March 19, 2003
PORK ON THE WING:
Peace in our time?: PM says disarmament of Iraq was working (STEPHANIE RUBEC, March 19, 2003, Toronto Sun)Prime Minister Jean Chretien says Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would have peacefully disarmed within weeks if the U.S. hadn't jumped the gun with a 48-hour deadline.Chretien said he's convinced the Canadian compromise brought to the UN Security Council Feb. 18 that would have set four weekly disarmament deadlines for Hussein would have succeeded.
"If we had accepted the ideas presented by Canada ... I think Saddam Hussein would have met the requirements," the PM said yesterday after meeting with Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano. "And I think we might have been able to avoid a war."
Chretien said U.S. President George W. Bush caused the failure of diplomacy by pulling out of the UN Security Council and ordering Hussein and his son's out of Iraq by tonight.
"I am still of the view, given some more weeks, disarmament would have been achieved," Chretien said. "I think the process of diplomacy was not over."
At it's core, Leftism is based on a complete misunderstanding of human nature, the mistaken belief that Man is essentially good. That delusion is destructive enough when applied to domestic affairs--leading to the massive welfare state on the assumption that monery for nuthin' won't change behavior--but it may be suicidal when applied to foireign affairs, as witness Mr. Chretien's absurd faith in Saddam's good intentions. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 19, 2003 7:10 AM
I've no doubt the description of Leftism is accurate - I just think in this case, Chretien doesn't actually believe the bilge he is spewing. It is more of a domestic consumption/tweak-the-nose-of-the-US effort than adherence to any grand principles (unless tweaking the nose of the US is
the grand principle).
He certainly comes off arrogant suggesting that although everything we did failed, his would have worked lickity split.
Posted by: RC at March 19, 2003 9:25 AMWhat is Canada?
Posted by: Matt at March 19, 2003 11:23 AMIt took more than 4 weeks to disarm Canada, but the job did get done.
Funny, in one post you optimistically lay out a future for theEgyptians and in the previous one deny one for the Canadians.
Chretien is struggling with the fact that the Liberal Party of Canada has sold its soul to the United Nations; since the days of Lester B Pearson subservience to the will of the UN has become the mantra in governing circles. Hence the fact that Canada is the first country in the world to unilateraly disarm.
Unfortunately and concurrently, Canada has sold its economic life to the United States.
Hence the juxtaposition of issues; Chretien and his braintrust (sic) will never come to grips with how out of touch Ottawa has become.
Harry:
Canada, like Western Europe and Japan, is toast. They've demoralized and atomized their societies to such a degree that there's little reason to believe the damage can be reversed. It's rather easier to create a state than a decent society.
I would like ot believe that there is a silent majority in Canada that do not agree with Chretien's position (which could just has easily have been articulated by Saddam). The problem is, that it being Canada, they're very, very silent.
Then again, I could be mistaken.
Barry:
Being involved in the world in a serious way would threaten their National Health system which is all they truly care about.