As a member (and perhaps the most uncritical participant) of the US's military proxies in NATO, the Canadian Government is now part of the illegal military operations in Pakistan. There is no UN resolution (retroactive or otherwise) giving a legal pretense for attacks on sovereign Pakistani soil.
In Afghanistan, we are now used to the US (and perhaps other nation states) hiding under the partial cloak of "a NATO spokesman said" in spinning the fallout of the now commonplace bombardments and undiscriminating attacks resulting in many civilian casualties.
But this tactic of "diffusing responsibility" can backfire when NATO countries which make a pretense of following international law,(not the US, of course) are de facto part of illegal actions.
As Robert Fox of the Guardian said of the initial secret order authorizing attacks within Pakistan:
quote:
Whatever the tactical gains the American commanders think they are getting from such methods, they are likely to be outweighed by the strategic crassness of these escapades. Under current international law, they could be conceived as acts of aggression and a violation of the UN Charter. At a practical level, they stand to be a powerful recruiting sergeant for the Taliban – and the millions of hitherto uncommitted Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
....
On the northern side of the Pakistan border, one must wonder how much the Americans informed their other allies about precisely what they're up to in their secret ops. Not much, if American attitudes to their European Nato allies elsewhere, Britain included, are anything to go by.
Recently the Pakistani PM has, rightly, implicated all NATO combatants in these unauthorized incursions:
quote:
He said he told the world leaders, and they agreed, that air strikes by America and NATO forces inside Pakistani territory are counterproductive in the war against terror.He said militants are being isolated from tribes and such attacks force them to again take up arms against their own people and indulge in terrorist activities.
Pakistan, he added, has asked the world leaders to use their influence on NATO and US to refrain from such incursions.
PM Gilani Even the UK has condemned the attacks:
quote:
British Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw on Friday opposed repeated United States incursions into Pakistan’s territory, and urged Washington to respect the sovereignty and integrity of its vital allies.
With the deep integration of Canada and its military with the US, there is not likely to be even a feeble protest coming from our quisling Government, and partner in crime.
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posted 01 November 2008 12:24 PM
