1) It's a phony war. ISIS today provides a convenient pretext for the US-led coalition to reinsert western military forces into Iraq and to overthrow the government of neighbouring Syria. Here's why: a) The USA and its coalition partners must take responsibility for destroying the nation state of Iraq during George Bush's and Tony Blair's illegal attack and occupation. Under Saddam Hussein, despite his many faults, there was no Al Qaeda terrorism in Iraq. b) The US-led occupation split Iraq into three parts. Iraqi oil was privatized in the Kurdish puppet state in the north where multinational fossil fuel corporations established headquarters. The US military occupation, which ended in 2011, fanned sectarian conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslim enclaves in the south and literally opened the door to Al Qaeda terrorism. c) In 2011, the USA and Canada spearheaded the creation of the FSG ("Friends of Syria" Group of countries)1 which organized a covert war of aggression against the government of neighbouring Syria, using terrorist mercenaries, which it termed "moderate Syrian rebels." This covert war is now into its fifth year. The Syrian government fiercely defended its citizens and territory as is its right and duty under international law. The western-backed "rebels" inside Syria morphed into ISIS in late 2013 and invaded Iraq in 2014. So, Canadian forces are now engaging an enemy which the Canadian government help to create. In summary, Canadians are being misled: George Bush', and now Harper's, "war on terror" is Harper's contribution to an imperial military adventure to control the fossil fuel resources of the Mideast from Libya to Iran and to replace governments that are not compliant to western interests. 2) It's illegal. According to international law, only the United Nations' Security Council can authorize collective military action against a member state. The US-led coalition to attack ISIS in Iraq and Syria has no such authorization. While the present government of Iraq authorized the US-led coalition to operate in Iraq, Syria has not. For the Harper government to undertake military action in Syria, then, is a war crime. The opposition parties in Canada need to recognize this salient fact. 3) It's expensive. The Harper government claimed the first six months of the military mission in Iraq cost Canadians $122 m. But the parliamentary budget officer set the real cost at $166 m. and six times that figure if incremental costs were included. However, war spending is money lost to healthcare, child care, post-secondary education, pensions, rapid transit, green jobs, environmental protection... Stephen Harper would like to create a permanent war economy in Canada, following the US model, with a huge increase in military and security spending (benefitting arms-makers and security corporations) and a consequent shrinkage of the social welfare state. 4) It benefits the apartheid State of Israel. The Israeli colonial project depends on creating Jewish settlements in Occupied Palestine, ethnically cleansing the Palestinians from their homes, concentrating them in "cantons", and denying them all political, civil and social rights. To accomplish this project in the Arab and Muslim Mideast, Israel relies on US support. It's also in Israel's interest to weaken, destroy, and annex nearby Arab states. Israel lobbied the USA to attack Iraq in 2003. Since 2011, it has aided the international aggression against the Syrian government by bombing Syria on at least five occasions and by giving medical aid to wounded Syrian "rebels" in the Golan Heights, which it seized from Syria in 1967. Since Syria is part of the so-called "Axis of Resistance" (including Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon) which opposes the Israeli colonial project in Palestine, Israel would very much like to see the Syrian government defeated and the country balkanized into mutually hostile enclaves. 5) It promotes racism and Islamophobia. Harper's Mideast military mission is based on fear-mongering. A series of well-orchestrated sting operations, in which security agents organized gullible and mentally-ill, Arab and Muslim, Canadian men to plan spectacular crimes (Toronto 18, VIA rail plot, the plan to blow up the US Consulate) only to be foiled at precisely the moment that the Harper government introduced pieces of anti-terror legislation, has resulted in a spike in overt racism and Islamophobia among Canadians. This spike was heightened by un-Canadian comments from Harper and his MP's about Muslim women wearing religious head coverings as harmful to Canadian culture. Decades of demonization of Arabs as "terrorists" and Islam as allegedly a "violent" faith, at odds with Christianity and Judaism, are the foundation upon which this current spike is built. Harper's Mideast military mission will only serve to stoke racist and Islamophobic attitudes among Canadians, attitudes that run counter to the kind of inclusive and welcoming culture for Canadians of all faiths and national origins that Canadians were building before the advent of the Harper government. 6) It will lead to the curtailment of Canadians' civil and political rights. During wartime, previous Canadian governments have used the War Measures Act to quell dissent and have even interned whole communities of Canadians. In the context of his extended and expanded Mideast military mission, Stephen Harper intends to use the threat of ISIS terrorism as an excuse to curtail the civil and political rights of Canadians under Bill C-51. In this manner, Harper hopes to squelch opposition to his war agenda. 7) It will cause even more misery for the people of Iraq and Syria. Bush' and Blair's 2003 attack on Iraq cost an estimated one million Iraqi lives and turned several million Iraqis into refugees. The country's once-envied infrastructure was laid waste and personal security for Iraqi civilians was radically reduced. The FSG aggression against Syria, now in its fifth year, cost over 200,000 lives and turned four million people into external refugees and several million more into internal refugees. The war and economic sanctions have ruined a once-thriving economy such that more than half the population is jobless. The fact is that, western military interventions, whether in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Haiti, Palestine, or Libya, unfailingly wreak havoc on civilians and leave the targeted country much worse off than before. The coalition air war  has already destroyed some of the economic infrastructure remaining in Iraq and Syria. More war will lead to more misery. 8) It may lead to war with the government of Syria. Because Canadian military forces will be operating in Syria illegally - without Syrian government or UN approval - and because the overthrow of the Syrian government is the sole aim of the FSG, in which the Harper government of Canada has played a leading role, Canada may soon find itself at war with Syria. This danger is especially likely because of the incompetence of the Canadian military leadership, which was demonstrated recently in Iraqi Kurdistan where Canadian commandos were operating without Kurdish cooperation beyond the Kurdish front lines, and a Canadian sergeant was killed by "friendly fire.". 9) It could lead to a wider military conflict. Syria has been closely allied with Russia for sixty years. In fact, Russia's only Mediterranean naval post is located at Tartous in Syria. Both Russia and China have steadfastly supported Syria's independence and sovereignty with their vetoes in the UN Security Council. Iran and Hezbollah are also regional allies of Syria. On the coalition side are other regional powers such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey. A random incident in which forces of the US-led coalition engage those of the Syrian government could easily explode into a wider regional war (as may be happening today in Yemen) or into a world war, which would seriously impact Canadians. This current Mideast standoff does not have a military solution. Only a political solution can resolve the crisis. And the diplomatic machinery is already in place in Geneva, under UN auspices, where several peace conferences regarding Syria have already taken place. 10) It will further pollute the planet. It's hard to think of a more disastrous effect on the environment than the destruction caused by war. Alone, the US war machine is largest single polluter on the planet. The additional fact that its warplanes and tanks use depleted uranium shells, which have already caused massive birth defects in Iraq, should give us even more reason to oppose this war. Conclusion: Canadians do NOT "have to do something about ISIS terrorism." We do not have "a responsibility to protect (the civilians of other countries)", as we are regularly told by government ministers. ISIS would be out of business in weeks if the USA obliged its client states in Turkey, Jordan, and Israel not to allow ISIS fighters to cross their borders or use their territories to launch attacks on Syria and Iraq. It could force its subservient king in Saudi Arabia to stop funding ISIS. The USA could ally with the Syrian and Iranian governments, who have been winning the ground war against terrorist mercenaries, to defeat ISIS on the ground. The US could disband the FSG.  Instead of acting as the cop of the world, it could participate meaningfully in the UN-supported peace talks on Syria, that have already taken place in Geneva regarding Syria. For our part, Canadians should demand the Harper government bring its troops and planes home from Syria and Iraq now, stop supporting so-called "moderate Syrian rebels", end its economic sanctions against Syria, re-open diplomatic relations, and withdraw from the Friends of Syria Group of countries. SHOW YOUR OPPOSITION TO THIS UNJUST WAR! JOIN THE INFORMATIONAL PICKET AT THE FEDERAL BUILDING, 55 Bay Street North (across from Jackson Square), Hamilton 12 noon (for one hour) Monday, March 30, 2015 (Please dress warmly: Bay Street North can be windy and cold.) FACEBOOK EVENTS PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/events/946035052103274/ WEBSITE: www.hamiltoncoalitiontostopthewar.ca 1 http://www.globalresearch.ca/canadas-harper-government-supports-covert-mercenary-war-on-syria-funds-al-qaeda-afiliated-rebels/5357781 ************************************************************* To sign and share our anti-war petition: https://www.change.org/p/stephen-harper-withdraw-from-the-us-led-coalition-for-war-in-iraq-and-syria?recruiter=7269943&utm_campaign=mailto_link&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition by Ken Stone, Treasurer, Hamilton Coalition To Stop The War