There is something that needs to be understood by people afraid of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL): It is neither a state nor a country. It is an Internet and public relations savvy band of brigands and thieves feasting off the current civil war in Syria and the turmoil in leaderless Iraq. They are neither disciplined troops nor well commanded. Maybe Iraq asked Canada for help against the brigands but only a fool would get involved in the fighting in Syria when you have no side to support.
It is amazing how the Middle East always has handy heroes for the followers of the Prophet. From the mysterious Saladin of the Crusades to the Mahdi of the Sudan to Bin Laden of al Qaeda and now al-Baghadi, the false Caliph of ISIL, they raise the rabble and feed off of the Europeans and their progeny who so rashly challenge them.
Why should we follow fools to destruction? The British have 200 years of experience of providing army rations to the Afghans. And yet nobody has ever been smart enough to destroy their opium poppies. All the time Canada was in Afghanistan, we were fighting the Taliban’s recruits from the madrasas (religious schools) of Pakistan to protect Afghanistan for its opium overlords..
Canada has no purpose to send armed personnel to the Middle East. There is no peace keeping to do there at the moment. There is much humanitarian aid needed—if we could just get the aid to the right people.
We should ask proponents of war with ISIL what they think we will accomplish. Does name calling by ill-informed, immature jihadists demand revenge? Does the cavorting of a few mentally ill Canadians demand the extremism of Harper’s Bill C-51? Is the purpose of the government to control our lives because of the bogeymen of their imagination?
What it comes down to is that for Canada to send its fighter aircraft to Syria is sending our pilots to their death. There are sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles available in Syria ready for their incursion. Who is there in that country who can rescue them, if they manage to survive a missile hit?
There can be no support for Mr. Harper in this foolhardy venture. Mr. Mulcair and Mr. Trudeau have to travel their own paths but neither could pull their party behind them in support of the harm Mr. Harper is doing to our country.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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