The End Game

- Do you find the news today on television consists more of one anchor pontificating to another rather than reporting on the actual “news?” CBC and CTV are masters at this, bringing us a myriad of mind-numbing opinions from the same “media” people on multiple issues every day. A good example of this is the
coverage of the Afghan detainee issue. The thrust of the media coverage seems to coalesce around the idea that the Canadian Forces deliberately, in a planned and premeditated manner, colluded with Afghan authorities in the torturing of detainees in Afghanistan. The national media are beside themselves frothing, spewing and spanking with joy as they report this as if it were true. They provide magnified coverage to Richard Colvin and present his assertions as fact and suggest there is a cover-up at the highest levels. What is the end game? To whom would the Official Opposition suggest the military turn over its military detainees? The Taliban? Al Qaeda? Perhaps a Canadian prison should be opened with all the trimmings provided by Correctional Services Canada?

Meanwhile, Mr. Rae and Mr. Dosanjh prostitute themselves for media ratings, offering scarce objectivity and an absence of balance. They postulate that if
Canadian soldiers handed over even one prisoner who was then mistreated (or tortured) by Afghan authorities, both the Prime Minister and Defence Minister
must be war criminals. There could not be any other explanation. Their conjecture is nothing but absurd. We know factually that there were cases
when the Canadian Forces took detainees back into their custody upon learning the Afghans were mistreating them. But don’t let that get in the way of a good round of media froth. Just last year, Bob Rae and Ujjal Dosanjh, both former NDP Premiers who are now posing as Liberals (and who are the key spokespersons for the Liberal Party posts of Foreign Affairs and Defence), were demanding that then Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier resign because he told reporters during a scrum in Afghanistan that Asadullah Khalid, the governor of Kandahar province, should be replaced. They argued that by making this statement about Khalid, Bernier was interfering in Afghanistan’s domestic issues. Again, the national media were all over this story reporting that Bernier was interfering. They insinuated his resignation was imminent. Now, Rae and Dosanjh are saying that Peter MacKay should resign because he did not interfere enough in Afghanistan’s governance. It is a classic example of sucking and blowing at the same time.

Many lifelong Liberals, like me, are disgusted with Rae and Dosanjh and their antics. Their agenda is to do whatever they can to attack the Prime Minister
and Defence Minister, even if it means tarring the reputation of Canada and the Canadian Forces. It’s odd, I’ve never heard Rae or Dosanjh expend the same
amount of energy on matters related to the deaths of 136 soldiers and diplomats violently killed in Afghanistan. I don’t recall Dosanjh expressing any concerns for detainees when he was a Liberal Minister in the Paul Martin Cabinet that expanded our Afghan mission. Actually, I don’t recall Dosanjh expressing any concern for our poorly armed troops who were killed in action in Afghanistan because he and his colleagues in Cabinet sent the troops to Afghanistan with equipment that did not provide them with enough protection. He must have done so … but in private with the same great flare, gusto and passion he articulates for the Taliban prisoners. Bravo Ujjal! Bravo!

Here are more hard cold facts … Mr. Rae and Mr. Dosanjh are pretend Liberals looking for the fastest way to the top. They ditched their NDP buddies when they were no longer convenient. Now, they are prepared to ditch the men and women of Afghanistan for their own political ends. And that, my friends, is the END GAME.