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A White Feather Surfaces
By
Bob Orrick
At the time of writing, the War in Iraq had been underway for three weeks approximately. No war is enjoyable but there are times when a war is needed to correct a greater evil, a great deficiency in the world. As readers of this space will have surmised, I support the United States, United Kingdom and Australia in their efforts to rid the Iraqi people of a demonic despot and to bring about a regime change. I fully realise that it will not be easy for the United States and United Kingdom to pull off but to do less would be to repeat what transpired at the end of the Gulf War when the United Nations coalition force simply packed up their gear and went home. Saddam Hussein was so filled with hateful vengeance that he systematically put down the southern Iraqi revolt against his leadership to the extent that thousands of Iraqis simply disappeared. This time around the coalition force has stated that it will not abandon these Iraqis and will stay long enough to ensure the people of Iraq get a government they want; but that will not be a shoo-in by any means.
In the meantime, Canada's lofty prime minister and his equally lofty foreign affairs minister are mouthing platitudes and appear to be softening their absolute stand against the United States primarily and the United Kingdom secondarily. Now, it seems, some rationale has taken root in Ottawa and the thinkers there [an oxymoron to be sure] have jumped on the idea that the United Nations, following the United States' lead, should re-jig Iraq. Canada's chief politician hints that Canada would like to have a piece of the action. This smacks of a less-courageous person who when knocked silly by a more intelligent being and who realises that the reason he was knocked silly was of his making and not of the more intelligent being, sucks up and says he wants back in the game.
So far the coalition has fought the War in Iraq almost to perfection. I do not harbour any time nor thought for those who claim that the primary plan of the United States, the so-called Plan A, has not worked and that the United States has had to switch to Plan B. From my perspective and from my limited knowledge of naval operational plans, the United States and United Kingdom are doing rather well and that their plan, like all plans, has been adjusted accordingly to accommodate circumstances thought to be secondary rather than primary. In other words, war planners when they put together operation plans, have a fallback or contingency avenue written. It matters little the route taken, as long as the objective is reached. It would appear that the coalition force is well on its way to attaining its objective.
From the perspective of 'embedded' journalists, I take my hat off to them; they have done and are doing a superb job. Their critics seem to forget that these journalists are on the front lines just as the servicemen they are reporting on are; what is danger for the military types is danger for the reporters also. Sadly, more than one journalist has been killed but hopefully no others will pay the supreme sacrifice.
Should Canada have joined the United States and its colleagues militarily? Yes, without a doubt but given the sorry state of Canada's armed forces - thanks fully to the politicians who sit on the government side of the House of Commons - it is doubtful if Canada could have provided much more than a handful of troops. That is not to say that the army would not have done a good job had it been dispatched; all the world saw how courageous and expert Canada's soldiers were in Afghanistan. Yet, lost in the rhetoric is the fact that Canada's navy is on station, carrying out its assigned task[s] admirably. One would expect nothing less from Canada's senior service. The "Ready, Aye, Ready" is not taken lightly and holds the answer to anyone's question about how expert and ready the boys in blue are. They are ready, always! Aye.
This country's airforce is confident and competent even if its front line fighters are a bit long in the tooth and in need of upgrades in avionics. Canada's airforce can look back to the Gulf War with pride; they, too, carried out their assigned task with competency. Sadly, neglect by Ottawa's Liberals has reduced their airforce's effectiveness to the point that Canada's CF18s would not be compatible with similar aircraft of the USA today.
What Canada's prime minister ought to have done is to support the United States in its quest but to state that other than for the navy, [already on station at the war's outset], Canada would provide moral support and would lobby hard at the United Nations to set up a competent government after the regime change in Iraq is achieved. Had our lame duck prime minister been a bit more courageous and had he thought seriously about his legacy [something he apparently eats and sleeps constantly] being worthwhile, he would have seen the meaning in his own words "shoulder to shoulder" and would have acted with aplomb rather than slink behind the United Nations curtain all the while mouthing idiocy about giving Saddam Hussein yet more time to slaughter his countrymen and to play footsy with the UN's weapons inspectors. Truly, the prime minister of Canada should be given the white feather.
There is a thought, however, that Canada's prime minister might have taken a page from A.E. Mason's The Four Feathers. In the book, a British officer resigned his post when faced with the prospect of going to the Sudan to fight the Mahdi rebels in 1898. After he had resigned, the British officer set out secretly to enter the war in order to redeem himself and to rid himself of the 'coward' tag given him by his three friends and fiancée [hence, the four white feathers]. If he is trying to emulate Mason's officer, Canada's prime minister might just have a bit of backbone hidden somewhere among the layers and layers of silliness that passes for leadership. How else to explain the apparent change of direction in Ottawa?
Bob Orrick is a private tutor of English grammar, literature, poetry and Canadian history to off-shore youngsters. His pupils hail from such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Venezuela. He was previously in international marketing, was a ministerial assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, spent a few years as a reporter then editor of a community newspaper and enjoyed a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.
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