American Republican-style Stephen Harper finally forced to admit that George W. Bush's illegal and unwinnable war in Iraq was a mistake. Let's not forget that Canadian troops would be dying in their hundreds right now in Iraq had you been Prime Minister back in 2003, Mr Harper
fraeoldb...@gmail.com
2 days ago
OTTAWA — Stephen Harper admitted Thursday that the U.S.-led invasion
of Iraq was a mistake - one that Canadian troops would have been
plunged into had he been prime minister in 2003.
The grudging admission came during the second televised leaders debate
as the five leaders discussed the Canadian mission in Afghanistan.
Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe needled Harper about the
embarrassing revelation that whole sections of a speech about the Iraq
war, delivered by Harper as opposition leader in 2003, were lifted
almost word for word from a speech delivered two days earlier by
Australia's prime minister at the time, John Howard.
A Conservative speechwriter resigned Tuesday after taking the blame
for plagiarizing Howard's speech.
Duceppe said the Afghan mission has proved longer and more dangerous
than anticipated because U.S. President George W. Bush diverted
American troops to Iraq.
"If the situation is so tough in Afghanistan, certainly a large part
of that is because of the error made by George Bush by going in Iraq,"
he said to Harper.
"Do you realize today that you were making a huge error by supporting
Bush and Australia ... and would you make the same decision today as
you were proposing Canada to do in 2003?"
The prime minister initially tried to dodge the question.
"I've made it very clear Canada is not going to Iraq. Obviously you
know the answer to that question," he said.
But Duceppe continued to badger him as Harper tried to steer the
discussion back to Afghanistan: "This is not the question I asked. . .
I want to hear it. Do you admit it was an error of George Bush and you
made the same error?"
Harper finally answered: "It was absolutely an error. It's obviously
clear the evaluation of weapons of mass destruction proved not to be
correct. That's absolutely true and that's why we're not sending
anybody to Iraq."
Green Leader Elizabeth May shot back: "We're only not sending anyone
to Iraq because you weren't prime minister at the time."
Harper's admission was in stark contrast to the speech he gave in the
House of Commons - much of it cribbed from Howard - on the first full
day of the Iraq invasion in March 2003.
"Alliances are a two-way process," he said at the time.
"We should not leave it to the United States to do all the heavy
lifting just because it is the world's only superpower."
Harper urged Canada to join Bush's "coalition of the willing" in Iraq,
relying heavily on American assertions that Iraqi strongman Saddam
Hussein had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction.
"As the possession of weapons of mass destruction spreads, the danger
of such weapons coming into the hands of terrorist groups will
multiply, particularly given in this case the shameless association of
Iraq with rogue non-state organizations," he argued.
"That is the ultimate nightmare which the world must take decisive and
effective steps to prevent. Possession of chemical, biological or
nuclear weapons by terrorists would constitute a direct, undeniable
and lethal threat to the world, including to Canada and its people."
Harper was not so verbose on Thursday.
He had little to say beyond his admission that he and Bush were
mistaken. Asked about it after the debate, Harper immediately changed
the subject.
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hApa9Z2Czbrt3zjYP85qnvWxBMDw
Loaf of Bread
[snip]
My roving socialist fruitcake, it was the Liberal government of Paul
Martin that got us involved in Afghanistan in the first place.
Your attempts to deny the truth sicken thinking Canadians.
GaryRock
GR
<fraeoldb...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:05b43d6c-8a7e-4bd6...@17g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...