Obama: If you doubt America’s resolve, ‘ask Osama bin Laden’

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POLITICS BRIEFING

By Chris Hannay (@channay)

Okay, this might not be about Canadian politics, but it is historic: U.S. President Barack Obama delivered his final State of the Union address last night. You can read the full text here, but his rather hawkish passage on the fight against Islamic State (or ISIL, as he refers to it) is pertinent to Canada as the government works out its own role within the international coalition.

"Priority number one is protecting the American people and going after terrorist networks. Both al Qaeda and now ISIL pose a direct threat to our people, because in today's world, even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage. They use the Internet to poison the minds of individuals inside our country; they undermine our allies.

"But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. That's the story ISIL wants to tell; that's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. We don't need to build them up to show that we're serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the world's largest religions. We just need to call them what they are – killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed.

"That's exactly what we are doing. For more than a year, America has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to cut off ISIL's financing, disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, and stamp out their vicious ideology. With nearly 10,000 air strikes, we are taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, and their weapons. We are training, arming, and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in Iraq and Syria.

"If this Congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorize the use of military force against ISIL. Take a vote. But the American people should know that with or without Congressional action, ISIL will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them. If you doubt America's commitment – or mine – to see that justice is done, ask Osama bin Laden. Ask the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, who was taken out last year, or the perpetrator of the Benghazi attacks, who sits in a prison cell. When you come after Americans, we go after you. It may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limit.

"Our foreign policy must be focused on the threat from ISIL and al Qaeda, but it can't stop there. For even without ISIL, instability will continue for decades in many parts of the world – in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in parts of Central America, Africa and Asia. Some of these places may become safe havens for new terrorist networks; others will fall victim to ethnic conflict, or famine, feeding the next wave of refugees. The world will look to us to help solve these problems, and our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn't pass muster on the world stage."

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW WEDNESDAY

> Given the tight timeline caused by the election and urgent calls for economic stimulus, the Liberal budget may come too soon for much parliamentary consultation.

> Some of Canada's allies, including Germany and Britain, are taking a hard look at weapons exports to Saudi Arabia, given the country's human rights record. Canada currently has a $15-billion deal to make weaponized vehicles for the Saudis.

> Liberal MP Bill Blair, the former Toronto police chief and one of the leads on the marijuana legalization file, said he wants the growth and sale of legal pot to be strictly regulated.

> Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett says it's up to her department – for now – to deal with allegations of "inappropriate behaviour" towards a Manitoba First Nation.

> A joint committee of five senators and 11 MPs will meet for the first time on Monday to study options for assisted-dying legislation.

> There are rumours that former Harper cabinet minister Jason Kenney is being pushed to jump into Alberta politics to unite the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties.

> My jaw hit the floor when I saw this and 11 other weight-loss secrets: how a Canadian spy agency is warning its members not to fall for clickbait.

> And Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has had enough of Kevin O'Leary: "You know, the last time a group of wealthy businessmen tried to tell Alberta voters how to vote, I ended up becoming premier. So, if now we've got a Toronto wealthy businessman who wants to tell Alberta voters how to vote, I say bring it on."

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WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT

"Put another way, unless long-term growth can be improved – a trend that will require productivity improvements – Canada is heading for a poorer future with fewer programs and/or higher taxes. Far from recognizing this discouraging probability and resolving to do something about it, Canadian governments are consumed by process at the expense of outcomes. They are harried by slow– or anti-growth advocates, citizens who fear change, interest groups that fight to preserve negotiated gains, courts that work with glacial speed and/or render judgments divorced from economic considerations."

– Jeffrey Simpson (for subscribers) on economic prosperity.

Lysiane Gagnon (Globe and Mail): "In the province that used to be the enfant terrible of the Canadian family, the coming year should unfold in a political climate that will be uncharacteristically calm – or just plain boring, for those who like their politics hot and spicy."

Michael Adams and Andrew Griffith (Globe and Mail): "So when it comes to the composition of the legislature itself, the 42nd Parliament is not so much a watershed as it is one more significant, if incremental, step in a long move toward a national legislature that represents the identities, experiences and perspectives of all Canadians."

Barbara Yaffe (Vancouver Sun): "Justin Trudeau's latest gesture is aimed at legislatively banning north coast tanker traffic. But this was not a Liberal election promise, although during the recent campaign Trudeau did reiterate his general opposition to Northern Gateway."

Susan Delacourt (iPolitics): "For what it's worth, I lean to the view that Trudeau didn't come to power as some kind of hero of the middle class."

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