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Subject: Canada: Silent Partner in Iraq War - Beyond
CPP WAR investments
To: overcoat@rogers.com
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Many Canadians were dismayed to recently learn that
the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is investing our retirement
savings in manufacturers of dozens of world's deadliest
conventional weapons, and their delivery systems.
The resulting Canadian complicity in the current war
against Iraq, is seen by many as directly contradicting
our government's supposed, long-standing tradition as a
global peacemaker and Chretien's apparent decision to
boycott the latest illegal, U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Unfortunately, forcing Canadians to invest in
businesses that profit from war is not an aberration in
Canadian policy, it is completely consistent our Canadian
tradition. Canada has been a silent partner in U.S. wars
for many decades. The most recent invasion and occupation
of Iraq is no acception. The myth of Canada the global
peacemaker looms large over our collective self-image. It
is how we see ourselves and the role of our country in the
world, but it is largely delusory. In order to make this
worthy dream an actual reality, Canadians will have to
face the ugly fact that we are very deeply complicit in
the U.S. war machine.
The following article is from "Embedded
Complicity: Canada, Playing our Part in the Business of
War," Press for Conversion!, issue #52. Published by the
Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT):
Canada: A Silent Partner in the Iraq War of 2003
By Richard Sanders, Editor, Press for Conversion! and
Coordinator, COAT.
The Canadian government’s pretense that it did not
support the latest Iraq war was repeated ad nauseum by the
mainstream media. The ugly reality, however, is that
Canada ranked third on the list of nations supporting the
U.S. just behind Britain and Australia. Many other
governments, though contributing only a tiny fraction of
what Canada did, were at least honest enough to admit
their involvement. Canada’s government was silent about
its role in aiding and abetting this illegal war. It was
unwilling to be declared a member of the “Coalition of the
Willing,” preferring hypocritically to act as if it
had taken a principled stand against the war. Amazingly,
the Liberal government’s public relations experts once
again skilfully managed to maintain their party’s popular,
but illusory, public image of a global peace-mongerer
while simultaneously engaging in many blatant acts of
complicity in this latest war:
• Leading the Coalition’s Navy:
Canada led the multinational naval taskforce in the
Persian Gulf. Some 1,300 Canadian troops, aboard
state-of-the-art, multi-billion-dollar Canadian warships,
rallied to protect U.S. aircraft carriers so they could
“safely” position themselves to launch air strikes against
Iraq.
• Coordinating Air Battles:
Canadian military personnel aboard E-3 AWACs aircraft
helped to direct the war. E-3 aircraft are mobile nerve
centres of modern air war. Canadian crews helped
coordinate and manage air battles, and filled command,
weapons control and communications roles.
• Providing War Planners:
Canadian war planners worked among the war strategists at
U.S. Central Command (CentCom) headquarters at McDill Air
Force Base, Florida. At least two dozen of these Canadian
war strategists moved with CentCom when it relocated to
the Persian Gulf, just before the war.
• Providing Military Transport Planes:
At least three Canadian CC-130 military transport planes
were listed by the U.S. military as having helped to
supply coalition forces during the war.
• Parts and Services for Major Weapons:
At least 100 Canadian corporations contributed components
and/or services for at least 35 of the major weapon
systems that were used in the latest Iraq war.
Index listing Canadian corporations and the major weapons
delivery systems that they provided with components &/or
services:
Links to data on 33 major weapons delivery systems used in
current Iraq war, with Canadian components &/or services
In 2002 alone, Canadian contractors sold about US$440
million worth of military equipment to the U.S. The vast
majority of this hardware was used in the Iraq war.
Canada: Top U.S. Supplier of Major Weapons in 2002
Canada's Exports of Light Armoured Vehicles to the U.S.,
1994-2002
Canadian Corporations Selling Parts to the U.S. Military,
2001-2002
• Welcoming U.S. War Planes:
U.S. warplanes have Canadian government permission to:
(1) fly through Canadian airspace to and from the war,
(2) stop over for refuelling in Newfoundland and PEI,
(3) “perform” at Canadian “air shows” to provide
“entertainment” for children of all ages, and
(4) conduct low-level, training and bombing exercises
through seven “flight corridors” in Canada.
By providing extra troops for the U.S.-led war in
Afghanistan, Canada freed up U.S. troops for the Iraq war.
On numerous occasions, Canadian government officials gave
diplomatic support for the war. For instance, Prime
Minister Chrétien said that the U.S. had a “right” to go
to war with Iraq, and that Canadians should not question
the war because this gives comfort to Saddam Hussein.
• Military Testing:
(1) Two types of cruise missiles (AGM-86 and AGM-129) were
tested in Canada, 1983-1994.
(2) The RQ-4A “Global Hawk” surveillance drone flew test
flights over Alberta and BC in 2000.
Source: "Operation Embedded Complicity: Canada, Playing
our Part in the Business of War," Press for Conversion!,
issue #52. Published by the Coalition to Oppose the Arms
Trade (COAT).
To order a hard copy of this 52-page report:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
(A network of individuals and NGOs across Canada and
around the world)
Order back issues of our magazine, Press for Conversion!:
Issue #51: May 2003: "The U.S. Role in Wars and Regime
Changes in the Middle East and North Africa since World
War II"
Issue #50: January 2003: "Going to War: The American use
of War Pretext Incidents" (1846-2003)
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