[news] Tieleman on Business Ass-Kissing U.S. over Iraq

[Gordon Flett]

Hi all, As the invasion of Iraq grows more bloody, our Vancouver Board
of Trade has announced Canada should be involved with this illegal
conflict, personally handing a letter to that effect to US Ambassador
Paul Cellucci in Vancouver and copying it to President Bush. This
pathetic display of public ass-kissing (yes, I say that in the column)
was so abhorrent that I scrapped an already-submitted column and wrote
this one, which was published today in the Georgia Straight. For BC
folks, I'm back on CBC TV tonight at 6:40 p.m. after a bout with the flu
last week. Regards, Bill Tieleman
West Star Communications
Read the Georgia Straight and watch CBC TV in BC Thursdays for political
commentary from Bill Tieleman

Bill Tieleman’s Political Connections column in the Georgia Straight
April 3-10, 2003

Board of Trade Ready to Overthrow Saddam

By Bill Tieleman

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the
military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of
misplaced power exists and will persist.
   -- former U.S. Republican president and general Dwight D. Eisenhower,
                                                                   1961

After the most embarrassing episode of public ass-kissing for the
benefit of currying favour with the Bush government that this province
has ever seen, can B.C. business leaders sink any lower?

The spectacle of the Vancouver Board of Trade's executive sending an
open letter to U.S. ambassador Paul Cellucci saying it was "shocked and
embarrassed" that Canada had not joined the American-led coalition that
illegally invaded Iraq has to be an abject low point for national
self-respect.

The letter, signed by board chair and "motivational speaker" Peter Legge
and copied to U.S. president George W. Bush, also states: "What's
missing in the coalition of the willing--now numbering 49--is Canada.
Nowhere is that felt more than right here at home."

Not to be outdone, Finance Minister Gary Collins also joined in last
week by saying that Canada should have joined the U.S. and the United
Kingdom in the war against Iraq. In a CKNW radio report on March 25,
Collins said: "I think that, personally, as one citizen of British
Columbia, I would have preferred that we were there."

Do these people have any understanding of what is going on in Iraq?

The United States, the United Kingdom, and other coalition members have
invaded a sovereign country that has taken no hostile action against
them, without a declaration of war and without offering decisive proof
of any threat to either themselves or even Iraq's neighbours.

In fact, Iraq had recently been meeting the terms and conditions of the
United Nations' Security Council resolutions that it significantly
disarm, destroying many weapons and allowing U.N. inspectors to examine
possible chemical- and biological-weapons sites.

In other words, tough diplomacy backed by world opinion was working. And
the devastating trade sanctions imposed on Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War
had left it a weak and isolated country with few choices but to comply.

But that wasn't enough for Bush and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who
have attacked Iraq without the support of the United Nations, the
European Union, or even the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

So now we have disgusting scenes of Iraqi civilians, innocent children,
women, and men, being blown to pieces by "smart" bombs, people melted in
their cars by exploding cruise missiles that hit markets, not military
targets.

We have a war in which decent men and women serving in the armed forces
of the coalition members will die and be injured, not defending their
countries or preserving peace but following orders to secure the oil
fields of Iraq at any cost. We have a war that perversely strengthens
the antidemocratic religious extremists who perpetrated the horror of
the September 11 attacks on America and the Bali bombing.

And Saddam Hussein is an incredibly evil dictator who has killed,
tortured, oppressed, and exploited his own people. Hussein richly
deserves one of the hottest seats in hell for his horrific actions.

But, unfortunately, the world is full of evil dictators who oppress
their own people. And many of them are our biggest trading
partners. China is a brutal dictatorship that possesses a powerful
nuclear arsenal, unlike Hussein's laughable castoff Scud missile
collection, but will the so-called coalition of the willing "free" the
Chinese people next and destroy China's weapons of mass destruction?
Don't count on it, not while every major multinational corporation is
using cheap, union-free, near-slave labour to produce consumer goods you
can buy in every store in the western world.

How about a coalition attack to "free" the Saudi Arabian people, who
have never had a democratic vote in their lives? Not so long as the
Saudi royal family keeps pumping oil to the West so we can drive our
SUVs to the mall.

Then there is the United States. America is a great country and its
people are not only our biggest trading partners but also our friends
and neighbours.

In both business and friendship, however, principles are critical. When
a friend or partner does something wrong, the right thing to do is call
them on it, not back up their bad decision. And remember that many
Americans are as appalled at this illegal war as Canadians and citizens
of other countries are.

This war is not an abstract issue for British Columbia. The province's
economy depends heavily on the annual $9 billion tourism brings into
B.C., but the war will inflict serious consequences on the industry. And
our important forest and manufacturing industries will also be
negatively affected as trade with the U.S. and other countries becomes
more costly and difficult due to possible terrorist acts,
border-crossing complications, and other restrictions to trade.

But pathetic bowing and scraping to Bush won't help us. B.C. business
leaders and our finance minister could have played a useful role in
warning our American and British friends before they went to war what
the worldwide consequences would be.

Our business leaders could be speaking out for peace now, but instead
they scream for war from the sidelines while undermining our own
country's sensible position not to participate in an illegal, immoral
military invasion.

Members of the Vancouver Board of Trade should be deeply ashamed of the
action their executive has taken.

You can let the board know how you feel by sending them an e-mail at
contactus at boardoftrade.com.

Peace. It's good for business.

A LETTER FROM Finance Minister Gary Collins about a recent column
correctly noted that Statistics Canada is predicting a 5.1-percent
increase in B.C. capital investment from 2002 to 2003, based on a survey
of investment intentions. The drop of 4.7 percent in B.C. capital
investment that I inadvertently referred to was a comparison of "actual
2001 to preliminary actual 2002" capital investments. *

West Star Communications president Bill Tieleman has clients in labour,
business, and nonprofits. He is a political commentator Thursdays on CBC
TV's Canada Now and regularly on CBC Radio One's Early Edition.
E-mail him at weststar at telus.net.  

Two Readers See Red in Minister's Figures

I was irritated by Gary Collins's personal attack on Bill Tieleman in
last week's Straight [Letters, March 27­April 3]. Collins should go back
to flying planes, since it's obvious that he's a disaster as finance
minister.

No matter what kind of political spin or reconstruction of the truth he
and his gang of 75 manage to project, the fact is that the current
government was left with the proceeds of two huge budgetary surpluses by
the previous NDP administration. Now, with some sort of bizarre reverse
Midas touch, Collins and his buddies have managed to crank the economy
massively in the negative direction, generating huge record-setting $3-
to $4-billion deficits.

As we all know too well, these deficits are due entirely to a huge tax
cut that almost exclusively benefits the richest B.C. taxpayers. This
has been done in tandem with increases in user fees and the sales tax
and cutbacks in benefits/services that victimize all lower- and
middle-income people, not to mention all-out mean-spirited attacks on
the poorest and weakest in our society.

And contrary to what Collins and the government have claimed, the tax
cuts have not paid for themselves. Shamefully, most of the media and the
business community compliantly cheer on the Liberals and have nothing
but praise for their fiscal wizardry. (The breathtaking hypocrisy of
this is clear when one recalls that much more modest deficits incurred
by the NDP were consistently portrayed as crimes against humanity). If
these fiscal strategies are putting B.C. "on track", I await the
inevitable derailment with concern and apprehension.
                                                            Don Sinclair
                                              Vancouver Bus Riders Union

I can't help myself from responding to the misinformation that Gary
Collins tried to spread in your letters section last week.

Of course, he is a true politician in the way he writes: proclamations
of good for all, then quickly glossing over the details that speak the
truth.

For instance, he vaguely says that we "now pay the lowest rates of
personal income tax in the country", but there is no mention of the fact
that we also pay the highest user fees in the country for the few
services that are left. This transfer of financial burden is both
regressive and immoral. But it also embodies all that this current
government is.

What is the net effect of raising the PST credit for those few souls who
earn so little to qualify? It allows us to buy up to $27 worth of toilet
paper, clothes, and other necessities per month before the regressive
increase in sales tax takes even more of our money out of our pocket.
Gee, thanks.

And how is it that the finance minister always manages to miss the fact
that our provincial budget was balanced before he took control. The only
reason we don't have a balanced budget is because he gave $2 billion to
his friends: the rich and corporate elite.

It is not only time to stop allowing these leaders from spreading their
lies and misinformation, it is time to stop everything they are doing
before everything is lost. Recall every Liberal. Go on a general strike.
Refuse to obey. This cannot go on.
                                                              Dave Olsen
                                                               Vancouver
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