..."(Bush) leaned across the table and said: `I'm not taking this position, but some future president is going to say, Why are we paying to defend Canada?' '' the official was quoted as saying.
"Most of our side was trying to explain the politics, how it was difficult to do,'' he said.
But Bush "waved his hands and remarked: `I don't understand
this. Are you saying that if you got up and said this is necessary for the defence of Canada, it wouldn't be accepted?' ''
Of course PM Martin could have said that we don't think your system will work and the threat of land-based nuclear attacks is larger anyway (as many opposed to missle-defense claim). The other alternative is to announce that we have already signed-on by giving our radar information and permission to use our air-space. Either would have taken leadership on PM Martin's part to do. Instead he dithers and then to a partisan crowd proclaims * "I said to myself and then I send to him (Bush) you may be the leader of the free world but I am the leader of the land of the 21st century".
(via National Post, hat-tip NealeNews)
(*quote is from memory as played on the Roy Green. If I misquoted please feel free to correct me)
