How much more obfuscation, evasion and denial does the Canadian public have to suffer from Peter the Pathetic? Peter MacKay has been tap dancing backwards faster and faster. He is now in retreat from is hollow assertions that Afghan detainees, under Canadian care, were never abused or tortured for about two weeks now.
The manipulation of the political process, the stifling and suppression of information and the positioning of Conservative politicians for plausible denial of facts is abhorrent to Canadian values of peace, order and good government.
As new evidence continues to come forward we see the Minister of Defensiveness moving from absolute denial to plausible denial to admission of mistakes being made but not by him. This is now so much more to all of this than an apparent "non-smoking gun" as the Harper Cons have tried to allege. We are seeing the absolute meltdown of the integrity and trustworthiness of the Harper government. They are perpetuating the continued unfounded abuse of the public service and the manipulation of the governnance system to suppress evidence and an absolute full court press avoidance of anything close to doing the right thing.
The Harper government has and continues to be a Mini Me mirror of the former Bush-Cheney face political manipulation and machinations that only serves to destroys democracies. This detainee debacle is the Harper government self-inflicting wounds on its own integrity and veracity. It is destined to the defining drama that should be the tippping point for Canadians to realize these are not the kind of people who are worthy of our consent to govern us.
I am most impressed with the continuing quality coverage by the Globe and Mail on these issues and event. I am grateful to the 50 or so former Canadian Ambassadors who are reproaching the Harper government for the unfounded personal attacks on Richard Colvin for merely doing his job. This is starting to look like a Canadian Watergate where the rot in the political culture seems to have spread to the highest offices in the land.
Harper’s political free ride is over. His “success” is a function of an ineffectual opposition, a public disinterest in another election anytime soon and a low public expectation of Harper and his party. Anyone in Canada who values Peace Order and Good Government has to now realize that Mr. Harper and his partisans are not good for Canada in any way.
We need a public inquiry to get to the bottom of this and to restore Canadians faith in its government.
One Afghan, in a combat operation, got hit by a shoe, after the CF turned him over to the Afghan police - and you call it a debacle? Give me a break...
ReplyDelete- An offended CF member
The debacle is Peter Mckay lying that no Afhgan detinee was tortued. Then attacking the reputation of Richard Colvin. Delay, deny, disparage is exactly Mckay's strategy. It was amusing hen he was in opposition but he utterly lacks the skills and gravitas for minister of national defence.
ReplyDeleteGee I miss the good ol' days of Liberal Adscamming and Shawinigating and HRCing and gun registering and delivering murderous acid-throwing-in-the-face-of-school-girls Taliban scumbangs to the Afghans for a little Afghan justice .....
ReplyDeleteOh right - to the guys rewriting 'Canada in Afghanistan' history it's only the Cons who were letting some of these creeps come to some harm in that s___hole of a country.
Ken my friend: I love your rants, hate and venom regarding Harper and the Cons I completely support. I am also glad that Cons like Mark Steyn, Maclean's folks, and Ezra Levant spent a pile of money and time to battle for your right to say the things you say about Harper and the cons, without you getting nailed for a hate crime in front of these nutbar Human Rights Commissions monkey courts..
You have to admit though that Harper is doing a damn good job of keeping us out of this Copenhagen silliness, what with Climategate showing how perverse and corrupt the two sources of the IPCC global warming outrage (the CRU and Goddard) are turning out to be. Imagine spending hundreds of billions of dollars on a problem that simply either does not exist, or that we simply have no control over. Gotta give Harper an attaboy for that, don't you?
Hey Ken buddy,
ReplyDeleteThese partisan rants are getting rather tiresome. The MSM is bad enough as it is.
You are so much better than this. Leave this nonsense alone and take us to a higher level, please!
A Ken fan!
Funny how the magnanimous godfather of progressive postpartisanship turns into such an ill-tempered five year old when the topic of federal politics comes up. Is this because the feds aren't punching your meal ticket like the province does, Chapman? You're pathetic.
ReplyDeleteThx for the comment ANONYMOUS - ralk about parthtic - where is your courage of covinction and who are you?
ReplyDeleteBTW - I quit working on any Government of Alberta contracts a long time ago. No meal ticket there but thanks for lettimg me make the point.
Come back on this blog next time with a real identity. Otherwise just stay away and stop wasting our time with ad hominem tripe.
Hello
ReplyDeleteThis is a good post and I do agree with some of your points about Harper government.Its interesting to read this post.Thank you very much for sharing this post with us.
vitamine a
So many people miss the point completely. It's not about the Canadian Forces and their actions. The Canadian Forces are there to do a job as on behalf of the Government of Canada. It's about the government and their "you're with me or against me" attitude that translates into personal attacks on everyone who dares to take a different view.
ReplyDeleteWe have a DUTY to honour international law and international law states that we do NOT hand over detainees IF there's a reasonable possibility of abuse or torture. This is in spite of whether or not anyone thinks that any and all detainees are "murderous acid-throwing-in-the-face-of-school-girls Taliban scumbangs (sic)". We MUST stand on higher moral ground. You cannot and will not get the support of the people of Afghanistan if you drop to the bottom of the moral ladder. Moreover, you will not gain the support of Canadians for this complicated war without standing on the highest moral ground possible.
Also, please remember that we're talking about "detainees", not convicted terrorists. Detainees often are Afghan citizens in the wrong place at the wrong time. As for torture, it can NEVER be justified to anyone who respects freedom, responsibility and human rights for all.
"What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage. The mere act of believing that some wrongful course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious."
- Marcus Tullius Cicero
Exercising our freedom to question our government is precisely an example of the values we have chosen to 'share' with the Afghan people. Questioning without fear of reprisal is a high level value of enlightened societies. Stifling debate and questioning, limiting political transparency and accountability for political gain and defaming those who oppose you, limits our freedom of speech and diminishes our democracy and, therefore, our moral standing in this war.
We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
- Edward R. Murrow
And to Graham, you haven't changed a bit. I guess in your world view we did not enjoy freedom of speech before we were subjected to the dogmatic world-views of Harper, Ezra and their ilk. Harper has cherished his role as the pompous pontificator who's entire adult life has been spent in politics ranting against "professional politicians'. Gee, doesn't that make him a professional politician?
I don't think anyone set up a fuss when NAZI POW's were tortured or killed whether by negligence or on purpose with Canadian complicity.
ReplyDeleteNor do Canadians care now with Taliban terrorists when far greater precautions are taken.
This issue is going nowhere politically.
Guy Badeaux, the longtime political cartoonist for Le Droit, Ottawa's French language daily newspaper, reveals the secret message in Peter MacKay's blacked out dossier.
ReplyDeletehttp://mediamanager.oc3.generationflash.com/client_utils/_resize_picture.php?img=051_7225_174235.jpg&member=cp&w=520&h=460
In English: "we have nothing to hide"
From http://cowboysforsocialresponsibility.blogspot.com/