I didn't know Chamberlain was still alive (and living in Canuckistan).
Posted on 08/21/2006 10:33:28 AM PDT by RWR8189
BENT JBAIL, Lebanon - It would aid the cause of peace if Canada dropped Hezbollah from a list of banned terrorist organizations, according to two Canadian MPs now on a fact-finding mission to Lebanon.
When asked if he was in favour of Hezbollah being taken off the terror list, Etobicoke Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj said: ''Yes, I would be.'' He likened the situation in the Middle East to Northern Ireland, where ''if there wasn't the possibility for London to negotiate with the IRA, you'd still have bombings....
''Hezbollah has a political wing. They have members of parliament. They have two cabinet ministers. You want to encourage politicians in this military organization so that the centre of gravity shifts to them.''
New Democrat Peggy Nash, who represents the Toronto riding of Parkdale-High Park, said her discussions in Lebanon had led her to believe ''that it is just not helpful to label them a terrorist organization.
''If the political parties in Lebanon who may disagree with Hezbollah, and be opposed to them and their philosophy, can figure out a way to work with Hezbollah and try to get along internally, then perhaps we should take a cue from that.''
This was the message that both MPs said they would bring back to their caucuses, and eventually to the House of Commons, when they return to Canada later this week.
Their visit came as Israeli armoured forces continued to withdraw from southern Lebanon Sunday,36 hours after an Israeli commando raid in northern Lebanon threatened the UN-brokered ceasefire.
Maria Moureni, the Bloc Quebecois MP for Ahuntsic, is also a member of the Canadian delegation that forms part of a week-long tour of Syria, Lebanon and Egypt organized by the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations.
Asked about her opinion of Hezbollah or its terrorist status in Canada, Moureni replied tersely: ''According to the government of Canada, Hezbollah is a terrorist group.''
Earlier in the day, after being taken to the ruins of a house in Qana, where 28 members of the same extended family had died in an Israeli air raid, Moureni, who is of Lebanese descent, criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper for supporting Israel during the war.
''This is Canada's shame,'' Moureni said. ''Mr. Harper has given us a rather negative international image. We can see here that the attacks were (far) from being measured. The devastation is incredible.''
As he met with Lebanese in towns such as Qana and Bent Jbail, that were badly hit during the war, Wrzesnewskyj repeatedly denounced Harper's support for Israel.
''We are deeply ashamed that our prime minister had some incredibly irresponsible comments to make at the beginning of the war,'' Wrzesnewskyj told a group of Lebanese who had lost many relatives during the conflict.
It was the Liberals, not the Conservatives, who placed Hezbollah on Canada's terror list when they were in power. While acknowledging this, Wrzesnewskyj said: ''When you realize that a mistake has been made that does not provide for a solution, you don't entrench your decision.''
The NDP's Nash said Harper ''had misread the amount of devastation that took place. What I am picking up here is that the time has come for a negotiated settlement, and it would be useful if Canada was a voice for negotiation. Canada's response was disappointing and bewildered people here.
''I feel just as badly for those who have suffered in Israel. It shows how futile war is.''
Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, who represents Peterborough, Ont., pulled out of the trip at the last moment, citing security concerns. But Wrzesnewskyj and Mazen Chouaib, executive director of the Canada-Arab Council, both insisted that it was the prime minister's office that had scuppered the trip.
The Canadian parliamentarians were outnumbered by journalists during what was a long day that started with a visit to a suburb of the port city of Tyre, where several apartment blocks had been flattened by bombs. They were visibly shaken when they were taken to rows of freshly marked graves in Qana and heard graphic accounts of what it was like to be there during the bombing.
Later, in Bent Jbail, widely regarded as the most resolutely pro-Hezbollah community in the south, the Canadian parliamentarians had a chance encounter with the local MP, Ali Bazzi of the Amal Movement. He provided a brief summary of war damage to about 90 per cent of the 1,000 homes and all of the schools in the town.
While ''respecting the Canadian government's point of view,'' Bazzi said, ''we see Hezbollah as the resistance, as freedom fighters'' comparable to George Washington.
As they travelled narrow back roads, the Canadians passed scores of homes shattered by the war and got trapped several times in chaotic traffic caused by the destruction of roads and bridges.
A $25-million aid package for Lebanon announced last week by the Canadian government will be put to immediate use to help the war-torn country, International Cooperation Minister Josee Verner said on Sunday in Ottawa.
''As everybody knows in Canada, the victims of this conflict are the Lebanese people, and we have to help them as soon as possible,'' Verner said in an interview with CTV's Question period.
The overall aid announced for Lebanon now adds up to $30.5 million in total. Verner said the money could be used to help rebuild homes, schools, clinics and water systems damaged during recent attacks by Israel in its conflict with Hezbollah.
Two Israeli tanks, their crews standing on top, stood silent watch on a hill overlooking Bent Jbail when the Canadians did a walkabout there. But the parliamentarians missed by a few minutes seeing a stack of Katyusha rockets prohibited by a UN ceasefire resolution last week being nonchalantly loaded into the back of a van by Hezbollah fighters in the nearby border town of Yaroun.
Wrzesnewskyj and Nash had paid for their trips to the Middle East or had them paid for by their parties, they said. Air tickets and hotels for the Bloc's Moureni had been paid for by the Canada-Arab Council, she said.
''The Quebec-Israel people organize such trips all the time and nobody says its propaganda,'' she said. ''It is normal to accept such an invitation.''
Chouaib said the trip was similar to many ''organized by the Israeli lobby in Canada for politicians and journalists.''
Wrzesnewskyj hoped to pay a visit to Israel before the end of the month. An NDP colleague was slated to visit Israel, Nash said.
Meanwhile, after a cabinet meeting Sunday in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his government rejected the inclusion of UN peacekeepers from countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.
Such a policy may make the work of those struggling to put together a force of 15,000 blue helmets to police the ceasefire more difficult. The only countries to volunteer a significant number of troops so far are the Muslim nations of Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh. European countries such as France had indicated a willingness to participate in the force, but have been very slow to make concrete commitments because of concerns about the rules of engagement.
At a news conference Sunday in Beirut, Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr said anyone in Lebanon violating the ceasefire would be considered collaborators with Israel and dealt with ''decisively'' by Lebanese forces deploying to the south of the country
( No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo!)
"Just because they're a terrorist organization, why should they have to be called that", one MP asked.
Canada ping.
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
So much for Canada
This guy's so blind he can't see the forest for the trees. He's talking about a political party with it's own military, fer chrissake!!
And Canadians wonder why we despise them almost as much as the French.
This is just 2 left wing kooks.
Ping!
The world seems intent on being shackled in the dungeon of Islam. A pox upon all of these flaming idiots.
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. also
2006israelwar or WOT
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Sweet!!! A couple of weeks ago, a very prominent Jewish liberal left that party to join the conservatives. After this insane diatribe from a liberal caucus member, I'll bet she won't be the last Jewish person to she the light.
There's just no room for Jews in the Canadian Liberal or the American DemocRAT party. While many Jews currently remain Liberal or DemocRAT, the left wing blogger element & the Cindy Sheehan's & Michael Moore types are taking over -- both in Canada and the US.
In their insane little minds, Israel is a problem that can be best solved by supporting the terrorist who would have the state of Israel demolished. That message was sent loud and clear by the left-wing bloggers ouster of Joe Lieberman
The writing is on the wall people. Hitler wasn't a conservative, he was liberal as hell -- and apparently his ideas are catching on with the current day liberals. That was starkly apparent in the one sided anti-Jewish left wing clap trap that the mainstream media delivered throughout the last month or two. It's only a matter of time before these pathetic lefties start to identify with Osama and then we've gotta major problem on our hands.
***''Hezbollah has a political wing. They have members of parliament. They have two cabinet ministers***
So does the KKK ,well one anyway, possibly more.
This is only 2 liberals in the government. We have plenty of our own idiots here too. Don't judge all of Canada by these 2 fools.
We'd better get that wall along the Mexican border built so we can start with the wall along out Canadian border.
Yeah, because no one in the States thinks like these two whackos. Nawwwww, no way....../sarcasm.
What an idiotic statement!!!!
We have a few Liberal politicians (who are not in power) and you project their moronic views unto the entire Canadian population.
You are worse than they are - they're liberal and don't know better, you should know better, but are obviously mentally challenged.. But don't feel bad, I suspect you have a lot of company down there..
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