Well, it's official. After months of offending our closest ally and largest trading partner by dithering and affectations of moral superiority Canada has announced it will play no part in the liberation of Iraq. That is to say, the philosopher and philanthropist Jean Chretien has decided that without a specific authorization from the United Nations Security Council such a struggle would be illegitimate.
We didn't have a League of Nations resolution that authorized our entry into World War II but Frenchmen weren't heard to complain too loudly when our army landed in Normandy in 1944. No UN mandate was required when Canadians joined the bombing of Serbia to bring a halt to ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. When Western forces invaded Afghanistan to rout al Qaida and effect a regime change Canadian soldiers and airmen were there without permission from the UN.
Chretien's stand may be popular in the Liberal party which seems the natural home for the spineless. It may even be popular with that majority of Canadians who have forgotten that peace and civilization are the products of hard choices and nasty battles not the inevitable result of political correctness or happy thoughts. But this present popularity will not shield Chretien or our generation from the contempt of posterity which will judge us to be worthy successors of the League of Nations, Mackenzie King and other craven appeasers.
Posted by at March 17, 2003 04:13 PM