 Oh Canada!
UNITED NATIONS — Following up on some absolutely astounding news from behind the lines, it emerges that Canadian Forces active in the Afghan theatre of operations have taken a number of captives. And now what you will hear may shock you, as it has caused an icestorm of criticism in Ottawa and across parts of the frozen north. The Canadian Special Forces unit turned over three captured terrorists to....can you imagine...the Americans! Before readers start thinking this column has been numbed by an icy northern blast, consider the what I consider a silly tempest in the Teapot Tower of Ottawa politics. Prime Minister Jean Chretien's Liberal government has been accused of politically fudging on all sorts of issues of why Canadian forces turned over Afghan captives to the Americans? Feathers are flying, there's talk of recriminations, who knew what and when. The Defense Minister, Art Eggleton, is on the ropes over the issue. The Liberal government is under assault, mostly from the farther Left and some "snipe at all cost" members of the Opposition, over whether these detainees will be afforded their proper Geneva Conventions rights by — The Americans. The Chretien government has hinted that the Geneva Conventions may by out of date insofar as their juridical ability to deal with such forms of September 11th terrorism. At the same time, Ottawa wants a review of the issue whereby such detainees would be reviewed case by case. Call it simplistic but in my understanding Canada is a NATO member as is the USA, along with seventeen other countries. Thus I would presume that since the major military operations in Afghanistan are being run by the US Marines and Army Airborne, it's logical for other friendly and allied forces to interface with them. Contrary to some genuine political sillies in Ottawa, turning over Al Qaeda terrorists to the US military has a sligthtly different cachet and may I say, cause and effect than turning over enemy prisoners to let's say Uncle Joe Stalin (Operation Keelhaul) and a number of other heinous regimes which come to mind. Naturally the argument is not that the Al Qaeda terrorists in capitivity are candidates for political asylum in Canada, but that America's Rumsfeld Rules have not graciously classified these thugs for treatment as official POW's. It's true the legal waters are muddy. But any observer would have to be dull as ditchwater to think that Washington is somehow looking forward to exploiting the legal rights of these militants only to have the world community put us on a moral par with the likes of Taliban. Lloyd Axworthy, a former Canadian Liberal party Foreign Minister, lambasted the government nonetheless in Toronto's Globe and Mail, "We are already witnessing the political shambles arising out of our decision to become part of US military operations in Afghanistan, and the damage to our international standing by being complicit in Washington's flouting of the Geneva Conventions." Indeed to many Canadians there's also an unspoken reluctance to participate in an American operation. Indeed many United Nations delegates, even among American allies, are not particularly comfortable with the Guantanamo Bay operation. Salman Rushdie, who has a more than passing exposure to the charms of fundamentalism, wrote with more gravitas in the New York Times, "America did, in Afghanistan, what had to be done, and did it well. The bad news however, is that these successes, have not won new friends for the United States outside of Afghanistan. In fact, the effectiveness of the campaign may have made some parts of the world hate Ameica more than they did before." There's another unspoken part of the debate which pits a self-righteous political elite which has transformed Canadian Forces into a underfunded, understrength, and underappreciated part of Canadian society against the demands of post September 11th reality. There's no question that Canada has been a longtime and proud mainstay of UN peacekeeping operations the world over. Canada has played a vital and necessary role where other countries feared to tread. Yet Canada has a long and proud military tradition in support of Britain which has been increasingly and conveniently airbrushed out of history and consciousness, especially since the Trudeau era. When hearing of military matters most young Canadians proudly point out their country's positive role in UN peacekeeping from Bosnia to Cyprus. And very rightly so. Still the role played by Canada in two World Wars and Korea (just to keep it short) was disproportionately high in numbers and blood. For those who need reference, look up Dieppe 1942 and later Juno Beach in Normandy for starters. Now Canadian Forces are operating in Afghanistan and, I'm certain quite competently, not as peacekeepeers but as peacemakers. The Joint Task Force Special Forces unit which captured the terrorists will be joined by 750 Canadian troops. Guantanamo raises another issue. While many in Ottawa eloquently argue in favor of the dubious "rights" of their captives being taken to Cuba, isn't it a bit ironic that many in the same Canadian political class have always been more than "openminded" towards dealing with the dictator in Havana, and most assuredly "closed-minded" about the fate of many Cubans languishing in Fidel Castro's prisons? Maybe what I'm trying to say is that if one is so concerned about Al Qaeda militants brought to Guantanamo Bay under American custody, one could be a bit more concerned about the Cubans outside the gate?
John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.
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