You're Not Trusted, PM Tells U.S. (Canada officially joins the Axis of Weasel!)

The Globe and Mail ^ | February 14, 2003 | Shawn McCarthy

[quidnunc]

Chrétien calls for UN involvement hours after Bush urges U.S. allies to show backbone in facing Iraqi threat

Chicago – As the threat of war grows, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien stood on U.S. soil Thursday night and warned the United States that it is not trusted in the world and needs United Nations legitimacy for a war on Iraq.

In a speech to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, Mr. Chrétien urged the Americans to refrain from a quick military response if the UN's chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, reports Friday that Iraq has violated UN resolutions aimed at forcing it to destroy weapons of mass destruction.

"The price of being the world's only superpower is that its motives are sometimes questioned by others," Mr. Chrétien told his audience.

"Great strength is not always perceived by others as benign. Not everyone around the world is prepared to take the word of the United States on faith."

The Prime Minister spoke just hours after U.S. President George W. Bush urged U.S. allies to "show backbone and courage in the face of true threats to peace and freedom."

The crisis over Iraq is expected to deepen Friday morning, when Mr. Blix is to appear before an open UN Security Council meeting attended by the world's most influential foreign ministers.

Although he is expected to give a mixed report on Iraqi co-operation, the Bush administration has signalled its intention to put skeptics on the defensive, demanding they explain why Iraqi President Saddam Hussein should be given more time to work with the inspectors.

Mr. Chrétien, who delivered his speech amid heavy security, said Canada firmly supports the goals of the United States in Iraq, and he applauded Mr. Bush's leadership. But he told his audience that if the United States, without UN support, wages war against a Muslim nation, it would raise the spectre of a "clash of civilizations."

Foreign Minister Bill Graham, speaking earlier in Ottawa, went further and said a unilateral attack on Iraq could lead to the toppling of unstable governments in the Middle East and Asia.

"I see a destabilized Middle East; I see problems in Indonesia, in India, in Pakistan," Mr. Graham told reporters in Ottawa, referring to the risks of anti-Western violence and possible acts of terrorism raised by a war against Iraq.

Mr. Graham said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and others in Washington know there are risks of an Iraq conflict spreading to countries where extremists threaten unstable governments. He said he had told Mr. Powell: "The U.S. would be better served if it stayed within the UN process."

-snip-

[Post Toasties]

Even the governments of Canada, France and Germany will admit that the only reason that Saddam has complied at all to date is due to the presence of 150,000 mostly US troops.

Given this, it's hard to see how these very foolish or very duplicitous governments should be taken at all seriously, nor should they, unless they simultaneously offer to replace the US troops with a military option that will create similar pressure on Saddam. I haven't seen them even begin to address that. And now it's too late to them to start.

[geedee]

It's impossible to surgically implant a spine into a jellyfish.

The life cycle of Cretin Chretien.

[GoAhead-Make My Day]

A good argument.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

Then maybe it is time to start securing our Northern border.

[mlo]

"The price of being the world's only superpower is that its motives are sometimes questioned by others," Mr. Chrétien told his audience.

One of the perks of being the world's only superpower is that we don't have to care. :-)

[headsonpikes]

"Jean Chretien is a rat bastard."

Can't be repeated often enough. He is the Khruschchev-type baboon successor to the Stalinoid Trudeau. A mere political thug. Vote Alliance, Ontario, or it's all over.

[Grig]

Good luck finding a Canadian that trusts the PM.

The Canadian people are mostly with the US on this, but the minority who are not are the ones in control of everything, including the media.

If the next election doens't result in a major change up here, I'm going to leave I think.

[Post Toasties]

It boils down to what they think is preferable: peace, freedom & democracy and, incidentally, enhanced American stature, or more global instability, human misery, loss of life, disruption and terrorism.

In effect, these countries are voting for the terrorists rather than the nation that was unilaterally able to put the world together twice in the 20th century after the greatest upsets known to man which, gee, these same countries were primarily responsible for making. Makes you really seriously wonder whether Old Europe's head is just still stuck up its ass.

[quidnunc]

GoAhead-Make My Day wrote: I don't think he was saying it with spite, I mean, it's quite obvious to me that plenty of countries in the world don't trust us, that's why we haven't been able to attack Iraq yet. Is he really saying anything we didn't already know?

Bullbleep!

This was a calculated insult comparable to Charles de Gaulle shouting "Vive le Quebec libre" during a speech in Montreal in 1967.

Chrétien is Canada's leader and he speaks for Canada.

In other words, this is Canada's official position and it was deliberately stated in a way and in a venue calculated to wound.

[houstonian]

"The price of being the world's only superpower is that its motives are sometimes questioned by others," Mr. Chrétien told his audience.

These ideologists are just so damm dialectical.

[WaveThatFlag]

Thanks a lot America Junior.

[GoAhead-Make My Day]

quidnunc, are you saying then that all the countries of the world trust us? Because like it or not, they don't trust us. That's a simple fact of life.

[ZULU]

"Jean Chrétien"

That says it all. (Does his name mean John Cretin in English???)

French Canadians like French Frenchmen, hate Americans and Anglos. It wasn't so long ago these lunatics wanted to set up a separate country north of the border. Too bad George III didn't deport all their butts back to La France after they got their butss kicked in the French and Indian War.

Hoepfully, the English Canadians do not reflect the sentiments of this misplaced Gaul.

[We Happy Few]

That does it! I'm not buying any more Weetabix.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Is this the part where we take off the Canadian Maple Leaf flag from the new bumper to make the rounds, called "Coalition of the Willing", showing the flags of countries standing with us?

[Loyalist]

We expelled the wrong set of French. We should have kept the Acadians in 1755 and booted out the Quebecois in 1763. Of course, there'd have been no Cajun cuisine, but the Acadians have never produced countless idiot politicians like the Quebecois.

[quidnunc]

GoAhead-Make My Day wrote: quidnunc, are you saying then that all the countries of the world trust us? Because like it or not, they don't trust us. That's a simple fact of life.

No, a ll of the countries of the world do not distrust us!

But that is beside the point.

The point is that the Canadian prime minister made a statementr to that effect while addressing a U.S. organization on U.S. soil.

As a Brit would say, Chrétien cocked a snook at America.

[Post Toasties]

What bothers me is the disingenuity exhibited by those who use that phase. How is it that they don't trust America? Of course, the fact that the US is, if anything, less economically interested in the region (most mideast oil goes to Yurrup & other Asian countries, and that won't change because of any prospective US action) and with a more idealistic foreign policy than these nations (it's impossible, for instance, to see US policy vs their policy regarding Israel otherwise without being anti-Semitic), sort of wrecks any argument for 'not trusting' the US, which is why you somehow never hear one from these Euro-buffoons.

[bushfamfan]

The President should cancel his visit scheduled for May. Canada really is overstating its friendship with our country.

[Post Toasties]

Actually, he left the sentence unfinished. What these Euro-pigs mean by all this is that they can't trust the US to put their regional European interests before that of international community. They are just too corrupt and don't have the cojones to come out and say it like men.