Biting criticisms and a realistic portrayal of the anti-American Chretien/Martin Liberal disaster area?
Or a former star diplomat who knows diplomacy better than most humans and hasn’t shaken it off yet despite his retirement; who now works for a Canadian company, Magna Corporation, owned by liberal Belinda Stronach’s rich liberal daddy; and whose daughter married a Canadian hockey player?
I’ll help: heavy on the latter.
Here’s a part of a critique of the book, written by a liberal media reporter…. from Canada, in a liberal newspaper.
Mr. Cellucci indicates that the U.S. felt betrayed when Canada refused to join the invasion of Iraq. Those feelings were compounded by a subsequent double-cross.
“After Jean Chretien announced that Canada would not join the coalition invasion of Iraq, the Canadian government tried to soften the blow. My embassy received assurances at a meeting at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade that, although Canada would not participate as an active partner in the war coalition, once the war began the government would say positive things about the United States and negative things about Iraq.”
However, once the Iraqi invasion began, Mr. Chretien was publicly critical of American actions.
“Instead of saying much that was positive about my government and its decision to go to war, Prime Minister Chretien chose to emphasize the need for any such military action to be authorized by the UN. There was a suggestion—intentional or not—that what the U.S.-led coalition was doing in Iraq lacked legitimacy.”
Mr. Chretien’s successor, Mr. Martin, is lambasted in the book for many months of dithering over whether Canada would become an active player in the Americans’ planned missile-defence system.
The ex-ambassador suggests that Mr. Martin made the “perplexing, astounding” and “disappointing” decision to nix the missile scheme against his own best instincts only because it might help him win votes in Quebec otherwise destined for the Bloc Quebecois.
“What added to the disappointment of the decision was the clumsy manner in which it was announced. Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew communicated the decision to Secretary of State Condi Rice at the NATO summit in Brussels. The timing and method of the announcement certainly were not well received in Washington. Just when the president was in Europe trying to show some unity with NATO allies after the rift that had opened over Iraq, our close ally and next-door neighbour chose that moment to signal its rejection of something that we considered to be crucial to our future security. Then there was the fact that the prime minister did not tell the president himself, although the two men were both at the NATO meeting and at several points were standing side by side. But not a word was said. All in all, it was an inept ending to a frustrating process.”
Imagine if he weren’t a star diplomat, weren’t working for liberals, and didn’t have a daughter who married a Canuck hockey player, and he didn’t care what the liberal media thought about his book.
Bill O’Reilly is a better source for realistic information about Canada.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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