Chapter 4

Martin and Bush vs. Me


Right after the raucous spring session of Parliament ended in late June, I read a piece of news on a slow news day. It was about the various gifts Prime Minister Paul Martin received from other world leaders. According to the report, of all the gifts Mr. Marin received, he cherished the one from George W. Bush the most.

• Related Link: I think it was a pair of boots that Martin received from George W. Bush.

I thought to myself: Wow, that’s a shrewd way to express your gratitude to someone who helped your political career, when you could not say it publicly.

Yes, I had suspicions that, of various political forces dealing with Cecilia Zhang murder conspiracy, the Bush administration was the one that pulled a very significant portion of the strings behind the scene. On August 20, 2005, in emails to US newspapers, I disclosed, for the first time, my suspicion about US government’s involvement in the cover-up of Cecilia Zhang abduction and murder: “My hunch is that the Bush Administration has been helping Canadian Liberal government in the cover-up.”

Why did I think so?

I got my “hunch” from observing Martin’s behavior in (1) Martin’s handling of NORAD Amendment in summer 2004; (2) Bush’s official visit to Ottawa in the fall 2004; (3) some strange comments by the Canadian and US officials; and (4) difficulties I experienced at the grassroots level.

NORAD Amendment

According to Ambassador Frank McKenna’s testimony before a House committee in February 2005, the NORAD Amendment negotiated quietly with the US government in summer 2004 meant that Canada had effectively signed on to the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) already. If Mr. McKenna was right, all the later debates about BMD meant that Bush Administration was mostly to seek Canada’s political support in the project.

In late July 2004, my main blog had already, I believe, attracted some attention from mainstream media journalists. Naturally, people were looking for some kind of response from PMO. But Paul Martin was almost in hiding for the summer. The government seemed to be in “summer hibernation”, too. Then on August 5, 2004, defense minister Bill Graham made a major announcement that Canadian government had signed the so-called NORAD Amendment with the US because, as he explained it, it was a “pressing” issue.

Looking back, I think Mr. Martin was sending a message to George W. Bush by signing the agreement in the summer: I wanted to follow you, sir, but I am venerable because of this Cecilia Zhang conspiracy. Please help me!

• Related Link: Gilles Duceppe says Martin sent the Americans a signal by appoint David Pratt as defense minister

Mr. Martin was also sending a message to the media. Smart journalists got the message: Tie this guy to BMD.

• Related Link: Jeffrey Simpson in his October 26, 2004 column quoted T. S. Eliot from Murder in the Cathedral: "The last temptation is the greatest treason, To do the right thing for the wrong reason." -- To do the right thing has always been my guiding principle as I wrote in this September 22, 2004 blog. Mr. Simpson somewhat connected doing right thing with treason. (Everybody in the loop knew he was talking about me, not Mr. Martin!)
• Related Link: National Post columnist Terence Corcoran cracked nut on BMD in his November 30, 2004 column Murder on the Hill.

Bush’s visit to Ottawa

Mr. Bush was seeking re-election at the time so I do not think he had time to deal with Martin’s request for help. But once he was re-elected in November 2004, he chose Canada as his first destination of foreign travel.

I think the primary purpose of Bush’s visit to Canada last November was to spend his newly acquired political capital to prop up the Martin government.

I went to Ottawa on November 24, 2004 for the second time. Going to Ottawa to protest was an easy decision for me. My second trip was prompted by reading Mr. Pat MacAdam’s November 21 column, which was similar to his October 17 column in purpose. Reading his column, it occurred to me, who had no political experience before, that it might be easier to for me to get my story out when King Martin was out of the country. Mr. MacAdam, I believe, was still trying to help me at that time.

• Related Link: My dealings with Mulroneyites

No “trip briefing”

Greg Weston wrote in his column on the day of Mr. Bush's visit:

Even White House reporters expecting the usual "trip briefing" on Canada-U.S. issues were surprised by what they got: Zip.

"It is quite unusual not to have a briefing," said one senior White House correspondent who called yesterday, wondering if we had any idea why Bush was coming to Canada. (We had to say, sorry, can't help there.)

......

Then came the official White House version of Bush's visit to Canada: "The president tomorrow will travel to Canada for an official working visit. He will return on Wednesday. The president begins his visit in Ottawa."

That's it? That's all? People had to wonder: Was there a hidden agenda in Bush’s visit?

“With all five figures”

During a news conference in Ottawa on November 30, Mr. Bush spoke in a self-deprecating manner: “I, frankly, felt like the reception we received on the way in from the airport was very warm and hospitable, and I want to thank the Canadian people who came out to wave - with all five fingers.”

Those were not the only lines through which Mr. Bush exhibited a rare self-deprecating humor during the news conference. This was indeed a bit strange. Excuse me if I am wrong. But I think it is fair to say that Mr. Bush is not a person who is known to have a sense of self-deprecating humor. I mean, self-deprecating humor is something in somebody’s temperament. And a certain temperament is something you either have, or you don’t.

So, what in Canada changed Mr. Bush? Maybe Mr. Bush read my blog, too?

Mr. Bush had many humorous lines at the news conference. I picked those ones out because, just a few hours earlier, I saw someone giving him a finger on his way in from the airport.

What happened was that on that morning, I tried to go to Parliament Hill to protest – as I did everyday during the fall session of the Parliament when I was in Ottawa. But I could not get through due to the roadblock at the intersection where the Chapters bookstore is. I waited for a long time. While waiting, I struck a casual conversation with a young lady. When Mr. Bush’s motorcade turned at the intersection, she gave Mr. Bush, who sat at the right side of his limo, a finger and promptly left. I did not know the lady's name.

If Mr. Bush’s visit to Ottawa was to prop up Martin government, whose hold to power was made precarious because of my protest, I am sure Mr. Bush must have been briefed right away about this incident.

Everyone is a “Lefty”

According to various media reports, during his visit in Ottawa, Mr. Bush told Mr. Jack Layton, Leader of NDP, that “every country needs a good Lefty.”

It was the first time I heard the word Lefty. Does Mr. Bush regard me as a “Lefty”? I am pretty sure he does. Personally, I would feel uncomfortable if someone applies such a simplistic label on me. -- Left-right axis may be a useful tool for political scientists/strategists to take pulse of a group’s political leaning, many today’s individual voters are too sophisticated to be projected on any one-dimensional scale.

It was also reported that Mr. Bush told Mr. Stephen Harper, Leader of the Conservative Party, that, as Conservatives, he expected to see him “eye to eye”. -- The unspoken words were that he was not able to see Mr. Harper eye to eye.

What Mr. Bush said to the two opposition leaders were quite revealing – about himself. Not only does he have an extremely simplistic mind, his ideological stand is so far right that almost everybody is a Lefty in his eyes.

Mr. MacAdam out of town

In early December, I tried to contact Mr. MacAdam for the first time. I was told by Ottawa Sun that he was out of town.

I am not sure if Mr. Pat MacAdam sensed something from President Bush’s visit.

Canadian ambassador Frank McKenna

On January 5, 2005, I changed the title of my main blog from “A Jobless Immigrant without Privacy” to “Feeding Our Comatose Pundits”. I also changed the description of my blog to “Indifference is the epitome of evil.” Soon, the word indifference became a “nut” that many pundits “cracked”. I guess pundits did not like this famous quote being used on them. For example, see Val Sears’ column in Ottawa Sun on January 11, 2005.

Then, on January 14, 2005, the newly appointed Ambassador to US, Frank MacKenna, was reported to have said this curious line: “Our greatest enemy in the United States is indifference”.

On March 4, 2005, Ottawa Citizen published an editorial criticizing Mr. McKenna for doing a pundit’s job and speaking “convoluted sentences”. Although the context of the editorial was missile defense, I figure the real reason Mr. McKenna was criticized was his comment about me, known to people in the loop. Basically, the Citizen was telling Mr. McKenna to leave the attack to them.

Bush’s inaugural address

The first time Mr. Bush caught my attention was after he delivered his widely reported inaugural address, in which he stated that "it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."

Tyranny was, of course, a word I used in my open letter to members of Parliament just before I started my fast and protest in October 2004. (Being a student of English language, I had problem in finding the right word to describe a government that was involved in murdering its own citizen. So I used the word tyranny. I admit, though, maybe there is a more appropriate word that I still do not know about.)

US ambassador Paul Cellucci

In my article When did talking about racism become taboo?, which was posted on my blog on January 24, 2005, I defined what I meant by nut-cracking. Soon, the word crack itself became a nut that journalists cracked.

Even the honorable US ambassador Paul Cellucci.

I cannot find the original news report now. What he said, roughly, was that there were two people who were trying to crack the USA. But USA was too tough for them to crack, so they crack Canada instead.

The two people in the ambassador’s mind were, I believe, Mr. Yan-xiu (Matthew) Li and me. Mr. Cellucci's words suggested that the US government did not trust Mr. Li - despite all the work he had done to help with the cover-up - at least at the time when the ambassador made those comments.

Of course, there is absolutely no basis for the ambassador to suggest that I am some kind of enemy to either United States or Canada. Again, when the US and Canadian governments can not find fault in my claims, they resorted to personal attack.

Other US officials

Strange comments were also made by other high-ranking Bush administration officials in late spring or early summer, when the life of Martin government in last Parliament was hanging on a piece of thread.

Working against me on the grassroots level

[TBD]