Canada rolls out red carpet for White Helmets

According to this story at CBC, Canada is poised to accept 250 White Helmet civil volunteers from Syria, plus their (no-doubt very extended) families.

Depending on how closely you follow current events, you may or may not be familiar with the rather dodgy history of this bold brotherhood of “civil defence volunteers.”

They are routinely portrayed as heroes in our mainstream media. They worked exclusively in areas of Syria under the control of the most virulent Islamic radicals. That so many young fighting-age males would be allowed to operate in such areas without pledging allegiance to the ISIS head-choppers or picking up a gun is but the first of many mysteries.

They even won an Oscar for their heroics!

Another mystery concerns their status as “volunteers.” My understanding of the word “volunteer” is that a volunteer is someone who gives freely of their time to further some cause that is worthwhile, at least in their own mind.

If these White Helmet guys were volunteers, why did they get tens of millions of dollars per year in funding from the very cabal of nations committed to over-throwing the Assad administration?

The CBC story mentions that the White Helmets were founded by a “retired” British SAS operative by the name of James Le Mesurier. Google that name and see what comes up.

Here’s a story from Scott Ritter, the former US weapons inspector, that includes a lengthy discussion of the White Helmets.

Here’s a Robert Fisk story that raises a few questions about the heroic White Helmets. Fisk is one of the most respected Middle-East reporters published in mainstream media.

I’m a guy who tries to keep an open mind. I’m an immigrant. I come from a family that once had refugee status.

Maybe Scott Ritter is full of shit.

Maybe Robert Fisk is full of shit.

I want to welcome refugees.

But maybe, just maybe, we’re opening the door to 250 hard-core ISIS militants.

Something to think about…