He kept us out of war

Well, not in the way M. Chrétien (and most of our media) like to play the Iraq story, having forgotten the facts of only four and three quarter years ago.

Former prime minister Jean Chretien says one of the major victories in his career was standing up against pressure to join the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

[...]

However, Chretien, who has just published his memoir "My Years As Prime Minister," says there are moments in his long career that he is especially proud of, such as keeping Canada out of the Iraq invasion.

"For the independence of the country, saying no to the Americans on the war was a great moment for Canada," Chretien says.

"Of course it was not without risk. Suppose the war in Iraq had been a great success, I think it would have been a bit embarrassing for me. But I thought they were wrong and I said so."..

Er, no. There was no such principled position on the part of his government. They made it clear that they would go along with whatever the UN Security Council decided. The Council did not authorize an attack on Iraq as a result of Russian, Chinese and French opposition. So our prime minister made no great decision himself; he left Canadian policy in the hands of that nice troika. Some independent policy. A story Feb. 18, 2003:

After months of hesitation, Canada finally made it clear on Tuesday that it has no intention of contributing to a U.S.-led attack on Iraq that has not been blessed by the U.N. Security Council.

[...]

"The policy of the government is very clear. If there has to be military activity in Iraq, we want it to be approved by the U.N. Security Council," he continued.

[...]

Chretien and his senior ministers have consistently said that if the United Nations does sanction an assault on Iraq, Canada will take part [emphasis added].

Whether Canada's over-stretched armed forces could contribute much is questionable, since last week Ottawa announced it would send up to 2,000 troops for a year to take part in a U.N. peacekeeping mission based in Kabul...

Ah yes, the Kabul diversion. Whilst putting Canadian support of an Iraq war firmly in the hands of Russia, China and France, M. Chrétien had already made it impossible in practical terms for the Canadian Forces to do anything in Iraq should the Security Council approve an attack:

The former Liberal government led by Jean Chrétien rejected the advice of military commanders by deciding in early 2003 to send 2,000 troops to Afghanistan [as part of ISAF doing peacekeeping at Kabul--2004 update on that mission here], CBC News has learned.

[...]

The commander of the army at the time, Lt.-Gen. Mike Jeffrey...said the announcement of Canada's plans to send a battle group to Afghanistan — made in the House of Commons on Feb. 12, 2003 [emphasis added] — took him completely by surprise.

"I did not know when that announcement was made that the decision had been made to go," he said...

Perhaps good politics, but nothing to be proud of. Yet our media give this Liberal don a free ride and, moreover, are incapable of remembering what they were reporting such a short time ago. Isn't it wonderful what memory and Google can turn up?

Mark C.

Update: As for the current situation in Afghanistan:

Read them and draw your own conclusions

Posted by markc at November 23, 2007 07:41 AM