Security and Defense: Airports, Defense Minister Bill Graham and the Military

Airport insecurity

There's been a recent PR attempt by the government to play down the amount of drug activity and how much improved the security is in order to fly under the American radar screen. The Americans aren't buffoons.They realize exactly what is going on here. The Government has given virtually a free ride to crooks and terrorists. They haven't re hired 2500 RCMP officers yet, which would only be a start.

In the Greater Toronto Area. The police are tripping over themselves with the amount of drug operations being carried out in residential areas. This is not being done by Ma & Pa Kettle. Instead of the BS, why doesn't the government provide the tools necessary to protect Canadians? Is Canada a safe haven for crooks and terrorists? Does night follow day?

Airport insecurity July 21, 2004

[. . . . ] Yet there are still dangerous, gaping holes in Canadian air security. These holes were apparent immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks and have become ever more glaring since. They have been pointed out by sources as diverse as the Senate committee on national security and defence, the Auditor-General and this newspaper. But incredibly, the holes remain. Why?

It has been known to Ottawa for 18 months -- since the publication of the Senate's mammoth report, The Myth of Security at Canadian Airports -- that lax security air-side (in the parts of the airport not accessible to passengers) now poses the greatest potential threat to air safety. At Pearson, tens of thousands of employees enter and leave the unseen underbelly of the airport each day, but they're only sporadically searched. The pass-check system is random, not universal.

Likewise, checked baggage is screened only randomly. Total baggage screening won't be introduced until the end of next year. And despite compelling calls for the RCMP to be put in charge of airport security nationwide, it remains primarily the responsibility of privately run local airport authorities -- all 89 of them. Why? [. . . . ]

Bud: Bill Graham moves to the Defense Ministry--alas!

Having distinguished himself with his 'soft power' diplomacy, Graham wants to bring this 'soft power' to the military. Well, that portfolio is a no-brainer (luckily for him) as already there is nothing left in the military except soft power. Oh, Bill will make sure that the forces are kept up to a mini-peacekeeping level. I can almost hear him saying, in his best Colonel Blimp, bombastic way:

"Now, I know that we sent our peacekeepers and Mounties to Haiti a few years ago. You say there was no success, and I say, "Well, it took eight whole years to become a hellhole again. It all depends on your definition of 'success'. Anyway, look at the optics--colourful, vibrant culture, blending the age-old customs and religions of Africa with Canadian disco--a pol's diversity dreamscape. Look! It'll play well in Montreal. Put a thousand more down there."

But maybe I am being unduly critical here. I mean, after all, what a show of force the Kazemi situation presented. He is recalling the ambassador. I am underwhelmed. How about cutting off all trade--except that sacred cow 'oil' of course. I realize that Graham would lose his street creds with that house of horrors that populates the UN General Assembly if he took a principled stand on Israel or the endless slaughter that plagues the Muslim world. But 'soft power' means simply kissing every Third World thug's a**. Now, he is going to bring that same mentality to the military. So they complain about under-funding and under-staffing? So what? When Bill gets through with them their election clout will collectively be that of Amherst, N.S. Any election downside will be seen by Bill as "acceptable collateral damage". The chance of really fighting Islamic terrorism is doomed. Graham is probably saying to his new crew:

"You have to understand that these Afghanis have real bombs and guns We are not going to commit troops against people who defeated the British at the height of their colonial powers. Have The Globe and Mail catalogue our every fallen soldier? No thank you. I have to show some success. In Haiti, they only have machetes and stones, right? Send our boys down there. I think the optics will play well on CBC. Progressive Canada extending its hand to the benighted of Haiti. Oh, yeh, stop mentioning that it was the first free colony in the Northern Hemisphere. It confuses the message."

© Bud