Canada Refuses to Participate in Anti-Missile System

The Bush administration continues to be prickly and rude when it doesn't get its way. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice canceled a meeting with Canadian officials set for Ottawa in mid-April after the Canadian government decided to opt out of the American-led Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense boondoggle. A quick sideline meeting at the London Conference on Palestine came together to keep the smiley face of the second Bush administration intact. Still, the problem seems to be an unwillingness to talk to those who disagree. Mr. Bush and his team prefer preaching to the choir rather than winning new recruits.

The inability to see things from the other fellow's point of view is at the root of the problem. For example, outgoing US ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci said, "We think it's in Canada's sovereign interest to be in the room to decide what's going to happen when there's an incoming missile." Yet Prime Minister Paul Martin said, "I don't think that anybody else expected that there would be any other finger on the button than an American." The opposition Conservative Party's foreign affairs spokesman beautifully summed up the situation, "These missiles are coming in at 4 kilometers a second, and if the president calls the 1-800 line and gets: 'Press 1 if you want English, press 2 if you want French, press 0 if nobody's there . . .'"

Back at the end of November, Mr. Bush met with Mr. Martin, and they had a frank and candid exchange of views. That is what diplomats call yelling and screaming. While both governments have tried to smooth it over, Mr. Bush essentially ignored the political difficulties Mr. Martin has as leader of a minority government, and he went so far as to say that a future US president might ask why US taxpayers are funding Canadian defense when the Canucks won't help with the missile shield thingy. Since this was officially denied, it most assuredly happened. Mr. Bush might want to look at a map sometime for his answer.

However, the Canadians should have said something about the shield project and their unwillingness to help pay for it. For instance, it has failed virtually every test firing. In the December 2004 and February 2005 tests, the interceptor missile never got out of the silo. It's hard to shoot down an incoming nuke if the interceptor doesn't launch. Supporters will say, that's why tests are necessary, but in December 2002, the test failed because the "exo-atmospheric kill vehicle" didn't separate from the booster. Failing to launch rather than failure to separate is a much more fundamental problem. Maybe the missiles are depressed about their recurring failure and just can't leave the silo anymore. Mr. Bush may be entitled to waste American taxpayers' money on missile defenses when the threat is from ships and small boats, but that doesn't mean Mr. Martin must also waste Canadian tax revenues on this project.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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