Transcript excerpt :
WSJ : "Would you rule out a military contribution to any effort?"
Harper :"I haven't ruled out ... we haven't ruled out anything."
WSJ : "Has the United States formally asked you to contribute?"
Harper : "The United States just recently in the last couple of days has asked for some additional contribution and we're weighing our response to that."
WSJ : "What are they looking for? More logistical support? More direct military support?"
Harper : "Since they didn't release the letter publicly, I'm not going to do that. I'll just say the Government of Canada will make a decision on that very shortly."Minister of National Defence Rob Nicholson also gave that impression in the House today:
"We've been very clear - we just recently received this request from the US and of course we will review it."However, also today : U.S. says Canada offered to help in Iraq – not the other way around
"The United States government says it was Canada that asked what more it could do to help in Iraq – an offer that led to the letter Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he recently received from the U.S. requesting further military help in the fight against ISIS."Were they referring to this back on August 12? : Harper offers ‘additional help’ to Obama in phone call over crisis in Iraq
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed strong support for U.S. air strikes in Iraq during a telephone conversation today with U.S. President Barack Obama ... and expressed Canada’s willingness to do more on the humanitarian aid front."Or perhaps this editorial by Harper and Stockwell Day about their eagerness to participate in what became a nine year cakewalk in Iraq, published by the Wall Street Journal in 2003:
Canadians Stand With You :
"Today, the world is at war. A coalition of countries under the leadership of the U.K. and the U.S. is leading a military intervention to disarm Saddam Hussein. Yet Prime Minister Jean Chretien has left Canada outside this multilateral coalition of nations.
This is a serious mistake. For the first time in history, the Canadian government has not stood beside its key British and American allies in their time of need. The Canadian Alliance -- the official opposition in parliament -- supports the American and British position because we share their concerns, their worries about the future if Iraq is left unattended to, and their fundamental vision of civilization and human values. Disarming Iraq is necessary for the long-term security of the world, and for the collective interests of our key historic allies and therefore manifestly in the national interest of Canada. Make no mistake, as our allies work to end the reign of Saddam and the brutality and aggression that are the foundations of his regime, Canada's largest opposition party, the Canadian Alliance will not be neutral. In our hearts and minds, we will be with our allies and friends. And Canadians will be overwhelmingly with us.
But we will not be with the Canadian government.
Modern Canada was forged in large part by war -- not because it was easy but because it was right. In the great wars of the last century -- against authoritarianism, fascism, and communism -- Canada did not merely stand with the Americans, more often than not we led the way. We did so for freedom, for democracy, for civilization itself. These values continue to be embodied in our allies and their leaders, and scorned by the forces of evil, including Saddam Hussein and the perpetrators of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That is why we will stand -- and I believe most Canadians will stand with us -- for these higher values which shaped our past, and which we will need in an uncertain future."
Messrs. Harper and Day are the leader and shadow foreign minister, respectively, of the Canadian Alliance.
But no, according to CBC tonight, it was indeed the August phone call : Canada mulls deploying CF-18 jets to join U.S.-led strikes
"The federal cabinet will meet next week to discuss deploying Canada's CF-18 fighter jets to join a U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Sources tell CBC News U.S. President Barack Obama brought the idea of an air war conducted by an international coalition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in August and asked for Canada 's support."So will Steve finally get his wish to become a war time
Hey, unlikely anything else would have got Dubya re-elected.
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Update : "If there's a combat mission, I think the prime minister has always been very clear, that would go before Parliament for a vote, that has not changed," Baird told reporters at the United Nations on Thursday, shortly before Stephen Harper spoke to the assembly...
UN screencap via Ben Parsons
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8 comments:
Ugh. Ick. Eww.
What's weirder is that that even the Brits are cautious about involvement in Iraq/Syria. They deployed Tornado strike aircraft, and a electronic reconnaisance plane a while back, but have been very reluctant to use the former over Syria or to drop actual bombs. Moreover, there's a parliamentary debate and a direct engagement with the legal stuff. Sure, these folks eventually can't help themselves when an opportunity to bomb something happens. But we've no such attempts in Canada beyond "we've a letter that we won't show you so yeah, we're good see". http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29366007
The other bit is that the US has gone out of its way to stress this is a regional problem and needs regional forces to deal with it, whcih is why the US is leading it, but almost all the other forces involved are Jordanian, Saudi, Kurdish, and de facto Iranian, all of which have fairly direct claims regarding the threat of ISIS.
Harper's eagerness is embarrassing.
So while Calandra makes a mockery of the Canadian parliament at home in response to a question about troop deployment, Harper announces foreign policy from Goldman Sachs in NY.
Perfect.
OMG I needed a good laugh and that screen cap of Harper's rapture(d) UN audience is a total WIN. Thank you Ben Parsons and Alison for making my day.
BY : Another from Ben Parsons, this time with additional commentary. ;-)
It was not a bad speech from Steve imo. If Harper spent near as many Canadian tax dollars promoting world wide maternal health as he does promoting himself and EAP, it would have been even better.
Anon@7:13 : Screencap added. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
As you say : World stage!
Canadian promedia coverage restricted to just head and shoulders shots of Steve.
Anon@7:04 : The vampire squid inks another one.
Boris : Very good points here from Walkom : Canada drawn further into America’s latest Iraq war
Steve did emphasize necessity of regional forces being paramount in his WSJ interview, although he also said :
"It is obviously essential - and this is the ultimate purpose of everything being done in Iraq and Syria - that while terrorists and terrorist organizations may continue to exist, that they not have visible and open bases of operations from which to conduct either regional or eventually global attacks."
So he's advocating pre-emptive attacks on future threats.
Thank you for the view stage right---way right.
loved the picture. wish it were all over the MSM. Then Canadians could really see how the world listens to harper and his herd.
I'd like harper and his herd to start doing something about "maternal health" here in Canada, because a lot of those 1,200 murdered/missing women were either mothers or someone's child. either way, maternal health in Canada is in crisis because all those womens' deaths caused a real problem for "maternal health"
"But we will not be with the Canadian government."
Stock ain't no more poof went his political career.
Harper you lump you still ain't with The Canadian Government because you've gone ahead and formed an outlaw fringe terrorist group [illegal] called the Harper government. Jokes on Steve the peeve.
Oh well Alison this is Steve's last stand we have put away enough evidence to keep him in federal court for awhile. When he comes out he has allot of 'splainin to to to his Red Chinese friends on why Canadians aren't coming out to play FIPA with them. Because he was out of the jurisdictional boundaries the constitution gave him as PM to be able to make that agreement.
Tsk Tsk.
What's an unpopular, unloved PM to do at this point in his career? He's inked FIPA. He's bulldozed clear every environmental and navigation apparatus and regulation standing in the way of Northern Gateway. He's so thoroughly defunded the federal government that we no longer have a seaworthy navy and air force techs have to scavenge parts from museum displays to keep Canada's aircraft flying. The temptation to dabble in what Boris calls a "hobby war" must be irresistible.
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