While Cowards Flinch And Traitors Sneer.
You know what? I'm not going to say "I hate to say I told you so." I don't hate it at all this afternoon. I am raising a glass to the Libyan rebel front, to their bedraggled courage and persistence, to the crew of the HMCS Charlottetown, and to France. As for the frightwallah Robert Spencer, the red fascist anti-rebel George Galloway (Gaddafi "has the men, he has the money, he has the track record, by jingo if he decides to come out fighting. . ."), the interference-running reactionary isolationist Canadian Peace Alliance - which was "opposed to any military intevention in Libya", the NDP party brass that has opposed regime change all along, the delicate footdraggers, the hollow boasters, the "quagmire" cassandras of the right and of the demented-hippie left, even though it's nowhere near over yet (the revolution will never be "over"), you can all kiss Libyan rebel ass, and my rosy Irish ass while you're at it.
posted by Terry Glavin at 5:27 PM
2 Comments:
I remain in a quandary with respect to Libya. Qaddafi had to go but I am a pacifist from my faith.
Can I rejoice in the end his regime? Not really, I can be glad to see that Libya has a chance now to have their first real government, ever. At the same time the method that was needed is one that is at odds with the core of my faith.
With that in mind, if Canada is to have a military, the support of the government of Libya against the Qaddafi regime is clearly one of the most relevant roles it has had in the last 66 years. As long as Canada has a military, it should be using it to help bring free and open governments to people around the world. But that would also mean Canada needs to have a foreign policy that is focused on democracy and human rights and not on trade.
Canada needs to take the lead and condemn nations Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Turkmenistan and China. If the countries do not elect their governments, Canada needs to put pressure on them day in and day out till there are elections.
Fair enough. This: "Can I rejoice in the end his regime? Not really." I suspect that was just put awkwardly.
I agree wholeheartedly that Canada should "put pressure" on despotisms everywhere. I would go further and say that Canada should show some leadership in rallying the world's democracies to apply serious trade pressure on all non-democratic states and to come to the aid of peoples who rise up in arms against their slavemasters. Sometimes, a tyrant will not jump unless he is pushed, and while I may not be a pacifist, this doesn't mean I am without scruples; for me, if the victims of tyranny and violence find that revolutionary violence is the only way out from under the jackboot, I don't think we can fail to come to their cause on account of that alone.
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