Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to have the opportunity to speak in this debate tonight. I would like to begin my comments by congratulating the hon. member for Toronto Centre--Rosedale for his very thoughtful comments.
The enormity of the death and devastation, the horror and the barbarity of the last week, are almost beyond the capability of the human mind to absorb and understand. I am sure that none of us living today will ever forget the images that are now seared into our memories: the fireballs of death and destruction at the World Trade Center, the firefighters and police marching valiantly into that inferno, the billowing clouds of dust and debris as the towers collapsed, the crater left by the crash of the hijacked flight near Pittsburgh, and the destroyed sections of the Pentagon, a building that I visited three months ago. These unforgettable scenes mark a week of darkness and tragedy.
Like other members of the House, on behalf of my constituents in Nepean--Carleton I would like to extend my deepest condolences to President Bush, the government and the people of the United States and especially to the families and friends of all who lost their lives or who are listed as missing. We know that many of our fellow Canadians died.
Again, to the families of those who were lost I say that our thoughts and prayers are with each and every one of them. We grieve their loss together. I think a special tribute is due as well to the firefighters and police officers and other emergency workers who gave their lives in the line of duty trying to evacuate people from buildings and assist the injured. The depth of the courage and sacrifice by members of the New York fire department and the New York police department and other emergency workers defies description.
It is no exaggeration to say that these attacks were an assault on the civilized world. We have heard that said many times before. No less than 40 different nationalities are represented in the lists of the dead and missing: Americans, British, Canadians, Australians, Japanese, Germans, French, Taiwanese, people from around the globe. On any given day the world is on display in New York. Like London and Paris, New York is an international city. It truly belongs to the world. While the UN in midtown Manhattan tries to solve the world's problems, Wall Street, a few blocks away from the World Trade Center, is where the world comes together to do business. When the civilized world was attacked last Tuesday so too were the principles upon which it is based: the rule of law, constitutional government, individual liberty, freedom and democracy.
I believe the Prime Minister spoke for all Canadians last Friday at the memorial service on Parliament Hill when he addressed the following comments to U.S. Ambassador Cellucci. He said:
Generation after generation we have travelled many difficult miles together side by side. We have lived through many dark times, always firm in our shared resolve to vanquish any threat to freedom and justice and together with our allies we will defy and defeat the threat that terrorism poses to all civilized societies.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs has reinforced a clear and unambiguous message that we will work side by side with the government of the United States to bring to justice those responsible for these acts and to defend against any future attacks. The fact that NATO took the unprecedented action of invoking article 5 of the Washington treaty, that an attack against one is an attack against all, is an indication both of the gravity of the situation and the resolve among the NATO allies to defeat terrorism. That the UN general assembly, 189 countries, voted unanimously in support of a resolution condemning the attacks and authorizing measures against terrorists and countries that harbour them is further evidence, if any were needed, of the depth of international support for overcoming this terrible evil.
From time to time and all too often the world experiences what I would describe as pure evil. We saw pure evil in the Nazi death camps during the second world war. We saw it in Stalinist Russia. We saw it during the cultural revolution of Mao Tse-Tung. We saw it during the Rwandan genocide. In this country we saw it manifested quite clearly with the bombing of Air India flight 182. Regrettably I have seen the manifestations of pure evil in the various trips I have made to beleaguered Sierra Leone.
Last Tuesday via the images of live television, the world was witness to an act of pure evil of staggering proportions. For many of us, almost a full week after the events in New York and Washington the magnitude of this evil is still incomprehensible.
Many of my constituents were praying to God that the rescue efforts would yield success and that people would be found alive. I attended a memorial service last Wednesday at the Calvin Christian Reformed Church in Nepean, where people sought answers in scripture and collective prayer.
On Saturday I attended the regular mass at St. Patrick's in Fallowfield, where once again people sought God's wisdom in trying to understand these senseless acts of extreme violence and where the congregation rose to sing a beautiful rendition of God Bless America .
There is no doubt that these tragic events have moved people deeply and have put into perspective many of the trivial daily problems we all face.
Where do we go from here as a nation and as part of the international community?
Our government has made the clear choice to stand beside the government and people of the United States and to support it in the war against terrorism. I believe that is our only choice. Let us be clear: not only do we have to bring the perpetrators of these acts of terror to justice, but we must also work to ensure that no terrorist organization will ever be in a position to mount an attack of this nature on innocent people. We owe that much and more to the victims of these attacks. We must destroy the sanctuaries of the terrorists. We must expose their friends and supporters. We must dismantle whatever financial arrangements they have. We must confiscate their assets. We must attack them from within and from without.
How this new war on terrorism will actually unfold we do not know. The truth is that very few people really know. It has been suggested that it may be fought on a variety of levels, through diplomatic and intelligence channels and political and economic pressure. Perhaps psychological warfare will be employed in some measure and some sort of military action is certainly likely. That may take the form of conventional warfare or special operations. Inevitably basic police work to ferret out terrorist organizations worldwide will be required.
The United States has yet to define what sorts of resources and assets may be needed, but I think we can all appreciate that there will likely be a price to be paid. To the extent that it is possible we must try to ensure a measured, calibrated and precise response, one that does not create a whole generation of suicide bombers. We must not overreact to the great and heinous crime that was perpetrated on the civilized world, but neither should we underreact. Terrorism must be defeated.
Any war must start with a knowledge of the enemy, with basic intelligence. As we know, the prime suspect is Osama bin Laden, the charismatic leader of the organization al-Qaeda. We know that Osama bin Laden is 44 years of age, the son of a Saudi construction tycoon who rebuilt the cities of Mecca and Medina. We know that his personal fortune, largely inherited, is between $280 million and $300 million U.S.
We know that the membership of al-Qaeda is estimated at between 3,000 and 5,000 men. There are no female members. We know that it fights alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan against the northern alliance and is designated the 055 Brigade. We know that they have camps in Khowst, Hazrat Amir Mawia, Kabul, Jalalabad, Kumar and Quandahar and depots in Tora Bora and Liza.
We know that their organization is spread over 35 countries and involves front organizations, banks through which money flows, as well as businesses ranging from real estate, hotels, diamonds and even fish.
There is a great deal we know about Osama bin Laden. I expect that in the weeks and months ahead we are going to learn an awful lot more about him and his terrorist organization. That work will be done largely by both police and intelligence organizations co-operating worldwide.
Canada has played an important role in the collection, analysis and dissemination of intelligence over the years. This was done through foreign affairs, military intelligence, the communications security establishment, the Privy Council Office and CSIS. In recent years our foreign intelligence contribution has largely focused on communications intercepts which regrettably have not provided quality intelligence information for the relevant authorities. That is the case not just here in Canada but in many other countries as well.
As we saw, the terrorists involved in last Tuesday's act stayed under the radar. They were not detected. More and more intelligence agencies are realizing that human source intelligence is indispensable in tracking the whereabouts and activities of terrorists.
Where does that leave us in terms of Canada's contribution? Although I have a lot of views on various aspects of this issue, I would like to leave the House with one suggestion that I believe deserves serious examination.
Perhaps we should look closely at a proposal that had been advanced in the past, that of creating a separate foreign intelligence agency for Canada. Such an agency could serve many purposes, not the least of which would be intelligence gathering relating to counterterrorism.
Canada is the only G-8 country without a foreign intelligence agency. Some excellent work has been done in this area by Mr. Alistair Hensler, a former assistant director of CSIS. If members are looking for more information on the subject, I would refer them to an excellent article that appeared in the winter of 1995 issue of the periodical Canadian Foreign Policy .
As the Prime Minister said earlier today, this parliament has a role in shaping a firm and just global response to an unprecedented global threat. Let us all rise to that daunting challenge.
