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
Please don't insult my beloved MP.
Jeeeez! It's like a Scrabble board exploded or something...
One could argue America herself is starting down the same path. We are getting softer by the day, with an unbelievable number of citizens unable to see or admit to the threat. The US can't continue to throw stones until we show our own by fighting this war tooth and nail. Lord forgive me for suggesting this as well, but I fear we will need to suffer another serious attack on our own soil to snap out of it.
They did the same to the French HQ moments later. Iran founded Hezbollah secretly and has been funding it since before February of 1985.
With complete disregard for the safety of UNIFIL soldiers during the recent Israeli Hezbollah conflict, Hezbollah fighters led by Iranian Revolutionary Guards used UNIFIL outposts as shelter, resulting in the death of Canadian UNIFIL soldier,Hess-von Kruedener.But I guess the Liberal MPs don't count Canadian Soldiers for much, or US soldiers for that matter.They should have their names posted in every paper in Canada, along with thier pictures as cut and run, aiding and abetting the enemies of Canada.The public will know what to do, vote them out of office, or better still, torch their local offices!!!
Now if you want to get rid of a few Liberals, send those POSs down here on bicycles, and have them cycle through Vermont. They won't be coming back.
This is the kind of liberal treason that was foisted on our soldiers by Liberals in the US, and these Liberal MPs need to be treated as traitors, because half of this war is a media war, and the Liberals are directly encouraging Hezbollah, as well as the very Taliban that Canadians are nor fighting in Afghanistan.
Crucify these MPs, they are worthless POSs.
Untrue. A year ago, the Ontario government rejected the use of not only sharia, but all religious arbitration, in family disputes.
No problem. I respect people who are upfront and tell us that they hate Canadians.
My son lives in the States and I visit there often and I must say that the vast, vast, vast majority of Americans are great and appear to really like Canadians. In fact, I have yet to meet an American (during the past 40 years of extensive travel there) to say they didn't like Canadians (let alone "despise " us).
That tells me that either arseholes like you are:
a) few in number
or
b) cowards who won't tell you stuff like this to you face (maybe cause you'll think that little 6'6" former Canadian Armed Forces pu**ies like me would kick the crap outa big tough guys like you - a fair assumption BTW).
BTW. here's another example of Canadian pu**ies:
Thanks for the info. Let me guess - the Bloc MP on the trip is a Montreal-area anti Semite francophone from a "visible minority" group?
Please feel free to insult my not-so-beloved Senators any time you wish.
A recent Polish immigrant goes to a Vehicle Licensing Office to apply
for a driver's license and is duly administered the required vision test.
The examiner shows him a card with the letters
C - Z - W - I - X - N - O - S -T - A - C - Z
and asks: "Can you read this?"
"Read it ?!?!" the Polish guy replies,
"That guy for sure I know, we come Canada both from Krakow !!!"
While I completely understand your sentiment (and can certainly agree when it comes to the 'blue Staters')....all I need do is look at my eldest, a son who is a 1st Lt. in the Army currently serving as a Stryker platoon leader in Mosul, Iraq......or my nephew, soon to be serving in-country with Special Forces.......and know that there are still PLENTY of Americans, young and old, who understand the threat and want to defend this country with their very lives.
I am also sure that there are plenty in France and Canada, despite my jibes, who feel the same way.....yet their voices are completely drowned out in those countries. They also appear to be an insignificant minority, which I find supremely sad. You'd think the French would, at a minimum, remember (collectively, as a nation) what it was like to lose their freedom. I guess not.
Maria Mourani
"...who is of Lebanese descent... "
(per the posted article above)
So, I guess, the answer is "sorta".
However, you weren't that far off as, spelled 'Moorani' - or close to it, some Slavic language speakers use the word as a slang term (plural) for blacks.
Hezb'allah has big guns so we make them a nation. Is that the Liberals' thinking? It's bad enough that the Palestinians think they deserve "nation" status.
Many of those in the States have Canadian ancestors. My husband and I each do. (His grandfather, member of Canadian Navy, Nova Scotia and my great-grandmother) There certainly is no despising there...I don't understand the hatred against Canadians as they are more like cousins than another country.
In truth it's LIBERALS from ALL Western countries that the anger should be directed toward. LIBERALS are a doltish lot.
> France and Canada and so many other hand-wringing Western nations need their OWN 9/11's. I mean death and destruction at the hands of Islamofascists on a MASSIVE scale. Total carnage. Destroyed national landmarks....bodies everywhere.....body parts......fire......the stench of death.......shock. Let it hit home. I want them to feel PAIN.
You can't be serious. If you are, you're sick. If you're not, you've either forgot the /sarc tag, or you are a buffoon.
> God how they disgust me.
Reciprocated.
Very good point but i'm sure if that happen they would blame bush and the war just like right now some dumb ass Americans thinks that bush sign off on 9/11 that it was a inside job makes me sick as hell.
Useful idiots. They get taken around on a terrorist tour, fed the terrorist party line and spout the terrorist propaganda.
Politicians, either white, black, brown, or blue are all of the same mindset, (ignorant) the very few that have made a success of there private life usually have ultra motives for joining the political class, if seems as the average Joe goes to vote, he leaves his brains safely at home, if you look at those in positions of power, not one would last a day running a Burger-king, and today nowhere is the "PETER PRINCIPLE" more obvious than in Politics.Who is to blame for this universal mess? schools,religion,Buck Rogers? who knows, but it sure ain't going away in my lifetime
I'm not 'sick', pal. You tell ME how they're ever going to learn otherwise.
Go ahead. I'm listening.......popping some corn. Hit me, sport.
> I'm not 'sick', pal. You tell ME how they're ever going to learn otherwise.
So you say: I'll take you at your word. So did you forget your /sarc tag, or are you really a buffoon? Because it is impossible to take anybody seriously who would wish:
>> "death and destruction at the hands of Islamofascists on a MASSIVE scale. Total carnage. Destroyed national landmarks....bodies everywhere.....body parts......fire......the stench of death.......shock"
on any of America's Allies and Friends. You live in a cartoon world, surely.
> You tell ME how they're ever going to learn otherwise.
Not my responsiblity to educate you, "sport". That said, what's the lesson you'd like to teach them/us, Professor? That Islamofascism is reprehensible and the enemy, to be opposed and destroyed? I think most of us know that already.
America wasn't the only country to lose people on 9/11, and it wasn't the first and isn't going to be the last country on earth to feel the effects on terrorism. The US hasn't got the monopoly on suffering terrorist attack: neither does the US have the monopoly on sending troops to fight and die in foreign lands to fight the Evil of militant Islam.
Attitudes like yours will help p*ss off what allies America has in the WOT: but that's just fine. Go ahead and call America's largest trading parter and longest-standing ally (whose Parliament is also Conservative-governed) a "P*ssy". Sticks and stones... Ignorant and rude comments are covered by Free Speech, after all.
Go ahead and fulminate and foam-at-the-mouth on FRee Republic against the rest of the non-US FRee World who also oppose militant Islam: see if I care. P*ss off a few more FRiends and see how many people read or respond to your posts.
No, I think you're right. You're not sick.
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