https://www.niagarathisweek.com/news-story/4066313-hands-off-syria-activists-demand/
Hands off Syria, activists demand
Peace activists demanding Canada’s federal government steer clear of any military involvement in war-torn Syria targeted Niagara Falls riding MP and federal defense minister Rob Nicholson’s constituency office in Niagara Falls on Friday.
The afternoon rally saw a couple of dozen people with the Niagara Coalition for Peace, an umbrella organization of peace and social justice groups across the region, carrying signs and having some passing motorists on Portage Road beeping their horns in support.
The United States has been threatening military action against the Syrian regime of president Bashar Assad, accusing his government of a poison gas attack last month that allegedly killed some 1,400 people including children. The country has seen two years of brutal fighting between government and rebel forces.
France has said it supports a U.S.-led strike. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said last week that his country supports its allies who are contemplating action against the Syrian regime, but said Canada has no plans for military intervention.
Saleh Waziruddin, spokesman for the Niagara peace coalition, said he fears Canada could get dragged into military strikes in Syria because of this country’s close ties to the U.S. military after the Afghanistan war.
“The Canadian military has become so integrated with the U.S. military,” he said. “Canada doesn’t have full sovereignty any more.”
Waziruddin said even a so-called ‘no-fly zone’ to keep Syrian government aircraft from launching attacks could be deadly for civilians, noting a bomb from a plane struck and destroyed a school when a no-fly zone was imposed on Libya.
Waziruddin said claims that military action in Syria could be quick and decisive may be misleading. He also said American military intelligence can’t be trusted, as shown by the claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction — which didn’t pan out — that led to the American invasion of that country.
“In every war they tell us it’ll be quick, and the other guy’s the monster,” he said.
“We can’t believe them (Americans). They said the same thing in Iraq.”
Waziruddin called on Niagara residents to contact their MPs to demand that Canada not get involved in any military involvement in Syria.
