Failed states rule conversation at debate launch

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1019060

Munk Debates

Craig Offman, National Post
Published: Tuesday, December 02, 2008


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TORONTO - On the day that the Obama administration signalled a new, muscular approach to failed nations, some of the issue's visible detractors and defenders gathered to debate the merits of intervention.

The Toronto debating series brought together actress and activist Mia Farrow and former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans to square off against Canadian General Rick Hiller and John Bolton, the former U. S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The resolution was, "If countries like Sudan, Somalia and Burma will not end their man-made humanitarian crises, the international community should."

First debated briefly at a captains-of-industry kind of luncheon, the topic was expanded on later at a public event.

At the launch event, Gareth Evans gave the precis of his argument, insisting that whatever mistakes the world community makes, it must stop mass-scale atrocities such as those that have ravaged Darfur or Rwanda.

"Let's do something to ensure that we don't have to look back to yet another catastrophic failure with anger and shame and say, 'How could we have let this happen?' "


But John Bolton, known for his pugnacious conservative politics, provided the most provocative opening statement at the lunch.

After issuing strict preconditions for intervention, citing historical mistakes such as the Clinton administration's mishandling of Somalia, and finally dismissing the effectiveness of the United Nations, Mr. Bolton issued a stark challenge to supporters of human intervention. "If you decide to act on it, use your own sons and daughters, not mine."

A one-time employee of the Bush administration, Mr. Bolton has insisted that the United States invaded Iraq to defend its security interest, a notion that baffled Mia Farrow.

When she was asked how she reconciled her opposition to the Iraq War with her advocacy for intervention, she said the two had nothing to do with each other.

"I cannot find any justifiable explanation for the invasion of Iraq," she told the National Post.

"Now Iraq ironically is on the list of countries threatened with possible protection. It wasn't when the invasion began."

A recent poll found that most Canadians support using the military to combat scourges such as ethnic cleansing, mass starvation and other human rights abuses.

Conducted by the Innovative Research Group on behalf of the Munk Debates -- the host of the yesterday's events -- it found 68% of Canadians support military intervention by the international community, while 61% backed using military force against states that permit widespread human rights abuses such as rape.

The incoming Obama administration demonstrated its own support for a more muscular UN policy yesterday by nominating Susan Rice as its ambassador to the UN. A senior foreign-policy advisor to president-elect Obama, Ms. Rice is a muscular multilateralist.

Mr. Bolton said that barring any ethical issues, Ms. Rice should be nominated, while Ms. Farrow called her nomination "enlightened."

Sponsored by the Aurea Foundation, a charity founded in 2006 by Canadian mining magnate Peter Munk and his wife, Melanie, the semi-annual event was kicked off last May.

coffman@nationalpost.com

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