US Rebukes Canada for Failure to Support War


US rebukes Canada for failure to support war
(Gloria Galloway in the Toronto Globe and Mail, 3/26/03):

Washington's ambassador to Canada has delivered the sternest public rebuke by a U.S. representative since the Trudeau era, saying Americans are upset at Canada's refusal to join the war in Iraq and hinting there could be economic fallout.

At a breakfast speech yesterday to the Economic Club of Toronto, U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci said "there is a lot of disappointment in Washington and a lot of people are upset" about Canada's refusal to join the United States in its efforts to depose Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. . . .

In Ottawa, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien retorted that Canada is a "sovereign independent country" that makes its own decisions and that there is unhappiness all around over the war in Iraq.

"We, too, are disappointed" that the United States went to war in Iraq without the approval of the United Nations, Mr. Chrétien said.