Justin Trudeau and the Day the Cons Came Back From the Dead

It seems only too tragic that just ten days after being sworn in as Prime Minister after promising to restore our Canadian values, and bring back sunnier days, that Justin Trudeau should be hit by the darkness of the Paris massacre.

Only too ironic that the son of Pierre should have to choose so soon between emotion and reason. 

The deadly terror attacks in Paris will not lead Canada to change course on its two main policies in relation to Syria: welcoming 25,000 refugees this year and ending Canada’s bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria.

And of course only too ghastly that the horrible tragedy in the City of Light should bring the Cons back from the dead.




With Rona Ambrose, suitably dressed in black, calling on him not to end our bombing mission.

On the heels of the deadly attacks in Paris, interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose has called on the Liberal government to "immediately" reverse its decision to pull fighter jets from the U.S.-led bombing mission against ISIS in Iraq.

And Jason Kenney going even further and calling for total war.



As only that bloated chicken hawk could...



Even though, as Paul Wells points out, Kenney's claim that NATO's Article 5 which declares that an attack on one member state is an attack on all, requires a military response from Canada, couldn't be more shaky. 

To call Kenney’s reasoning shaky would be to insult Jell-O. First, as NATO’s own website explains, you don’t invoke Article 5 with incantations. You do so at a meeting of the alliance’s North Atlantic Council, and Article 5 has been invoked precisely once in the alliance’s 70 years: after 9/11.

Second, again using NATO’s own language, “Allies can provide any form of assistance they deem necessary to respond to the situation. This assistance is not necessarily military and depends on the material resources of each country. Each individual member determines how it will contribute.”

It does not compel us to join in any bombing campaign. And Trudeau's plan to refocus our efforts in that region on training local forces, the so-called boots on the ground, would still be a valuable contribution to the fight to defeat ISIS.

Jim Stavridis, the former US navy admiral who served as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, dashed off an oped calling for NATO to attack IS. But even Stavridis called troop training — Trudeau’s avowed goal in the region — the “most important” project NATO could undertake if it gets involved.

But then of course that's reason and this is emotion...



And when I hear the shots and the screams, and I see the young people lying dead, or dragging their friends away, it makes me so angry that if I could I would gladly bomb the hell out of those genocidal bullies myself.

Until I cool down and remember that those ISIS crazies didn't come from nowhere. They are the creations of the Great War on Terror, where one war creates a problem that another war must try to solve. Only to spawn another one, and so on and so forth.

And I am reminded by writers like Charles Pierce, that all the angry words and all the bombs in the world will not win this war.

A 242-ship Navy will not stop one motivated murderous fanatic from emptying the clip of an AK-47 into the windows of a crowded restaurant. The F-35 fighter plane will not stop a group of motivated murderous fanatics from detonating bombs at a soccer match. A missile-defense shield in Poland will not stop a platoon of motivated murderous fanatics from opening up in a jammed concert hall, or taking hostages, or taking themselves out with suicide belts when the police break down the doors.

Tough talk in the context of what happened in Paris is as empty as a bell rung at the bottom of a well.

And that if we are serious about reducing the ISIS threat, we need to go after countries like Saudi Arabia who have been funding and arming the terrorist hordes from the day the planes hit the Twin Towers. ..



And make them pay for what they have done.

It's time for this to stop. It's time to be pitiless against the bankers and against the people who invest in murder to assure their own survival in power. Assets from these states should be frozen, all over the west. Money trails should be followed, wherever they lead. People should go to jail, in every country in the world. It should be done state-to-state. Stop funding the murder of our citizens and you can have your money back. Maybe. If we're satisfied that you'll stop doing it. 

And, it goes without saying, but we'll say it anyway – not another bullet will be sold to you, let alone advanced warplanes, until this act gets cleaned up to our satisfaction. If that endangers your political position back home, that's your problem, not ours. You are no longer trusted allies. Complain, and your diplomats will be going home. Complain more loudly, and your diplomats will be investigated and, if necessary, detained. Retaliate, and you do not want to know what will happen, but it will done with cold, reasoned and, yes, pitiless calculation,

Instead of doing what Stephen Harper and his Cons did, and cuddling those Saudi barbarians like teddy bears...



So if Justin Trudeau can do that, and can keep up the fight against ISIS in a manner that is effective, and still preserves our precious Canadian values. 

Then I am with him all the way.

And will do my best to defend him from those who would destroy him...



I like this new sunnier Canada, I'm not prepared to go back to the darkness of the Harper years, and neither am I prepared to let a bunch of murderous religious fanatics steal my new found hope and optimism.

So I will also do my very best to help send the ghastly new Cons, who like the old ones would use war and tragedy as a political weapon.

Back to their monstrous darkness.

Or the place they rightfully belong...



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