EDITORIAL : THE NATIONAL POST, CANADA

 

Targets of opportunity

Al-Qaeda'sNorthAfrican affiliate is exploiting the conflict in Libya to acquire weapons, an Algerian official told Reuters last week. Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is reportedly amassing surface-to-air missiles, anti-tank weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, explosives, heavy machineguns and other small arms and smuggling them to lawless areas in Mali. Separately, the U.S. State Department has expressed similar concerns that al-Qaeda is exploiting the power vacuum as Libya's civil war drags on.

While the wisdom of NATO intervention is still very much in doubt, the challenge of AQIM in North Africa presents an opportunity. NATO is mobilized and operating in an important theater in the war on terror. So, as it patrols the skies for Libyan aircraft and prevents the Libyan military from bombing civilians, NATO should also exploit occasions to take out AQIM targets identified by allied intelligence.

AQIM is a high priority for NATO nations. France, in particular, has had it out for the terror group after it kidnapped several of its citizens and held them for ransom. In July 2010, French commandos, with Mauritanian assistance, killed and wounded several AQIM members who were holding hostages at a base in the Mauritanian desert. In January of this year, French Special Forces again raided an AQIM hideout in Niger to rescue two nationals who were kidnapped by the group.

France is the only country to have actively hit back at the group. But other NATO members have their own grievances. In recent years, AQIM has kidnapped Spaniards, Italians and Brits. The group sometimes releases these hostages in exchange for hefty ransoms, but in many cases, when its demands are not met, it carries out gruesome executions.

NATO members also are concerned about AQIM's significant network of financial nodes throughout Europe. The group has dozens of cells in Germany, Spain, Italy, France, the U.K., Switzerland and elsewhere. These cells derive profits from car theft, credit card fraud, document forgery and donations, then send them back to North Africa and the Sahel, where the group carries out kidnappings, ambushes against local government installations, and suicide bombings.

The U.S. military also has tangled with AQIM. The group reportedly sent more than 1,000 fighters to attack U.S. soldiers during the jihadi campaign in Iraq. The Treasury Department has targeted AQIM figures through sanction designations (such as AQIM's emir Abdelmalek Droukdel in 2007 and three other leaders in 2008), and the State Department maintains the group on its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. AFRICOM, the U.S. military's African command, has assisted African nations struggling to combat this deadly terror squad.

Canada also has trained African forces to battle AQIM. The urgency of this mission became clear after the group kidnapped two Canadian diplomats, Robert Fowler and Louis Guay, in December 2008. (They were lucky; AQIM released them after 130 days.)

In many ways, an allied air assault against AQIM's mobile bases of operation across North Africa is long overdue.

Some NATO members will undoubtedly oppose an expansion of their mandate in Libya. But military operations against AQIM should not necessarily be viewed as a separate mission. As NATO nations struggle to guide Libya toward post-war stability, these operations can ensure that al-Qaeda does not reap the benefits of Muammar Gaddafi's departure.

AQIM has already stated that Libya is a top priority. In February, the group issued a statement calling all Muslims to join the uprising against Gaddafi and to help install an Islamist regime in its place. Since then, several credible reports have indicated that jihadis have joined the Libyan opposition. In an interview with an Italian newspaper, rebel leader Abel Hakim alHasidi admitted that in his ranks "on the front lines in Adjabiyah" were fighters from Afghanistan and Iraq.

While the presence of jihadis among Libya's antiGaddaffi forces raises important questions about the wisdom of NATO intervention in Libya and its implied strategy of regime change, these countries now have the responsibility to help prevent further AQIM infiltration in Libya and across the region. This can be done with pinpoint intelligence and air strikes.

According to NATO, coalition aircraft have carried out more than 330 strike sorties since taking command of the mission on March 23. With an expanded mandate, and perhaps a few more sorties in Niger, Mali, Mauritania or other territories where the itinerant AQIM sets up camp, NATO nations can help roll back the terror group while simultaneously isolating Gaddafi.

The strikes should not take place in Libya. Rather, they should only target AQIM locales in neighbouring states where the leaders would embrace the targeting of unwelcomed terrorist fighters and their weapons caches, and only when impeccable intelligence from NATO member nations provides the opportunity. Such opportunities will only present themselves from time to time. This would not amount to a full-blown campaign.

Would NATO members embrace such a plan? The likelihood is low. But the question deserves attention. A mobilized NATO has the opportunity to weaken a deadly al-Qaeda affiliate that is now arming itself with Libyan weapons.

? Jonathan Schanzer is a former terrorism analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and vice-president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

A political voice for indigenous Canadians

The First Peoples National Party (FPNP) wishes to bring the value of inclusion to Parliament, by promoting a vision for Canada in which all peoples have a say in our future. The FPNP was formed to provide a voice, particularly for those who currently have no representation in our elitist party system: Indigenous Canadians.

The FPNP is inspired by First Nations history, culture and values, which form the guiding principles of our party. Our primary value is that of sharing. From the beginning -before, during and after contact with Europeans -First Nations have wished to share this country and all that it has to offer. This belief is centuries-old; the "Two Row Wampum" treaty of 1613 represented but one of the many original mutual agreements between First Nations and European peoples. Unfortunately, over time, Canada's two colonizing cultures have failed to respect the spirit and letter of these pacts; they were not prepared to share this land, and still don't. Whether or not non-aboriginal Canadians support this indigenous view of our history, or First Nations' rights, it remains that these rights are mandated by the rule of law. They are enshrined in the Canadian constitution. If we are to respect the rule of law, it follows that those rights must also be upheld.

A country that excludes its indigenous peoples from all levels of government and education exhibits not only a colonial mentality, but commits a slow and steady cultural genocide. This genocide proceeds daily with the complacency or apathy of educators, politicians and average Canadians who witness constant affronts to native culture and way of life, yet do nothing to stop them.

The result has been a systematic forced assimilation of indigenous peoples, and a destruction of their way of life. Today, 50 of the 53 native languages that existed before contact with European cultures are extinct or becoming extinct. Religious ceremonies have been outlawed, and traditions lost, as educators and officials attempted to impose European norms. The residential school system perpetrated the abuse of tens of thousands of indigenous children and tore innumerable communities apart. This spawned a cycle of abuse: Recent statistics reveal that there are more First Nations children in Child Welfare/CAS care today than there were in residential schools. Meanwhile, obesity and diabetes -both linked to poverty and poor nutrition -run rampant in First Nations communities, jeopardizing the health, and life, of indigenous peoples.

Canada should take heed of the warnings of history. What has happened to First Nations peoples may eventually happen to all Canadians, whose industries are being increasingly controlled by foreign-owned companies -as First Nations People were controlled by the Crowns of Europe. Canadians may come to understand what it is like to be a First Nation -and chances are, they won't like it.

From one generation to another, First Nations people feel betrayed and hurt. They continue to wait for Canada's colonizing peoples to admit their wrongs, go beyond mere apologies, and honour the treaties as they were written. In Ojibway, there is no word for "sorry," as it is not something you say, but something you show by your actions -actions we have yet to see.

It may be uncomfortable to speak words like "genocide" or "forced assimilation" or "systemic racism," but until Canadians acknowledge and address these issues, we cannot work together to resolve them. The FPNP asks for your vote to help us realize a true spirit of sharing in this country, and move forward as a nation to right these historical wrongs.

So much for the surrender monkeys

If one were to identify the low point of France's image among Western foreign-policy hawks in the modern era, it would have to be March 11, 2003 -a week before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. That was the day two American GOP congressmen demanded that, henceforth, all restaurants run by the House of Representatives should list "freedom fries" instead of "french fries" and "freedom toast" instead of "french toast" on their menus.
Fast-forward eight years, and France is a nation transformed -a sort of foreign-policy version of the 97-pound weakling who becomes king of the beach after going in for a few months of Charles Atlas.
France now has almost 4,000 troops in Afghanistan (which is more than Canada -although French troops have seen less combat). It spearheaded the nofly effort over Libya. It has led one of the most aggressive and successful domestic counter-terrorism campaigns in Europe. It has banned the burka.
And on Monday, France's military, operating alongside UN forces, successfully spearheaded the final push to arrest Ivory Coast leader-turned-outlaw Laurent Gbagbo. The move suggests the country's civil war now will be brought to an end. It is essentially a French version of the 2000 U.K. humanitarian intervention that brought Sierra Leone's civilwar agonies to an end.
During the 2003 Iraq War, many conservatives fretted that a "multipolar" world would mean that America's foreignpolicy punch would be sapped by the pacifistic influence of the UN and smaller NATO countries such as France, Canada and the U.K. Yet in both Ivory Coast and Libya, one-time pacifists have been at the forefront of muscular efforts to confront dictators. And amazingly, it has been France's erstwhile "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" (to quote a line from The Simpsons) leading the charge.
Plus ça change, the French like to say. But it seems the French themselves have changed quite a bit. And the world is a better place for their transformation.

Not quite 'family-friendly'

The newly released NDP platform promises to "give your family a break." But it would be hard for families to prosper if Canadian employers were suffering under the harsh anti-corporate policies that Jack Layton's party is promoting.
The NDP promises to impose a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, discourage exports of unrefined petrochemical products, oblige Canadian companies to abide by foreign environmental standards when operating overseas and tighten federal control over foreign investment in Canada -going so far as to require public hearings for case-by-case approvals. The party's proposal to cap interest rates on loans and credit cards is an especially bad idea no matter which side of the affected transactions you happen to be on -since it would cause the lowincome/high-risk retail credit market to dry up overnight. The result of these changes would be to hurt the very constituency the NDP purports to serve: The poor.
In its platform, the NDP makes an overture to ma-and-pa companies, by pledging to reduce the small business tax from 11% to 9% -but would cancel the Conservatives' planned corporate tax reductions for bigger companies. Mr. Layton says he wants to ensure "that our combined federal/ provincial Corporate Income Tax rate is always below the United States' federal corporate tax rate." That sounds nice, but using the United States as a standard provides no bargain to Canadian companies: The typical Canadian corporation pays about 28% in taxes, as compared to almost 40% in the United States. (Within the OECD, only Japan has a higher rate.)
In the end, the NDP platform's purported family-friendliness is undone by its assault on the very sector which sustains those families: Canadian business. Under an NDP plan, the private sector would have much less incentive to create the jobs that mothers and fathers need to pay the rent, get a mortgage, feed the children and save for the future.