Liberals & Libya

Like John Ivison and Warren Kinsella, turmoil in Libya has me remembering fondly the days when a long-toothed Liberal regime happily sold brand Canada to promote the wise stewardship of Colonel Kadaffy. 

It sounded like smart politics at the time.  Canadians, in full moral prim-itude, were not hip to the concept of human freedom.  That was dangerous W dummy talk.  We were sophisticated realists who knew the sum of human happiness was assured by men like Saddam Hussein.  How better for Paul Martin to establish his anti-W cred than with a visit to newly-repented Colonel Kadaffy.  Canada, our Prime Minister was saying, was a friend of Arab dictators and few dead dissidents wouldn't spoil the party.

Interestingly, today's Liberals are basically nowhere on what's going on in Libya specifically and the middle east generally.  If they are saying something, clearly, no one in the media thinks they have anything noteworthy to contribute.  Probably, knowing that pictures of Juggernaut Martin and Colonel Kadaffy, hanging in the Colonel's bedoin tent, are all over the internet. 

And Iggy, who once stood with the Kurds against another violent loony tune - Saddam Hussein, is in an awkward position on Libya in particular.  He famously threw the kurds under the bus and argued that wthe orld would be a better place if Saddam Hussein was restored to power.  From that, we can only infer that he has his fingers on Colonel Kadaffy's behalf.   However sincerly held and rigorously considered, Iggy's preference for status-quo autocracy in the middle east is not the fashion these days.