Stephen Harper on the refugee drownings

Stephen Harper on the refugee drownings

How quickly Mr. Harper turned from the image of the lifeless body of little Aylan Kurdi  being carried away from the Turkish beach front that had once promised a gateway to bicycles and bananas (the two things mentioned in interviews that Aylan and his brother loved) to our Prime Minister’s perceived  need for more war in Syria.  The boy’s aunt, Fatima Kurdi, said clearly in her first interview that “the war must end.”  And I thought I heard her add “the Kurds have a right to live.”  I can’t seem to find these words again from Mrs. Kurdi’s live interview.  Did anyone else besides me hear her say these words?  And why should it matter?  And it shouldn’t, but politically, it does.  At least to Mr. Harper.  Because the little boys and their mother were Kurds.

And why should the fact that the little boys and their mother were Kurds bother Mr. Harper?  Because Mr. Harper just doesn’t like it to be brought to public attention that he has dragged Canada into the fighting in Syria that isn’t what most Canadians think it is.  We are now as a nation part of a coalition that is composed primarily of the US, the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. But the coalition is doing good things there, right?  Trying to kill more of ISL (ISIS)?  Anyway, that’s what the coalition want us international political illiterates to think.

There is a pattern to this US led interference in other countries and off we go again, this time to Syria with our own Prime Minister leading the Canadian charge. We’re pumped up to be hot to trot to kill ISL (ISIS) in Syria. Then why are we as a coalition bombing more Kurds than ISL (ISIS).Why? Because Saudi Arabia and Turkey want us to.   

Saudi Arabia has the same extreme form of Islam that ISL (ISIS) does, it’s called Wahhabism.  The Saudis also behead people they don’t like, insist the women wear full burka’s covering all but their eyes, women can’t drive or leave their house without a male relative, the princes are very nasty to the displaced people who work for them, and in general the Saudi Arabia princes seem to be extremely arrogant, unpleasant people.  The Saudis want to kill Kurds more than they want to kill ISL (ISIS).  Again, why?

 Because the Kurdish people practice a more tolerant Islam. They embrace democracy and show respect for women and they are gaining ground politically. The Saudi’s fear that this kind of Islam presents a serious challenge to strict Wahhabism.   The Saudis are terrified not of ISL (ISIS) as after all, they are religious brothers to this group, but much more fearful of the rise of the Kurds.

And Turkey? Why does Turkish President Erdogan hate the Kurds so much that he had rather bomb them than ISL (ISIS)? In an article by Patrick Cockburn (Information Clearing House Aug. 31, 2015) Cockburn reports “ In return for a deal (between US and Turkey) signed on 22 July,  (ISIS) has been hit by only three Turkish airstrikes, compared to 300 against the bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKKK).  It swiftly emerged that Ankara’s (Turkey’s capital) real target was the Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq.”  Again, but why?

There are a lot of Kurds in Turkey and they vote.  They have also started running for office. The PKKK even won twelve per cent of the seats in the last Turkish election because even non-Kurds voted for them.  This denied Erdogan the majority he was looking for and as he seems to refuse to form a government coalition with the Kurds, there will have to be another Turkish election soon.  In the meantime, as he obviously can’t bomb the Kurds in his own country, Erdogan can and is bombing them in Syria along with other members of the coalition.

 And Harper’s war drum beating?  Well, first, Mr. Harper is always on the lookout for any signs of the Armageddon.  And if it isn’t coming soon enough, well, perhaps he can help nudge it along.  But it does make Harper look kind of chicken-pooey when it comes to public attention that our Prime Minister is going all gung-ho to bomb the Kurds, because the US, UK and the Saudis and Turks of the coalition, of which Canada is now a part, say so.  This means that our country has become partners in an unholy alliance that is bombing and killing the very people whose little drowned boys broke our hearts last week.