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Missile Counter-Attack. An Open Letter To US Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice

by Open-Publishing - Saturday 5 March 2005
17 comments

Edito Wars and conflicts International USA

Missile Counter-Attack Axworthy Fires Back At US - And Canadian - Critics Of Our BMD Decision In An Open Letter To US Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice

by Lloyd Axworthy

Dear Condi,

I’m glad you’ve decided to get over your fit of pique and venture north to visit your closest neighbour. It’s a chance to learn a thing or two. Maybe more.

I know it seems improbable to your divinely guided master in the White House that mere mortals might disagree with participating in a missile-defence system that has failed in its last three tests, even though the tests themselves were carefully rigged to show results.

But, gosh, we folks above the 49th parallel are somewhat cautious types who can’t quite see laying down billions of dollars in a three-dud poker game.

As our erstwhile Prairie-born and bred (and therefore prudent) finance minister pointed out in presenting his recent budget, we’ve had eight years of balanced or surplus financial accounts. If we’re going to spend money, Mr. Goodale added, it will be on day-care and health programs, and even on more foreign aid and improved defence.

Sure, that doesn’t match the gargantuan, multi-billion-dollar deficits that your government blithely runs up fighting a "liberation war" in Iraq, laying out more than half of all weapons expenditures in the world, and giving massive tax breaks to the top one per cent of your population while cutting food programs for poor children. Just chalk that up to a different sense of priorities about what a national government’s role should be when there isn’t a prevailing mood of manifest destiny.

Coming to Ottawa might also expose you to a parliamentary system that has a thing called question period every day, where those in the executive are held accountable by an opposition for their actions, and where demands for public debate on important topics such as missile defence can be made openly.

You might also notice that it’s a system in which the governing party’s caucus members are not afraid to tell their leader that their constituents don’t want to follow the ideological, perhaps teleological, fantasies of Canada’s continental co-inhabitant. And that this leader actually listens to such representations.

Your boss did not avail himself of a similar opportunity to visit our House of Commons during his visit, fearing, it seems, that there might be some signs of dissent. He preferred to issue his diktat on missile defence in front of a highly controlled, pre-selected audience.

Such control-freak antics may work in the virtual one-party state that now prevails in Washington. But in Canada we have a residual belief that politicians should be subject to a few checks and balances, an idea that your country once espoused before the days of empire.

If you want to have us consider your proposals and positions, present them in a proper way, through serious discussion across the table in our cabinet room, as your previous president did when he visited Ottawa. And don’t embarrass our prime minister by lobbing a verbal missile at him while he sits on a public stage, with no chance to respond. Now, I understand that there may have been some miscalculations in Washington based on faulty advice from your resident governor of the "northern territories," Ambassador Cellucci. But you should know by now that he hasn’t really won the hearts and minds of most Canadians through his attempts to browbeat and command our allegiance to U.S. policies.

Sadly, Mr. Cellucci has been far too closeted with exclusive groups of ’experts’ from Calgary think-tanks and neo-con lobbyists at cross-border conferences to remotely grasp a cross-section of Canadian attitudes (nor American ones, for that matter).

I invite you to expand the narrow perspective that seems to inform your opinions of Canada by ranging far wider in your reach of contacts and discussions. You would find that what is rising in Canada is not so much anti-Americanism, as claimed by your and our right-wing commentators, but fundamental disagreements with certain policies of your government. You would see that rather than just reacting to events by drawing on old conventional wisdoms, many Canadians are trying to think our way through to some ideas that can be helpful in building a more secure world.

These Canadians believe that security can be achieved through well-modulated efforts to protect the rights of people, not just nation-states.

To encourage and advance international co-operation on managing the risk of climate change, they believe that we need agreements like Kyoto.

To protect people against international crimes like genocide and ethnic cleansing, they support new institutions like the International Criminal Court — which, by the way, you might strongly consider using to hold accountable those committing atrocities today in Darfur, Sudan.

And these Canadians believe that the United Nations should indeed be reformed — beginning with an agreement to get rid of the veto held by the major powers over humanitarian interventions to stop violence and predatory practices.

On this score, you might want to explore the concept of the ’Responsibility to Protect’ while you’re in Ottawa. It’s a Canadian idea born out of the recent experience of Kosovo and informed by the many horrific examples of inhumanity over the last half-century. Many Canadians feel it has a lot more relevance to providing real human security in the world than missile defence ever will.

This is not just some quirky notion concocted in our long winter nights, by the way. It seems to have appeal for many in your own country, if not the editorialists at the Wall Street Journal or Rush Limbaugh. As I discovered recently while giving a series of lectures in southern California, there is keen interest in how the U.S. can offer real leadership in managing global challenges of disease, natural calamities and conflict, other than by military means. There is also a very strong awareness on both sides of the border of how vital Canada is to the U.S. as a partner in North America. We supply copious amounts of oil and natural gas to your country, our respective trade is the world’s largest in volume, and we are increasingly bound together by common concerns over depletion of resources, especially very scarce fresh water.

Why not discuss these issues with Canadians who understand them, and seek out ways to better cooperate in areas where we agree — and agree to respect each other’s views when we disagree.

Above all, ignore the Cassandras who deride the state of our relations because of one missile-defence decision. Accept that, as a friend on your border, we will offer a different, independent point of view. And that there are times when truth must speak to power.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/we...

Forum posts

  • Canadian censorship ! Is alive an growing .
    We once bought a Canadian hen and brought to Buffalo ! All it could do was squwak and cluck and run around in a circles .
    I see the breed is still alive and well and now writes columnns .

    • If you weren’t such an ignorant ass you might just realize that Mr. Axworthy has more brains in his litle finger than you’ve got in your whole body. Why don’t you just crawl back under your rock moron!!!

    • Don’t worry some weasels are out there, who enjoy power games because they think the can kill, rob
      and humilate anybody. Those are the first who cry fowl or mark freedom fighters as insurgents, whenever the feel resistance. Fortunately the yet silent majority of Americans think differently.

    • USA censorship is alive and has no more room to grow, the propaganda ministry has made sure of that. Pravda is alive and well in the USA. Stupid people should ask themselves why Canada has not had any "terrorist" attacks, smart people already know. The answer is simple, they mind their own business and have not made their economy a war machine. Three cheers for the Canadians who can see that squandering money on star wars is for suckers, like squandering taxpayers money on Iraq/Iran/Syria/Lebanon/et.al phony wars is also for suckers...there goes the money out the window and here comes the angry masses in the front door. Its time for the people in the US who are not too retarded to believe all the propaganda to stand together and form a Let’s Mind Our Own Business Day for the US government. A day where the problems of our country are actually given a priority, a day where something is done that will actually bennefit the people in the US, instead of the corporations who own and run the government here. A day where honesty is practiced instead of the blatant lies that are piped into our homes by the Neo-Con News outlets.

    • good one

    • Here’s a better one: Bush and Cheney walk into a diner and sit down for lunch. A waitress walks over and asks what they’ll have. Bush smiles and says "Honey, I’ll have a quicky !!" The waitress gets red in the face, slaps Bush and stomps off. Cheney leans over , points at the menu and says "George, that’s pronounced quiche ."

    • Please leave G.W. alone,he,ll get there.He is just doing the presidency thing one syllable at a time.Is I understood ?

  • I have to agree with Mr. Axworthy, missles, fired on Iraq, more recently, were a crime. Te Missle shieldwas an expensive and dangerous project. Tests have already failed. It is a threat to global and natioal security and peace,not to mentionthe enviroment.We want closer trade ties wirh Americans, but they forced free trade which means grain subsidies to our farmers are in violation of these Treaties.We have taken every precaution to ensure the safety of our Cattle industry, the deadline came, but a big US Cattlemen’s lobby is preventing Canadian export of Cattle to the Us. We have friendly trade relationships with Cuba, whose most lethal weapon is cultural, educationla, and free medical,, but the US. insists on economic embargoes on our Cuban friend. The Bush Administration won its first term in Florida, kmown to be the land of cubans in exiles, led by the cuban mafia. The average American citizen envies our free medicare programs, but frre trade could endanger this and other social programs.Canadian Soverngnity is a growing issue. I was proud of ex PM Jean Cretien when he faced George Bush and told him, when you are Big, you have to be nice. The US, administration has a lot to learn from Canadians such as Axworthy.

  • This has been a difficult week for Canada (Beef Ban:Police Killings;Gomery Revelations).Thank you Mr.Axworthy for showing that,as Canadians, we can still offer an alternate view to those espoused by Evangelical clique in Washington

    • I do hope the Canadians are ready to embrace the new provinces (or possibly the new independent nations) of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. Maybe Michigan and Minnesota too. Besides having an unelected president, our states are overwhemled financially by FEDERAL programs, such as Medicare and Medicade, and policy-making that does not reflect the wishes of the majorities in these states. Secession is looking more and more appealing all the time. Screw leaving the US to move to a colder climate (most of us northerners are cold enough as it is). It would be much more preferable to stand right where we are and reject the fascist federalism being imposed upon us.

    • March has been named “Women’s Month” and most women around the world are celebrating International Women’s Day, to honor women of great accomplishments and women who have taken action to change their lives and the lives of those around them, by making a difference, enhancing their lives as well as the lives of others around them. So you have to imagine my shock at the statement made by Lloyd Axworthy, Kofi Annan’s Special Envoy to Eritrea and Ethiopia in his 3 March 2005 Open Letter to US Secretary of State Condileeza Rice in which he said:

      “…I know it seems improbable to your divinely guided master in the White House that mere mortals might disagree with participating in a missile-defense system that has failed in its last three tests, even though the tests themselves were carefully rigged to show results…”

      I am sure that Ms. Rice is more than capable of responding to the contents of his letter and will not presume to address MDS or any other issue he raises in his letter. I am appalled at his poor choice of words, his derogatory choice of words, as he addresses Ms. Rice. If not to insult and denigrate an otherwise very competent woman of color, why would Mr. Axworthy stoop so low as to refer to President Bush as her “divinely guided master”? If he is man enough to stand up to President Bush, why not address President Bush directly instead of trying to undermine Ms. Rice with his sexist and racist remarks?

      His condescending and insulting letter is not very becoming of a seasoned diplomat and educator. If he is indeed speaking on behalf of Canadians, I’ll have to tell Mr. Axowrthy to clean up his own attitudes before attacking others on theirs.

      I believe Mr. Axworthy owes Ms. Rice a public and open apology for insulting her in such a public way, through his Open Letter, for doing her job, much like the one he had a few years back when he served as Canada’s Foreign Minister.

      Sophia Tesfamariam

    • What a load of unmitigated nonsense. The words referred to Bush, not Rice. Bush is indeed her master, as he is the master of all his corporate sponsored Imperial flunkies. He is "Ganon"’s master, he is Rumsfield’s master, he is Rice’s master. And by his own words, he is "divinely guided".

      If you read racism and sexism into that, it says much more about you than it does about Axeworthy.

  • I wonder if Mr. Axworthy could help me get political asylum in Canada?

  • I recently sent an email to the right-wing, fear-mongering chicken neck JOHN GIBSON from Fux News on this very subject, in response to his "O, Canada" article. Here is a copy of it:

    What’s up, you amerikkkan dumbfuck! Greetings from the Great White North - that’s right, motherfucker, CANADA.

    "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cancelled a meeting with the Canadians in a fit of frustration and pique — and now the Canadians are running around madly trying to get an appointment with her, which appears to be scheduled for a week from now." Keep that mongoloid bitch south of the 49th parallel, please and thank you. Is that the best representative your fucking country can produce?!? If she is, you should be fucking ashamed of yourselves. I mean, LOOK AT HER. She looks like her face caught fire and was put out with a track shoe. What makes you think that ANYONE in Canada is losing sleep that this whore isn’t paying us a visit? Bitch, PULEEEEEESE, get a fucking life, and soon.

    "What she is mad about — and what I am mad about — is that Canada decided it would pull out of the American-sponsored and American-paid-for North American Missile Defense Program."
    Yeah, so. What do you need us for?!?!? You’ve got fucking ALASKA to weaponize all you want, so DO IT!!! We don’t care; just keep it out of Canadian territory. You want to know exactly WHY Canadians are so damned against the missile defence scheme? BECAUSE WE DON’T WANT THE FIRST THING FOR OUR VIRGIN LANDS TO SEE BE AMERIKKKAN WEAPONS, JUST TO SAVE A FEW HICKS IN ALABAMIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To be brutally frank, we’d like to see THAT herd thinned. So FUCK OFF!!!!!!!!! Prove that your fucking system WORKS, then maybe we’ll consider the offer, but UNTIL THEN, shove it up your ass and FUCKING LIKE IT.

    The sytem is fundaMENTALly flawed, and you know it. Go to Iraq, you blind patriot, and try to hit an insurgent AK-47 bullet with your m16 bullet - it’s the same idea with missile defense. Didn’t you read the story in which the Russian Defence Minister who said the new missiles Russia will develop are impervious to any defence system - yes, even an amerikkkan system, for god’s sake. If not, here’s a link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20050301-1324-russia-missiles.html

    Choke on that, cocksucker.

    That’s MY word.

    • I love your letter to Jon Gibson, thank you for sharing it with us since I’m sure he will not. I wish I had been the author, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t have described Cunt Rice quite the same way, I would have said something about the tons of petrolum by products she uses in her hair and that stupid diaper bag that she carries around for when she has to change Georgie’s diapers after he shits all over everyone. But I have to admit she is a pretty good liar unlike Georgie who can barely keep a straight face when he tells his whoopers.

      You Canadians have helped me maintain my faith in humanity since my fellow Amerikins seem to be braindead for the most part. I really appreciate it since its nice to know there are still thinking people out there even if it is outside of the US. Please keep up the good work, don’t let your guard down the cockroaches in this government will keep trying to infest everywhere the minute you take your eyes off of them.

    • many just US’ers are freakin’...intuitively..even if the nightly ’news’ ain’t showing reason to be. Well just wait for the rest, ’cause the world is rising against wduh’s,wdoers and wblievers. You’ll get what you dish and karma will do it. It’s the law. This ain’t about the people but your gov’t and I’m really sorry you’re in that country these days. The draft is coming and I strongly suggest you get the hell out while you can..all ?able millions or so of you eligibles. Come to the land that is now, well what you used to be.. Then again I ain’t sure.

    • many just US’ers are freakin’...intuitively..even if the nightly ’news’ ain’t showing reason to be. Well just wait for the rest, ’cause the world is rising against wduh’s,wdoers and wblievers. You’ll get what you dish and karma will do it. It’s the law. This ain’t about the people but your gov’t and I’m really sorry you’re in that country these days. The draft is coming and I strongly suggest you get the hell out while you can..all ?able millions or so of you eligibles. Come to the land that is now, well what you used to be.. Then again I ain’t sure.