Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Stephen Harper and the Great Con War on Syria



Well the day Stephen Harper has been waiting for so long has finally arrived. 

The day when he can spread his wings again.

Puff out his feathered chest, pose as a Great Warrior Leader.

And announce that he is inflating or expanding his Great War on Terror. 

The Conservative government is proposing to expand Canada’s role in the fight against Islamic‎ State militants to Syria and extend the mission by one year to March, 2016, sources say.

It proposes another 12 months of “military contributions,” including air strikes in Iraq and Syria, and says the government will keep to its plan not to deploy troops in a ground combat role there.


No doubt hoping the opposition parties will vote against the military mission again, and he can portray them as soft on terrorism.



But this time that pathetic act may not be as successful as it was last time. Because while Canadians support extending The Mission:

An Ipsos Reid poll released on Monday suggested that two in three Canadians support an extension of the military mission. The poll, conducted for Global News between March 16 and March 19, is considered accurate within 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

They are nervous about expanding it, and it should be very easy to argue that expanding the mission into Syria is a really bad idea. 

Since as the former Canadian ambassador Paul Heinbecker writes, it  can only help that country's brutal dictator hang on to power.



It will be a tragic irony if the anti-Islamic State Coalition, including Canada, ends up strengthening President Bashar al-Assad rather than saving his Syrian victims.

If out of fear of Islamic State and of a desire to stop them, the Coalition were to ally itself, de facto or de jure, with Bashar al-Assad for fleeting tactical advantage, it would be the ultimate betrayal of the Syrian innocents. And of our own values.


And we do have other better and more Canadian options.

It will also be easier this time for the opposition to argue that only reason Stephen Harper is making such a big deal over Canada's tiny contribution to the war on ISIS, is because he's desperate.

Desperate to distract attention away from the economy...



And it is all about crass political expediency. 

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is getting Canada more deeply entangled in a war of political convenience rather than one of strict necessity with his plans to ramp up our military involvement in Iraq and Syria.

He no doubt hopes it will help brand his Conservative government as forceful in defending Canada’s interests heading into the coming federal election, and rally his base.

It is mostly show.


Our warplanes based in Kuwait have carried out 53 airstrikes so far. That’s a tiny fraction of the 5,300 targets the U.S. reports destroyed. And we have fewer than 70 trainers in Iraq. Our support may be welcome but it’s hardly decisive.

And the best way to deflate chicken hawk Harper is to ignore his little war, ridicule his delusions of grandeur...



Raise questions about whether the real reason he wants to bomb Syria is because the Christians in that country are among the strongest supporters of Bashar al-Assad. So it is all about pleasuring his rabid base.

And focus on the real issues.

A majority of Canadians feel the Harper government has played out its string and it is time for a change. The Tories are under fire for their wildly overreaching Anti-Terrorism Act and for fanning fear and anxiety about Muslims, and for their obsessively punitive crime bills. 

They are still mired in a Senate corruption scandal. And they are vulnerable on pocketbook issues: job insecurity, tax giveaways that favour the few, rising economic inequity, shaky pensions and unmet child care needs. 


Harper’s eagerness to play a token role in a murky war shouldn’t be allowed to blot out the sun. Canadians have bigger bones to pick with this government.


The ones that will destroy him.

The war will take care of itself. 


And with a little bit of luck. Since Syria is a really bad place.

It will also take care of him...



Please click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:21 PM

    Stevie finally gets to play war and he wants more. He thinks we'll be awestruck by his inner warrior(coward)and that we'll grovel at his feet as his minions do. Sorry Stevie, the best before date has passed and it's time we let the U.S. sort out the mess it made by invading Iraq in the first place. Saddam was a lot of bad things, but ISIS would have never flourished under his watch.
    We did not create the convoluted mess that the mid-east is today, and thanks to Harper's horrible judgement, he'll do his best to bring the war home to us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi anonymous...yes I too fear where Harper and his political thugs are taking us. They have learned nothing from the past, have no idea where they are going, and are making it up as they go along. If they are not stopped it will end badly...

      Delete
  2. Anonymous3:10 PM

    Harper and his CSIS con pals have really done a good job of hiding the cost of the F-18 airstrikes over Syria but I read somewhere with support back-up mechanics and maintenance it is in the range of $1,000,000.00 per hour of operation. Money Canada could use at home not fighting Harper's phantoms in the closet. But I did find this:

    http://jonathanturley.org/2014/06/13/u-s-shipping-more-weapons-and-preparing-more-military-aid-to-iraq/

    So we know where all the money is going from cuts to Veterans Affairs EI Medicare Fisheries Department Environmental Protection Coast Guard Scientists and their studies and library of a fortune of collected information book burning Aboriginal Affairs the list quite sadly is endless so Herr Harper and his con clown show and Pete air show McKay can play soldiers like they dreamed about when they were children. Too bad for Canada that these two never matured and grew up into real people real Canadians.

    Anyone know where I can again find the complete cost including maintenance and support of a single F-18 airstrike that kills more civilians than ISIS? Keep in mind folks CSIS is just one letter off of ISIS WTF? Now Harper-cons want to give CSIS or is it ISIS Gestapo like powers you could disappear if you don't agree with Harper McKay and the rest of their trained seals.

    Cheers,
    Mogs Moglio

    Keep your heads high and be proud to be a Canadian only 20% of eligible voters supported Harper-cons in 2011...

    80% of us can't stand them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi Mogs....yes they are concealing just about everything about that mission, and god knows what it will end up costing. We've spent gazillions in Afghanistan and Libya, and for what I wonder. Apart of course from fattening the profits of the military-industrial complex, which needs wars like we need oxygen...

      Delete
  3. WELL SO MUCH FOR OUR PEACE LOVING COUNTRY!

    As Anom 1:21 PM says above........We did not create the convoluted mess that the mid-east is today, and thanks to Harper's horrible judgement, he'll do his best to bring the war home to us.........my sentiments exactly!

    I simply do not understand his reason or what exactly he is trying to achieve........he has the "little man syndrome"...........puffing himself up to hide his insecurities! I am MAD!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi Kathleen...yes one of the reasons Harper loves war so much is that he hates the image we once had as a nation of peacekeepers. And in his compulsive desire to destroy everything good about this country would take us to war over and over again. What a disaster he has been, and I live for the day he is defeated...

      Delete
  4. With Harper's announcement/plan to have Canadian pilots bomb ISIS targets in Syria, has Harper finally "jumped the shark" in the eyes of at least some Con voters? Or is it just more "red meat" for his base?

    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jump+the+shark

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi David...I just finished a post about the influence his base has had on the decision to bomb Syria. And I believe it is considerable...

      Delete
  5. e.a.f.11:21 PM

    perhaps Putin will come to the assistance of Assad. it would be funny, if the war wouldn't be fought in Canada's north. Then of course all those "warrior" type Cons could take their little guns and go fight. Unfortunately the "great warrior" P.M. would probably be asking for political refugee status in the U.S.A. along with Jason and Petie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi e.a.f...the Russians have supplied the Syrians with some very advanced anti-aircraft missiles, so the are already involved. And those missiles could threaten our fighters, so the Cons are playing with fire...

      Delete