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LILLEY: Cracks in Carney's Liberal Party over Iran ignore Tehran's atrocities

Iran has oppressed and killed its own citizens and violated international law that critics appeal to countless times

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Mark Carney’s initial statement on the American and Israeli strikes against Iran over the weekend was clear and decisive. He didn’t equivocate as he called out Iran’s leadership for human rights abuses, oppression, support of terror around the world, and their desire – opposed by most nations – to obtain nuclear weapons.

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“Canada supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security,” Carney said in his statement.

LILLEY: Cracks in Carney's Liberal Party over Iran ignore Tehran's atrocities Back to video

That statement appears to be causing trouble in Liberal ranks with some who believe it was too strong and too closely aligned with the United States, and who appear to draw a moral equivalency with Iran’s death cult leadership and American President Donald Trump.

Liberal MP calls strikes on Iran illegal

“Canada cannot endorse the unilateral and illegal use of military force, the killing of civilians, or the kidnap and assassination of foreign heads of government,” Liberal MP Will Greaves said in a video posted to social media over the weekend.

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His video was liked by other Liberal MPs including Braedon Clark, Steven Guilbeault, Ginette Lavack, Patrick Weiler, Sameer Zuberi and Health Minister Marjorie Michel — though a staffer told The Canadian Press that was a mistake. Clearly, some Liberals don’t like what Carney had to say, but liked what Greaves had to say.

The first-time MP from Victoria warned against Canada “sliding into automatic alignment with countries that we can no longer trust and which do not have Canada’s interests in mind.” He acknowledged that the Iranian regime is problematic but called on countries to honour their “obligation to protect civilian life.”

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Ignoring Iran’s attacks on own civilians, others

We all want civilian life to be protected, but let’s be clear. At this point in the war, fewer civilians have been killed in Iran than during the street protests earlier this year, the ones that Iran’s leaders decided to meet with brutal repression.

And while Greaves, a political science professor before being elected, appeals to international law in calling these strikes illegal, what about Iran’s illegal actions?

Beyond mowing down their own citizens for protesting, this is the country and regime that shot down flight PS 752, killing 176 people including 55 Canadian citizens, 30 permanent residents of Canada, and more than 50 others with direct ties to our country. This is also the same regime that brutally tortured and killed Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi in 2003.

This is the same regime whose morality police beat 22-year-old Kurdish woman Masha Amini to death for not wearing her hijab properly.

Iran has supported Russia, Hamas, Hezbollah

MP Greaves says that “no state has the right to wage aggressive war,” but Iran was an active participant in several active wars including Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Iran has been providing the deadly drones that Russia has used to strike deep into Ukrainian territory and they have provided hundreds of short- and medium-term missiles used to strike hospitals and schools.

Beyond their support for Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, Iran bankrolled and supported Hamas with their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and their ongoing operations since. It is Iran that has helped terrorize the people of Lebanon and Israel with their support of Hezbollah.

The interruption of international shipping, freedom of the seas, wasn’t just from the Iranian navy harassing neighbouring Gulf states, it has also come from the Iranian-backed Houthis.

Diplomatic solution not possible with regime

Greaves calls for a diplomatic solution but how? Through United Nations sanctions that have been applied but that Iran has evaded with help from Russia, China and others? Through UN bodies like the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran has toyed with for years?

What people like Greaves and his fellow travellers in the left wing of the Liberal Party, in the NDP, and in academic circles fail to acknowledge is that Iran has been in flagrant violation of international law and faced no true consequences. Rushing to the diplomatic table now to find a “peaceful solution” that leaves the current oppressive regime in place with their nuclear and ballistic missile program in place would be a mistake.

It would also be a betrayal of everything Canada stands for. Prime Minister Mark Carney made the right call on the weekend, he shouldn’t waver now in the face of poorly thought out opposition within his own party.

blilley@postmedia.com

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