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Canada�s Role on the Global Stage

by Jeremy Wright

Open Letter to Prime Minister Jean Chr�tien,

House of Commons, Parliament Hill,

Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

February 12, 2003

Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing to you as a long-standing �Pearsonian� Liberal, to express my deepest concerns about the worsening Middle East crisis, the legality of a US led invasion of Iraq, and Canadian participation.

It is no secret that members of the US Cabinet are deeply connected to Multinational Oil interests; (e.g. Bush Senior, The Carlyle Group; Bush Jr, Harken Oil; Dick Cheney, Haliburton Oil; Donald Evans, Colorado Oil; Kalil, UNOCAL; Condoleeza Rice, Chevron)

It is no secret that Al Qaida has been actively fostered by the CIA, beginning at the time of the Soviet-Afghan War. It is no secret that the world was presented with instant perpetrators within hours of the attack on the Trade Towers.

It is no secret that Hamid Karsai, the new President of Afghanistan installed by the US, was a former employee of UNOCAL � which has a major interest in the Afghan pipeline and the some US$ 5 trillion of Caspian hydro-carbon reserves.

Now, the world has discovered that Blair's so called intelligence reports on Iraq were cribbed from a graduate student's paper and edited to appear inflammatory. Such behaviour would be usual grounds for instant dismissal from any academic institution of even moderate repute.

I note other recent reports from the UK that Tony Blair has specifically stated before a meeting of the Liaison Committee of the UK Parliament that there is no known connection between Iraq and Al Qaida.

I further note the UK Guardian reports Hans Blix has rejected the key elements of Mr. Powell's presentation to the UN:

�In a series of leaks or previews, the state department has said Mr Powell will allege that Iraq moved mobile biological weapons laboratories ahead of an inspection. Dr Blix said he had already inspected two alleged mobile labs and found nothing: "Two food-testing trucks have been inspected and nothing has been found."

The relentless US propaganda and media hype that this is all about a war on terrorism and pre-emptive strikes against Iraqi weapons of mass destruction are becoming less credible by the day. Rather, the constant manufacturing of foreign threats and unsubstantiated evidence is becoming more and more reminiscent both of George Orwell and of the tactics used during the rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

As Nelson Mandela has commented, "It's all about Oil"; or more specifically, about the US control of Middle East oil reserves.

Given these circumstances and �oil-igopoly� motivations, any military invasion of Iraq would appear under international law to constitute a 'Crime against the Peace'. The wanton destruction of cities and towns or the exposure of civilians to nuclear radiation of any intensity would constitute both 'War Crimes' and 'Crimes against Humanity'.

As you know, these are specifically set out in the Nuremberg Charter.

�Principle VI The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law:

(a) Crimes against peace: (i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;

(ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i).

(b) War crimes: Violations of the laws or customs of war include, but are not limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave-labour or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war, of persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity.

(c) Crimes against humanity: Murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhuman acts done against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, when such acts are done or such persecutions are carried on in execution of or in connexion with any crime against peace or any war crime.�

The Nuremberg Charter is specific under Principles I, III and IV in determining liability:

�Principle I Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefor and liable to punishment.

�Principle III The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible Government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law.

�Principle IV The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.�

This, therefore, is to urge you and your Cabinet to:

� withdraw any Canadian support for, and participation in any military action against Iraq;

� object to further US militarisation of the Middle East under the US Senate's "Silk Road Strategy";

and

� return to the values, policies and practices of Canada's peacekeeping role in the world under Lester B. Pearson.

I am sure that, under your leadership, Canada can once again become a major global voice of moral principle, compassion, reason and sanity, and that we as Canadians will be able, once again, to hold our heads high on the Global stage as a free and independent nation.

Yours sincerely,

Jeremy Wright

Jeremy Wright, M.A. Oxon 

Email [email protected]

 Copyright   Jeremy Wright 2003.  For fair use only/ pour usage �quitable seulement .

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