FAWNING ON U.S. SERVES NO USE

When he refused to join President George W. Bush's illegal war against
Iraq, Prime Minister Jean Chretien did this nation proud.

But since then, Chretien and his government have been falling over
themselves to convince the Bushites they didn't mean it -- in a manner so
fawningly obsequious that it is hard to be anything other than desperately
embarrassed.

Chretien began the process by pronouncing that the Bush war (illegal under
the United Nations charter) was justified -- a curious position that
undercut his own decision not to join in.

Canadians were then treated to the spectacle of Bush hireling Paul
Cellucci, ostensibly the U.S. ambassador to this country, traipsing around
Canada trying to deliberately stir up opposition to his host government's
position on the war.

Cellucci's blatant interference in Canadian affairs was unconscionable. Had
Canada's envoy to Washington done anything similar, he would have been
summarily hoofed -- as well he should have been.

But not here. Here the federal government snivelled. Alberta Premier Ralph
Klein and Ontario's own Ernie Eves enthusiastically backed a foreign power
against their own country (a position which in the U.S. would have been
treated, again properly, as akin to treason).

The media were almost as bad, treating the Cellucci story not as gross
foreign interference (which it was) but as a legitimate warning from
Canada's oberfuhrer in Washington that we had best mind our manners.

Now comes Canada's about-face on Star Wars (oops, sorry, we're not allowed
to call it that) and Justice Minister Martin Cauchon's cap-in-hand trip to
Washington to plead for this country's right to set its own laws on
marijuana possession.

Star Wars II, or what the Bushites call missile defence, is part of the
American right's ongoing obsession to protecting the U.S. from non-existent
threats -- in this case, long-range intercontinental ballistics from
so-called rogue states that do not possess such weaponry.

At one level, it is a straightforward jobs-for-the-boys military
boondoggle. At another, it is a prelude to the Bushites' stated aim of
militarizing outer space to better perform what the U.S. defence
establishment likes to call "constabulary duties" against nations that dare
defy American wishes.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham knows this full well. He is
no fool. But he and others in the cabinet -- as well as Liberal dauphin
Paul Martin -- seem to think by backing Star Wars II they will appease the
notoriously bad-tempered Bush, still in a snit over Canada's Iraq rebuff.

Oh yes, and they've apparently chewed out Heritage Minister and Liberal
leadership candidate Sheila Copps for referring to Star Wars as Star Wars.
Bad optics, we're told.

Graham and the other Star War converts use diverse rationalizations: The
Americans are going to do it anyway; the Russians don't care so why should
we; it is better to be "at the table" than away from it.

But as many have pointed out (former Liberal foreign minister Lloyd
Axworthy and former Liberal defence minister Paul Hellyer being the most
recent), there is little advantage to being at the table when you're just
the busboy.

Finally, we have Cauchon and the marijuana debacle.

At one level, the Chretien government's decision to decriminalize marijuana
possession is a solution in search of a problem.

In much of Canada, police don't even bother arresting people for mere
possession. In Vancouver, for instance, the cannabis cafes operate openly;
uniformed police officers wander in and out, as stoned patrons smoke huge
spliffs.

Where possession cases do go to court, some are thrown out. Of those who
are convicted, many are given absolute discharges.

In short, decriminalization -- while it may rationalize the current system
- -- is hardly a radical step.

Still, it is our sovereign right to take that step -- or not to take it, if
that is what Parliament decides. It is not up to a foreign power.

Conversely, if the Americans want to close the border because Vancouver
police are ticketing potheads rather than just ignoring them, that is their
sovereign right -- foolish perhaps, but theirs, nonetheless.

By crawling to Washington to beg intercession -- for a bill that even
Parliament has not seen -- Cauchon confused these two sovereignties.

He was not being prudent. He was being craven.

Frankly, I wish the federal government would just stop toadying.

Driven by the twin disasters of Sept. 11 and George W., the U.S. has
embarked on its own course in the world. There is nothing Canada or any
other country can do to appease the Americans, so we might as well not bother.

Canadian business moguls can kowtow all they want. If Washington sees fit,
it will still stop all trucks at the border.

So let's just get on with our own country. We are capable of making our own
mistakes. It seems silly -- and humiliating -- to insist on helping the
Americans make theirs.