Hi: This is the same Guest again -- I really should get a membership. Since this forum doesn't seem to have a lot of flaming or nastiness, I wish to put forth a Bush issue which worries me quite a bit, as it does my friends and neighbours.
I am Canadian, living on the west coast of Canada in a small, peaceful city which seems to exemplify the "Canadian" perspective. We are a nation of peacekeepers -- that is a longstanding traditional role for our country. While there are practical reasons for this position (small population, so not much military), this role primarily reflects the attitude of a great many Canadians.
So our government did not support the invasion of Iraq, partly because of the above, partly because we felt strongly that the arms inspectors were getting somewhere, and partly because we believed that the U.N. should not have been bypassed.
We have a couple of mouthy politicians who said very rude things about GWB after the invasion began. GWB then ordered your ambassador to Canada, a Mr. Celucci, to state that the U.S. is "very disappointed" in Canada for not supporting the U.S., that there will be ramifications from this disagreement, etc. etc. -- altogether a very non-diplomatic statement.
All that we could have managed, but please check out the next statement that Celucci made on orders from GWB:
This statement, following on the heels of criticizing Canada for not joining the attack on Iraq, strikes some of us as simply a next step in a move toward obtaining -- possibly by any means -- increased access to our oil, water, hydro and other resources.