This Is Not The Country You Have Been Looking For

You have to hand it to the propagandists in the PMO, with all their happy talk about our brilliant success in Afghanistan. They know how to spin bullshit. Just because "our success" is neither true, nor sustainable doesn't mean people won't buy the line. Canadians, in their hearts know the truth, but grab onto denial with both hands, because worshiping dead heroes is better than admitting failure. This report from the Globe, will I suspect, have any impact on the flag waving in Canada:

Whatever has been achieved over the past five years is sometimes called “fragile progress,” but that delicate phrase does not capture the sense of looming disaster many locals feel, a fear that the foreigners built a system that will soon collapse.

In dozens of interviews with locals – governor to farmer, police chief, hairdresser and Taliban – people expressed appreciation for all the construction projects, the schools and roads, but described the overall situation as terribly precarious.

They do not trust that the corrupt Afghan government, installed by foreigners, will be strong enough to stand by itself. Even senior government officials doubt their own comrades, and those misgivings are stronger at the lower ranks: A bodyguard for the governor mused about joining the Taliban; a policeman begged the Canadians to stay because he feared that his family would be killed.

And when it all turns to crap, which it will in due course, the PMO will either blame the opposition (Taliban Jack destroyed the morale of the Afghan people) or else claim that it is all the fault of the primitives in Afghanistan, who never appreciated the sacrifices of our dead heroes.

Recommend this Post

On Habitual Cliff Jumping

If we had an opposition, instead of Bob Rae, it would point out that we are already involved in a war in Afghanistan -- a war that has lasted 10 years and is not going all that well. They would insist we clean up our messes elsewhere before jumping off yet another cliff in another part of the middle east. But since we don't have an opposition, just Bob Rae, all we are going to get is "Where do we sign up?".

Recommend this Post

The Death Of Outrage

Don't expect too many people to get upset by this, for too long. Since Canadians don't give a shit about handing our own children over for torture, I doubt they will much care if our government is handing over foreign children. They are all the wrong color and belong to the wrong religion, for Canadian tastes, I'm afraid.

Recommend this Post

Just Wait Until Next Time

Headline: Leaving Afghanistan in 2014 ‘a goal,’ not a deadline: NATO official. I expect that in 2012, Bob Rae will propose a brilliant new plan to extend our military deployment for another four years, so that our military can have the time to hand out puppies to each and every Afghan child. Prime Minister Harper will thank him and make it so.

Recommend this Post

Trial Balloon Alert

The Harperites are throwing smoke bombs everywhere, in an attempt to give cover to their embattled position on our non-leaving of Afghanistan. Their latest smokescreen is a vague promise to "protect the rights of women" in Afghanistan, as part of our new mission. I assume we will protect Afghan women from the right to safe abortions.

Recommend this Post

Everything Old Is New Again

Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.

Rudyard Kipling 19th Century Imperialist

"You can't look for quick fixes. You have to realize that these things require extraordinary time and effort. That is just the reality. You can't lose patience and you can't lose hope," Rae said.

"The world cannot afford to have little hidden corners that are festering with violence and conflict that go unmonitored or unassessed."

Bob Rae 21st Century Imperialist

Recommend this Post

What Caplan Says

God, I wish I could write as well as he can.

Recommend this Post

The Establishment At Prayer

So sayeth the Globe and Mail:

The Canadian government has made the decision to extend this country’s mission in Afghanistan. It will end its combat role and continue, in a more intensive way, to train the Afghan army and police. It is the right decision. Should it be put to Parliament to debate and vote on, as MP Paul Dewar, the New Democratic Party’s foreign affairs critic, says? No. Such a vote is not necessary or helpful.

Ahhhhhmennnnnn! Right then. Nothing to see here. Peasants should just tug their forelocks and move along.

Recommend this Post

It's A Stephen Harper/Iggy World

And the rest of us just live in it. No need to bring this to parliament. All Harper needs to extend our stay in Afghanistan, apparently, is buy in from Iggy and Bob Rae and everyone else is expected to jump. Does the rank and file of the Liberal Party agree with the extension? Who cares? Not the leadership of the Liberal Party.

Recommend this Post

Blast From The Past

The PM was Mr. Contrite yesterday, when he admitted we are going to keep our children in a meat-grinder for another four years, but I wonder how long that will last? I wonder how long he will keep up the "Gosh, I wish it was different" BS and embrace his inner war lord, once more? When will Taliban Jack be resurrected? I suspect all it will take is one question from Layton, doubting the wisdom of the Dear Leader.

Recommend this Post

Elites At Work

Funny, but I doubt you will ever see this raised as an example of our elites at work, by our political class. That's the thing about our elites, they are masters of misdirection. While we are all howling for the blood of teachers and garbage collectors, they are quietly committing the nation to four more years of wasted resources and squandered lives.

Update: Steve V. postulates that people don't "give a shit' about politics. This is a good example of why that attitude has taken hold. The feeling in the land is that all of the decisions have been made by elite consensus, behind closed doors and our role in our "democracy" has been reduced to that of cheerleaders for various elite "teams". Since there are much better mass entertainments available these days, who can blame Canadians from tuning out? Our participation is not wanted. Our leaders don't give a shit what we think.

Recommend this Post

Help For The Confused

From today's Globe on statements made by outgoing veteran's ombudsman, Pat Stogran:

Regardless of his future, Mr. Stogran said the government will have to explain what the war was all about to not only families of the dead, but also the wounded who will show up at future Remembrance Day services.

As a public service, here is what the war was about. It was a sop, from Jean Chretien to George W. Bush, because Chretien did not want to send troops into an illegal war in Iraq. Chretien thought by getting the troops posted to Kabul, Canada could point out to the Bushies that Canada was pulling its weight, and thereby keep the U.S border open to trade. This was a fine (but completely cynical) strategy, until the Martin regime overthrew Chretien. Paul Martin, in his usual fashion, dithered his way into moving our troops from the relatively safe Kabul to the meat grinder of Kandahar.

Martin, of course, threw himself under a bus and was replaced by Stephen Harper. Harper, who would have much preferred to have committed our troops to Iraq in the first place, has happily kept our troops in a no win situation (with a great big assist from the Liberals), in Kandahar, for four years.

In summary, the war in Afghanistan was a cynical sop to an ally that was feeling vulnerable and angry (and was quite frankly, driven a bit crazy)after a terrorist attack, in a bid to keep the economy going. You are welcome.

Recommend this Post

Pollsters Standing By

Trial balloon alert. Not that they care what I think. What says the over 65, white, exurban/rural, male? That's all that matters.

Recommend this Post

Anyone Give A Shit

About Afghan detainees anymore? Anyone? Anyone at all?

Wednesday morning update: Pogge points to a depressing article that came out late yesterday afternoon. The Liberals and the Bloc are looking less like dupes and more like co-conspirators, every day.

Recommend this Post

The Leaves Are Starting To Turn

The mornings are dark and I wonder, where are the Afghan detainee documents?

Recommend this Post

Ewww, The Liberals Pull Out The Big Guns

Ujjal Dosanjh says the NDP isn't "SERIOUS". It takes a serious party to sell out Parliament, apparently. The people who said the war in Iraq was illegal and based on a lie, weren't "serious" either, just right. Why do elites always use the word "serious" when they mean "falling into line with the accepted prejudices of the ruling class"? I guess "serious" is better shorthand.

Recommend this Post

The Fog Is Lifting

And it is a pretty ugly sight to behold. Correct me if I am wrong, dear readers, but here is what I think the Liberals and the Bloc have agreed to.

1. They get representatives on a special committee to view documents.
2. They get a say in the creation of a "panel of experts" designed to adjudicate disputes.
3. The government has the right to challenge any document being demanded by the special committee, if that document is either a cabinet document, or the fruit of attorney client consultations between the government and its lawyers.
4. The challenged document then goes to the panel of experts who get to decide if the document does fall into either category. If it does, then it is excluded from the list of potential documents to be viewed by the special committee.

In other words, all the government has to do is satisfy a panel that a document is what it says it is and it is off the table. If that is so, then the government is virtually home and dry. I suspect that the juicy stuff will be deemed to be one or the other, since this government is well known to routinely cc their lawyers virtually everything, in order to claim attorney client privilege. So, tell me, how are we going to get to the bottom this mess given this accord? Anyone?

Recommend this Post

Well...

At least the NDP see it the way I do, in this instance. Parliamentary supremacy is a joke. The big parties and for some unknown reason, the Bloc, have decided to play "hide the salami" with the truth. We will never learn whether or not our government is covering up war crimes, unless, by some miracle, someone at the Hague takes note of our Potemkin democracy.

Instant Update: Now come the inevitable justifications from the Liberals and the snotty denunciations of those who dissent. I watch in horrified fascination.

Update the Second: Yup, the Liberals are accusing the NDP of negotiating in bad faith (what a fucking joke). Also, I suspect we will hear only praise for Gilles Duceppe from the government. I guess they are not "evil separatists" today.

Recommend this Post

Did The Military And The Government...

Throw a brick through Iggy's window with a note attached, written by David Bercuson? It sure reads like a threat to me. To me, it reads "Drop the snooping into the Afghan detainee issue and rein in those two commies, or else.

Recommend this Post

The Dry Turkey

I am a bit dismayed by this paragraph:

The Harper government and opposition parties have agreed in principle to use a panel of outside experts to referee disputes over whether secret Afghan detainee records can be made public after being shown to select MPs.

How much do you want to bet the Harperites will challenge every document that comes before them, as a means to drag this process out for, well, forever? It is their way. They will live up to the letter of the agreement. Period (and only if they feel it gives them political advantage). With the Harperites, there is no such thing as the "spirit" of anything. Opposition beware, you are being suckered, again.

Update: If what Kady is saying is true, then it is a win for the good guys. But, I will keep my powder dry until the details emerge. The bottom line, I don't trust the Harperites as far as I can throw them.

Update 2: After reading this, it is much harder to say it is a win for democracy. Again, it is the details that matter. Can the government simply say that everything needs to be referred to the panel of experts? If so, the opposition has signed on to a slow motion cover-up. The next few days will tell.

Update 3: Ok, this section is really troubling:

Where the Committee determines that such information is both relevant and necessary, or upon the request of any member of the Committee, it will refer the document to a Panel of Arbiters who will determine how that relevant and necessary information will be made available to Members of Parliament and the public without compromising national security - either by redaction or the writing of summaries or such techniques as the Panel find appropriate, hearing in mind the basic objectives of maximizing disclosure and transparency.(italics mine)

It seems to me that the opposition has given the government a suspensive veto (which it will use with wild abandon, mark my words) and has allowed the government the opportunity to move the final decision away from elected members to an unelected "panel of experts". This is a shocking capitulation by the opposition.

Update 4: Ok, in looking at the text again, I have it wrong. It looks to me as if the "panel of arbiters" gets to see all the documents and it is they and not the committee of MPs who get to decide what is redacted. The single member clause is there to allow MPs to appeal to this body in the case where the committee does not agree with them about whether a document should be released. Still an unelected body is going to have the final say as to what the Parliament and the public as a whole get to see unredacted. To my mind this is just plain wrong and a loss for our democracy.

Update 5: The fact that Stephen Harper is happy with this deal tells me all I need to know about it.

Update 6: Curiosity Cat agrees this stinks like dead fish. I watched Power and Politics and the talking heads all basically framed this as a way for the opposition to avoid an election. So, how do you feel about Canadian democracy tonight? Me, I think it has been sold out by a bunch of cowards, to a bunch of authoritarian thugs.

Recommend this Post