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Caledon Citizen https://caledoncitizen.com/national-affairs-by-claire-hoy-on-the-right-side-of-history/ Export date: Fri Nov 22 19:37:41 2024 / +0000 GMT |
National Affairs by Claire Hoy — On the right side of historyAs French police had all those terrorist thugs surrounded last week at two separate locations, I was thinking, perhaps unkindly, they should send Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair in just to talk things over with them. And, while they were reasoning with these killers, they could perhaps offer a basket of fruit or fresh blankets as a token of their apparent belief that sweetness and hugs, i.e. appeasement, will win this battle as opposed to Prime Minister Harper's preferred route of hitting back with force. You'll recall the late Jack Layton's Hallmark-worthy deathbed letter declaring “hope is stronger than fear,” a sentiment which both Trudeau and Mulcair have often cited, and a philosophy which may indeed work in some circumstances but not – absolutely not – work when you're dealing with the current plaque of radical Islamic terrorists. In October, for example, when Harper committed Canadian CF-18 bombers to the fight against ISIS, both opposition leaders were calling for non-combat training as well as medical and humanitarian aid (things we were already doing there), as if these radical fundamentalists are actually interested in any of that. You'll recall Trudeau's grade-school level quip about “Rather than, you know, trying to whip out our CF-18s and show them how big they are,” a potent example of Trudeau's complete lack of gravitas, among other things. Trudeau also blasted Harper for his plans to strip Canadians with dual citizenship of their Canadian citizenship if they go overseas to fight with ISIS, complaining “That goes against the principle that has made Canada great – that a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.” He may be talking about that less these days with news that the French terrorists, French citizens that they were, did exactly that, flying abroad to Yemen and/or Syria for terrorist training before being allowed back into their “home” country to create murder and mayhem over a series of cartoons which insulted their faith. Some may remember the one-time British prime minister Neville Chamberlain who, regardless of everything else he accomplished in a long political career, is mostly remembered for coming back from signing a deal with Adolph Hitler and waving the document around declaring “Peace in our time.” Well, we all know how that turned out. You can play the appeasement card all you want, but some people aren't the least bit interested in appeasing you. Hitler was one. So too was Stalin. And the current crop of Islamic radicals fit right in there with their belief that if you don't subscribed absolutely to their view then you are the infidel and deserve death. Period. End of story. The reality of this should have awakened all Canadians when, late last year, there were two incidents of terrorists killing Canadian servicemen – one in Quebec, the other in Ottawa. The Liberals and the NDP – along with much of the mainstream media – have tended to pooh-pooh the notion that all of these attacks – including a more recent one in Australia – are simply “lone wolves” acting upon their own addled view of the world and really shouldn't be classified as “terrorism” the way Harper is doing. (It's become impossible to argue that in the Paris murders, since it is now clear that these thugs were acting directly under the aegis of Al Qaeda). Fact is, these terrible incidents are a direct result of the murderous propagandizing from radical Islamic clerics and military groups. It is true, absolutely, that the majority of Muslims are not part of this. But it is equally true that in our current climate, nearly all the ongoing terrorism flows from one branch or another of the same poisoned chalice. Even after Harper responded to the Paris massacre by declaring that these radical Islamists have “declared war” upon us, some critics accused him of overstating the issue. I mean, really. While it seems a tad crass to bring politics into it – and I'm not suggesting any of the three leaders involved here are simply playing raw politics on this issue – there is no doubt, given the ongoing terrorist attacks (and the reasonable expectation of more to come)) that Harper is on the right side of history when it comes time later this year for voters to head to the polls. There are, of course, many other issues on the table, some helping Harper, some hurting. But on this one, he's on the side of the angels. Or, as former U.S. President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same …: 
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Post date: 2015-01-19 18:18:23 Post date GMT: 2015-01-19 23:18:23 Post modified date: 2015-01-19 18:18:23 Post modified date GMT: 2015-01-19 23:18:23 |
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