-Caveat Lector- Canada in Deep Quandary Over Missile Defense By David Ljunggren - 3/25/01 CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN, Colo. (Reuters) - When a top Canadian military figure this weekend urged his government to sign up to a much-criticized U.S. missile defense system, it only deepened one of Ottawa's most difficult current dilemmas. Lt.-Gen. George Macdonald, deputy head of the powerful joint Canadian-U.S. NORAD air defense command, told Reuters it made no sense to stay in the sidelines if Washington presses ahead with its National Missile Defense (NMD) system. Canadian Defense Minister Art Eggleton, emerging from a tour of NORAD's command bunker in Cheyenne Mountain, made it plain that ministers would have to consider public opinion before deciding whether to join a program that some U.S. allies fear could trigger a nuclear arms race with Russia and China. But his insistence that Canada would do nothing until asked to join NMD does not hide the fact Ottawa might soon have to choose whether to risk the wrath of its greatest ally. "The Americans have bent over backward to accommodate us in the past but if they are determined to go ahead with this program come hell or high water, then that puts the onus on us to decide where our supreme interests lie," said David Rudd, director of the Canadian Institute for Strategic Studies. Canada' armed forces are desperate to maintain a close defense relationship with the United States, which gives Canada a far greater level of protection than it could ever hope to provide by itself. Besides, they add, NMD is designed chiefly to knock down missiles launched by such maverick states as North Korea and Iraq rather than provide a shield against Russia's nuclear arsenal. The Canadian foreign ministry, however, fears that signing up to NMD could fatally compromise Canada's reputation as a country that has fought to limit the global spread of weapons of mass destruction and reduce international tensions. "It's going to be very difficult to say no if the Americans invite us," acknowledged one senior Canadian official. "But what should we do -- join NMD and thereby risk spoiling all the work we've done over the last decades on non-proliferation? Or do we refuse and blow the one real card we have with the Americans?" That winning card, described by Canada's military as "the jewel in the crown" of the U.S.-Canadian defense relationship, is the NORAD complex in Colorado. Macdonald points out that NORAD enables Canada to enjoy the protection of an enormous defense operation is mainly financed Washington. ARMED FORCES' BIGGEST NIGHTMARE IS THE END OF NORAD "Of course, just being a partner in a two-member alliance with the strongest military power in the world and our best trading partner and our closest ally has to be a positive thing," said Macdonald. The armed forces' biggest nightmare is that a decision to stay out of NMD would effectively spell the end of NORAD. Former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy, who until he stepped down last October made no secret of his opposition to NMD and his determination that Canada should not always toe Washington's line, says this fear is exaggerated. He recalled that former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney turned down the chance to take part in Washington's much more ambitious anti-missile Strategic Defense Initiative in the 1980s without damaging bilateral relations. "They have their own policy, we have ours, and 90 percent of the time they may be totally complementary and integrated and at other times Canadians have to make that call," said Axworthy, now director of the University of Vancouver's Liu Center for the study of global issues. "What the political consequences of that may be depends on how you do it and how you handle it. But we are still dealing with the question of whether Canada has an independent view of its interests or not." Complicating Ottawa's quandary, says Rudd, is the cautious nature of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. "There comes a point where you have invested so much political capital in the strategic status quo -- and that includes certain arms control treaties -- that you cannot do anything that would cause that to come undone," said Rudd. "The nay-sayers have the initiative and (for Chretien) to second-guess (his) own foreign affairs department as well as take a risk at alienating a large section of public opinion is tough -- and frankly this government is averse to risk." It is just possible that Ottawa will never have to decide. George Lindsey, the former chief of operational research for Canada's armed forces, says there is a chance the United States will decide NMD is too unreliable ever to be deployed. "I think they (the Canadian government) are wise to put things off and hope it doesn't happen," said Lindsey, a member of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs. === EcoNews Service Vancouver, BC http://www.ecologynews.com >> <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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