- OTTAWA (Reuters) - The U.S.
ambassador to Canada took the unusual step on Tuesday of openly criticizing
Ottawa for not backing the war on Iraq (news - web sites) and urged Prime
Minister Jean Chretien to muzzle anti-U.S. sentiment in his government.
-
- The comments by an angry Paul Cellucci dramatically reflected
how much relations between the two close allies and trading partners have
deteriorated over the last few months, mainly as a result of the Iraq crisis.
-
-
- They also put more pressure on a Canadian government
that refused to send troops to Iraq to fight an "unjustified"
war but which now seems to be wishing the Americans well and backing their
bid to remove Iraq leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) -- a concept
that Ottawa had previously condemned.
-
-
- Cellucci told an audience of business executives in Toronto
that had Canada found itself under threat, Washington would have come to
its aid immediately.
-
-
- "There is no security threat to Canada that the
United States would not be ready, willing and able to help with. There
would be no debate, there would be no hesitation. We would be there for
Canada -- part of our family," he thundered.
-
-
- "And that is why so many in the United States are
so disappointed and upset that Canada is not fully supporting us now,"
he said. In the speech, and in comments to reporters afterward, he mentioned
U.S. disappointment 12 times.
-
-
- What will have been most disconcerting for the audience
was Cellucci's statement that the United States gave a higher priority
to security than to the booming trade relationship between the two countries.
-
-
- Canada sends 87 percent of its exports to the United
States and any delays in trade across the two countries' long joint border
could have a devastating impact on the Canadian economy. Exports account
for 40 percent of Canadian gross domestic product.
-
-
- "Security will trump trade, there is no doubt about
that," Cellucci told reporters, saying there could be unspecified
"short term" strains in the relationship given U.S. unhappiness
with Canada.
-
-
- Cellucci has in the past criticized Ottawa for not spending
enough on defense, but comments on Tuesday were by far the strongest attack
on the government.
-
-
- Several members of Chretien's ruling Liberal Party have
uttered anti-American comments and Cellucci said he was upset that no one
had reprimanded Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal for a "totally
inappropriate" comment last week that President Bush (news - web sites)
had failed as a statesman.
-
-
- "Maybe that's something they could do a better job
at," he said when asked how Ottawa could help repair the damaged relationship.
Dhaliwal later toned down his comments, but Chretien aides said they had
not asked him to do so.
-
-
- Chretien himself told reporters in Ottawa that as far
as he was concerned, bilateral ties were normal.
-
-
- "Being independent and sovereign nations, sometimes
we can disagree and remain good friends," he said.
-
-
- Asked whether he wanted the United States to win the
war, he replied: "Of course. I don't want Saddam Hussein to win. We
always said that Saddam Hussein was doing a lot of things that we were
not in agreement with."
-
-
- But critics are upset that Ottawa now seems to be backing
Washington's desire for regime change and are particularly unhappy that
Bill Graham wished "God speed" to the invasion force, a comment
which Cellucci said was helpful.
-
- "It's frightening that the Canadian foreign minister
is a booster for regime change," said Alexa McDonough of the left-leaning
New Democrats.
-
- Cellucci also criticized Canadian media outlets for running
pictures of U.S. troops captured by Iraq, saying this could hurt the family
members involved.
-
- Canadian newspaper and television coverage of the crisis
has been far more critical than the U.S. media in examining the reasons
for the assault and perceived inconsistencies in Washington's position.
|
