“Defence Minister Rob
Nicholson says an advance military team will leave Trenton,
Ont., for Kuwait next week
as Canada gears up to join
the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq.... The government announced
Thursday that Canada's
fighter jets and surveillance planes bound for the war against ISIL would be
based in Kuwait.”
The Canadian Press October 11, 2014.
Does it make sense to base our troops in a country that
reportedly funds terrorist groups? Have our political leaders gone quite mad?
Could our troops be in danger? Could their strategies and plans be compromised
if this “ally” is suspect?
The Washington Post of April 25, in an article by Karen De
Young, had the headline: “Kuwait, ally on Syria, is also the leading funder
of extremist rebels” The article went on to say:
“Until recently,
tiny, oil-rich Kuwait avoided public scrutiny as attention to terrorist financing focused
more sharply on Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar....Last month,
the administration decided to go public with its concerns. In a remarkably undiplomatic statement
that officials said had been cleared at senior levels, Treasury Undersecretary
David S. Cohen called Kuwait
‘the epicenter of fundraising for terrorist groups in Syria.’”
And an article in the Guardian U.K. of August 31, 2014, by
Owen Jones said this:
“Then there’s Kuwait, slammed by Amnesty International for curtailing freedom of
expression, beating and torturing demonstrators and discriminating against
women. Hundreds of millions have been channelled by wealthy Kuwaitis to Syria, again
ending up with groups like Jabhat al-Nusra....”
It would appear based on the evidence above, that some of
the West’s “allies” in their bombing coalition are funding terrorists. Yet, our
Prime Minister has signed an agreement, “Canada-Kuwait FIPA” with Kuwait. [1] And according to the U.S. government Kuwait
is, “the epicenter of fundraising for terrorist groups in Syria.” Which
makes one wonder: “Does Stephen Harper Have Questionable Allies?” [2] One also wonders, where is the Canadian
investigative journalism reporting? Is it bizarre that our troops are being
based in a country that appears to support terrorists? Yet, this country is
supposed to be an “ally.” Meanwhile, I
have not seen any of the corporate media in Canada raise questions about this. Though
one must say journalist and author, Michael Harris did raise questions about
the media in an article titled: “Harper,
Iraq
and the slow collapse of Canadian journalism” October 9, 2014, at
IPolitics. Where he wrote, “the decline of journalism in this country, which in
turn affects how much the public knows.” [3]
I myself wrote that the “corporate news media” was missing in action in a
recent article I posted on my blog. [4] I
believe much of the corporate media is not asking pertinent questions about
some of our “allies” in this questionable coalition that is going on a bombing
spree, nor are they exposing all the facts. [5]
Turn on the TV “news” or read the “newspapers” and you will
mostly find that criticism or exposure of the “allies” who are funding
ISIl/ISIS/ is almost non-existent. Therefore, I believe, an article submitted to
the corporate media in Canada
that had the headline at the beginning of this article would be censored or
rejected. Such is the sorry state of the “news” media in Canada today.
Which makes one wonder are other stories being censored as well?
Stephen J. Gray
October 15, 2014.
Endnotes:
Articles of interest at links below:
Kuwait:
Canada’s
risky ally
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http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/23843-harper-courts-kuwait
Kuwait confirms five year jail term for activist
who criticized emir on Twitter
