Pierre Pettigrew’s brand of “quiet Canadian diplomacy” is proving to be even quieter than Bill Graham’s as he dithers about contemplates how to properly deal with governments who kill our citizens abroad.
Zahra Kazemi was in Tehran on a photo shoot, working outside a Tehran prison when she taken into custody. Reports say she was beaten over the head while being interrogated over a period of three days. After she died, her body was buried swiftly and those responsible did their best to sweep the whole matter under the carpet. In a token move to appease Canadian critics, an Iranian government official was brought to trial. First they denied Canadian observers access to the court, then they allowed them. The official was abruptly acquitted. Surprised? I’m not.
Now it’s up to us to ask the tough questions and what is our Foreign Affairs chief doing about it? Nothing. He’s “tight-lipped” about the next move, they say. Consulting, I’m sure, with advisors who are telling him not to rock the boat.
Well, I say rock it. Capsize the damn thing if you have to. Boot the Iranian ambassador off our turf, bring ours home from theirs, introduce some kind of sanctions if you have to. But for heaven’s sake do something. Show some outrage. MAKE DEMANDS. If we don’t act decisively when our citizens are randomly snatched, tortured and ultimately killed, we will continue to be nothing more than a doormat on the world stage. Enough of the “nice”: It’s time we stood up for ourselves.