Paul Martin's Plan to Save the Americans

Paul Martin's meeting with George Bush in Washington on April 29 was months in the making. Even before Martin was anointed leader of the Liberal Party last fall, plans for the trip were underway. A key aspect of Martin's campaign for the leadership of the Liberal Party was "repairing" the Canada-U.S. relationship, which was supposedly damaged by Canada's refusal to participate in the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The day before he met with Bush, Martin spoke to a gathering of Americans involved in foreign policy. He stressed repeatedly that Canada is America's strongest ally and has more troops deployed abroad than any other NATO partner after the U.S. He also stressed the measures taken by the Liberal government since September 11, 2001, including the introduction just a week earlier of the National Security Policy, which details the security measures taken by the Canadian state in the past three years, mainly at the behest of Americans. These measures, which have harmonized Canadian and American security systems and cost over $8 billion to implement, have included turning over information about thousands of Canadian citizens to American agencies, allowing the racial profiling and fingerprinting of Canadian citizens entering the U.S., providing the police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS) with far-reaching powers to spy on Canadians, compelling individuals to provide information to police or security services and allowing the state to prosecute individuals without disclosing the evidence against them.

On Iraq, Martin told the group that not participating in the U.S. coalition was the right decision for Canadians, but he also pledged that now that the war is over Canada is committed to assisting the "transition" to democracy in Iraq. In this regard, he pledged Canada's support in rebuilding Iraq and in involving the United Nations. According to media reports, he made the same promise to Bush during their discussions on security issues.

Prior to the invasion of Iraq, the Chretien government, in an attempt to save the Americans from themselves, lobbied heavily for a UN resolution as a prelude to any military action in Iraq. The Bush regime simply refused, proclaiming the UN was irrelevant. However, in the year since the invasion, things have not gone as the Americans had hoped. They have not been able to impose their rule on Iraqis and it now appears that a general resistance movement to the American occupation is emerging in almost every major city in Iraq. Graphic images of the inhuman abuses the American "liberators" have perpetrated against the Iraqi people will only serve to fuel this movement.

More than ever, the Americans now need the UN in order to create the illusion that their military occupation of Iraq is part of an initiative by the international community. However, they have long since burned any bridges with the permanent members of the Security Council. Enter Paul Martin, with a new plan to save the Americans; as Canada did not participate in the invasion, its credentials are impeccable to oversee the transition from an American-led occupying force on the ground in Iraq to a UN-led occupation force. Martin's comments in Washington make it very clear this is what his Liberal government will work towards.