Speaking to 2,000 people Wednesday, Clinton argued that the international community needs to target terrorist propaganda that is drawing in Muslims all over the world. Clinton added that the entire world has a stake in ending terrorism. This comes a few months after U.S. President Barack Obama urged Canada to continue combatting the terrorist threats.
Here’s a question: who are they to give marching orders to Canada in this fight that was sparked in the first place by U.S. foreign policy? Unfortunately, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his successor — likely Liberal leader Justin Trudeau — will just cave into these demands and risk taxpayers’ money and lives in this antiquated threat.
Canada has already been part of a decade-long war in Afghanistan that led to the loss of 158 soldiers, while also costing the federal government approximately $18 billion, which could have been allocated to other pressing matters. Furthermore, we also had to help overthrow the government of Libyan Colonel Muammar Gadhafi, who posed no threat to Canada’s national security.
Today, Canada is aiding the Iraqi military. Although the prime minister claims the Canadian armed forces isn’t actively engaging in combat missions, it was widely reported that soldiers are firing back against insurgents. How is this not a combat mission if Canadian troops have to exchange gunfire?
Who knows what other dragons we must slay.
Even if we did ramp up our militaristic efforts, we wouldn’t even know who we’d be fighting. One day, al-Qaeda is the enemy, but then they’re our allies in Syria. One day, the Taliban is our friend then they’re the adversary. One day, al-Qaeda militants are the good guys in Libya then they’re the big bad wolf known as ISIS (or ISIL).
If anyone were to listen to talk radio and read op-eds, one would surmise that the West has been completely innocent and that terrorists do really despise Canada, the U.S., Great Britain and France because we’re all rich and free, a ridiculous reason that is constantly thrown out there to explain the Islamist terrorists’ hatred for us.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Could it be because the U.S. has been actively bombing Muslim countries since the early 1990s? Could it be because Canada has embarked upon a failed mission in Afghanistan since 2001? Could it be because the West regularly endorses intervening into the domestic affairs of other nations and invading foreign lands and overthrowing their governments?
The regular defense for this interventionist foreign policy is that these governments are barbaric, brutal and other terrifying adjectives. However, Libya is engulfed with violence, Iraq is worse off than when the coalition forces attacked the country and most Middle Eastern countries are experiencing hundreds of drone attacks per month that result in the deaths of innocent people.
It’s preposterous when the so-called experts and media pundits keep perpetuating the nauseating lie that the terrorists detest us because we’re prosperous (have you seen our debt levels?) and free (we’re inundated with reports of iniquitous domestic wiretapping and surveillance). If that was the genuine motive then these terrorists would be attacking Switzerland, Luxembourg, Finland, Liechtenstein and so on.
Our Canadian leaders are spineless and simply adhere to American wishes, particularly when it comes to foreign policy.
Perhaps Trudeau was correct when he called for investigating the motives behind the terrorists. That’s indeed a good thing, but it would be a waste of time and resources because the governments of the West would never concede that it’s our constant bombing and interference that is the primary cause for these criminals to attack us.
Maybe we should be looking at our own propaganda before we start honing in on others’.
