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Remarks made by federal NDP leader Alexa McDonough in the House of Commons Monday, October 15, on Canadian military support for the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan:
the terrorism of september 11is recognized as a global crisis, so our response to these crimes must also be a truly international response. The number of voices is growing as people call for a response that is truly international. The mechanism, the moral and legal authority to deal with these crimes against humanity that are literally a global crisis must reside with the United Nations.
To decide to give any nation or any coalition of countries, no matter how broad, the right to act as judge, jury and executioner when dealing with horrendous crimes is simply not acceptable.
If we allow that to happen, we descend into lawlessness, and the implications for the future peace and security of the world are truly terrifying.
Let me be clear: I am not among the faint-hearted, and my party is not naive. The use of force may indeed be necessary, but let us make sure that the moral and legal authority for acting to bring them to justice is within the rule of law.
We simply cannot remain indifferent to the deaths of more innocent people in some other part of the world. We cannot and will not remain indifferent to casualties among innocent civilians.
The New Democratic Party has been very clear about distancing itself from any who would argue that somehow the past wrongs of one nation, in this case the United States, explain and justify the September 11 atrocities. They do not, they cannot and they never will.
(But) do we seriously think that the bombing and killing of innocent civilians is the only choice available?
Many people in this country do not believe the world is that black-and-white. And if we are to truly solve the problem, it doesn’t serve us well to divide the world in those terms.
