Canada's Defence Minister Peter Mackay's accusations against Iran not credible

by Jane Allen

	Defence Minister Peter MacKay serves up Christmas dinner to Canadian troops at Kandahar Airfield, in Afghanistan on Tuesday Dec. 25, 2007. Photo credit: Tobi Cohen, The Canadian Press.

The Stephen Harper government's Defence Minister has accused Iran of providing weapons to the Taliban and of fuelling the conflict in Afghanistan, where thousands of Canadian troops are now involved in military operations.

Apparently in support of the U.S. President George Bush administration led sophistry, Peter MacKay made the comments at Kandahar Airfield, where he had spent Christmas Day serving a Yuletide meal as a publicity stunt to hundreds of soldiers.

There is one critical problem with Mr. MacKay's accusations. His accusations are not credible.

For example, the Canadian Centre for Research on Globalization, in the article "How Cheney Cooked the Intelligence on Iran", documents the erroneous nature of this alleged intelligence.

Indeed, the Canadian Centre for Research on Globalization is not the only independent research organization that has exposed the lack of integrity associated with such allegations.

Canada's Big Business and state owned mass-media are apparently attempting to prime the public to support a reported plan to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Iran.

A pre-emptive war had been launched again Iraq, based upon a similar strategy of seeking to manipulate "the masses" for an agenda of greed, exploitation and oppression.

Speaking to reporters after the festivities, MacKay erroneously accused Afghanistan's neighbour, Iran, of "propelling the conflict by providing improvised explosive devices (IEDs), or roadside bombs, to insurgents there." v "We're very concerned that weapons are coming in from Iran. We're very concerned that these weapons are going to the insurgents."

Mr. Mackay appears to be speaking from a Security and Prosperity Partnership North American Union (SPP-NAU) political script, issued by his U.S. based Republican neo-conservative handlers. The Harper government apparently seeks to make Canada as an accomplice of an apparent U.S. military expansionist agenda.

Although Iran has been accused of interfering in Afghanistan in the past, MacKay's comments mark the first time a Canadian government official has made the unfounded accusation publicly.

Someone needs to remind Mr. Mackay that Canadians in general view Canada to be an independent nation, which has sought to stand for integrity in the conduct of international affairs, and not for a web of deceit.

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