Illness of the Body Politic
May 20, 2008Lloyd Axworthy says the Canadian body politic has been infected by an American virus:
There is a disturbing virus settling into Ottawa. Let’s call it the Spreading Northern Security Plague, a variation of a virulent strain of illegal counterterrorism practices imported from the Bush White House. Its symptoms were first detected in the Maher Arar case, where a Canadian was sent off to be tortured in a Syrian jail. Only years later was an inquiry established, presided over by a courageous judge who blew the whistle on such nefarious practices by our security forces.
But by then, the disease had become embedded in the body politic of successive governments with all the signs of a well-established syndrome in which security trumps human rights, international covenants can be disregarded, commissions of inquiry can be secretive and dismissive of rule and procedure, and vital information on crucial issues such as the transfer of Afghan detainees is deliberately withheld.
And now, we learn of Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Sudanese Canadian who was imprisoned in Khartoum, allegedly at the request of CSIS, and who has been stranded in the country for nearly five years. That the Canadian government, knowing full well the egregious human-rights record of the Sudanese regime, would leave one of its citizens marooned in the Sudan, is inexplicable.
The outbreak of this malady eating away at our valued respect for rules of law is also demonstrated by the cases of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati and Muayyed Nureddin, three Canadians held in a Syrian jail who say they were tortured during interrogations.
From information already on the public record, it appears likely their disappearance and detention were prompted by Canadian influence, and that the information used in interrogations came from Canada.
It seems the spirit of Alberto Gonzales, the former Bush attorney- general who defended similar proceedings in U.S. courts, is alive and well in Ottawa.
Well, I’m not sure that Stevie Wevie needed Dubya to come up with the concept of secrecy but, no doubt, George and the gang have given him some good ideas. And we’d be wise to find a vaccination for this bug sometime soon. Maybe in time to save the life and sanity of our child soldier, currently languishing at Guantanamo.
Read the rest of Axworthy’s incisive artice here
Me I do not trust anything anymore Mr Axworthy says for he tends to speak with a forked toungue, hidden agendas and he is axworthy.
A bad Liberal is just as bad as a bad Conservative too.
Yeah well I know what you mean alright but, here, he’s not depending on any information we don’t know about but just expressing an opinion. Perhaps accidentally, I strongly agree with him. Doesn’t mean he’s a good Liberal (I’m not a Liberal by the way).
Ditto.
Great catch, hysperia.
I have always wondered if axworthy was so great why he left politics when Mr. Chretien said he was staying on as PM .. the next useless PM Paul Martin was not scared off..
While the too often useless as well PM Stephen Harper is accused of being a Bush clone, the Liberals are not much better theses days, they seem to be running around in circles like a chicken with it’s head cut off.. for me they are all still mostly self serving politicians who wrongfully do nothing for the good welfare of the rest of the citizens except bark at one another and they all should be recalled
Once in power they typically now next lie, break promises, contradict themselves too.. The Liberals and the Conservatives here too are so alike.. guilty of contract breach.. To me a bad Liberal is just as bad as a bad Conservative too. Recall all OF THEM..
Canada, BC, Premier “Gordon Campbell is back on his attack on democracy with Bill 42 which will prevent people and groups from spending more than $3,000 on advertising in a single riding or $150,000 in total during the five months leading up to voting day. What is the evil Chairman Campbell is trying to cure here?” ( ant legitimate critics about him and his party of course) When the Great Dictator was in opposition when the NDP brought in similar legislation he referred to such third-party spending limits as a “gag law.” The law was later struck down by the courts, and Campbell removed all limits once in power.” http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/9388/7/the+written+word:+may++20,+2008
Parliament, spy agency contracts exempted from ombudsman’s scrutiny The Canadian Press, OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his cabinet have exempted contracts with Parliament and Canada’s spy agency from oversight by a new ombudsman’s post that was central to the 2006 Conservative election campaign. The government slipped the exemptions through last week in regulations that empower the contract procurement ombudsman under the Accountability Act - flagship legislation the government introduced as its first bill soon after taking office. Opposition MPs were taken by surprise at the exemptions, saying they were unaware the Senate, the House of Commons and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service would be excluded from the ombudsman’s statutory duty to review contracts for “fairness, openness and transparency.” The exemptions also mean anyone who has a complaint about contracts to supply goods or services to Parliament - including contracts with offices of MPs, senators or CSIS, will be unable to have them reviewed by the ombudsman. The move to keep the ombudsman out of the affairs of Parliament and the national security agency is the latest in a series of government measures and controversies the opposition says contradict the spirit of the accountability law http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hJS90PcsLEdcvOpNpQ7UeeFE3E3g
The bad Liberals and the bad Conservatives have falsely even take an ostrich apporach to the bad acts of Bell Sympatico, guilty of contract breach, the number one active complaint on Canada’s internet is Bell, and why? They too are just like Bell?
Bell Sympatico cannot meet their promised contractual obligations with me and yet now next for the last 7 weeks too Bell hounds me to death by phone, letter falsely for their payements..
Bad persons, and Politicians, bad corporations tend to be the same world wide, and the solution the same, full Public exposure and full prosecution of the guilty serves every one’s best interest next too still. For if the evil bad person is not exposed, punished they still have no reasons to stop doing bad things and doing good things instead. They by the public exposure of their own bad acts they next also do find out that a good name was worth more than all the silver and gold they had hoped to acquire. And many next have as a result too.
So BCE, Bell’s stock prices are dropping now and some wonder why? It was the same university law professor, a judge, who taught me contract law, and also recommended buying bell shares, I next found it ironic that this course would help me so much in dealing with bad Bell too.
The banks must have been reading my reports on how bad Bell really is as posted on many internet sites.. http://www.google.com/search?q=sympatico++kambulow&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1
Who was your contracts prof?