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Americans are not our "best friends"

Contributor: Outwest

Date: 2003-04-15 12:43:25

I agree totally, they are not our best friends. I find it apalling to see how the U.S. suddenly jumps all over us for not backing this war especially after all the help we gave in throwing out the Taliban, and on Sept 11 when we allowed all their flights diverted here. We backed them 100 per cent until they did something we thought was wrong. Then all these jerks like Pat Buchanan say mean spirited things about our country. I thought it was great when our politicians yelled things about them. We need colder U.S. relations so they can stop manipulating our Government...then we will maybe get, dare I say it, other trading parteners of signifigance. It is time for Canadians like Harper to realize their constant sucking up to the States hurts us more than it does us good.

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Americans are not our "best friends"

Contributor: cougyr

Date: 2003-04-15 17:14:46

If Harper is as courageous as he implies, maybe he could get his friends in California to pay their electrical bill (they owe millions to BC Hydro). And he could get his friends in Washington to remove the softwood lumber tariff. And he could get his friends in the Pentagon to remove their submarines from Georgia Strait.

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Americans are not our "best friends"

Contributor: fatmomma

Date: 2003-04-17 08:14:03

Maybe Harper could suggest his Americans friends look at how they have been helping Israel stir up hatred and problems in the Middle East by constantly violating UN resolution and human rights. Israel has a huge file of human rights violation too numerous to list but funded and aided by the USA. Included are collective punishment and torture.
http://www.hrw.org/wr2k3/mideast5.hmtl#top
Human Rights Watch certainly not a biased report.

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Americans are not our "best friends"

Contributor: fatmomma

Date: 2003-04-18 10:26:50

I don't think it was "great" that our politicians resorted to name calling. I do expect a little more diplomatic restraint from then; criticism with dignity. Dhaliwal's comment that Bush is no statesman was quite appropriate though. That is not a childish insult. I don't see that remark as the insult the press claims; just a statement of fact. Even Bush's close advisors realize he has a very rough diplomacy.
Harper is just being very childish and juvenile and a not very patriotic. I do believe that if Chretien had decided to support the "coalition" he would be criticizing that. Harper does not make his stand known in a dignified rational way; his retorts are more in the mud slinging and frivolous style. His constantly "harping" on the same issues instead of offering something more constructive turns me off. He presents no argument for backing the Americans in this issue other than the "best friends and trading partners" retort.

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Americans are not our "best friends"

Contributor: cfallon

Date: 2003-04-21 10:12:18

I didn't like Dhaliwal's statement at all. He was basically saying:

"We didn't support you because we didn't like the way you asked."

This is fine in elementary school, but between government officials? I worry that we make our decisions based on whether we like how they were presented, not on the content or substance of the issues at hand.

Plus, it wasn't statesman like of our ambassador (Chretien Jr.) to announce that our government wanted Gore to win the presidency. This is just plain foolish because you don't know who is going to win and your job is to work with either one - Gore or Bush.

Why didn't Dhaliwhal say that Chretien Jr. wasn't very "ambassadorial" when Raymond said what he said?

Do only American politicians have to be statesmen?

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Americans are not our "best friends"

Contributor: fatmomma

Date: 2003-04-21 17:22:00

Don't translate for others. He said what he said; not a big deal.
Bush was not asking he was demanding, bribing, and threatening, He was putting himself and the Americans Above
all other countries or the UN.
Ambassador Chretien should not have spoken out but Cellucci the American ambassador has done much more meddling and mouthing off in Canadian affairs .
No one claims the US president or our politicians have to be statesmen to be successful but if they are looking for support it is best they remember you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Bush is very arrogant and pushy

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