Before You Call Us All Naive Up Here.......
Reader comment on item: [The Khadrs:] Canada's First Family of Terrorism

Submitted by Rev. Ron Grossman (Canada), Mar 16, 2004 at 11:46

Mr. Pipes:
Your March 16th article: "Canada's First Family of Terrorism" has prompted me to make a few comments.
I avidly read your site and am enlightened by the readings. However, your comment of "The federal Canadian government, living up to its naive reputation..." gives an impression that is not entirely accurate, and is for the most part unfair.

As a Canadian citizen with half my family living in, and citizens of The USA, please note two things:
1) This is not a rant from a sensitive Canadian because of one comment. There is a purpose for my writing that needs to be understood.

2)Not all of us are "so naive" up here.

Our government may indeed have a dubious record of dealing with the present world terroristic threat. However, it is my opinion, based on my work with a focus on Middle East affairs, that Canada, as a nation abandoned the only true democracy there, more than a generation ago-Israel. To that end, Canada as a nation has been perceived as being as a majority, sympathetic towards groups, etc, that would threaten the freedom of, in essence, what we call "The Western Way of Life." Nothing is so far from the truth.

The mainstream of citizens in this country are law abiding who know what is right and what is wrong. What is sadly apparent is a lack of proper knowledge of issues stemming out of The Middle East, resulting in errors in judgement, by a population in general who as described are law abiding, and accept that direction our government has taken. This fuelled by a liberal leaning mainstream press is all part and parcel of what contributes to what you see as us being "so naive."

Canada's government has very knowingly embarked on a dangerous course of pandering to special interest groups to "stay safe" internationally. It is apparent that the thinking is "don't upset the nasty guys and Canada will be safe. it is presented to the country as a whole as Canada being a land of "peacemakers." it then becomes "peace at any and all costs. This is so similar as to the approach that Spain's new government seems to want to now take:

"Let's pull out of Iraq. Taking a stand costs too much."
Those in positions of authority here in Canada seem to have chosen this modus operandi.

Do all Canadians agree with this? Not those who are in the know do!

However, when you make comments as you do about Canada, it paints a picture of a country as a whole, that is asleep at the wheel. Whereas sadly I see this as a reality for many, please be advised that this is still a democratic society here, very similar to what your country is all about. Many of us, publically express our positions plainly, as I am doing here in this response.

In closing be reminded of this fact. Regardless of whether you see our government as "naive, or bureaucratic ingenues," who continued to find nothing wrong with Mr. Khadr, remember these plain facts about Afghanistan:

In the ideological war of West vs. Communism during The Cold War, when the defunct Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the best the west could do was boycot the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and then back a then obscure group known as The Muja'Hadeen. That eventually gave birth to The Taliban, whom you and I and everyone else knows is so connected with what we call today Al-Qa'eda. So as naive as you call our bureaucratic bumblers here in Ottawa, remember the reality of the direction that President Reagan and The CiA went through the 1980's: all to fight the horrors of the Soviet invasion. That invasion was wrong. No invasion of hostility is ever justified, be it Napoleon in 18th/19th century Europe, Hitler in 1939, or Brezhnev's Red Army of 1979. I sometimes wonder though, what it was that The Soviets knew then to want to subdue this non power broker country of mountains and wasteland back in '79?

Sincerely:
Rev. Ron Grossman

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.

Daniel Pipes replies:

To see just how bad things are in Canada, I refer readers to Stewart Bell's Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism Around the World (Wiley, 2004). For more information see http://www.wiley.ca/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470834633,descCd-description.html?print=true