Quebec motion inspired by bin Laden’s death draws just 1 dissenter

Quebec solidaire’s lone member was the only member of the province’s 125-seat national assembly to vote Tuesday against a resolution inspired by the death of Osama bin Laden, saying the motion smacked of “Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin’s” rhetoric.

Amir Khadir was the only dissenter to a motion presented by Action democratique du Quebec leader Gerard Deltell, whose Chauveau riding is near Canadian Forces Base Valcartier.

It affirmed that Quebec “has and will continue to be an ally of the whole international community in security issues and more particularly against the menace of terrorism.”

The motion’s co-sponsors were Louise Beaudoin, of the Parti Quebecois, and two independents.

Deltell called the death of bin Laden “justice,” saying the world’s best-known terrorist orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New York’s World Trade Center, killing nearly 3,000 people and leading to the United Nations-mandated military operation in Afghanistan, where 27 Quebec soldiers have died.

But Khadir recalled that bin Laden was trained by the Central Intelligence Agency to fight a guerrilla war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, “when Islamic terrorism was acceptable to the military-industrial complex in the United States and largely supported by the monarchist, theocratic, fundamentalist government of Saudi Arabia.”

Then, he said, “these religious fundamentalists, who used Islam for terrorist ends, turned against the United States.”

In addition to the 9/11 attacks, Khadir noted that bin Laden’s al-Qaida has also killed in Africa, Asia and the Arab countries, including in Iraq.

Khadir later explained that his objection was to the “security” aspect of the motion, which he said ignored the causes of terrorism, naming the status of the Palestinian people.

He also called the military operation in Afghanistan “a lamentable failure.”

Khadir said rather than warfare, Canadian tax dollars would have been better spent rebuilding the Afghan economy.

Khadir said the killing of bin Laden may have been “illegal,” but it was not immoral in a context of warfare. He called the death “primary justice,” and said he regretted that the “magnificent occasion” of a bin Laden trial had been lost.

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