Stephen Harper at the United Nations
The Sixty-first Session of the United Nations
General Assembly opened at UN Headquarters in New York on September 19. It
began with a general debate initiated by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and followed with
speeches by the heads of state and government of the member countries. Prime
Minister Stephen Harper addressed the General Assembly on September 21 and used
the occasion to pat himself and his government on the back for Canada's participation
in the ongoing U.S. and NATO aggression against Afghanistan.
Harper portrayed Canada's role in Afghanistan
as just, honourable and consistent with high ideals.
One of his arguments to support this contention was that the UN Security
Council has given its blessing to the U.S.-led "Operation Enduring
Freedom" and the NATO-led "International Security Assistance
Force". He said: "All our actions in Afghanistan - civilian and
military - are being taken in accordance with the mandate of the United Nations
Security Council." But what does this prove? The UN Security Council
"mandate" only proves that the five permanent members of the Security
Council have agreed to carve up Afghanistan. In a more general way it also
proves that the imperialist doctrine of "might makes right" still
prevails in relations among states. This is a far cry from justice, honour and high ideals.
Furthermore, it is even far-fetched to state
that Canada has a mandate. The United States, Britain and NATO acted unilaterally
when they invaded Afghanistan. Later they had their actions rubber-stamped by
the UN Security Council. This did nothing to change the fact that these
countries invaded and occupied a sovereign state and overthrew its government
contrary to the letter and spirit of the UN Charter.
In his speech Stephen Harper also justified
Canada's presence in Afghanistan on the grounds that the Taliban regime was
promoting terrorism. He quoted from UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan who said that terrorism "is a direct
attack on the core values the United Nations stand for: the rule of law, the
protection of civilians, mutual respect between people of different faiths and
cultures, and peaceful resolution of conflict." It is a fact that the
Taliban government refused all requests to extradite Osama bin Laden to the
United States or a third country. However, this is not grounds for launching a
military attack on another country. If that were the criterion then every country
in Latin America would have legal grounds to launch a military attack against
the United States for training, financing and equipping "death
squads" and facilitating other terrorist activities in their countries.
In addition, if Mr. Harper subscribes to Kofi Annan's definition of
terrorism, then he should have joined the representatives of Iran, Venezuela
and Cuba in denouncing the United States of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and
Donald Rumsfeld who have shown themselves in utter
contempt of the rule of law, civil rights, the rights of people of different
faiths and cultures, and the peaceful resolution of international conflicts.
But Stephen Harper did not do this. Rather, he simplt
parroted the empty rhetoric of George W. Bush about defending "freedom,
democracy, human rights, and the rule of law".
Prime MInister
Harper also told the General Assembly that "Canadians feel tremendous
pride" in Canada's role in Afghanistan, despite the fact that all of the
public opinion polls in Canada tell a different story. He concluded his speech
by stating that the "challenge" in Afghanistan is one of "peace-building
in a nation where there is not yet peace". This is spin-doctoring of the
first order. In plain language, what is happening in Afghanistan is that the
U.S. and the NATO countries, including Canada, are waging war against a
sovereign nation and they have not been able to eliminate the resistance there.
Nor are they likely to succeed in doing so in the future, as the Soviet Union
found out not so many years ago.