Honouring the Dead: How Not to Do It
Apr. 24th, 2006 07:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dewlineStephen Harper's made another decision that will haunt him.
This one's about our honoured dead, those who became so in Afghanistan this past weekend, and quite possibly those who will surely follow the same route back to Canada in the months ahead.
I am angry about this particular choice because I believe in that mission. I believe it was -- is -- the right thing to do, the necessary thing to do. Because I believe that this choice will undermine the perception of that fact as a fact.
According to reports on Mike Duffy's politics show on CTV Newsnet today, the news services will be barred from observing the return of our Afghan mission dead. It has been described on that show as borrowing heavily from Bush II's playbook on media relations during a war in progress. Details can be found at CTV's site here for the time being. There's video coverage of the announced change at that site as well, and I expect CBC, Canwest Global and the rest of the news services will follow up fairly quickly over the next 24 hours.
I fear that this will be seen by many as the act of a man without the courage of his convictions. In point of fact, Afghanistan is likely one of the few things I agree with Mr. Harper about, so this choice vexes me more than any of Mr. Harper's other choices usually would. I believe that the Canadian public can indeed handle these visuals. And should. Sometimes the most rational decisions make for the saddest consequences, and this is one of those times. We as citizens should not shirk the duty showing proper respect to those who served Canada in the manner that Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Lt. William Turner, and Cpl. Randy Payne did. And our elected leaders should not encourage us to do so, out of fear of the consequences of any debate over the mission that will arise.
And that informed debate is something that, as someone who believes in the Afghan mission, I am not afraid of either. It's going to happen sooner or later, so better it be sooner that we can all see the facts as they are. My friends, neighbours and other fellow Canadians are, by and large, not idiots.
So let's get that done, while we're at it.
I think I've said enough for the time being...
This one's about our honoured dead, those who became so in Afghanistan this past weekend, and quite possibly those who will surely follow the same route back to Canada in the months ahead.
I am angry about this particular choice because I believe in that mission. I believe it was -- is -- the right thing to do, the necessary thing to do. Because I believe that this choice will undermine the perception of that fact as a fact.
According to reports on Mike Duffy's politics show on CTV Newsnet today, the news services will be barred from observing the return of our Afghan mission dead. It has been described on that show as borrowing heavily from Bush II's playbook on media relations during a war in progress. Details can be found at CTV's site here for the time being. There's video coverage of the announced change at that site as well, and I expect CBC, Canwest Global and the rest of the news services will follow up fairly quickly over the next 24 hours.
I fear that this will be seen by many as the act of a man without the courage of his convictions. In point of fact, Afghanistan is likely one of the few things I agree with Mr. Harper about, so this choice vexes me more than any of Mr. Harper's other choices usually would. I believe that the Canadian public can indeed handle these visuals. And should. Sometimes the most rational decisions make for the saddest consequences, and this is one of those times. We as citizens should not shirk the duty showing proper respect to those who served Canada in the manner that Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Lt. William Turner, and Cpl. Randy Payne did. And our elected leaders should not encourage us to do so, out of fear of the consequences of any debate over the mission that will arise.
And that informed debate is something that, as someone who believes in the Afghan mission, I am not afraid of either. It's going to happen sooner or later, so better it be sooner that we can all see the facts as they are. My friends, neighbours and other fellow Canadians are, by and large, not idiots.
So let's get that done, while we're at it.
I think I've said enough for the time being...
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no subject
Date: 2006-04-25 02:16 am (UTC)I understood we were there to take out the Taliban and replace it with a democratic government. I also know there was something about a major oil pipeline going in.
But now I'm wondering.. if all that has been done then why are we still there?
no subject
Date: 2006-04-25 09:59 pm (UTC)The newly constituted local government in Kabul's still working to find their collective feet, and making progress. Still, there's a matter of buying enough time for them to get that progress far enough along to suit most of the people who call it home.
And the Great Powers are, sadly, distracted somewhat by other things they consider importantly. With cause in some cases, without cause in others.
I have to admit to being one of those people who wishes we'd done this far sooner. If we do the job properly, it means more people in the world who feel safe enough to build their dreams right where they grew up.
Here's hoping...
PS: I'll have a word on Gordon O'Connor's claim of personal responsibility for the decision to bar the news services from CFB Trenton in a little while.