BLOWBACK FOLLOWS …
By RON PAUL || In 1968 the government of Canada decided to openly admit Americans seeking to avoid being drafted into the US war on Vietnam. Before, would-be immigrants were technically required to prove that they had been discharged from US military service. This move made it easier for Americans to escape President Lyndon Johnson’s war machine by heading north.
Although a founding member of NATO, Canada did not join the United States in its war against Vietnam. The Canadian government did not see a conflict 7,000 miles away as vital to Canada’s national interest so Canada pursued its own foreign policy course, independent of the United States.
How the world has changed. Canada’s wise caution about military adventurism even at the height of the Cold War has given way to a Canada of the 21st century literally joined at Washington’s hip and eager to participate in any bombing mission initiated by the D.C. interventionists.
Considering Canada’s peaceful past, the interventionist Canada that has emerged at the end of the Cold War is a genuine disappointment. Who would doubt that today’s Canada would, should a draft be re-instated in the US, send each and every American resister back home to face prison and worse?
As Glenn Greenwald pointed out this past week:
Canada has spent the last 13 years proclaiming itself a nation at war. It actively participated in the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and was an enthusiastic partner in some of the most extremist War on Terror abuses perpetrated by the U.S.
Canada has also enthusiastically joined President Obama’s latest war on Iraq and Syria, pledging to send fighter jets to participate in the bombing of ISIS (and likely many civilians in the process).
But Canada’s wars abroad came back home to Canada last week.
Though horrific, it should not be a complete surprise that Canada found itself hit by blowback last week, as two attacks on Canadian soil left two Canadian military members dead.
Greenwald again points out what few dare to say about the attacks:
Regardless of one’s views on the justifiability of Canada’s lengthy military actions, it’s not the slightest bit surprising or difficult to understand why people who identify with those on the other end of Canadian bombs and bullets would decide to attack the military responsible for that violence.
That is the danger of intervention in other people’s wars thousands of miles away. Those at the other end of foreign bombs – and their surviving family members or anyone who sympathizes with them – have great incentive to seek revenge. This feeling should not be that difficult to understand.
Seeking to understand the motivation of a criminal does not mean that the crime is justified, however. We can still condemn and be appalled by the attacks while realizing that we need to understand the causation and motivation. This is common sense in other criminal matters, but it seems to not apply to attacks such as we saw in Canada last week. Few dare to point out the obvious: Canada’s aggressive foreign policy is creating enemies abroad that are making the country more vulnerable to attack rather than safer.
Predictably, the Canadian government is using the attacks to restrict civil liberties and expand the surveillance state. Like the US PATRIOT Act, Canadian legislation that had been previously proposed to give the government more authority to spy on and aggressively interrogate its citizens has been given a shot in the arm by last week’s attacks.
Unfortunately Canada has unlearned the lesson of 1968: staying out of other people’s wars makes a country more safe; following the endless war policy of its southern neighbor opens Canada up to the ugly side of blowback.
Ron Paul is a former U.S. Congressman from Texas and the leader of the pro-liberty, pro-free market movement in the United States. His weekly column – reprinted with permission – can be found here.
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16 comments
Might be wise to do a little diligence on Greenwald before quoting him and thereby partially quenching his thirst for notoriety.
Wow…a country defending itself. I bet that’s a concept would-be genius Liberal-Tarians never anticipated…
Like the wRONg Paul. Cool and accurate. I bet if the Vietnamese had attacked Canada back then they wouldn’t have allowed our cowards to come hide in Canada either. The entire “free” world has to unite to kill every last terrorist once and for all. As long as there are holes for them to crawl in and hide they will be a problem. Every time one chops someone up or lights of a bomb the world need to react like a giant flyswatter. As long as they can get away with unruly activity they will do it.
The Zionists own Canada just like they own the US. There’s no more to it.
Historically wrong and politically blind.
Yeah, uhm Canada didn’t play in Vietnam – oh wait, they did. Canadian agencies were major suppliers of Agent Orange, Ammunition, napalm and military grade explosives. They also produced a majority of the uniforms we gave to the ARVN, significant amounts of armor and also assisted us with transportation using maple leaf flagged ships. Rough estimates say that their war materials production was valued at $2.5 billion.
More than 28,000 “snow backs” snuck (sneaked?) across the northern border to fight in the US Army in Vietnam. (50,000 Americans sneaked the other way).
As for ground troops, they surely weren’t there – or were there? Yes, actually a light battalion of Peace Keepers were on the ground in 1973 as part of Operation Gallant.
But but but he can’t be wrong because libertarian.
Looks like you were not around during the draft back then (I was)
More than likely most of those “snow backs” were DRAFTED because they were legally in this country but of draft age (even though they were a citizen of another country)
I don’t think “sneaking” is the accurate term for this situation as it was from around 1965 – 1972.
Back then if you were in this country legally you were subject to the draft EVEN if you were NOT a US citizen (as far as I know that law still exists).
Also, if I’m not mistaken, the United States signed the Peace Accords at the end of 1972 and thus the Canadian Forces were NOT part of the Vietnam conflict because it ended in 1972.
I was in the 82nd Airborne then and remember the big “Whoo-Da” on New year’s Eve 31 December 1972/1 January 1973 (although I really didn’t give a shit to be truthful about it). But I do remember “Wolfman Jack” making a big deal about it on “Midnght Special” at the time…………….
The only good thing I remember was when the POW’s came home a few days/weeks later.
Then came Yom Kippur in October 1973……………………..
Today is my 43rd anniversary of my induction into the US Army, my 42nd anniversary of graduating from RECONDO School and two days ago was the 41st anniversary of the mobilization of 82nd Airborne during the Yom Kippur War.
The ENTIRE division was 100% ready to go within 14 hours of notification. A feat that has not been equaled before or since (and that included shitloads of pot-headed draftees who were paratroopers non the less).
And that dear O-6 type is a TOTALLY different story for you to pontificate on
The Canadian history is that 30,000+ men crossed the border to enlist, that’s not including those who were “…selected by their friends and neighbors…”
That’s what I was referring to.
I remember learning that little tidbit in 12th grade Civics class way back in 1970-1971. For whatever reason it stuck in my mind like: “I can’t believe that a country could draft non US citizens but they can”.
Funny how you remember stuff like that.
I registered in March 1971 after a bad night of partying.
I applied for a job a couple of years ago and in the process had to prove that I had registered. I showed them my military ID. That wasn’t good enough, nor was the fact that I was 50. I had to go to the SS web page and print the little proof of registration form…
To the Colonel. Yes but we did not win in Vietnam. We did not win anything in Afghanistan. We did not win in Iraq. Or wait a minute – let’s play your game. Canada and Vietnam – did someone say $2.5 billion? Were there government agencies of Canada giving these things for free or was it Canadian companies raking it in? Your post is false. No Canadian agencies gave anything, It was all companies selling. We need to look again to determine if there were US winners in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq? Certainly not the people of the US. We lost. We lost lives, money and big chunks of our freedom. Funny how we have resigned ourselves, seemingly without complaint, like good comrades, to having our phones tapped. But still, back to your point, there were big US winners in all those wars. Of course Halliburton is no longer a US company, so do we take a win away?
Never said they gave anything away. In fact the Canadian “gubamint” set up a agency to facilitate the military sales.
Also let us never forget how the Canadians hid and later spirited out members of the US Embassy during the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis.
How easily people of this country forget and so many on the right like to slam anyone who does not fit their “model” of patriotism. I for one will never forget how the Canadians helped the embassy personnel.
I too have served with Canadian forces and they are damn good and I consider Canada to be our best ally.
wRONg Paul, wRONg Paul, wRONg Paul, Paul, Paul, wRONg!
It used to be wearing a big maple leaf on your pack that made one relatively immune to politically-motivated attack overseas, as no one really hated Canada. And Americans could easily pass as Canadians.
No longer I a benefit I guess.
Simply put it is a war on ideological principles that maybe no one that can NEVER fully put to rest UNLESS one side succeeds in killing every motherfucker that has a different ideology (which ain’t NEVER going to happen BTW).
The world is different now than the Cold War. it is not a battle between nations but sometimes one small cell that can use some small situation to its advantage via the internet and mass/social media to extrapolate its “victory” (no matter how small it really is)
Will it be a 10 megaton nuke over New York City? —– Probably not
But it might be a “dirty bomb” at Williams-Brice Stadium that fucks up about 60,000 poor souls lives forever (depending on who South Carolina is playing at the time….)
The great nation of Canada is part of the North American sphere of influence. I say we do what Arthur Schlesinger,Jr. wrote about in his excellent book and rebrand North American (to include South American) the American
Alliance and go from there.
Schlesinger was brilliant in his graph of 15-40 year old males in the Middle East. The demographic curve does not peak till around 2020.
A shortage of pussy and no jobs is a recipe for unrest for testosterone laden males of that age group – plain and fucking simple!!!!!
Obviously this means including Western Europe as a partner…….
But face it, the demographics are against Western type lifestyles. The West is aging and the only salvation is the masses in South America
Ron Paul is a fucking idiot and so played – plain and simple