Whose War Is It?

By J.L. Granatstein

Book Overview

If an earthquake devastated the west coast of N orth America or if terrorists attacked the Toronto subway system, would Canadians be ready for a major military challenge in the 21st century? J. L. Granatstein says never mind hypothetical threats; our military is incapable of dealing with current and ongoing crises that require well-trained, well-equipped and properly deployed troops, supported by a confidentmilitary policy. Following a new preface that assesses the changes since Stephen Harper's government took office, Granatstein expands his argument to issues that include the protection of our northern sovereignty; negotiation with U.S. policymakers when anti-American sentiment colours our military and foreign policy; and the cloudy issue of exactly what constitutes Canada's "national interests." Discerning, reasoned and passionate, Whose War Is It? asks the hard-hitting questions that must be addressed before it's too late.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0002228548
• ISBN13: 9780002228541
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Phyllis Bruce Books
• Length: 247 Pages
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

RiskAversion Unlimited?

Risk Aversion Unlimited? In Whose War Is It? How Canada Can Survive in the Post 9-11 World (2007) Emeritus Professor Jack Granatstein attempted a wake-up call to Canadians. Tom Friedman's "Flat World" presents unique challenges to Canadian security. Canadians need to get serious about the post 9/11 world even if the leader of that effort was/is a discredited U.S. President, George W. Bush, whom he ranked as "the worst...since Warren Harding." Like Peter Newman years ago, Granatstein attempted a coldly realist perspective. Because of its geographical position Canada, he argued, has long-term responsibilities not only towards the United Nations Organization (UNO) but also as partners in Northern Command (formerly NORAD) and as a founding member of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with commitments since 1949 that include the use of military force. In true professorial style, he neatly pinpointed six critical areas Canadians now need to consider: 1. Getting beyond the one-dimensional and (he argues) largely fictitious view of Canada as world peace maker and the dire need to reinvigorate our armed forces; 2. A clearer focus on what our national interests are as a country rooted in the Western Civilization tradition of the rule of law but one also with long-standing commitments to both NATO and North American defense; 3. Cultivating a realistic relationship with the United States (which doesn't always mean saying "Yes" to the Americans); 4. Awakening to the opportunities and complexities in the Arctic as new tests for Canadian sovereignty; 5. The reality of a "virtually pacifist" Quebec which hampers effective national action against foreign threats. This charge was refuted by authors Roussell and Boucher in the Spring, 2008 American Review of Canadian Studies. 6. Insisting on a minimum standard of allegiance to Canada by new arrivals and recent immigrants. Granatstein is no warmonger even if his argument to support the Iraq misadventure weakens his stance on Afghanistan. He is a resolutely passionate Canadian of another generation. I remember hearing Granatstein speak in 1991 at a Toronto conference where he warned that Canada's peacekeeping forces were being placed into more and more perilous situations. "This is not what Lester Pearson meant by peace keeping," he insisted. Earlier he had caused a minor hoo haw about the Mulroney government's inserting Canadians between the two "lunatic governments" of Iran and Iraq as United Nations Military Observers in 1998. Peacekeeping was popular, Granatstein said then, "because it was something we could do and the Americans could not." In Whose War Is it? Granatstein offers a "damn the torpedoes," hard-hitting polemic. In spite of harsh, blunt assessments of George W. Bush, sweeping indictments of Quebec as a pacifist state, and worrisome solutions to how to make New Canadians toe the line, Granatstein nevertheless raises some important themes. "Peacekeeping does not mean disarming