We Will Remember Him
They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them
In memory of our fallen Canadian:
Lt Andrew R. Nuttall — Afghanistan December 23, 2009
Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated
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We Will Remember Him
They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them
In memory of our fallen Canadian:
Lt Andrew R. Nuttall — Afghanistan December 23, 2009
Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated
Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays
Winter Officially Begins; Christmas Isn’t Far Behind
Yesterday was the shortest day of the year, it was also the first official day of winter. We’ve been pretty fortunate so far, we’ve had very little snow so far this season. For the first time in 160 years there was zero snow in November.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really dislike winter. I do [...]
If you like this post, please tweet it. Follow me on Tweeter here
Winter Officially Begins; Christmas Isn't Far Behind
This Canadian Cares About Detainee Issue
I’ve been reading and listening to the reporting about the detainee issue over the last several weeks. The Opposition parties in Parliament have been after trying to get to the bottom of finding out just who knew and when about detainees being turned over to the Afghans from Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. As much as the government has tried to characterize those who continue to push these questions as either Taliban supporters or not supporting our troops, nothing could be further from the truth.
Over the weekend, I was listening to a podcast of TVOs “The Agenda”. The podcast was talking about the failure of the Conservatives to show up at the parliamentary committee hearings trying to investigate this mess. The Cons failure to show up effectively killed the committee meeting over the Christmas break as the lack of Cons in attendance ensures there is no quorum to allow the meetings to take place.
Laurie Hawn, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defense claims that ordinary Canadians are not interested in this ’so called issue’, that only the Opposition parties are interested in playing political games. Lowell Green, supposedly a highly respected Canadian radio personality, was also heard on the podcast claiming that the only Canadians who care about this issue are the ‘lefties, who read the Toronto Star, are opposed to the mission in Afghanistan and want the troops brought home immediately’. That no other Canadian cares about this matter.
This Canadian Cares!
I suppose, by Hawn & Green’s definition I would be considered to be a ‘lefty’ especially since I definitely DO NOT support the current Conservative party and especially Harper and his band of bullies. I do read the Toronto Star along with the National Post, the Toronto Sun and the Globe & Mail on a regular basis. I support the mission of our troops. I have struggled with that support, especially when I watch the motorcades carrying our war dead travel the Highway of Heroes, but I believe the coalition and eventually the Afghan military and police have to succeed in that country.
The more I see on this issue the more concerned I have become.
Richard Colvin, a diplomat serving in Afghanistan, claims to have repeatedly warned the government about this issue. For having the courage to speak up, he’s been subjected to character assassination by government ministers and others. Green likely has really good intel and knows he’s one of those damn Toronto Star reading lefties, which makes the character assassination okay.
I have no doubt our troops have done what they had to do. They have followed the rules of engagement and may have been placed in the position of turning Afghan nationals over to abuse at the hands of other Afghans. That doesn’t make our troops bad, that makes those who placed them in that position dead wrong.
Green tried to justify this abuse by dismissing those detainees as dastardly Taliban who did mean and nasty things. He didn’t directly say so, but his argument appeared to stop just sort of stating these detainees deserved everything done to them and then some. Not all detainees are proven to be Taliban, and especially not radicalized Taliban.
Coalition leadership has stated repeatedly they want to reach the more moderate Taliban and try to turn them. I believe that attempt to reach them is an attempt to have them forsake the insurgency for peace. If any of those detainees were moderate Taliban turned over to abuse, I rather doubt they would be forsaking any insurgency. They would be more likely to become radicalized.
The Cons, the same Cons who came to power promising transparency in government, have responded to attempts to get this issue out in the open by dragging their feet on releasing documents and then redacting them so heavily they render them virtually useless. They try to claim issues of national security.
While full public disclosure might not be possible IF they actually have legitimate claims of national security, there is no excuse for not making full disclosure to MPs and most especially the Military Complaints Commission.
The Opposition parties have passed a motion in Parliament ordering the disclosure of the documents to the MPs and the commission. The government has vowed to ignore the motion and the supremacy of Parliament. Rumours are rife right now that Harper may try to have the Governor General prorogue parliament again until at least after the Olympics which would allow time for the heat to possibly dissipate on the subject.
Harper and his band of bullies seem to forget they are there to serve the people, to answer to the people, not their own self-serving brand of politics. Their seemingly desperate measures to forestall disclosure of their conduct on this file, and others, leaves Canadians seriously wondering what else hasn’t come to light.
Myself, I could have been pretty forgiving had the Cons given full disclosure when this issue came up the first time — admitted any errors in judgment made, reported what was being done to correct the errors and disclosed any further tweaking they had done. I would have considered it a learning process and that the matter was being taken care of.
Instead, I’m left wondering just what is being held back and why. Why are our soldiers possibly being placed in the position of turning Afghan nationals over to abuse? Why is a career diplomat and anyone else who speaks up being vilified? What is the government hiding that they are willing to be in contempt of Parliament (and in the people it serves)?
The longer they drag this out, the more inclined I am to want to see a public inquiry and full disclosure.
What do you think?
The Plot That Wasn’t
On Sunday I read through Angelo Persichilli’s political column in the Toronto Star. I usually give his column a scan but rarely put a lot of stock into it. More of a gut response to his writing than any true sense that he plays pretty loose with the truth in his perspective.
In his latest column he claims that a full blown revolt is happening in the Liberal party, led by Bob Rae, and apparently deep into planning through a group of MPs who sat down to have nightcaps together after a party. The brass of them, they decided to plot this coup in a very public venue. Persichilli doesn’t identify who his source is, one would wonder if it was speculation or if he truly had a mic on the table.
He claimed that it would be pretty difficult for Ignatieff to survive as leader until the end of this year, a scant 3 weeks away. The reality is, short of executing the guy, it would be pretty much impossible to remove him either before the end of the year or conceivably the end of next year. That would require a convention and leadership review.
Since then, led quickly by Bob Rae, the participants in those collegial drinks has shot down the assertions made in the column. So, is 100% of the party behind Ignatieff? Very unlikely, especially considering the last noticed polls. That begs the question, since I keep an eye on the media a lot why is it that polls are not quite as frequent lately as they were for a while this past fall? Are the Liberals moving up some and it doesn’t make good Conservative headlines?
I digress.
I lead a non-profit organization. My leadership was contested last year and likely will be this year. Even if it wasn’t contested, I know for a fact there is a faction who would love nothing more than to see the end of me as leader. That’s just the nature of people.
I suspect that the bulk of Liberals are not unlike me, sick of seeing the ones in the power circle playing games instead of getting on with working on securing the confidence of the majority of Canadians. I suspect the fanciful story of a coup in the offing is more a construct of Conservative dreamers.
Is that the only way the Cons can stay in office is to try to present the Liberals as in disarray? Maybe they need to be taking a hard look at Harper and why he can’t get into a clear majority territory after four years in office. Maybe that has a lot to do with the fact the majority of Canadians know enough not to trust the creep.
Related posts
- Letter to Ignatieff (1)
- Zytaruk Needs Help to Sue Conservatives (0)
- What is Karzai Inhaling? (0)
- What is an Immigration Bill Doing in a Budget Bill? (0)
- So Where is Your Accountability Harper? (0)
Harper Had That Coming
PM Harper’s arrival in China yesterday started off rather bizarrely by him choosing to upstage Flaherty (who was back here in Canada) and release the latest economic update. Guess that was as far as he could get from the House of Commons. Either that or he realized what a pompous little jerk Flaherty is and decided that as PM he was just had to upstage him, I’d be frightened if I actually started to understand Harper’s thought processes.
That little political grandstand was nothing compared to what came later on.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the number two man in China, publicly chastized Harper for the five year gap in official visits from a Canadian leader. Harper hasn’t made an effort to visit China on his watch, in fact he and his goons have taken a bit of a hardline towards China. Economic conditions and pressure from the Opposition has more to do with Harper showing up in China than any change of attitude on his part.
David Akin, a journalist travelling with Harper, tries to argue that the public rebuke Harper received is a slight to all Canadians. Technically, Akin is right in that Harper is representing Canada and its people when he’s making an official visit.
However, Harper needs to own the rebuke, he earned it. Canadians didn’t exactly clamour to tell him to snub China on his watch, he made that call. He ignored others who urged him to engage China as a path towards addressing issues like human rights. Of course, right about now, the Chinese could ask some hard questions about this governments handling of Afghan detainees.
Oh, Harper’s response to the rebuke? He pointed out that China hadn’t visited Canada in five years. That takes an invite from the Government of Canada. Was one forthcoming that China didn’t respond to? Do tell Harper.
Related posts
- Letter to Ignatieff (1)
- Yes, I’ve Joined the Liberal Party, Get Over It! (0)
- What is Karzai Inhaling? (0)
- Taliban Jack Wants to Bolt From Kandahar (0)
- Strange Harper Clone Appears Before National Media (0)
Just Who Is Standing Behind the Troops
Okay Harper, you opened the door on the weekend by taking a partisan shot at the Opposition and accusing them of maligning Canadian soldiers over the handling of detainees. You just can’t resist taking your grossly inaccurate potshots at the Opposition no matter where you are in the world can you?
I’ve been watching this furor over the handling of detainees. This isn’t the first time this issue has come up since we sent our troops into action in Southern Afghanistan. Neither time has anyone tried to even imply our troops did not treat detainees properly. They did what they had to do and turned them over to Afghan officials as the government, first the Liberal government and now the Harper Conservatives government, had negotiated with the government of Afghanistan. The Conservatives have now been in power for four years, they own this issue and should have been taking steps to solve it.
It is those agreements and how they, or if, they were enforced that is at question — not the behaviour of our troops. Quit hiding behind them when you need to be showing some leadership Harper. First your ministers try to portray the whistle blower, Richard Colvin, as a Taliban sympathizer for insisting on his unheeded warnings coming to light. When that fails to gain any traction, Pamelin Wallin tries to appeal to Canadians to stop blaming the troops when no one was. Then you give that some treads by using a photo op on a Canadian ship to try the same claim and then you had it repeated in the House of Commons.
Just how long do you think Canadians are going to put up with your lies and obsfucation?
The reality is, you and the other NATO members involved in Afghanistan have apparently dropped the ball. When this first came up three years ago, it is clear that the Canadians and every other country involved in the war in Afghanistan needed to have brought pressure to bear on the Afghan government to clean up their justice system parrallel to the work of the international troops.
We’re there at the request of their government and yes, guests in their home. However, Canadians and the other international forces are being asked to give of their blood and treasure in that same country to try to establish peace and security for the Afghan people. It is not too much to ask, no demand, of our hosts to clean up their system and stop the abuse and torture that our troops are duty bound to turn over to them.
So Harper, man up, get behind the troops and take action so they are not placed in the position of being required to turn detainees over to potential abuse. Quit playing political games while you hid behind our troops.
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