Missile Defence Shield

Canada has always renounced weapons of mass destruction, but the government's consideration of participation in the missile defense scheme risks turning this country into a silent partner in the legitimization of their existence in any nation's arsenal. Weapons of mass destruction have no place on a civilized planet, and as a nation with an honourable record of peace keeping and promotion of the elimination of land mines, an initiative rejected by the U.S., Canada should be in the forefront of an international campaign by all non-nuclear nations to ban the possession of nuclear weapons by any country forever. The excuse given by nuclear powers to declare war to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons is extremely hypocritical, as their belligerence in this regard has been directed only at nations of insignificant size and strength. It should also be remembered that the U.S., the only country ever to use these weapons, rejected a proposal from Mr. Gorbachev at the end of the cold war, to eliminate all nuclear stockpiles. Mr. Bush's claim that the proposed defense system is designed to protect North America from missile attacks by rogue states supporting terrorism is not sustainable in the light of reason. No such state possesses the delivery systems necessary for such a threat, and with satellite surveillance rendering every part of the planet open to inspection it is unlikely in the extreme that such systems could be built covertly, and could thus be subject to destruction by international sanction before becoming operational. It has been also been correctly pointed out by many military analysts, that the proposed defense system would be useless against attack by any nation capable of deploying multiple warheads. The government has insisted that it will reject participation if space vehicles are to be equipped with weapons. Only a few months ago the U.S.A.F. announced that it was a developing laser weapon satellite system. Such an initiative could easily trigger another arms race between the larger powers and would further reduce the possibility of future world peace. Once such systems are in space, how long will it be before lasers are augmented with atomic weapons? This fact alone should be sufficient evidence for the government to shun the idea. Mr. Bush has made it quite clear that he will maintain unilateral pre-emptive first strike option against any nation, which he decides poses a perceived threat to the U.S. Mr. Bush's loose interpretation of threat has been horrifically exposed in Iraq, where an estimated 100,000 Iraquis have been killed and a new generation of terrorists spawned since Mr. Bush launched his crusade to find non existent weapons of mass destruction in a country, which had not a shred of responsibility for 9/11. If Canada further integrates its defense policies with the U.S. by participating in the anti-missile program it will be a tacit acquiescence of Mr. Bush's disastrous foreign policies and as such Canada will be effectively tied to the U.S. chariot wheels. We will have turned the clock back three quarters of a century to a time when unilateral power politics ruled the day and we will render pointless the millions of casualties of all Allied nations, including those of the U.S., which my generation suffered to develop a better, more humane world. The U.S. is not the world's policeman; that is the sole prerogative of the U.N. If we lose sight of that fact, the world will be rushing towards Armageddon, with every city a potential Hiroshima. I therefore call on our federal politicians to reject missile defence and begin to work actively for an international treaty banning nuclear weapons. I am certain that Germany, Japan, South Africa, Brazil, Indonesia and Australia, to name but a few, would be willing participants. New Zealand has had legislation banning ships containing nuclear armaments from its territorial waters for many years. The government should also abandon its plan to send Canadian citizens to Iraqi train police personnel, until the re-establishment of order is placed unconditionally in the hands of the U.N. To do otherwise would be to put Canadian citizens unnecessarily in jeopardy in order to give credence to the U.S. invasion. If these policies are adopted, Canada and the rest of the world will be forever in the government's debt and Mr. Martin will be remembered as a statesman rather than as another pedestrian politician more concerned about hypothetical trade imbalances than the safety and ultimate survival of this and future generations. If the government cannot bring itself to do this, then it should at least give all Canadians their fundamental democratic right to decide what sort of world they wish to leave to their children, and call a referendum. Written By Bill Fisher