An Introduction
This is the first of a series of periodic columns I intend to write reflecting on current affairs, politics in Canada and abroad, and other topical events as the spirit moves.
The name of the column, "For What It's Worth", is inspired by the huge hit from the 1960s pop group Buffalo Springfield. A near anthem of the Vietnam war protesters, it's better remembered as "Stop, Children, What's That Sound".
The final stanza and chorus is especially chilling in light of the polarized, partisanized, zealotrous "You're either for me or against me" political times we are living in.
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
It's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down ....
The War
US President George W Bush is not the only one engaged in the politics of extremism (British Prime Minister Tony Blair is ever at his side or his feet) but certainly the Bush administration and its intense desire to go to war at this time is a core example of my oft-repeated claim that we are living in a Dark Age. Like lobsters in cold water on the burner, the heat has been turned up without us noticing it and it may well already be too late to avert disaster. If, somehow, war does not begin in the Persian Gulf the relief around the world will only be outflanked by a supreme sense of surprise.
It's been quite a week, Feb 23 to Mar 1. With the drums of war beating ever more ominously, on Monday Britain floated a joint US-UK draft UN Security Council resolution to follow-up on November 2002's Resolution 1441 which demanded that Iraq disarm immediately. This action was met by intense resistance led by France, with Germany and Russia (and sometimes China) in tow, who floated their own joint draft resolution calling for more time for the inspectors to inspect. In our world of spin, the Bush administration contemptuously referred to this as "more time for Saddam Hussein" and set about to try to persuade several smaller non-permanent members of the Security Council to come on board with the US side. US envoys travelled far and wide carrying a big stick and a bag of goodies full of cash and trade promises.
In a bizarre twist, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, on his way to spend a few days on a state visit to Mexico, noted in the Ottawa House of Commons that Canada was engaged in "hallway diplomacy" (Canada is not currently a member of the Security Council and thus has no official voice there) suggesting the inspectors be given to the end of March before declaring war on the Iraqi regime. From the land of unending compromise and moderation, where our country's constitution has an opt-out clause, this was an attempt to find middle ground between the two opposing factions in the Security Council and was only taken seriously by one or two smaller members looking desperately for some face-saving out knowing their vote could have perilous long-term consequences at home depending on the vindictiveness of future US policy.
Senior Bush spokesmen politely told Canada to stuff it and mind its own business; reaction from Europe was muted (except of course from Britain where Sir Jeremy Greenstock, UK Ambassador to the UN, agreed with the US). Given the Prime Minister's own frequent flip flops on the proposed Iraq war, and the disarray in his cabinet and caucus regarding pro- and anti-American views, Chrétien's right-thinking dressing down of President Bush late Friday -- reminding us from a Mexico photo op that Resolution 1441 says nothing whatsoever about authorizing "regime change" in Iraq -- got lost internationally.
How appropriate given how lost Canada is on the world stage.
The Helicopters
At home, we think of ourselves as the noble peacekeepers; abroad we are virtually invisible in the world press. That isn't necessarily a bad thing given the embarrassment of the crash on Thursday of a Sea King helicopter aboard one of Canada's four destroyers, the HMCS Iroquois. Only days earlier, the House of Commons was in an uproar when Canada was put in charge of a fleet of up to 20 tactical navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. After being snubbed repeatedly by the US military and most top political leaders, this was something of a coup placing Canadian Commodore Roger Girouard in charge. After the Commodore phoned home, orders were approved to send the Iroquois to the Gulf -- by all accounts a reasonably well-equipped vessel -- which our man Girouard would use as his command and control headquarters.
(In an atmosphere of unrelenting double-speak, this whole operation was still referred to as a mission supporting sanctions against Iraq, not as a prelude to war. And sometimes it is referred to as part of Operation Apollo (quoting the Department of National Defense, OA is "Canada's military contribution to the international campaign against terrorism"); Afghanistan is mentioned in the mission statement but Iraq is not. But, no, say both Defense Minister John McCallum and our leader Chrétien, this deployment has nothing whatsoever to do with war. Being in the midst of 200,000+ troops from the US, the UK and Australia is, presumably, a charming co-incidence. And while Canada calls it Operation Apollo, the ships being led and assisted by Girouard are taking part in the US-named Operation Enduring Freedom.)
(By whatever name this operation is called, our Commodore states his mission includes intercepting boats, escorting allied vessels and may be called on to protect U.S. hospital ships. That includes the USS Comfort, a floating 1000-bed hospital currently at the US base in the British Island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. This week the US confirmed the ship is now fully staffed and prepared to deal with the effects of chemical and biological attacks. As the crow flies, a hospital in London is closer than this naval facility is to the Strait of Hormuz. So just how much cover the Canadian destroyer Iroquois can provide is questionable. Then again, the Iroquois at this time remains in Halifax.)
Bad luck exposed yet again the smoke-and-mirrors state of the Canadian military when, after a scramble to find even one working Sea King helicopter (the Iroquois has a maximum capacity of two), and three days out to sea from Halifax on a routine training mission, the helicopter's engines failed on takeoff sending the crew and Canada's prestige hurtling downward. This Sea King was manufactured in 1964 -- around the time Lester Pearson was having daily parliamentary debates with John Diefenbaker -- and is one of 29 such craft (make that 28 as of Thursday) the Canadian Navy operates in conjunction with the Air Force. A total of 41 were originally purchased.
Upon returning to the Shearwater docks near Halifax, the wreckage of the Talon 401, the oldest of the surviving Sea Kings, was dramatic. The Toronto Star put it this way:
"The battered helicopter looked like the oversized toy of a child who plays too rough. Lashed to the starboard side of the flight deck, [it] lay on its side, its rear tail rotor ripped off, a satellite system torn open and one of its front windows smashed. Next to it, the right wheel assembly was lying detached. The metal cowling covering the right engine had been torn off, exposing the jet engine to the elements."
It is sobering to reflect that in the scramble to re-send the Iroquois on its mission, the destroyer does not have its own two helicopters permanently assigned, and that the late Talon 401, borrowed from the one of the seven frigates operating out of Canada's east coast, was probably in the best shape possible. Yet when spare parts, masquarading as helicopters, make up the Canadian Sea King fleet, is it any wonder this one was not able to remain airborne due to chronic engine failure? It really didn't provide much comfort to hear the two engines were brand new with less than 60 flying hours each. (The 40th Air Squadron of the Belgian Air Force, operating Sea Kings with more than 20 years of service, and almost 34000 hours, reports not a single Sea King has been lost.) Presumably now that the Iroquois is back in port, and the ship's deck is being repaired, the second best helicopter in the east coast fleet will be pressed into service.
There were suggestions for a time that the frigate HMCS Fredericton should set sail for Girouard to command from (there was no word on the whereabouts or availability of the only other east coast destroyer, HMCS Athabaskan). But that might be just a tad embarrassing. At least the Fredericton was built in the mid-1990s; the Iroquois dates from 1970 -- a few years younger than the doomed helicopter. And unlike at the onset of the 1991 Gulf War, guns from a Maritime War Museum were not retrieved and installed on the Iroquois this time; it has since been retrofitted with more modern hardware. In any case, Commodore Girouard is currently aboard a similar frigate, the HMCS Montreal, which has been in the Gulf for some time.
At this point, President Bush, his cronies Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell are no longer rolling their eyes at this latest Canadian military fiasco. In fact, they probably aren't paying any attention at all.
It will be interesting to see if Bush makes his planned state visit to Canada in early May. It will be the first such state visit since 1995. Given the animosity between Chrétien (who repeatedly excuses his erratic behaviour with a Nixonian sounding "You won't have me to kick around anymore" mantra) and the Bush administration, almost any excuse will probably be used to delay the trip. When Prime Minister Aznar of Spain visited the US last month, the two leaders spent time on the Bush family's Texas ranch. When Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham is in Washington, his counterpart, Colin Powell, doesn't even stop for lunch.
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