Mark Bourrie

OTTAWA, Dec 27 2002 (IPS) — A Canada-based peace and disarmament group plans to launch “weapons inspections” in the United States to draw attention to its claim that the country is a dangerous rogue state.

The group, Rooting Out Evil, plans to assemble volunteer weapons inspectors at U.S.-Canada border checkpoints some time next year and says it has already found ‘volunteers’ for the campaign from Europe, North America and Asia.

It is asking voluntary inspectors to sign up at its website – www.rootingoutevil.org.

The action is part of a growing campaign of activists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and individuals trying to keep this country out of a possible U.S.-Iraq war. Canada’s government is under intense pressure from the U.S. to join an anti-Iraq coalition.

Twice in the past month, Paul Celucci, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, has publicly called for Canada to participate in a war against Iraq and suggested that Ottawa should be spending more on its military.

Canada already has ships with the U.S. force in the Arabian Sea, but the last of this country’s troops overseas returned from Afghanistan in September.

Polls show Canadians split almost evenly on the issue of participating in a war against Iraq, and so far the government has, despite the intense U.S. pressure, stopped short of committing troops to a U.S.-Iraqi conflict.

Peace activists are also encouraging the government to resist pressure to increase military spending. Recently, the Polaris Institute think tank, the Canadian Peace Institute and Projet la Paix (Peace Project) released a report, ‘Breaking Rank: A Citizens’ Review of Canada’s Military Spending’, which argues against a military build-up.

Caroline Harvey, director of Projet la Paix, warned in an interview “not only are we witnessing the resurgence of the American empire through President Bush’s doctrine of the supreme role of the U.S. as policeman of the world”.

“Since (the) Sep. 11 (2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon), we’ve also seen signs of ‘Fortress North America’ emerging as the U.S. begins to build a common security regime around this continent through its new homeland security agency.”

“Important questions remain, including, ‘What role is Canada expected to play in continental militarisation’?”

The report’s authors reviewed hundreds of documents and interviewed defence experts, many of them veterans of World War II and Korea.

The report says Canadians are being told by the U.S. and domestic media that military spending is too low, when, in fact, it is comparable with that in other developed countries.

“Canada’s defence spending is already very high by world standards,” said Polaris Institute research director Steven Staples. “It is estimated to be 12.3 billion dollars by 2002-2003 estimates, making Canada the sixth highest military spender within NATO and 16th highest military spender in the world.”

He added that of Canadians who were asked in a poll to prioritise government spending, 75 per cent said education and health care spending should be highest priorities and only one in 10 said defence.

Projet la Paix’s Harvey added, “most grassroots organisations don’t see the link between globalisation and militarisation. We need a military that protects Canadian sovereignty and keeps peace, not one that is just part of the U.S war machine.”

In December, 15 prominent church leaders – representing a broad spectrum of Canadian churches – as well as the 20-year-old peace group Project Ploughshares and the inter-church justice coalition KAIROS, sent an urgent message to Prime Minister Jean Chretien, asking him to resist growing pressure in favour of an invasion of Iraq.

“This is a time for intense diplomacy and face-to-face negotiations, not for missiles and high-altitude bombing. This is especially a time for multilateralism,” said a joint letter signed by the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the general secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada and the moderator of the United Church of Canada.

The churches warned against supporting any United Nations resolution that makes it virtually impossible for Iraq to comply with demands. Such a resolution “would be a mere cover for an invasion that might be multinational but would still be unjust”, the letter say.

The church leaders called on Chretien to ensure that Canada supports a negotiated, peace-building approach “consistent with international law and taking the common good of Iraq’s people as its starting point”.

They also want an end to sanctions and reparations payments against Iraq.

“There must be economic hope for Iraqi society, for without it Iraqis will not recover the energy they will need to rebuild their country – nor to change their government,” counsel the church leaders. “The world should not repeat the errors of the settlement imposed on Germany after World War I.”