Let’s let reason, not emotion, guide us
Paris has suffered a terrible tragedy. More than 100 people were killed, and many more injured. How nations should respond to this tragedy is the question to be answered going forward.
Four of five permanent members in the UN Security Council are involved militarily in Syria, and all four are nuclear weapon states. Any one of these could make the choice of wiping Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Yemen off of the map within the next 24 hours, but none is willing to do so. Nor are they apparently willing to commit significant troops on the ground either.
But what should Canada do? Is Canada a nuclear power? No. Does Canada have one of the top 10, or even top 20 militaries in the world? No. Canada has spent over $500 million in the past 12 months on a bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria, but are we any safer from ISIS in Canada as a result? No.
And the sole terrorist at the Parliament buildings in Ottawa left us with a video that explained his motivation for his actions: He was angry that Canada was militarily involved in the Middle East. How does our continued military involvement in the Middle East keep other radicals at home less likely to attack targets here?
What is our national interest here? What are our obligations to our allies? What are we trying to achieve? When will we know that we have achieved our goals?
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be under pressure from many corners to do this or that in the coming days based on what has just happened in Paris. We need to take a step back here.
The Paris attacks were not of the magnitude of the Nazis marching into Poland in 1939, or the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor in 1941, or even Al Qaeda hijacking four planes with devastating consequences on 9/11. Lots of nasty things are going on in Syria and Iraq that we don’t seem to care much about.
Maybe Canada should do something. Maybe not. Whatever we do there should be for a reason, and the reason should be arrived at through reasoned discussion, not simply by way of emotion, ideology or perceived obligation. Trevor Amon, Victoria, B.C.