https://rabble.ca/columnists/2020/09/canada-has-war-crimes-problem
Canada has a war crimes problem
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September
28, 2020
Two
new reports on Canadian weapons exports reveal that Canadian-based corporate
entities (and, by extension, government agencies that support and encourage
their exports) are complicit in the commission of war crimes in Yemen, Turkey,
Libya, Syria and Iraq.
These
findings build on previously raised concerns that the Canadian military
was complicit in
war crimes during the occupation of Afghanistan (including when current Defence
Minister Harjit Sajjan operated there as a soldier).
Earlier
this month, the United Nations criticized Canada,
among other nations, for continuing to export weapons to all parties that fuel
the commission of war crimes in Yemen.
"Yemen
has been ravaged in ways that should shock the conscience of
humanity," said Melissa
Parke, a member of the Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on
Yemen that produced the report,
"Yemen: A Pandemic of Impunity in a Tortured Land." "Yemen has
now experienced some six years of unremitting armed conflict, with no end in
sight for the suffering of the millions of people caught in its grip."
Kamel
Jendoubi, who chaired the UN group, added: "After
years of documenting the terrible toll of this war, no one can say 'we did not
know what was happening in Yemen.'"
Trudeau fuels Saudi weapons experts
Yet
despite the detailed, years-long public record documenting such crimes, the
Trudeau regime has never taken any meaningful steps to end its government's
complicity. Indeed, during the April pandemic lockdown, the Trudeau government lifted its
temporary suspension of weapons exports to the Saudi regime spearheading the
war against Yemen, one imposed after Saudi agents murdered journalist
Jamal Khashoggi in the Istanbul-based Saudi consulate.
Meanwhile,
Saudi-bound killer armoured vehicles are still rolling off the London, Ontario
assembly line of General Dynamic Land Systems as part of a $15-billion contract
that met the federal government's definition of an
"essential" workplace during the height of COVID-19's first
wave.
Since
coming to power in 2015, the Trudeau government eagerly embraced the
Harper-initiated weapons deal, with former global affairs minister Stéphane
Dion infamously signing the
final contract in defiance of domestic and international law prohibitions, as
well as giving a lie to the so-called feminist government's own proclamations
about respecting the rights of women and international "rule of
law."
Dion
conceded he could not have mustered the intestinal fortitude to engage in such
a criminal action without the assistance of then-minister of trade Chrystia
Freeland. He added however that he was afraid of what the Saudis would say if
Canada did the right thing by refusing to participate in war crimes. "If
you cancelled a contract of this magnitude, it will resonate everywhere …. And
Saudi Arabia will have to react. Don't think they will praise
Canada," Dion said, as if criticism from one of the world's worst
human-rights violators justified continued support for those violations.
In
a similar statement that revealed Dion's intense need to undertake
self-awareness training, he told the Globe and Mail, "I think
it's fair to say we are more concerned about human rights than the Harper
government. That's what I think as a Liberal. That is for you to assess
[whether] it's the case."
Twisted justifications for criminality
Long
after Dion left the global affairs bunker in Ottawa, the justifications for
ongoing weapons exports to Saudi Arabia continue from a branch of the federal
government that suffers from a major conflict of interest: on the one hand, it
acts as a global pimp for the Canadian weapons industry, while on the other, it
is empowered to determine whether or not its ravenous appetite for arms sales
violates its treaty commitments.
This
past spring, in an echo of the Yoo memos that
twisted the global anti-torture legal regime into a justification for Bush
administration torture, global affairs' report on
Saudi weapons exports concluded that "there is no substantial risk that
current Canadian exports of military goods and technology to KSA [Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia] would be used by KSA to commit or facilitate serious violations
of [International Humanitarian Law], including 'internal repression.'"
The
report further found that there was no evidence to suggest Canada's war exports
would "undermine peace and security, either nationally or
locally." In fact, the report finds that Canada's $15 billion in
military exports to Saudi Arabia "contribute to regional peace and
security."
Global
affairs, in a bizarre and racist statement, clearly wants its readers to
understand that Canada is on some high moral plateau because Saudi Arabia
"has not committed to the same standards with respect to exports or the
use of certain weapons."
Yet
in another example of the self-awareness deficit that appears to dominate
global affairs thinking, the report declares that Saudi Arabia is not a member
of the Arms Trade Treaty (which Canada is violating with its arms exports to
Saudi Arabia), the mine ban treaty (which Canada violates by continuing to sell
weapons to and participate in wars led by the U.S., which earlier this
year committed to
new production and deployment of land mines) and the Convention on Cluster
Munitions (horrific weapons which Saudi Arabia has used against
residential areas, and which the U.S. refuses to ban).
Despite
these acknowledgements, Canada sees no problem trusting that the Saudis will
not use Canadian-made weapons -- whose singular purpose is to undermine
peace and security -- to actually undermine peace and security.
It's
not just on the battlefield where Canadian-made weapons make their mark.
Canada's weapons are equally useful in suppressing any form of dissent in
Saudi Arabia.
Remarkably,
the bureaucrats at global affairs concluded in their evaluation of military
support to the Saudi dictatorship that, "it cannot be assumed that
any use of military equipment to control protests is an illegitimate use,
rather than a legitimate public security operation." (Given that
Canada regularly uses military equipment and resources to suppress Indigenous
land defenders here at home, such a conclusion is not surprising, though it
might shock U.S. generals who earlier this year said they were opposed to
Donald Trump using the military to repress the American people.)
In
a section that would be right at home in George Orwell's 1984, the
global affairs analysis also finds that Saudi Arabia is "a valued Canadian
security partner" in the so-called war on terror, praising the
terrorist Saudi regime because it is a founding member of the Global
Counterterrorism Forum that Canada currently co-chairs with Morocco.
Wescam's drone tech implicated
Those
on the receiving end of Canadian-exported weapons are not likely nodding in
agreement that their lives have enjoyed greater peace and security. Indeed, a
new report from
Project Ploughshares on the commission of war crimes involving Canadian-made
sensors and targeting equipment produced by Burlington, Ontario's Wescam
concludes that:
"Canada's
export of Wescam sensors to Turkey poses a substantial risk of facilitating
human suffering, including violations of human rights and international
humanitarian law. Canadian officials are obligated by international and
Canadian law to mitigate the risks of such transfers, including through the
denial of export permits, when such risks are apparent from the outset -- which
appears to be the case with Wescam exports to Turkey."
As
with the Saudi killer vehicles contract, the news that Wescam is involved in
producing technology used in repression and war crimes is nothing new.
Indeed,
in the early 2000s, Homes not Bombs documented how Wescam (at that time
owned by L3 Communications):
"supplies
human rights violators (Colombia, Egypt, Algeria, China, Iran, Libya, Saudi
Arabia, U.S., and U.K), provides components used by the Hellfire-missile-armed
US Air Force Predator, Cobra Attack Helicopter, & Vigilante chopper's Low
Cost Precision Kill scheme; L-3 Wescam 'border control' products
prevent refugees from finding safety; L-3 Wescam outfits police forces to
repress demonstrations and ‘public disturbances’; Wescam parent L-3
Communications Canada is ranked #1 war manufacturer (Canadian Defence Review,
2006); and Wescam Parent company L-3 Communications supplies
'interrogation' teams allegedly implicated in torture in Iraq."
Situated
on a sideroad next to an elementary school in Burlington, the Wescam factory
was the focus of years of protests by
groups including Homes not Bombs, where dozens were arrested for seeking
meetings with company officials to discuss their role in the war crimes of the
day. These included the opening salvo of Bush administration use of armed
drones to conduct extrajudicial assassinations in 2002, as well as ongoing complicity
in the crimes committed by occupation forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and
other countries targeted by U.S. and allied forces.
But
Wescam's complicity in crimes is not limited to some long-ago war on terror
campaign. It is, as with any war manufacturer, an ongoing concern. As
Ploughshares notes, the Turkish military supplied by the Burlington company
"has committed serious breaches of international humanitarian law and
other violations, particularly when conducting airstrikes," while
Turkey has also exported its purchased Wescam technology to armed groups in
Libya, "a blatant breach of the nearly decade-old UN arms embargo."
These exports also violate the Canadian government's own Arms Trade Treaty
obligations.
Ploughshares'
research also revealed that Wescam maintains an authorized service centre for
the Turkish weapons company Baykar. Turkey is the third-biggest recipient of
Canadian weapons exports (valued at over $152 million). While Ottawa
temporarily suspended weapons
sales to Turkey in October 2019 after that country's latest invasion of Syria,
Canada announced an extension of the embargo in spring 2020.
Turkish
strongman Recep Erdogan was furious, and confronted Trudeau about it. Erdogan
was especially peeved, since at that time Trudeau had lifted a pause on weapons
exports to war crimes being produced by the Saudi regime in Yemen. According to
one Turkish official, Trudeau "said they would take some steps to alleviate
Turkish concerns regarding the exports; that they would review everything case
by case."
Middle
East Eye reports,
"Turkey was giving utmost importance to the import of the optics and
surveillance systems from the Canadian firm Wescam for its military
drones." The Turkish regime also relies on Pratt & Whitney Canada
for warplane engines.
Exemptions for war crimes
It
did not take long for Global Affairs Canada to grant an exemption for
Wescam to continue those weapons exports a month later.
Turkey
was apparently worried that its capacity to wage drone warfare would be limited
given battlefield losses in Syria and Libya. That resumption of weapons sales
came just as the group Genocide Watch openly questioned why
Turkey was not before the International Criminal Court for war crimes committed
during its multiple incursions into Syria.
They
noted that:
"In
areas under Turkey's control, civilians have been subjected to horrific crimes
against humanity committed by Turkish forces and Turkish supported militias.
Kurdish towns have been bombed and destroyed, some with white phosphorus, a war
crime. Hundreds of civilians have been summarily executed. Kurdish and Yazidi
women have been kidnapped and subjected to sexual slavery. Secret prisons hold
hundreds of Kurds who are routinely tortured."
During
those incursions, schools and hospitals were bombed, as were civilian convoys
fleeing the violence, and nearly 180,000 Kurds were forcibly displaced in an act that even
U.S. officials named as an
act of "ethnic cleansing."
Similar
genocidal attacks against Kurds have been launched by Turkey in northern Iraq,
with Ploughshares pointing out, "In 2018, Turkey began the practice of
targeted killings in Iraq, becoming only the second country in the region,
after Israel, to undertake extraterritorial targeted killings."
When
one senior Kurdish leader was assassinated by a Turkish drone in Iraq, footage
of the attack was proudly shared on Wescam's own website, though it was erased
after the Canadian window dressing embargo in spring 2020. Wescam's MX-GCS
EO/IR imaging system has also reportedly been integrated into
the Belgian-made Cockerill turret of the Turkish FNSS Kaplan armoured fighting
vehicle.
Meanwhile
in Libya, where battling forces have all committed war crimes, Turkey
is exporting its own drone technology with Wescam targeting systems, in
violation of a decade-old UN arms embargo. Ploughshares shared pictures of
downed drones that had been built with Wescam targeting cameras.
Turkey
also employs Wescam drone technology in ongoing domestic repression and murder
by drone against Kurdish people, including reports in
December 2019 that Turkish drones "participated in airstrikes
against Kurdish organizations in at least 11 provinces in southeast
Turkey."
The
Intercept noted last
year as well that Turkish drones (which, notably, rely on Wescam technology)
are a "near constant presence in the skies in the country's southeast.
Nearly every day, a Turkish drone, usually a TB2, either fires on a target or
provides the location of a target that is subsequently bombed by an F-16 or
attack helicopter."
Hundreds
of people have been killed in these strikes.
In
2019, Amnesty International reported that
Turkish operations demonstrate "an utterly callous disregard for civilian
lives, launching unlawful deadly attacks in residential areas that have killed
and injured civilians." Ploughshares concludes that "there is a
clear and demonstrable substantial risk that the further export of Wescam
sensors to Turkey could cause harm to civilians and facilitate breaches of IHL
[International Humanitarian Law]."
What is our responsibility?
What
do we do with the knowledge that taxpayer-supported corporations, with the
cooperation of Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Commercial Corporation,
are involved in the commission and perpetuation of war crimes and crimes
against humanity? After all, as The Nuremberg principles established at the end
of the Second World War, citizens are responsible for acts committed in their
name.
One
set of post-Second World War war crimes trials concerned executives and board
members of German armament maker Krupp, which armed the Nazis while using over
100,000 slave labourers.
Most
were convicted and sentenced to modest prison terms, while Alfried Krupp, who
was ordered to sell all of his possessions, was unrepentant, crying out in
words that may well have been uttered by Stéphane Dion or Chrystia Freeland:
"The
economy needed a steady or growing development. Because of the rivalries
between the many political parties in Germany and the general disorder there
was no opportunity for prosperity ... We thought that Hitler would give us
such a healthy environment. Indeed he did do that ... We Krupps never
cared much about [political] ideas. We only wanted a system that worked well
and allowed us to work unhindered. Politics is not our business."
On
International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2002, I was privileged to be among
the very first people ever arrested for resisting drone warfare. We had
gathered at Wescam's Burlington factory to conduct a citizen's weapons
inspection as the drums of war with Iraq were heating up. While UN inspectors
were at that moment enjoying unfettered (and often unannounced) access to a
host of suspected Iraqi weapons production sites (none were found, to the
surprise of no one), we were barely 20 feet onto the property before we were
met by police who hauled us away and charged us with trespassing.
When
we went to trial the following April (after the horrors of the Bush onslaught
of "shock and awe"), we attempted to introduce evidence about the
crimes Wescam contributed to up to that moment in history. We also sought to
testify about the increasing dangers posed by drone warfare and the other
technologies of surveillance, border control,] and domestic repression that
padded the company’s bottom line.
These
were all reasons why we had gone to Wescam. But neither the judge nor the Crown
were interested.
"These
people [military manufacturer Wescam] run a business," declared Burlington Crown Attorney Tom
Davies in response. "I don't know what it is and I don't care what it
is."
When
we argued that the court needed to hear about the context of our actions,
Justice of the Peace Barry Quinn, in a very political statement, declared:
"Politics are not being carried on in this court. This court is not going
to be involved in whether there is a war in Iraq. This court will hear about
the here and now only."
Needless
to say, the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq by U.S., U.K. and
Canadian forces was well established by that time, and was very much part of
the "here and now."
Although
we went back to Wescam on many occasions (as well as other military
manufacturers, war shows, and government bodies enabling these crimes), each time
we experienced the same attitude of the Crown prosecutor, who just did not want
to know that the heart of his community hosts a manufacturing facility whose
products are regularly employed to murder people halfway around the world.
The
same excuses used by the Nazi manufacturers -- that they needed to do this
blood-stained work for the economy -- echo with sickening consistency when
uttered by Canadian politicians of all stripes and union representatives who
ignore the posters on their walls about international solidarity with the
workers on the receiving end of Canadian-made war machinery.
Just
as the pandemic has exposed once more the structural inequality that besets
this land, these new reports add one more piece to the argument that Canada's
war economy needs to be dismantled and transformed into peaceful uses.
Indeed,
as conservatives bemoan the Trudeau government's relatively modest investments
in pandemic supports, few are willing to discuss the annual $31.7 billion
outlay for war, the planned $19 billion in fighter bombers, and the $110
billion purchase of new and wholly unnecessary warships. None of this huge
investment in killing has defended anyone against threats from climate change
and COVID-19 or economic inequality.
If
anything, the massive Canadian commitment to war has contributed to the
hollowing out of social safety nets by robbing from the public coffers untold
billions that could have ended up in affordable housing, women's shelters and
child care spaces.
This
is all publicly available information. We cannot say that "we did not
know." But there is still time to say that, in knowing, we acted, we
did something, we refused to be silent.
Matthew
Behrens is a freelance writer and social justice advocate who co-ordinates the
Homes not Bombs non-violent direct action network. He has worked closely with
the targets of Canadian and U.S. "national security" profiling
for many years.
Image:
contributed photo
Copyright © 2001- the authors
Donations can be sent
to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206,
Baltimore, MD 21212. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at]
comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives."
Eugene Victor Debs
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