Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Who Harper Should Can

When you think about, partisanship aside, the case is really pretty cut and dry. Dion states the obvious, Guergis should be canned:
The Liberals are calling for the firing of junior foreign affairs minister Helena Guergis for imperilling the lives of their leader and his deputy by giving advance notice of their visit to Canada's provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar City.

In a scathing letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion called for Guergis's removal as secretary of state for foreign affairs because she sent an e-mail to journalists giving advance notice of the Liberal leadership's trip to the PRT.

"In publicly revealing in advance the itinerary of the delegation which included Deputy leader Michael Ignatieff and myself, Ms. Guergis violated the news blackout put in place for our protection, jeopardizing the security of the Afghan and Canadian military and civilian officials who welcomed and accompanied us during our trip," Dion said Thursday in a letter to Harper.

As such, I am requesting that she be removed as secretary of state for foreign affairs and stripped of her privileges as a Privy Councillor."

The usual practice for such visits by foreign dignitaries is to keep the details of their visits out of the public domain until they are safely out of harm's way.

Journalists were, for instance, forbidden from publicizing in advance details of Harper's March 2006 trip to the PRT for security reasons.

If Harper were to fire Guergis (never happen), I hear there is an opening at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Why just limit yourself to endangering the lives of two men, when you can endanger an entire nation.

8 comments:

Gayle said...

You are right:

It should happen.

It will not happen.

(Unless there is no election and then she will eventually be quietly shuffled away).

Anonymous said...

We should also fire steph and iggy for lying to the Canadian public about Karzai agreeing with them on their no guns rebuilding scam

Anonymous said...

The mayor of Kabul will say what ever Steve says as long as it keeps money flowing to his government and they don't have to take responsibilities for their own security.

You conservatives speak of socialist money sucking schemes, this is a conservative tax dollar sucking scheme. And for what? What steve and karzai expects to happen has never once happened in human history, even in better circumstances. While the deaths pile up and insurgencies never cease, billions of your dollars are being spent on miltary defence contractors, not for spreading democracy, but lining pockets.

Anonymous said...

Why just limit yourself to endangering the lives of two men, when you can endanger an entire nation.

Ouch!

I submit a variation of that should be the Conservative campaign motto next election. It would be the most honest one out there.

Anonymous said...

Can you be sure Karzai wouldn't lie? He's corrupt, enjoys our money and loves being protected. He's got a lot to lose by not obeying Harper.

Steve V said...

Does anyone seriously expect Karzai to say anything else?

The Mound of Sound said...

Everybody knows where the Taliban and al-Qaeda are based inside Pakistan, including Islamabad and the Pakistani military. If Dion wanted to find that out, he could just pick up a paper or magazine. Try Quetta for starters.

As for NATO, where in hell would they come up with the huge force that would be needed to venture into the tribal lands? Does Dion have any idea what happens to soldiers who go in there? He should, there's lots of historical examples. Even the very large, well trained, well armed Pakistani army doesn't want to go in there. The locals (Balochs and Pashtuns) don't need the Taliban or al-Qaeda to rise up against intruders.

NATO can't muster a quarter of the troops it so badly needs to establish security in Afghanistan. Only a fool, a complete fool, would suggest NATO carry the fight into Waziristan or the Khyber region.

I've stopped taking Dion seriously. I'm just angry that he's made my party into a laughing stock.

Steve V said...

mound

What about attempts to secure the border, a bigger presence to at least quell some of the infiltration. Dion might be arguing something different here, but I think Canada could have a role to play in interception.

BTW, are we in the wrong thread here?