canada. King warned his critics: "We cannot defend our country and save our homes and families by waiting for the enemy to attack us. To remain on the defensive is the surest way to bring the war to Canada."
"Mackenzie King was correct then," Bush said, "and we must always remember the wisdom of his words today."
Martin, for his part, observed that military dominance will not suffice to make the world safe from terrorism. "We believe that security can only be ensured through freedom of choice, education, individual endeavour and equality of opportunity," he said. "That has been the philosophy behind our actions -- in Bosnia, in Afghanistan, in Haiti; and, we hope soon, in elections in the Middle East and Iraq."
Isn't that wonderful: Martin said he supports elections in Iraq. When will he apologize for having opposed the war of liberation that has made these elections possible?
While Martin grandly affirms: "We are in a war against terrorism and we are in it together: Americans and Canadians," he knows full well that thanks to years of neglect by a succession of Liberal and Conservative governments, the Canadian Armed Forces are now so pitifully small and ill-equipped that they cannot effectively defend Canada from terrorists at home, let alone fulfil Canada's responsibilities in helping to fight the enemy overseas.
Altogether, Canada now has a grand total of just 1,400 troops deployed overseas, including 700 in Afghanistan. The United States has almost 258,000 military personnel on active duty in foreign countries, including about 18,000 in Afghanistan and more than 210,000 in and around Iraq.
Under these circumstances, one can only admire Bush's magnanimity in praising Canada's contributions to the war on terror. "Canada's leadership is helping to build a better world," he told his Halifax audience. "Canadian troops are serving bravely in Afghanistan at this hour. Other Canadians stand on guard for peace in the Middle East, in Cyprus, Sudan, and the Congo."
True enough, but Bush was too polite to state the obvious: Canada, having made heroic contributions to the defence of freedom in two earlier world wars, should be contributing a lot more now to the world war on Muslim terrorism.
