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The Three Pillars

Thank you for participating in the Dialogue on Foreign Policy. The interactive web site is now closed. The Minister's report will appear on this web site once it is released.

This Forum is bilingual, and participants post messages in their language of choice.

Rule of law

Contributor: Barretm82

Date: 2003-05-01 20:04:55


bobolsen2 Says …”Canada's foreign policy must be based on the rule of law.”…

Yes, Canadian law, I will explain…

…”The U.N. Charter says: "All members shall refrain ... from the threat
or use of force against the territorial integrity or political
independence of any state." I, and other Canadians, are still
waiting for Mr. Graham's response to our question: "Is the invasion
of Iraq illegal?"”…

“12 years, of broken U.N. laws and sanctions against Saddam?” If you repeatedly killed people in Canada you would suffer consequences. If Saddam lived in Canada he would have been lockup a long time ago. At what point does reality set in and we should revert to the rule of law of Canada, such as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms?

Here is a second point. The Canadian Charter of rights and freedoms is based in a democracy. The U.N. is not based in democracy; it only has some democracies in it, therefore it must never “super seed” Canadian laws particularly the Charter of rights and freedoms. If the United Nations was only based on democratic nations then its decrees may be deemed to be based on the basic principals of law of the people who vote and direct said laws.

If you don’t understand why law based on democracy is important, then let me toss this at you, “laws against murder for say, can only be effective in a setting were those breaking the laws are not the ones making the laws”. This is why I think many people see the U.N. as an answer, and it would be, if it wasn’t made up of people like Saddam and the U.N. actually enforced its own sanctions (Laws). You can’t have 12 years of sanctions and broken laws with no actions, eventually the police have to show up at the door and physically deal with the matter.

Furthermore note that it was illegal to speak against Saddam in Iraq, the penalty was death, Are you suggesting this law “super seeds” or is “equivalent” to Canadians laws because Saddam was a U.N. member? You see this Saddam's law holds no water because it is not based on a democratic ‘just’ system that is responsible to its people as a whole; it is responsible only to the dictator Saddam or Saddam’s law.

Here is a question, "If you are witnessing horrific crimes and do nothing about it; Under Canadian law can you be held accountable?"

For example, child abuse, say your spouse witnesses child abuse and doesn’t report it to police (who then physically interject) then your spouse can be charged for doing nothing to stop the abuse. "Is it fair to say that Canadians who witnessed horrible crimes in Iraq yet who choose to do nothing about it should be deemed guilty through apathy?"

Now, the Allies have legal right for a number of reasons;
• The 1991 war was not finished, Saddam did not disarm. We know what disarmament looks like, such as South Africa and Ukraine had WMD and destroyed them without U.S. conflict.
• No fly zones in place to protect the slaughter of innocent Iraqi’s were continually challenged.
• The continue ineffectiveness of the U.N. to enforce its own laws
• One can not deny that if Saddam was in any democracy he would be put in prison for his actions.
• Defense of the American people
• And the list goes on and on….

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Rule of law

Contributor: fatmomma

Date: 2003-05-01 21:44:34


I have to see if I can get the last word in Barrett
! Iraq was disarmed; show me the illegal weapons
2 Not that I heard of; in fact there is question of the legality of the no fly zones
3 The UN has not been given that power; it has been unable to enforce its llaws because of the games of the permanent 5 including the USA
4. Saddam was not in a democracy so irrelevant; that is up to Iraqis
5. Iraq was not a threat to the USA
no weapons and no threats uttered

Plus I will add that Israel has defied the UN resolutions with no repercussions due to the protection of the USA; Israel has a large human rights violation file .
The USA invaded Iraq due to failure of Iraq to destroy WMD; Maybe Saddam spoke the truth?
The call to "liberate Iraqis" only came after the decision to invade.

I do hope for the best in our future; I will be quite relieved if you are proven right and that I am wrong.
bye Barrett

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Rule of law

Contributor: Barretm82

Date: 2003-05-01 23:33:35


:)

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