Angry in the Great White North

From CTV:

A small gathering of Canadian opposition MPs gathered in the ruins of southern Lebanon on Sunday, to witness firsthand the aftermath of Israel's war against Hezbollah.

"It's quite obvious that terrible crimes have been committed," Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj told CTV News.

Obvious? Really? No investigation needed? No evaluation of the orders of engagement? No consideration of the fact that Hezbollah launched missiles from within civilian neighbourhoods, turning those neighbourhoods into legitimate targets?

No recognition that a war had just been fought, and during war, buildings get bombed and people get hurt.

But in this case, we're talking about the infamous Qana attack:

The MPs were shown ruined homes in Qana, where residents recently buried 29 people killed in an Israeli air strike. More than half of the dead were children.

The Lebanese civilians were hiding in a three-story house when Israeli warplanes attacked the town, about six miles southeast of the port city of Tyre. A missile hit the building and it collapsed.

The controversy swirls around the timeline not mentioned by CTV. According to some reports, many hours passed between the Israeli attack and the collapse, so the question is why the civilians were still in there. Questions have also been raised about what else was in the building, that is, Hezbollah munitions, and where the Israeli missiles actually hit, suggesting the destructon was wrought by exploding Hezbollah missiles.

But MP Wrzesnewskyj knows a crime has been committed, and he knows who did it:

Israel briefly halted air strikes in the region to investigate the attack, and Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman called the day of the incident "horrible, sad and bloody."

But Wrzesnewskyj argued such attacks, even if accidental, must be examined by the international community.

"We need an international body to come and investigate, there are massacres that took place. This sort of thing cannot happen with impunity," he said.

The Bloc MP and NDP MP join in the chorus:

"When I look all around here, this is too much," said Bloc MP Maria Mourani.

"We were echoing what United States foreign policy was dictating," said NDP MP Peggy Nash.

And...cut!

Great people! Now let's take some pictures amid the rubble, look horrified and disgusted, and that's a wrap. Now you three can go straight home to Canada -- no reason to go to Israel, nothing to see there.

Straight home to Canada?

The delegation will stop first in Damascus, where it will meet the Syrian Foreign Minister, MPs and the speaker of the Syrian parliament. The Canadians also plan to visit a Lebanese refugee camp in Syria.

After that, they head to Beirut. There they will meet the Lebanese Foreign Minister, representatives from the national parliament, non-governmental organizations, United Nations agencies and various political parties.

Mr. Chouaib said the delegation will not meet anybody from Hezbollah.

No one from Hezbollah? Right.

The trip was arranged by the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations, a group on record as supportive of Hezbollah, including Hezbollah's activities in Canada. In December of 2002, the governing Liberals (Borys Wrzesnewskyj's party) refused to ban Hezbollah's charity wing:

Canadian Jewish and Arab groups are at odds over Canada's decision not to add Hezbollah's charity wing to a list of banned terrorist organizations. Solicitor General Wayne Easter says he needs more information before he would ban the group outright.

Last week, Ottawa added six groups to a list of banned terrorist organizations, but left off Hezbollah, a Lebanese-based organization. The United Nations has Hezbollah on its register of 200 groups linked to terror.

Canada currently bans 13 groups, including the military wing of Hezbollah, but not the entire organization.

Mazen Chouaib, Executive Director of the National Council on Canada-Arab relations, rejected the notion that the charity and militant arms of Hezbollah are one and the same.

But when asked by Canada AM's Lisa LaFlamme how someone donating money could be sure it was being used for charitable causes and not for terrorist activities, Chouaib said: "I cannot guarantee that."

Chouaib said money raised in Canada would largely be targeted for humanitarian causes. "They are funding some orphan here, orphan there," he said.

"We see this as another effort by a pro-Israel group to change Canadian foreign policy," Chouaib said, adding that banning Hezbollah outright would perpetuate stereotypes that Canadian Arabs are involved in terrorism.

Some orphan here, some orphan there. As long as some orphan somewhere might be helped, then by all means let's keep the money flowing to Hezbollah, says the NCCAR.

For all their concern for the well-being of Lebanese orphans, I can't find a news release on the website in which the NCCAR was happy to see Syria pull out of Lebanon after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in February of 2005. The NCCAR condemned the assassination and warned everyone from using the incident to start meddling in Lebanese politics. But when it became clear that the ultimate meddler, Syria, was behind the murder, NCCAR had nothing to say. When the Syrians were forced to pull out of Lebanon in April of 2005 as a result of the outcry that was at the top of the news for weeks, the NCCAR had nothing to say.

Interesting too, that on this trip, the first stop is not Lebanon, but Syria. Who issues NCCAR's marching orders anyway?

A Conservative MP, Dean Del Mastro, was scheduled to go, but he was pulled out for "security reasons".

"The Canadian government did not allow their representative to come here," said the association's Mazen Chouaib. "We had a member of parliament from (Ontario) who was coming with us but they pulled him the night the delegation was to leave."

Actually, this fits a pattern. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is obliging the Parliamentary Press Gallery to follow certain basic rules of decorum in order to prevent news conferences from degenerating into journalistic muggings. He did not show up for the opening of the Out Games in Montreal, nor for the AIDS Conference in Toronto. In both places, the gay community went out of their way to mock and ridicule Conservative representatives.

Now he pulls the Conservative MP out of what is clearly a pro-Hezbollah anti-Israel propaganda exercise serving Syrian interests, perhaps even devised by Syria.

Stephen Harper is no one's punching bag, nor will he allow himself to be used. Certainly not by the likes of Syria.

So where does that leave Wrzesnewskyj, Mourani, and Nash?

In the title to this piece, I labeled them as naive. That is the most generous interpretation. It is possible that the they really believe that they are on some sort of "fact finding" mission, as if they would be allowed to find any "facts" not already carefully packaged for them by their NCCAR hosts and their Syrian masters.

But there is a darker possibility. These MPs aren't naive. Wrzesnewskyj, Mourani, and Nash know exactly why they are there and what the NCCAR wants them to say. But they stick to the script written in Damascus and delivered through the NCCAR because to do so presents an opportunity to embarrass the Conservatives and return to power (at least for the Liberals). The cynicism is disturbing to watch. The deaths at Qana are being traded back and forth. The Canadian MPs are allowed to stand on the spot where people were killed in a war and get an opportunity to condemn the Conservatives that will get a great deal of play in the Canadian domestic media. In return, the Hezbollah apologists at NCCAR get a few more condemnations of Israel from the international community to deliver to Damascus.

Update: More at small dead animals quoting the Montreal Gazette:

It would aid the cause of peace if Canada dropped Hezbollah from a list of banned terrorist organizations, according to two Canadian MPs on a fact-finding mission to Lebanon.

When asked if he were in favour of Hezbollah being taken off the terror list, Etobicoke Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj said: "Yes, I would be."

"Hezbollah has a political wing, they have members of parliament, they have two cabinet ministers," Wrzesnewskyj said. "You want to encourage politicians in this military organization so that the centre of gravity shifts to them."

New Democrat Peggy Nash, who represents the Toronto riding of Parkdale-High Park, said her discussions in Lebanon had led her to believe "that it is just not helpful to label them a terrorist organization."

"If the political parties in Lebanon who may disagree with Hezbollah, and be opposed to them and their philosophy, can figure out a way to work with Hezbollah and try to get along internally, then perhaps we should take a cue from that."

This was the message that both MPs said they would bring back to their caucuses, and eventually to the House of Commons, when they return to Canada this week.

Peggy Nash wants to help political parties in Lebanon find a way to work with Hezbollah. I guess she is teaching by example.

I've changed my mind -- these MPs aren't naive. I think they know exactly what they're doing, and for whom. Adam Daifallah, on the other hand, is more forgiving subscribes to a different interpretation. He thinks Borys Wrzesnewskyj is merely a useful idiot.

Update: From Adam Daifallah:

I don't want to be called more forgiving!

Sorry, Adam. I've made the change. Cheers!