Forcing Diplomats To Lie

Canadians should be troubled by the following paragraphs:

CTV News obtained 180 pages of e-mails, including ones written by Colvin, that are among the documents. They were heavily censored, and what could be seen shed little light on the controversy.

But one e-mail underlined Colvin's frustration. He complained about "hyper secrecy" on the detainee issue, and orders from Ottawa to put "nothing in writing."

He said the apparent restrictions amounted to "a very troubling politicization of reporting" and effectively told diplomats, "We must lie to each other."

If our foreign service is being forced to lie to itself by politicians, then the products of its labors are useless and any real intelligence they have to offer will be dismissed as partisan spin. This puts the security of the country at risk for the greater glory of the current occupants of the PMO.

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