Canada loses its innocence
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Yesterday the real threat of acts of terrorism on Canadian soil was narrowly averted, thanks to an exhaustive investigation by the RCMP and CSIS.
17 men were arrested for making preparations for a major bomb attack against Canadian institutions. Major like three times the explosive force of the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.
There are links everywhere about this very major news but here are two of interest: the 'story in pictures' from the Toronto Star, and the Wikinews article are both excellent.
I have been pretty vocal about my feelings of the so called American war on terror; I think its nothing but a smokescreen to make some rich oil barons and military contractors richer.
That statement is not in the slightest to belittle the events of Sept 11, which horrified all Canadians including myself, as much as it did our American neighbours.
But what does belittle the tragedy of that day is a president who uses the public's shock and outrage over that horrific event to justify an illegal war that has now lost all credibility in the face of the man's repeated lies.
And to compound that offense, American citizens have been bamboozled into giving up many of the rights that make that country so great as barter for a greater feeling of security. I ask you America, do you feel a hell of a lot safer now that that bargain has been struck?
I recently had a conversation with a coworker about my feelings on the Iraq and Afghan wars and it occurred to me that most Canadians really aren't very well informed as to how far the American politicians have gone to erode the freedoms of their citizens as justification for defending against terrorist threats. I can only hope that that ignorance does not come back to bite us in the ass as we deal with the now very real threat that exists to our nation's security.
Because now it can finally hit home for Canadians that even we are not safe from attacks of terrorism.
And I can only hope that cooler heads will prevail in the face of this news. In light of what has been happening to those same southern neighbours lately, I for one am not the least bit interested in my government taking away my rights as an excuse to defend against threats like these.
I have read 1984 and I have no desire to live in that world, nor do I want that for my daughter.
Hopefully all Canadians can be grateful that our law enforcement was able to avert this disaster and understand that it is so important that we resist the impulse to hand over our rights in exchange for more security.
Because if we become terrified, hasn't the objective of terrorism been realized?
17 men were arrested for making preparations for a major bomb attack against Canadian institutions. Major like three times the explosive force of the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.
There are links everywhere about this very major news but here are two of interest: the 'story in pictures' from the Toronto Star, and the Wikinews article are both excellent.
I have been pretty vocal about my feelings of the so called American war on terror; I think its nothing but a smokescreen to make some rich oil barons and military contractors richer.
That statement is not in the slightest to belittle the events of Sept 11, which horrified all Canadians including myself, as much as it did our American neighbours.
But what does belittle the tragedy of that day is a president who uses the public's shock and outrage over that horrific event to justify an illegal war that has now lost all credibility in the face of the man's repeated lies.
And to compound that offense, American citizens have been bamboozled into giving up many of the rights that make that country so great as barter for a greater feeling of security. I ask you America, do you feel a hell of a lot safer now that that bargain has been struck?
I recently had a conversation with a coworker about my feelings on the Iraq and Afghan wars and it occurred to me that most Canadians really aren't very well informed as to how far the American politicians have gone to erode the freedoms of their citizens as justification for defending against terrorist threats. I can only hope that that ignorance does not come back to bite us in the ass as we deal with the now very real threat that exists to our nation's security.
Because now it can finally hit home for Canadians that even we are not safe from attacks of terrorism.
And I can only hope that cooler heads will prevail in the face of this news. In light of what has been happening to those same southern neighbours lately, I for one am not the least bit interested in my government taking away my rights as an excuse to defend against threats like these.
I have read 1984 and I have no desire to live in that world, nor do I want that for my daughter.
Hopefully all Canadians can be grateful that our law enforcement was able to avert this disaster and understand that it is so important that we resist the impulse to hand over our rights in exchange for more security.
Because if we become terrified, hasn't the objective of terrorism been realized?
Labels: politics
posted by raistlinsghost at 6/04/2006 01:50:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home