Why Canada must fight ISIS in Syria

The Toronto Sun ^ | 03/26/2015 | Farzana Hassan

[E. Pluribus Unum]

A CF-18 Hornet fighter jet keeps pace with the CC-150 Polaris after refuelling for the next mission over Iraq during Operation IMPACT on February 4, 2015

I first wrote about the necessity of extending Canada’s military mission in Iraq into Syria in my Feb. 5 columm.

In fact, I advocated removing Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad from power.

That would address one of the criticisms leveled against extending Canada’s mission, as many critics contend air strikes over Syria would support a brutal dictator.

In that column, I also noted ISIS is a self-declared state-within-a-state that has declared war on all humanity.

It is up to the rest of the world to respond in kind without seeking permission from a rogue regime like Syria, which has no legitimacy over the territory it rules.

Critics have other concerns: That ISIS versus Syria is just another Middle Eastern civil war, or that it is an internecine struggle within Islam for which Canadian troops need not die.

These are legitimate apprehensions and no decision to declare or expand a conflict should ever be taken lightly.

However, this is not merely a war within Islam.

ISIS poses a unique existential threat to the rest of the world.

Its sinister brand has already spread among Muslim communities in Libya, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Pakistan and Nigeria.

Its influence has even caught on in the West, where a dangerous minority of impressionable and disaffected Muslims have been taken in by its hateful agenda.

ISIS offers gullible young Muslims with a swagger or a sense of victimhood a way to participate in imagined world domination, something expansionist Islam has craved since the lapse of its own so-called golden age.

ISIS can poison the perceptions of vulnerable people everywhere, including the West.

It is therefore wrong to conclude this is simply “their war”, meaning a war between Muslims.

The ISIS ideology can appeal to both vulnerable Muslims and non-Muslims.

This can translate into lone wolf acts of terror in Western countries, or the desire to join ISIS forces abroad.

What is the alternative — do nothing and let ISIS proliferate everywhere?

This is not about Canadian troops intervening in a war in a distant land, but about keeping Canadians safe at home.

The proposed airstrikes pose minimal risks to our armed forces.

By contrast, if ISIS is allowed to flourish unfettered, it may well result in Canadian lives being lost on Canadian soil.

Other countries grasp the seriousness of the ISIS threat.

Tunisia, the most promising of the “Arab Spring” countries, has been the most recent victim of ISIS cruelty.

ISIS wants to ensure no Islamic nation can ever aspire to the universal concept of liberal democratic rule.

Other Middle Eastern countries, most notably Jordan, have themselves suffered the savagery of ISIS and have chosen to fight it.

Egypt, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have decided to join European countries like Belgium, the UK, and France to contain and eventually destroy ISIS.

Even stable and geographically remote countries like Australia and New Zealand recognize ISIS as a threat worthy of a military response.

War is always tragic.

Yet, sadly, in the real world force has its place.

ISIS thrives on constant expansion.

Western military action can help thwart this.

Let parliament debate this crucial issue, and let it rise above partisan politics to consider the most fitting action for the long-term safety and stability of our nation and the world.

[Paladin2]

Canada should fight Islam at home.....

[Dartman]

Don’t let any in, and you don’t have to fight them at home. And yes, I am for not allowing ANY muzzies in. Any.

[Paladin2]

Apparently 20% of imported slaves were at least nominally Muzzie.