The Canadian moment?

Posted By Elizabeth Dickinson Friday, March 18, 2011 - 6:54 PM Share

Around the time that Barack Obama was assuring U.S. lawmakers that American planes would not be used to enforce the no fly zone in Libya, our neighbor to the north was announcing just the opposite: Canada will deploy fighter jets to the Middle East. Prime Minister Stephen Harper heads to the joint African Union-Arab League summit on Libya tomorrow, where he'll join other Western leaders from France, Britain, Germany, and the United States in discussing next steps. 

This is the perfect international swarming -- nearly every major NATO country is now militarily involved, except the United States. And that's probably intentional -- a means to quell fears -- both in Congress and in the U.S. public -- that Libya could turn out to be yet another expensive and prolonged military adventure in the Middle East, adding to the burdens of Iraq and Afghanistan.

So enter Canada, a country with a long and storied history of supporting U.N. peace operations. This is one time when America is probably ok with its northern neighbor taking the lead.

Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

 

PAPICEK

11:27 AM ET

March 19, 2011

foot-draggers...

Aye, that's what they call us.

Who would have thought that the world's only (semi-crippled) superpower would be so statesmanlike as to allow Great Britain and France take the lead on this?

However, my reservations remain. This will be a long, Sudan-like process. The rebels have as yet to demonstrate much political sophistication. I cannot say the same of Libyans I've seen living outside Libya, however, so my hope lies there.

This one really looks to me to be a repeat of France in 1789.

Maybe, while in the general neighborhood, we could spare a cargo plane or two for Cote D'Ivoire. Or Abyei.

 

GRANT

10:58 PM ET

March 19, 2011

Perhaps Canada's recent

Perhaps Canada's recent embarrassment at the U.N was something of a spur to this.

 

MIKEH297

11:03 PM ET

March 19, 2011

This is a pretty big deal,

This is a pretty big deal, what's happening in Lybia. I am surprised the United States is simply in the background on this one. I guess they are too broke to participate

- Mike

 

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