The secret Saudi memo: Dissecting how the document contradicts what Ottawa has said

Locutus

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Jun 18, 2007
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Newly released secret documents show how the Foreign Affairs Minister quietly gave the green light to sell combat vehicles to Saudi Arabia – challenging the Liberal government’s claims that their hands were tied on the $15-billion ‘done deal’ brokered by their Conservative predecessors. Here are eight key takeaways from the documents

WHERE DO THESE DOCUMENTS COME FROM?

The Global Affairs Canada memo, marked “secret,” was released by the Justice Department on Tuesday in connection with a lawsuit led by a University of Montreal law professor. Daniel Turp alleges that an arrangement to sell light-armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia – which has a notoriously poor human-rights record, and has been suspected of using Canadian-made LAVs in its proxy war against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen – is illegal, and is challenging the deal in Federal Court. (Here’s an explanation from The Globe’s Steven Chase of what that deal entails, how Stephen Harper’s Conservative government brokered it and why it’s so controversial.)

EIGHT IMPORTANT THINGS TO HIGHLIGHT IN THE MEMO

1. The date

The memo is dated March 21, the same day Mr. Turp’s group filed the Federal Court lawsuit.


2. When it was approved, and who approved it

A note scrawled across the memo in French reads: “Approved by the foreign affairs minister April 8, 2016.”



The memo bears a signature from Mr. Dion, next to a ticked box saying “I concur.”

mo

The secret Saudi memo: Dissecting how the document condradicts*Ottawa - The Globe and Mail
 

Angstrom

Hall of Fame Member
May 8, 2011
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What a bunch of lieing dickheads. This is a good time when being a lieing dickhead is a good thing. :lol:

But if their progressive retards new :lol: Boy would they be pissed. Ha!!! Not even.
 

Curious Cdn

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Feb 22, 2015
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What is it that the Saudis have on those guys? We sure as hell don't need their oil. They are Control Central for ISUL and Al Qaida, so, really, the Saudis are our enemy.
 

MHz

Time Out
Mar 16, 2007
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Here is the first lie.
"in its proxy war against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen –"

What is it that the Saudis have on those guys? We sure as hell don't need their oil. They are Control Central for ISUL and Al Qaida, so, really, the Saudis are our enemy.
It is more like 'what has the US done to make sure this support stayed in place?'.
 

MHz

Time Out
Mar 16, 2007
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I assume this is the vehicle in question. It is more for quelling riots at home than being an attack deep into enemy territory kind of vehicle.
It would replace the tanks they currently have. They purchased those under the national defense banner and they are not used in the war against Yemen but they are used in Bahrain to shoot political protestors, with Saudi gunners. They are a camel that can't change their spots.


That sound you didn't hear was a result of me falling off my chair. Perhaps this is where I should take advantage of an agreement and use it to lever you away from the 'dark side'.

Is there a version with 8 tracks rather than tires. If the back wheels turned in the opposite direction as the front one it would corner at high speed a lot better and tracks are flat proof.
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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On Saudi arms deal, the new boss in Ottawa is just like the old boss

On Saudi arms deal, the new boss in Ottawa is just like the old boss

Well. If further proof was needed that the sunny new regime in Ottawa is perfectly capable of behaving just like the un-sunny previous regime, we now have it, in a memo that was stamped "Secret," then rather inconveniently laid bare in the Federal Court of Canada.

The document, signed by Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion, is a gem of hair-splitting, parsing, wilful blindness and justification for selling billions worth of fighting vehicles and weaponry to Saudi Arabia, one of the most oppressive regimes on Earth.

It employs the death-merchant logic of a long list of other countries that have profited for decades by arming despots: The deal means jobs and the customer assures us it won't misuse the weapons and we can't prove otherwise.

Besides, anti-tank weapons and heavy machine-guns don't kill people; people kill people.

With a single checkmark, Dion concurred with everything in the memo.

On Saudi arms deal, the new boss in Ottawa is just like the old boss - Politics - CBC News
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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You know they've been grilling everyone from Trudeau to Wynne, right?

How do you think this even became a widely recognized issue?

The Rebel? Lol