Wednesday, December 22, 2004

The Prime Minister is a Tool

In his reach for respectability Moammar Gadhafi used Canada's Prime Minister Paul Martin like a tool, Sunday. I know what you're thinking. Paul Martin is a tool anyway, so what's the big deal?

What I want to know is, Is he an unwitting tool? Or not?

What the hell is it that prompts Canada's governing Liberal Party Politicians to repeatedly and incessantly cozy up to despots and dictators? Just off the top of my head, I recall that over the last 30 years they've cozied up to Communist China, the Soviet Union, Vietnam, Fidel Castro, and Prime-Minister-for-Life Suharto of Indonesia.

The Canadian Press reports that the Prime Minister met Sunday with Moammar Gadhafi in Tripoli. The two reportedly discussed the potential for increased trade opportunities and human rights abuses. This is a big deal for Gadhafi, who last year publicly renounced support for terrorism and reportedly ended his quest for weapons of mass destruction after watching American-led coalitions roll through Saddam Hussein's and the Taliban's sandboxes.

Libya should be welcomed back into the community of nations ...warily. And Moammar Gadhafi, who has said before he doesn't really rule Libya, should turn over his effective leadership to a successor. Don't harbour any illusions that anyone he choses would be innocent in Libya's past transgressions, but at least it would smell better.

Good job Paul. You've just poked our neighbors and 2 closest allies in the eye again. Thank God Canada has such a low profile on the average British subject's or American citizen's horizon. My first reaction to the news story was anger. Gadhafi reportedly sheltered Abu Nidal, and by paying nearly 3 billion dollars in compensation to the families of the victims of Pan Am flight 103, admitted his country's culpability. I'm glad he recanted. But if Canada's Prime Minister thinks that makes everything okay, then no wonder Canada has a penile system instead of a penal one.

No comments: