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War With Iraq: Canada's Strategy in the Persian Gulf 1990-2002 by Sean M. Maloney PDF
The Queen’s University Centre for International Relations (QCIR) is pleased to present the twenty-fourth in its series of security studies, the Martello Papers. Taking their name from the distinctive towers built during the nineteenth century to defend Kingston, Ontario, these papers cover a wide range of topics and issues relevant to contemporary international strategic relations.
“War with Iraq,” whether as a call to arms, a slogan of dissent or a matter for more detached speculation, has been the dominant motif of international debate in the latter half of 2002. The casual observer might be excused for concluding from this that we are not already at war. Sean Maloney reminds us here that, in the absence of Iraq’s full compliance with the arms control regime and other conditions of the 1991 ceasefire which ended Desert Storm, a de facto state of war has continued to the present, albeit in a sporadic and inconsistent way. To frame the conflict in the Gulf this way does not make the current strategic, political, and moral choices facing governments any easier, but it may serve to better inform a wider audience as to the background and the stakes.
Nowhere is this reminder more needed than in Canada. Maloney’s second contribution is to highlight how, in a modest but useful way, Canada has always been a part of that campaign, now into its second decade. Canadian military forces have, for example, taken part in UNIKOM, a UN operation to monitor the Iraq-Kuwait border, and a Canadian frigate has played a support role in air operations against Iraqi radar and missile sites. Whatever Canadians may wish to believe, this is not peacekeeping but a form of war — a continuation of the enforcement authorized by the UN under Chapter 7 of the Charter.
Pushing his thesis farther, Maloney argues that Canada’s actions in the Gulf cannot be explained simply by the traditional reflex to “be there” or to have a “seat at the table.” There is, he says, evidence of a coherent regional strategy at work, driven by palpable economic and security interests. Canada’s behaviour over the past decade, when it comes to putting its limited military assets at risk, shows the Gulf to be its prime strategic concern beyond the Euroatlantic region.
We are grateful to the Security and Defence Forum of the Department of National Defence, whose ongoing support enables the Centre to conduct and disseminate research on issues of importance to national and international security.
As is the case with all Martello Papers, the views expressed here are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of the QCIR or any of its supporting agencies.
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