Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Monday, October 06, 2014

Harper’s ‘noble’ war off to rocky start

So much for the Nobel Peace Prize, but at least Canada’s Bombadier-in-chief Stephen Harper thinks the latest Iraq War is “noble.”

If there were a word that combines “foolish” and “dishonest,” it would be a far better way of describing what this prime minister is leading Canada into.

In opposing this latte war, both Thomas Mulcair and Justin Trudeau were wise to leave Stephen Harper alone in his bellicose enthusiasms. In the debacle of Afghanistan, Harper inherited Canadian involvement from the Liberals. This time, the blundering into war is entirely his own.

The prime minister bombed last week in his attempt to explain why Canadian pilots, (or maybe just French or Polish airmen now that we are now outsourcing our pilots) will soon be pulverizing ISIS in Iraq. For starters, no strategy, no detail, no idea of the cost. Vintage Harper.

Here is the main stinker in his announcement. Harper says the mission will last for six months. Talk about loose lips. During his time as chief warmonger, George W. Bush made a point never to talk about exit dates from Iraq or any other theatre of war. It was the sacred heart of his war mantra; never give comfort to the enemy.

The reasoning went like this; if the enemy knew when you were packing up your stinger missiles and going home, they would simply disengage and wait until the coast was clear to resume fighting. That’s what the Taliban did in Afghanistan.

Our PM has now told ISIS this mission will last six months. So if you’re the Islamic militants, you now know that you have to take evasive action for six months – at least as far as Canadian aircraft are concerned.

Here is the first question the PM needs to answer. What makes him think that ISIS will be crushed in six months and everyone can go home with no casualties? After all, several U.S. military officials have warned that this will be a protracted mission requiring a long-term commitment. Does Steve have secret intelligence – perhaps a strong premonition from John Baird, or a vivid dream from Peter MacKay?

The catch, of course, is that the prime minister did not mean what he said. He rarely does. Instead, he tries to shape perception.

Harper knows that Canadians understand that the last two major wars of our time – Iraq and Afghanistan, turned into protracted disasters without the much-promised nation-building. Oh there was plenty of profit taking for the war-makers, but not much change for ordinary people. In Iraq, Saddam may be gone but now they have ISIS. They also have a country coming apart into three warring factions; the Shia, the Sunni, and the Kurds.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban are resurgent. The former Karzai regime looked more like a money-laundering operation than a country. Only time will tell if his replacement, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, will make any difference. For now, neither nation has been left strong enough to fight its own battles – even after billions have been spent on years of “training” their national armies and police to stand on their own boots. Billions were squandered so that a few ex-regime members could live like sultans in Dubai.

So Steve must have everyone believe that not only is this war ‘noble”, it will be shorter than a jail term for unpaid parking tickets. He is dead wrong.

There is a second stinker associated with Harper’s sales-pitch. When Steve made his war announcement against the beheaders, there was a strange addendum. Although Canada would join the noble bomb-fest in Iraq, there would be no bombing in Syria without the permission of the leader of that country.

But the leader of that country is the same monster Steve wanted to bomb only a few months back. Remember that guy, the one who used poison gas to kill his own people? Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have died in that country’s civil war. So why does Steve need the permission of the monstrous President Assad to save Scarborough from ISIS?

After all, the U.S. is already bombing inside Syria without permission and has been since September 23rd. Aren’t the Americans our coalition partner, our leader in this? Cold comfort there. Just a few weeks back, President Obama admitted he didn’t have a strategy for defeating ISIS.

Already there are signs of trouble for this casually conceived mission. According to Yahoo News, the White House exempted airstrikes inside Syria from tight standards designed to protect civilians. It didn’t take long for the first reports of civilian casualties to follow – just like the ones that have made Pakistanis hate the Americans. U.S bombs fell in the small Syrian village of Kafr Duryan, killing 15 civilians. Local people insisted there were no black-clad beheaders present.

There have also been U.S. airstrikes against grain facilities and fuel depots. Problem is, the same strikes that make it hard for ISIS to find food and fuel also deprive everyone else of the same commodities. Starving out the local population to punish your enemy hardly seems like a wise long-term strategy.

And then there is the small difficulty of identifying who to drop the bombs on. For years, a deadly civil war has been raging inside Syria to topple President Assad. Many factions are involved in the fight, including some that are backed by the United States, and others that are mortal enemies.

That is where the trouble starts. The U.S. backs the Free Syrian Army. But it does not back and instead targets the Jabbat al-Nusra group because of its alleged affiliation to al Qaeda. And that is a problem because the Free Syrian Army sees Jabbat al-Nusra as a valued ally in the fight against Assad. Remember that old the-enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend thing?

The U.S. bombing policy has left the complex web of rebels fighting Damascus wondering out loud why the coalition is bombing ISIS at all instead of the real villain, President Assad? They seem to understand that by bombing factions opposed to Assad, the good, the bad and the ugly, the coalition is actually strengthening Assad’s murderous regime. How noble is that?

Just to emphasize how dodgy it is to pick out your enemy from above the clouds, consider this cautionary tale provided by the Iraqi military. Iraqi pilots charged with air-dropping supplies to their military units on the ground in Iraq, mistakenly delivered their load of food, water and ammunition to ISIS militants. The story was confirmed to NBC news by an Iraqi Brigadier General, who blamed the whole thing on young and inexperienced personnel.

Pilot error. Get used to that phrase. We’ll be hearing it a lot.

Original Article
Source: ipolitics.ca/
Author:  Michael Harris

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