I've been meaning to get around to this for a couple days now. I said earlier in the week that I'd put up my response to the following letter from Alexa McDonough, the NDP's foreign affairs critic, published in Wednesday's National Post:
Harper’s done more damage than Nash
Re: No Sympathy For Hezbollah, letter to the editor, Aug. 22; Take
Hezbollah Off List, Aug. 21.
These letters and your article claim that New Democrat MP Peggy Nash, currently on a multi-party fact-finding mission to the Middle East, advocated removal of Hezbollah from Canada’s list of terrorist organizations.
She did no such thing.
The NDP chose to participate in this fact-finding mission to assess the type of assistance Canada should provide to alleviate the suffering of the Lebanese people. Peggy also hopes to encourage all state and non-state actors in the region to engage in the comprehensive peace process, which she and the NDP have consistently advocated is the only route to lasting peace in this conflict.
Recklessly, Stephen Harper has tainted Canada’s reputation,
damaging Canada’s credibility as an honest broker in this immensely complex regional conflict. And tragically, by parroting George Bush, he has also jeopardized any participation by Canada in the UN mission in the region.
Alexa McDonough, NDP Foreign Affairs and International Development Critic, Halifax.
And here it is:
Alexa McDonough's letter defending her colleague Peggy Nash's position on Hezbollah (Aug. 23) hits all the NDP buzzwords: "parroting George Bush,"Canada's supposed "honest broker" role in the Middle East, and of course the"reckless" nature of Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.
What it doesn't do is state that Hezbollah is, and deserves to remain classified as, a terrorist organization. Instead Ms. McDonough adopts a morally-bankrupt stance that Hezbollah is a "non-state actor" that can somehow be a contributor to peace in the region. An organization whose objectives are the eradication of Israel, with a leader who has stated that "Death to America was, is, and will stay our slogan" can never be a partner for a lasting peace. What is "just not helpful," to use Ms. Nash's turn of phrase, is to have Canadian politicians go wobbly vis-a-vis terrorist organizations that happen to do social work as a side project to gain financial and emotional support for their terrorist activities.
2 comments:
I agree - it's morally bankrupt to call Hezbollah a "non-state actor". She should be vilified for that. Just because you've killed some people and created some social programs doesn't get you a seat at the table - she's on crack.
I'm getting so tired of people saying, "honest broker". It sounds like a used car insurance salesman. Who's the parrot now, Alexa?
It really is taking on that kind of a feel, isn't it? And really, how honest are we being when we put a democratic state and a banned terrorist organization on the same level and say that we can broker a deal between them? It rings of "ear candy" politics: saying nice things that people like to hear without actually saying anything of real significance.
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