| For years, our America-haters have consoled themselves by asserting that, unlike big bad Uncle Sam, we are purveyors of "soft" power, and our foreign policy is humanitarian, not aggressive. But our lack of ability to respond forcefully to the tsunami disaster in South Asia, as compared to the U.S. efforts on the ground there, shows that even this self-righteous claim is bogus.
Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) finally headed to Sri Lanka to dispense medical care, clean water and help with reconstruction after the government had to charter two Russian-built Antonov aircraft to make two flights each from Canada to Colombo, Sri Lanka, to deliver the DART. It left on January 6, 11 days after the disaster struck.
Defence Minister Bill Graham defended the decision to charter planes. He declared that it would take far too long to transport the team using Canadian Forces Hercules aircraft. What does that say about our state of readiness? What good is a "rapid" response team when we have insufficient aircraft to quickly send it into a disaster zone?
There also appears to have been division within the ranks of the cabinet about deploying DART. So, while Prime Minister Paul Martin waited eight days to even consider sending it to the region, the American military's response, and role in disaster relief, was fast and huge.
The U.S. has led a humanitarian "coalition of the willing" to get aid to the victims more quickly than the United Nations is able. Secretary of State Colin Powell has already been in the affected areas.
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, already on the scene in Indonesian waters, is now part of one of the largest military relief operations in history, and at least a dozen more U.S. warships are in the region. Much of the food, fresh water and other necessities streaming in to the affected areas are arriving on American military transports.
Logistical support, such as that being delivered by U.S. Seahawk helicopters in Aceh, in northern Sumatra, have widened crucial bottlenecks in the relief effort, and are delivering relief and medical supplies to the stricken area. An American hospital ship, the USNS "Mercy," joined the effort. The U.S. military also has field hospitals, and doctors are already at work saving lives.
Also, given the American principle of bipartisanship when it comes to foreign policy, it is instructive to observe President George W. Bush calling upon former president Bill Clinton as well as his own father, former president George Bush, to help with the relief efforts. It would be hard to imagine a Liberal prime minister asking the same of Brian Mulroney.
Perhaps our foreign policy should be termed "dithering" rather than "soft." Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political studies at the University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, P.E.I. |
Copyright ©2005 FFWD. All rights reserved.