Craig Read

Chretien is beyond the pale. The Cdn economy lived off of: -Ontario and AB -Cheap currency [it is still cheap at 76 cents] -Surplus is almost entirely due to EI fraud or overtaxation whatever you want to call it -Due to the above, no real tax, welfare reforms or spend reforms were necessary. Now we have collectively higher taxes, higher spend [42% of GDP], NO military, Bad relations with the US, a withered Parliament, PMO centralisation and Corruption all over the place. Chretien is such an arrogant little twit, that someone needs to investigate the abuses of his gov't and its corruption and nail him. Chretien's legacy is the above - the centralisation of power, and the entrenchment of socialism.

Hard to read some of these posts and either not want to cry given the sheer ignorance of the message, or pound into oblivion the writers of such messages. Slavery was abolished in the West from 1807-1865 BUT it still exists in Africa, the Middle East, Brazil and parts of Asia. It exists in child labor, domestic labor, enforced labor of all stripes, prostitution, and in the raw exchange of human flesh for money. Slavery has existed as a social and economic institution forever. Blacks sold blacks, Arabs sold whites, Arabs sold Jews, Jews sold Arabs, Whites sold whites, Blacks sold Arabs, Yellow sold Yellow and every culture, race, civilisation until quite recently was based in part on slavery including Assyria, Egypt, Rome, the Ottoman empire, Mali, Feudal Europe, Peter's Russia and Ming China. In fact anywhere where agriculture was predominant you will find serfdom. So what is your blather about US slavery intending to show ? How about this genius; 500.000 WHITE men died defeating the institution and many thousands more were erstwhile advocates to rip down this destructive and immoral blight that was the engine of the southern economy. Canada was spared slavery because there is no cotton, tobacco or other heavy labor intensive crop in the rocks and forests of the north [not until the cotton gin was invented did slave labor become surplus in the south]. Now blacks live in the freest society on earth and I DON"T see too many of them running back to Africa. Such comments are the sickness of the Lie-beral mind. I remember reading the same as the Sandinista's murdered the Mosqito Indians in the name of the Communist Revolution, tore apart Jews in Managua and sent fighters to Lebanon. Then sick editorials in the NY Times and Toronto Star lamented 'America's brutal history' as justification for atrocious acts by various regimes across the globe as their people 'were choosing freedom.' Yeah whatever, whenever a regime maims, kills, oppresses and gases some left wing nitwit trotts out the 'slavery line'. Grow up. Just so you know; the Americans stopped slavery, rebuilt the South after the war, and yes have given all people equality under the law and now they are the richest society in the world. Go travel the US and convince the Blacks to return to Africa. To equate past wrongs with Terror is such a bloody joke that someone needs to throttle the messenger.

Zell Miller a high ranking Democrat has just published a book "A National Party No More", about the Democrats increasing irrevelance for most people outside of Marin County San Fran, Harvard and the Upper West Side Manhattan. Great book. He argues as a Democrat nonetheless that the Dumbo's are totally without moral compass [read Iraq] and have no clue about economics. With the 9 dwarves competing for the leadership it is clear that all nine want to raise taxes, the only difference being how much and on whom. Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean are the dumbest proposing to repeal every dime of the Bush tax cuts, regardless of income. Dean the most monstrous of the pygmies, wants to lift the income cap on payroll taxes, a huge marginal rate increase on anyone making more than $87,000 a year. It would be the largest tax increase in history. That a boy, that should gain some votes. The other candidates would merely repeal the tax cuts on the "wealthy," which Joe Lieberman defines as a couple earning more than $150,000. John Kerry and John Edwards have a similar strategy. In a recent MSNBC debate I saw, Gephardt pointed out that he had never supported Clinton on Nafta, China and other open trade pacts. Dean and Kerry have in turn walked away from their earlier Nafta support. Most of the candidates also support Bush's very dumb steel tariffs which should be repealed yesterday. With the exception of Lieberman and Clark, all of the candidates now accept the AFL-CIO-Sierra Club diktat that any new trade deals must impose U.S. labor and environmental standards on the rest of the world. Since few important countries are likely to accept these terms, this is a recipe for ending all future trade deals. Wonderful mix that these guys offer. Basically; more spend; more welfare; more socialised health care, higher taxes, reduced Free Trade. Yes truly the 'Party of the People'. They should rename the Dumbocrud leader's title to 'Commissar'.

Right it is hard. Visa costs are about $3-5 K for a business visa. I am in the process of applying. The US INS wants every document on every part of my life regarding income taxes, income, education and work experience. Trust me it is not a nice process. It is especially galling when i know that Muslim applicants can get fast track approval in months. This grates the hell out of me. One of the great myths of globalisation is the fluid movement of people. In the EU only 5 % of the population lives outside its own borders. In NA it is not that easy to move around due to a whole host of factors. But the movement of people like you mentioned is one way of keeping govt's honest. In my industry 'outsourcing' of IT is a big issue. According to the liberal media the world will end and I heard a US senator declare that the US would become a 3rd world country ! Garbage. Outsourcing = 1 % of total IT jobs. No big deal. The reason in part is high taxation and gov't regulation here in NA. What do you expect rational people to do ? If you want to stop outsourcing, then start retooling the tax system and stop whining. Cdns are far too lax on their politicians who abuse the system mightily and as Hugo stated, do NOT provide the public goods to justify the taxation levels nor given the work that they do, can they justify their salaries [tax free], expenses [big budgets] and their pensions. [Not to mention corruption] Chretien and Martin for eg. will collect $2.7 million in pensions. Now Chretien after 40 years has paid that amount in tax so while I detest Chretien, i can't say i begrudge him this. Martin has not paid in given his short tenure in politics. So even the pension system should be reviewed and I think scaled back along with salaries.

And the Canadians are good at WHAT ? You are not a Canadian patriot Riff, but a Raff of odious nationalism. You have no clue what patriotism is about. You would be the isolationist of 1939 applauding the Munich agreement of 1938. You would have yawned at the Iron Curtain. South Korea would have elicited a sick wave of the hand. South Vietnam - you have would have said 'let the people decide'. Central America and Chile - too boring to contemplate but you would have supported the Russian backed 'agrarian' reformers. Terror ? What terror ? No one will bomb my little town so why should i care ? Imbecilic in the clinical term meaning the mental age of 7-9 applies to yourself. Go somewhere else and post your crap.

The French owe the U$12 Billion in past World War 1 debts. If I was Bush I would be emailing the invoice with interest RIGHT NOW. There is a great book out called 'Useful Idiots'. The amount of liberal media nonsense over the last 20 yrs is so amazing and overwhelming, that in reading the book i became dizzy from reading quotes from the morons in the media extolling everything from Hussein, to the Soviets, to the Communists in Central America to Red China. Anything as long as it was not American. Same nonsense applies in today's current media. MRC a research bureau that monitors media news coverage has some shocking stats. On any major foreign policy issue; Kyoto, Cuba, the Sandanistas, Iraq and so on, both present and past, the Lie-beral viewpoint is carried 5-10 x more often than the counter viewpoint. Why? Above topics are anti-American. On Kyoto for instance less than 10 % of news coverage [as analysed by MRC] was devoted to critics of Kyoto. The rest was the usualy panegyric litany of UNO infallibilty and the stupidity of the American white man in destroying the world. No balance. Canada is at least as bad as the Europeans. Very few news outlets here have a clue about most topics. The cry- baby left, tears for the old, the disadvantage, the 3rd world poor and 'reformers' capture their imagination. Not actually understanding history, facts, morality, economic wealth accretion, rationales for the poverty or problems, or even seeing tyranny and evil, are de rigour here in Canada. I do believe however, that according to a Post poll, 2/3 of Canadians still feel 'friendly' towards the US. I just wonder how long that will last ? How long will people's minds continue to function under a barrage of silly anti-Western, anti-American, pro EU drivel ?

You are an idiot. All of the posts in this thread use documents, evidence and reports to back up the claims that the war was justified and contrary to liberal media screaming the occupation is not nearly as bad as it is made out. Your postings add zero value and no evidence.

What violence ? Oh you mean defending liberal and democratic elements in the world against communism and fascism. Who do you think you are ? You come across as a complete untutored savage, straight from Mel Hurtig's or Noam Chomsky's teat. Hey Riff Raff, name me one communist government elected by its people. Name me one example of a population willingly subjecting itself to terror and communist tyranny. Your viewpoints are shockingly vapid. You sound like Dan Blather who apologised for Soviet Russia and Cuba or Jane Hanoi Fonda who laughed when asked in Hanoi about US POWs being tortured to death. You have no morality, no perspective and no evidence, just a visceral hatred of the US and a Noam Chomsky megaphone to spout your racism. Disgusting. The US if defiance of freedom haters and soft headed lie-berals like yourself did the following: -Gave the Soviets the critical supplies, hardware and money needed to help stave off a defeat by the Nazis -Liberated Western Europe and allowed Europeans to choose their own governments -Won the Cold War and freed Eastern Europe -Restored democracy in Grenada, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Chile while the Lie-beras howled that the communists attempting to butcher populations of said countries were 'reformers' and that we should 'let the people decide' ignoring the thousands of Cuban troops, Russian made military hardware, Russian observers and Russian money and food flooding said countries. -Fought for South Korea and South Vietnam after Russia and China armed and sent into battle their Northern proxies. -Are now fighting against Islamofascism and terror while nitwits like yourself, who have no common sense, no honor, no sense of fighting for freedom heap scorn and opprobrium on the only nation, along with Britain and the Aussies, with the courage to see reality for what it is. You are beyong the pale, beyond contempt.

Polls are not to be taken at face value. In any event having lived in the EU i can attest to the great investment media and governments undertake to inform their people that the US is the world's pre-eminent source of evil. This Poll does not surprise me in the least. The EU displays a shocking and vulgar lack of morality and perspective. They are eager to embrace communism, socialism and tyrannism in all its forms. Khmer Rouge [1975 the French said they 'liberated' Phnom Phenh, resulting in the murder of 2 millions], Hussein, Castro, Allende, Kuchma, Mahatir the Jew hater, Mugabe, even Putin, and North Korea are all tolerated, supported and welcomed. Investment, grants, loans and deals are made with assorted riff raff in a stirring attempt to create a mulitpolar world. I have a long list of quotes from Liberals in Europe of the efficacity of Sovietism, the morality of Cuba, and the Sandanista's and the moral degenerate rogue power rot of the USA. This viewpoint is so obnoxious and injurious to their own well being that one marvels at the lack of historical understanding, moral bearing and arrogant hypocrisy of a Continent that is drenched in the blood of repression, fascism, Napoleonism, Hitlerism and Stalinism. Viewed from THAT perspective this Poll is hardly shocking. It is just a historical confirmation of the obvious - the Europeans are neither democratic, enlightened nor do they have the best interests of the world at heart.

I did a quick Google on the French media and Iraq looking at the comments of others who had done the same and then reviewing some newspapers myself. Have to love the one sided 'America is Evil' French media reporting. For anyone who knows a French man or women, you know that thanks to their media and education system they loathe the USA. Based on my cursory analysis the French media will have a hard time redeeming itself after Iraq. During the conflict, Le Monde wrote seven "anti-Saddam" articles to 49 "anti-coalition"; at the left-wing Liberation, this ratio was three to 31. On the political right, Le Figaro applauded Mr. Chirac for leading "la resistance française" --"against American hegemony." Perhaps overeager to keep his Iraqi visa, Remy Ourdan, Le Monde's man in Baghdad, "never hid his optimism for the strategy of the dictator". As some experts pointed out the problem was usually back in Paris, not in the field. France's foreign correspondents are apparently as gritty and independent-minded as they come. Le Figaro's Adrien Jaulmes won France's top journalism prize after covertly hiking into Taliban-run Afghanistan before Kabul fell in 2001, and in early April filed a dispatch from the Iraqi frontline on Saddam's "dirty war," describing the army's use of civilian shields. The story ran in London's Daily Telegraph, which took Le Figaro copy, but not in Le Figaro itself. Mr. Jaulmes's editors presumably decided the article didn't fit the official line. April 9 according to the Google search was the nadir of French media failure. Le Monde blared: "Americans Face Chaos in Baghdad." [in 1975 Le Monde hailed Pol Pot's ascent to power in Cambodia with "Phnom Penh Libere."] Is it any wonder that a third of Frenchmen wanted Saddam Hussein to defeat America? The sick psychosis of France. No wonder everyone in Europe hates them.

Good posting. I read the Kay report and other US investigations that together they make some key points: 1. Iraq had many programs in train to build on past WMD potential. All parties including the UNO were being duped. 2. 3rd party countries were involved in aiding the Iraqi's in delivery and weapons development [including France, Serbia, Russia, China and Germany. 3. Iraq sponsored attacks on US and Israeli citizens and assets. 4. Iraq sponsored training camps for terrorists. 5. Iraq was searching for material and 3rd country support, to rebuild its WMD raw material supplies . 6. Iraq was a humanitarian disaster. The invasion was justified. The point of criticism can be levelled as to the extent of the real WMD threat that was stated by the US and Britain. Even here the evidence is in favor of the US and Britain, but they should not have made it the casus belli for the media. Other issues should have taken the fore in the rationale for war.

Yes RT big surprise. Even a bigger one today, Manley [gasp, astonishment, snickering] has promised to blow the over taxation [i mean surplus] on, oh my god, socialised healthcare, where you too Mr. and Mrs. taxpayer can pay but not play ! Geez i am shocked and surprised. I never would have expected this. That a boy John. I am sure the remaining 1.5 billion will be put to good vote buying uses as well.

Another example of a great enlightened culture. The 72 virgins are shamefully missing from his note. Poor fellow. I came across a US report which contained some nice facts. First France and Russia ASSURED Hussein that the US would never invade. Second, Iraqi papers make it pretty clear that they funded terrorism. But Hussein will no doubt be a poster child for the Lie-berals - up there with Che [he of the Cuban death camps], Allende [he of communist dictatorship], Arafat [enough said] and Mao [agrarian reformer].

Yes that is good article and details the perfidity of the UNO and their supposed data. In 1995 the UNO took the scientific draft which stated clearly that scientists did not know if 1. Global warming actually was occuring and 2. If humans were causing warming. The 1996 IPCC report deleted the references of 'we don't know' and inserted 'we are certain that...'. This is why 18.000 scientists have signed an anti-Kyoto letter stating that the science is false. There are so many flaws with the entire theory that a book is needed to list them all. But many posts in this thread and others highlights the main ignorances of the IPCC. Many scientists on the IPCC panel have condemned the process, the politicisation of the document and some have called it a 'child's exercise' [F. Seitz, IPCC group leader]. Kyoto is the EU's attempt to drive up energy costs in the US and enforce higher taxation and regulation on its own citizens. It is another program to slake the thirst of government's everywhere for power, money, control; all wrapped in a nice 'save the world' package. Canada's complicit acceptance of such dogma, with no debates, no analysis [the gov'ts implementation plan was built on 50 power point slides], no objectivity in the media, is shameful.

Even the Lie-beals recognise the need for reform. Any time a Liberal actually moves on reforming anything you know that the case in question is nearly a disaster. In 2002 the Indian Act was very timidly reformed. The Indian Act is and of itself discriminatory and demeaning to both sides. 3 Areas need reform: 1. Governance 2. Financial accountability 3. Assimilation and the end of land claims Some argue here and elsewhere that there have been 'reforms'. I disagree. The recent reforms were not really 'reforms' but more a sop to critics [Classic Lieberal political move]. Closer examination of the legislation reveals there is no requirement for native governments to hold elections, or report on the progress of federally funded programs. Furthermore, there is "limited liability" for a band government's legal capacity. Predictably, native leaders opposed even these tepid reforms arguing a lack of consultation. It is ironic since it was native leaders who refused to take part in the federal governments attempt to consult natives. The federal government went ahead without the native leaders and spent $10 million to discuss governance issues with approximately 10,000 "grassroots" natives. In fact the federal government established a House of Commons Committee to make substantive amendments to the legislation. There is one substantial amendment that is good. Assuming the draft legislation won't die on the order paper [it will need to be reintroduced], the proposed leadership selection criteria for native councils will put the power in the hands of those that require it - the native people. No longer will a chief have an opportunity to manipulate nominations or the eligible voters list. A band employee will no longer be subject to dismissal when a new government is formed simply because they may hold an opposing view. However, none of these new found liberties for native Canadians are worth much if elections are not guaranteed. I started this post stating that currently, over 7 billion federal tax dollars are spent each year on aboriginal affairs. Under the existing Indian Act there is no requirement for native governments to reveal their financial records to their members, let alone the federal auditor general or to taxpayers. The proposed legislation will require native governments to provide their audited financial statements to any person who requests a copy. Assuming "any person" means any Canadian taxpayer the accountability is significantly better than what taxpayers were provided with before - nothing. However i don't believe that this level of accountability is enough. Native bands still will not be required to report on the progress of federally supported - i.e., taxpayer funded - programs. Without annual audited progress reports, taxpayers will not be able to evaluate how well their money is being spent. We need new legislation to provide legal certainty on a native bands legal capacity to sue or be sued, to contract or to borrow. However, the proposed legislation will not replace section 89 of the Indian Act, which makes it very difficult for a business/investor to sue a native band. Section 89 protects native property and assets located on reserves from any process of garnishee, execution or attachment for debts, damages and other obligations, including taxes, however justly due and owing. This is wrong and a double standard. Legislation must close section 89 loopholes, guarantee band elections will take place and make native governments accountable to all Canadians. As well recognising individual private property, using that value to mortgage and create the securitisation of mortgages; the end of group discrimination and assimilation of these people into Canadian life is necessary. It is also valid to end land claims which now account for $200 billion of Canadian land and special legal rights for natives. The entire land claim process is nothing more than left liberalism run amok over the rights of the 'average' Canadian and the creation of a disaffected minority group in Canada which clamours for more and more power and privilege. Claiming past grievances is liberal insanity. As I stated then each tribe across the globe can claim compensation from other tribes who expelled their people from 'their' land. In North America the French and Dutch would have legitimacy to sue Canada and the US since they were here 'first'. We would then, as RT stated, need to rank ALL tribes that arrived on the Continent by order of arrival, and pureness of bloodlines. Not even hard core fascists would extol such a plan. The perversity of the diversity ideal is its inherent illogic. It creates and sustains racism, group identity and group think as it extolls 'integration', 'value from diverse thought' and 'cultural exchange'. Diversitys says to Native Indians 'you have different skin color, are inferior, have had a miserable history and we now expect you to act and think like the following.....' Diversiphiles explain to us that diversity creates 'multi-cultural' integration. Oh really. Exactly how this works when you create competing groups, which demand from the wicked white majority, status, money, tears and emotional group hugs is lost on me. Diversity creates conflict not harmony. The diversiphile racism implicit in native affairs is shocking - on both sides and needs massive reform. Throwing up straw men 'past contracts', 'whiskey and guns during negotiations', 'native culture' and what not, is dishonest.

Incredible. You actually believe that the US would have been better off to do the following: -Not fight in WW1 and WW2 -Not fight the Cold War [the Russians loved their children too according to that great political analyst Mr. Sting] -Not fight to liberate Kuwait -Not fight to liberate Kosovo -Not fight the war on terror -Allow fascist regimes to terrorise their citizens and the world community at large -Allow China to dominate the Asian world militarily You state that the US should cut back its military spend, when every analyst and general says they are overstretched right now. Wonderful insights you possess. So you and the do- nothing school would be happy with fascism, civilian torture and death, mercantilist trade, lower incomes, poor technology, and more ignorance [ok that might be hard to increase for many people]. There is something a little sick with the paralytic invocation of anti-Americanism and the supposition that the US is the REAL evil empire and that the US is inimical to mankind's better health and wealth. I would say simply that you should grow up.

What kind of puerile analysis is it to state that per capita military spend and economic size of states is irrelevant ? This is incredible. I wonder how people rationalise their ideas at times. As a % of their economies both the Arab world and the Israeli's spend about 8 % of their GDP on military spend. This is a huge amount of GDP - 7x greater than that of the post modern, soft power Canadians. Israel also receives another 3 % of its GDP in military aid from the US. Israel is in a war and has been since 1948. 11 % of GDP to fight a war, is rather low by historical standards but still a considerable portion and overall there is little doubt that historically militarised societies are weaker economically than they would be under normal peace time conditions. Private wealth is displaced by state owned resources. If you were to normalise Canadian military spend to be 2.5 to 3 % of GDP, which it should be in a dangerous world, it would necessitate another $20-25 billion in spend. Canada would run huge deficits of 2 % of GDP. Economic size has everything to do with your ability to project any variety of international power. The fact that the Canadian economy is chewed up by taxes and debt payments [$40 billion per year just on the Fed debt in interest costs], means that politicians who need to prostitute themselves to gain your votes, will spread the butter around and ignore the guns. That $40 billion in debt interest would be better spent on the military. But according to the analysis stated above the US and Australia don't need military spend since they are protected by Oceans. They should spend more on butter and special interest groups. Gee Good analysis boys. Military projection is a critical factor in nation state relevance and world respect. Soft power is just another crummy form of socialist justification for doing --- NOTHING. It is rather irritating reading the sanctimonious nonsense of Canadians as they ignore reality and free load off the US military. Your freedom comes at a price and you have to pay to play. Israel by necessity understands this. Canada has no clue.

RT you are right bang on on the Indian act, changes in governance, auditing and transparency. Stating that we can't 'Break' land claim titles and contracts is absolutely preposterous. The land, the title deeds, the monies and the programs are CANADIAN not Native Indian and owned collectively by the people of Canada. The Indian act is flawed, deeply flawed and makes a hideous mess of 'aiding' by enforcing a system of welfare, dependency and racism [flowing both ways]. Assimilation, respect for CANADIAN laws and money and the ability to engage in meaningful economic and education opportunities is the nexus of the matter. I have little patience for the argument that we can't break treaties. But the Indians can of course. They can hunt and fish wherever they please. They can cause civil disruptions. They can flout Canadian laws and fight with Canadian police with no ill effects. They can sentence their young to poverty and ignorance and hatred of the whites. They can claim diversity status to extract preference and monies. And most importantly they can claim vast areas of land [in fact $200 Billion worth] that they 'own' and even have 2 new provinces that rely on transfer payments from Ont and Alta created in which 90 % of the revenue is in the form of 'diversity' transfers. This is insanity. RT is right and his analysis is supported by De Soto who claims that the poor of the world are sitting on $9 Trillion worth of value as they squat and live on non title deed private property. If you want to understand proper solutions to poverty for Natives read De Soto's unparallelled analysis. He in effect blames bad government for the plight of many of the native poor. If you want to solve the Indian question. -Revoke the Land claims - no one group as a right to claim $200 billion worth of land. Sorry the war is over. The land is Canadian. Period. -Stop transferring money until their is governance and accountability changes -Give the right to private property and private financial securitisation and derivatives to allow investment capital to be formed. This creation of economic incentives and opportunities would within a matter of years turn much of the reservations into respectable communities. -Assimiliate the populations through education and economic opportunity do not segregate them As RT said and this is the core of the issue: The above MANDATES the revocation of the Indian Act and a more suitable plan to help these people and assimilate them over time into Canada. Creating a third world nation inside Canada is not only immoral, it is the apogee of politically correct hypocrisy.

KK good post. Like most issues the Lie-berals on this site are wrong. They should whine about real events not fantasies. WMD is about quantities of material that as Kay said 'can be stored in a 2 door garage.' Vitally it is more about intent and planning to use such material as opposed to finding WalMarts full of such stock with bright pink neon signs saying 'WMD sold here, come and get it'. The main issue with WMD is not whether they existed or were going to be used, but what the intent of the regime was in regards to WMD. It is no secret, and there is no doubt, that the Iraqi's had intentions of building WMD chemicals and delivery systems, and had every intention once the UN sanctions were lifted and when UNSCOM left or as they were in 1998, kicked out, to use Oil revenues to rebuild their military and WMD capability. Many other posts outline why Hussein wanted this, including: -Hegemonic control over the region's oil -Ability to become the destabilising power in the region and thereby gain geo-political advantage -Strength to resist any future US led or UN led occupation of any part of Iraq -Become the Leader of the Arab world against Zion -Potentially launch an attack against Israel The odd part about Hussein's plan is that Iraq was bankrupt due to its 2 major wars. However as the corruption from the UN sanctions showed, Hussein and his inner circle, plus his supporters and investors from France and Russia, were still able to siphon off billions from oil contracts into personal and national accounts. Once the sanctions were lifted then the rise in oil revenues would allow Hussein to begin implementation of plans in train for various weapons systems. Based on history, his psychology and his raving speeches there is no doubt about this. This is basically the summary of the Kay report, plus the report concludes that WMD will be found at some point. To state that UNSCOM, Blix, Kay, Butler, Ritter and others who have reached the exact same conclusions through various paths or analyses are ALL lying, paid off, incompetent, stupid or blind is nonsense. Even Blix who is no friend of the USA wrote in his reports many times that Iraq never complied with UN resolutions, was in the process of making and hiding WMD and at the very least desired program reconstitution including a nuclear capability. But for the left wing facts should never interfere with the pleasure of their fantasies. In their compressed minds, Iraq and Hussein were 'stable', mudering 50.000 people per year is no big deal, starving children and women through a sham sanctions program is good, and making the US and Britain pay the costs of containment is noble, just so long as the Canadians don't need to have a military and don't need to become engaged in world affairs. After all no one will attack Canada.

It is quite obvious, though now the Liberal media is of course starting to defend Putalin [read today's Post], that Putalin and his KGB inner circle want to nationalise oil and resource extraction and set themselves up for the next election. Putalin's actions are the rashest, most severe and destabilising, with the largest potential impact on a reforming economy, that has been seen in Europe in 10 years.

Kay's report is very good. It does vindicate the concept that Hussein was engaged in the planning and use of WMD. It will take longer to find the agents than at first suspected. but it will happen. Kay's last report, cites numerous programs in place to produce various WMD. It does not state that a nuclear program was in place. But hell i don't expect any critics of US foreign policy to actually READ anything. Too much work. Easier just to yap. ..... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3160270.stm

I am sure 30 years from now Iraqi's will commemorate their freedom. They will play the US anthem at services in Baghdad and US dignitaries will stand side by side with Iraqi politicians as both countries celebrate a just liberation. Iraq will be, in 30 years, the most relevant, powerful and rich country in the Middle East. From its base in Iraq within 30 years the US will effectively have eliminated the terrorist elements that had threatened world stability. But such a 30 year ideal shocks the Left. They can't understand self defense and bypassing inactive and turgid UNO processes. According to the left winning a war, any war, is bad. War shows a shocking lack of respect for Islam, for diversity and for the post modern view that force should never be used even if you are attacked by a knife wielding freak. Better to die than to defend what made your country great. Hey that sounds like a good new slogan for the Canadian armed forces. I will copyright that. ©

According to the APs of the world, there are no threats, the world is stable, freedom is the natural state of affairs, evil does not exist, and states do not have to protect themselves or their borders. This ignores the entire history of mankind but let's not get hung up on details shall we. He states that Israel spends only $13.5 B on defence, which is 8 % of GDP - a greater share than the US. One must compare military spend with the size of the economy not in total $. This type of lame brain thinking permeates such soft headed ideals such as Kyoto, which compares Canada to Belgium and ignoring population density, geographic size, transportation requirements and energy usage patterns, decides that those wonderful democratic Belgians, when not busy eating chocolate, guzzling beer, and yelling at each other in Flemish and French, are better enviro citizens than Canadians. Nonsense. Per capita and relation to GDP are the vital factors. Canada underspends dramatically on its military. We need to spend at least $20 billion more annually to protect our borders, the oceans, the arctic and project international relevance. Canadians like Sampson get beaten in Saudi jails and what does Canada do ? Basically squat. Nothing but diplomatic mumbo jumbo. A Canadian gets killed in Iran, what does Canada do ? Registers its outrage. Big deal. Registering some guns in their direction would be more effective. Wake up. Anarchy is the nature of the world order. Freedom needs to be defended. We are in an important change in geo-political affairs. Participation is necessary not standing around scratching oneself.

The only conspiracy i see in life is the left liberal politically correct, soft power, post modern traveling circus. This festival directly attempts to line the pockets of the raving media, lawyers, elitists and politicians who covet more tax money, more spend, and more interest group support. Nations defending themselves, people keeping the money they earn and systems that function well which are not bankrupt are ignored and deemed immoral. Funny that we fought 3 world wars to erect socialism in our own land. As for the Jewish case, give me a break. In Europe pograms against Jews were easy to instigate since the Jews were one of the few groups to engage in trade, mercantile development and industry as well as banking. While the elite of Europe chewed their chocolates and were masks at balls, the Jews got busy working. As they were also in most locales the tax collectors. Pretty easy to hate those guys, especially when most European empires were taxing literally, everything that moved. Like i stated before, i know plenty of poor Jews. Go to a UJA meeting in Toronto or elsewhere and ask the people there what % of Jews in Toronto are considered badly off as a % of the total Jewish population. The number i heard is about 40 %. UJA raises millions here to help these people out. Yes some Jews are big in banking, business etc. but so are some Indians, some Croats, some Frenchies, some Anglos and some Blacks. Big deal get over it.

RT good post and well stated. I don't buy the myth that the past treaties were frauds, performed at gunpoint or foisted on indians drunk with rum. Even if true i would say so what. This great liberal myth to atone for past deeds leads to a circle of endless blame and financial claims. I am English by blood. I should sue the Italians, the Danes, the Germans, the Normans, the Scots, and those nasty Dutch for 'crimes' against my people in my homeland. After all England was invaded by these tribes and some horrific scenes took place. The greatest deal of all time was for Manhattan. The British bought it for about $6 K in today's money from the Dutch. Should Holland now sue the US claiming that undue force, trickery and alcohol were at work and claim that 'they were there first.'? Nonsense. France could sue the US over the Louisiana Purchase since the total value of that treaty was abymysally low and the US negotiators 'forced' France with the use of military conquest to accede to some sort of deal or else the US would just unleash its citizens on said territory. Napoleon busy raping Europe for his family's benefit and faced with a broke Treasury made a deal. Ditto for Russia over Alaska. They paid a paltry sum compared to its true value. But the Romanovs busy with centralisation and the Turks had other things on their mind. Ditto for Indian tribes who were given trinkets and guns in exchange for land. The massive transfer of billions which are largely wasted and which attempts to create a separate society that does not assimilate itself into the modern world, is a tragedy of massive proportions. To quote from above Dismantle it.