Well said.
This whole thing is nothing more than a desperate attempt by the Liberal Party to undermine the government, and they are quite willing to sacrifice our people at war to do it. If the Afghan mission fails, it must have been the government’s fault, they could, and would, say.

We are at war, and there are hard decisions to be made. If we kept Afghan prisoners and refused to turn them over to their own people, we would be condemned for it. If we gave our reasons as believing they would be tortured, our ‘allies’ would be discredited and the tenuous governments of Afghanistan, and Iraq as well, would be undermined.

When you are ‘in bed with the Devil’ you can’t win. The enemy does not play by the rules; not meaning we shouldn’t, but let’s not get carried away with this. These prisoners were not pulled from their homes, they were skulking around at night in sensitive areas. An analogy would be ‘if you want to stay out of a bar fight, don’t go to bars.’

The thought of the Bloc Quebec having any part in these negotiations is sickening.

It seems to me that this would be like sending the lawyers to negotiate with the so called insurgents.Had this occured in the forties we would all be speaking German or Japanese. Let our troops win the war,and help civilize the countries involved.To the great surprise of those who are on side of the insurgents we probably would have a similar occurence that happened in the fourties.

As a retired soldier I experienced being in different countries in situations which were caotic and dangerous. Until you have experienced being in a theatre of operations, “outside the wire” as they say in Afghanistan, you cannot appreciate what goes through the mind of soldiers in combat. Most of the time it is boredom that permeates one’s mind. Then there are those moments of sheer terror until your training kicks in and you calm down and do the job. I cannot comprehend what will be on the minds of our soldiers when this “Afghanistan affair” is exposed to the leaks which wil result, and the exposure of their actions is critizised in the media. The opposition wants blood, but they dont stop to consider the consequences it will have on our Afghanistan mission. Sad, Sad, Sad.

I dont understand why this issue is even up for discussion. We did the only logical thing we could with “detainees”. We didn’t have a prison of our own, and we are there to help the elected government gain control over the Taliban, not impose our morals on the population.
I would say that if it comes to releasing classified information while we are engaged in armed combat, we need to take a hard stand, and not roll over. Perhaps we should arrest Peter Miliken for treason if he “imposes” a solution that is detrimental to Canada and the Canadian armed forces.

I do believe the worst issue facing our country is the O.B. and Quebec’s racists Law Bill 101. Costing $ 18 Billion a year or $1.15 Trillion for the past 40 years.
I hoep you saw the reaction Montreal gave our 150 Olympic athletes?? They wer snubbed. There were no red maple leaf on the parade route,other than a teacher of fparenta who had a few kids waving tiny red mapel leaves on St.Catherines and at Phylipps Square there was one Canadian flag beside the fleur de lis.
That proves sports and the Olympics did not and never will put this country together. The athletes saw first hand how they are not accepted in Qubeec - the olympics did not impress them becasue they did not see a sea of fluer de lis there and the singing of O’Canada was all in English only.
We have a divided country and we will never put it together. And now they want to make the Supreme Court Judges all O.B. - What chance does a brilliant lawyer from the ROC have??? It is antoher take over of our country. The only way to stop it is to give Quebec the right to separate officially. We cann’t afford to keep them any longer while they have benefits we can’t afford and we are paying for their comforts of a 4 day week and a better higher life style. We are stupid suckers. Dot Davies -Furhman.

LETS FACE IT …LAYTON AND IGGY WILL DO ANYTHING TO GRAB THE LIMELIGHT , EVEN IF IT GETS SOMEBODY KILLED

In my view, the security of the country and its forces trumps the self serving egos of the opposition, who, from the murk of the front lines of a terrorist campaign are trying to make, and to overinflate, an issue to advance their own political agendas. Perhaps we should send the self righteous opposition to Afganistan to babysit the poor detainee terrorists after the rest of our troops come home.

Absolutely agree. With respect to confidentiality and security, Parliament is the last place that these characteristics can be found. Unfortunately it appears that many of our MPs have difficulty in adhereing to these types of requirements when dealing with secure information.

The NCC’s points are right on.

Somehow, to me, it is “the Canadian way” for some politicians to put the security of our forces deployed overseas after what they perceive as the opportunity for some form of their own political gain. It is disgusting, but unfortunately, not unexpected, given who is involved.

What would you expect from the Liberals/NDP but using political games to gain the favor of the leftists who think that our armed forces are the enemy. Only in Canada would crap like this happen…Harper should tell them to stuff it and refuse to give them anything. They will stop at nothing to try and gain votes, even the security and safety of our men and women who protect us and others. Gutless maneuvering but that is to be expected in a socialist regime like Kanada..they should be ashamed and anyone who has voted for them in the past should never do so again.

Why is it that the Liberals,NDP and the Bloc would even want to interfere in this matter and risk the lives of our Troops?I doubt that any of them have served in the Military or would risk their lives to do so.If they want to run the war on a daily basis put them in uniform and send them to Afganistan.Look at what has happened in the past when Stripe suits in Ottawa and Washington try to run a Battlefield.I cannot believe we are putting up with this garbage what has Canada become?

wHEN i SIGNED UP IN THIS LAST WORLD WAR, IF MY MEMORY SERVICES ME CORRECTLY, i WAS TOLD THERE WAS WAR OUT THERE AND THAT IS THE ENEMY, GO GET THEMOR THEY’LL GET YOU, GOOD LUCK. aND SO IT WAS, i NOW FIND OUT THAT THEY NOW HAVE RULES AND REGULATIONS TO FIGHT A WAR SUCH AS NOW, AND NOT TO DO THIS AND TO DO THAT????? WHAT THE HELL GIVES. nOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN SIT IN PARLIAMENT AND ARGUE OVER WHO DID WHAT ANDWHY AND WHEN, AND WHAT ABOUT THE ENEMY OR IS THERE ONE OUT THERE?? gET ON WITH THE JOB OR GET THE HELL OUT.

How can one entrust military and state secrets to Rae, Kennedy and Dosanjh for Heaven’s sake? All of them are verging on the treasonous with no time for the Military and with only greed and power as their raison d’etre. What an unattractive and dangerous bunch they are. Rae blow-harding away, Kennedy shallowly do-gooding to enhance his own reputation, and Dosanjh trying to hide his ultra-left beliefs (BC NDP for God’s sake! How low can one stoop?)

The face of the Liberal party has been changed by these people. The former party of crummy, scuzzy politics has now been made worse by the addition of left wingers who are in the wrong party. They are under the supposed “control” of a useless, gutless wimp who should not be here, let alone as Leader of the Opposition. This crew espouses the cause of the Taliban rather than that of the members of the Military of their own country, so don’t show them anything of importance whatever you do.

I am thoroughly disgusted with the Liberals, et al regarding their unrelenting focus on the Afgan detainee situation. If there ever was a reason to despise the liberals, this is it. The House of Commons time has been hijacked for petty partisan politics.
Opposition, give your head a shake and get down to issues that Canadians care about

Parliament has the reight to ASK but not to receive! Security of Cnada is paramount. MPs whos goal is to destroy Canada (PQ)should not receive any confidential documents.

I can not understand the naivete of those people who without knowing anything about the issue at hand (and by that I mean a.o. our elected representatives), have the audacity to kibitz into policies that can endanger our troops. If we are in a military conflict anywhere in the world, there are only two issues: Are we on the right side, and do we protect our troops as best as we can. Anything else is a stupid politics
that can cost Canadian lives. I am afraid that those who try to influence
the purely military decisions politicaly, have their own agenda, and I only hope that the majority of Canadians do see through those tricks.

“”Are political games worth risking the safety of the men and women who serve to protect democracy and our national security?”

Really?! While I agree that the lives of our soldiers should not be jeopardized, since when is sending our citizens to Afghanistan protecting our security, leave alone democracy. Let’s at least be truthful about empire building lest we fall into the same trap/commentary our politicians feed us every day.

Our Afghan venture is also a crass political machination.

Get Out!! If you come back to Afganistan in 100 years the muslims will still be fighting each other. What a waste for Canada of both lives and money!!

We agree absolutely. Believe it or not, there is a serious war going on in Afghanistan and release of sensitive documents should be absolutely forbidden in such times. Anyone demanding the contrary is acting like a traitor. As to moral behaviour in foreign parts, is there not a saying that “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”? What is the matter with these guys?

The Liberals sent our troops to Afghanistan but since losing power have been undermining the mission ever since. The NDP, the high priests of multiculturalism, think if we just embraced the Taliban, they would be so moved that they would put down their weapons, hold hands and start singing kumbaya.

Keep these documents secret. Form an all-party committee or better yet, just the leaders of the various parties, to look at the materials. If any of them want to blab the contents to the media, it will be there own political death warrants they are signing.

Harper, more than likely, would not want the issue to go to the Supreme Court as it is full of unelected activist judges who would be so pleased to rule in favour of the opposition. The last resort would be a killer to all parties, since the result would probably be much the same as it is now.

If this is approaches a constitutional crisis, then we don’t have a very good constitution. The government has to have some method of retaining secrecy during wartime. My issue with the Supreme’s is that they will treat our constitution as a “living document” and interpret their own slant on the issue.

What good is a consitiution that unelected judges can change at whim?

What do you expect from the Liberals NDP and the Blockheads they are all anti Military. Well I spent 25 years in the military and watched the military destroyed by the Liberals with the support of the NDP and Bloc starting with Trudeau and finishing with Cretin. Finally Harper has the guts to try and re-establish the crediblity of our military and what do you get more theratre of the absurd from the Liberals NDP and Bloc.
JM

The liberals never met a criminal, deviant or war criminal that they couldn’t find some reason to embrace. With them its all about politics and power. They could care less about the Afghan people.
This is a war. Something liberals know nothing about.

I think there are too many MP’ in the house who have never faught a war so they just don’t realize the mind set of people who have done.War is hell and things get done to win it that we just don’t need to know about.Do they think it was a walk in the Park winning the second world war,no nice things happened on either side.Don’t hear if Iggy was in a war or Layton………I can assure you that to win any war we have to use Everything at our disposal and especially with Afghanistan as they are not used to “nice” people…..

are we not essentially at war! why would we jepordize any more of our people by releasing any related documents. how misguided and naive are these individuals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Gov’t believes that the release of documentation could lead to a breach of nat’l security. Refusal to supply such info is a matter of principle. Canada is at war which is no ordinary matter and in wartime Security and Intelligence is the name of the game. The oppositions sole intention is to publicly embarass the government apparantly regardless of the military consequences. If a single Canadian or allied soldier dies as the result of releasing the demanded stuff, that is too big a price to pay. And no one would never know. The Speaker’s opinion was academic and did not recognize that war demands extraordinary measures. Solution: demand another vote as a vote of confidence. No compromise on matters of principle.

.. Pardon me ! What were the Troops supposed to do with any Prisoners taken ? Immediately Grant them Refugee Status ? The Opposition is offering no concrete suggestions, and are simply trying to score cheap Political Points, over an issue that few Canadians give a Damn about. To reveal all the documents, that may or may not, focus attention on this non starter has only the potential to harm those who WE send to fight our Battles for us ! All to no gain, apart from a moment of Political Grandstanding on the part of the Liberals, paid for in the currency of OUR TROOPS’ Blood, Sweat and Tears! ….. David K

It doesn’t matter what the government does, it will be seen to be wrong by the media and the opposition. However, the data that the government has on the detainees is probably so old that it means nothing anyway. I think it may be fair to say that the party leaders (who should already have the highest security clearance, otherwise they should be banned from the job), can see the data. If they release something that should not be released, they should be jailed for breaching their security clearance.

To say that this is “political gamesmanship” is understating the problem. It is completely uncalled for, and it is pretty well beyond belief that they would even consider making a political football out of the subject in the first place. The safety of the troops is far more important than what happens to those who are turned over to the Afghan government. It is entirely up to them what happens, not us.

I share your point of view , but as usual politic will prevail, to the detriment of our country.

It is a terrible risky game that those politicians who push for giving up state secrets in time of war are playing. I hope they can be made accountable for risking the lives of our Canadian forces.

Do the members of parliament have the necessary security clearances?

There is no question that the topic of Afghan detainees has evolved into a game of political football on on all sides. From the very beginning, the matter was not well handled by the government side. There is little doubt in my mind that Canada suspected, or perhaps even assumed, that the detainees might be exposed to torture by the Afghan military. The choice was to let them go free (and likely face them again in combat) or turn them over to the Afghans. I know what my choice would have been under the circumstances.

I do fault the government for initially attacking the credibility of Mr Colvin, instead of dealing with the matter in a more forthright manner. The clearly overriding aim of the opposition is to damage the government irrespective of the harm and damage which will be caused by releasing the confidential information. I am sure our soldiers will be thrilled!!!

You are right. Our enemies over in Afghanistan are not playing by the Marquess of Queensbury rules here. This is a vicious conflict against stone-age radicals who think nothing of murdering young girls because they want to go to school and get an education.
This country needs to take its proverbial hats off to everyone of our soldiers fighting over there.
How would you feel if you were a soldier fighting for this Country and instead of political support, the people who sent you over there in the first place are playing gotcha politics back home on the way that you are conducting the war. What kind of leadership and morale booster is that? If I recall, the bleeding hearts in Ottawa played the same stupid games when we were fighting in Somalia and because of that we lost one of our finest fighting regiments - - The Airborne.
Canadians do not give a damn about these Afghan detainees but we sure as Hell care about every soldier over there.

As usual - our political masters are engaging in partisan politics in an area - WAR - in which EVERY incident since Pericles’ Italian campaign up to and now including Afghanistan has produced a unequivocal disaster! And let’s not forget the American pols HASHING of Vietnam, which could have been won, and MANY fewer deaths resulting, had the military simply conducted the war the way they know how. Politically The poisonous fog of Politically Correct. simply has NO PLACE in War!!! Speaker Miliken is nothing short of a damn fool for CLEARLY endangering the lives of our soldiers, and ultimately the conclusion of this unpleasant exercise. The military KNOW how to conduct this WAR - Miliken certainly DOES NOT! The issue of prisoners is a military one - NOT some bickering arguably ignorant partisan politician!

Having spent three years in the Air Force (along with two brothers, one a Lanc captain), I hear you loud and clear and agree with your sentiments.

BUT:

The supremacy of Parliament is inviolable. In WWII, very select opposition members were party to very secret information. This is a good precedent. The parties, through a very small, select group, must agree on how and to what extent this information is to be shared. No Maxime Berniers, please. If, as could happen, they wind up pointing fingers, (”YOU prevented us from making a decision ….. blah, blah”), then a plague on all their houses and let’s have the election.

Frank Gue

But just another example of Liberals playing political games to try and gain back power. Not only are our troops lives at risk but also is Canada’s international reputation at risk. What country would give Canada any information, knowing it would be released to the public.

Your heading hit the proverbial nail right on the head. If I truly believed that the detainee situation was about all of the parties wanting to work together as a unity then I would say go ahead and release all of the documents but history has shown that opposition parties look for anything and everything to make the governing party look bad in the eyes of the electorate. This is indeed about Political Games.

I guess with the Liberals it is a numbers game with comparing the number of detainees turned over to the Afghan authorities under the Liberals who were tortured with the number of detainees turned over under the Conservative government who were tortured.

Another thing that has been revealed is that MPs cannot be trusted to keep secrets. The Maxime Bernier documents fiasco is an example.

It does not take a modern day Einstein to realize that detainees turned over to Afghan authorites are going to be tortured regardless of what guarantees the Afghan authorities give. The Liberals would have known this to be the case when they were in power.

I can’t believe that this has lasted for well over a year.

I don’t care about enemy terrorists and how they are treated and by whom. I believe that most Canadians if they think agree. We are at war in a society that bears no similarity to our own. Essentially this is the 14th century in Afganistan. We are having our Canadian soldiers killed and maimed in an exercise in futility. Since we are there then remember THIS IS A WAR!! We must support our troops and let them do the job we sent them to do. We do a disservice when we worry about what their own people there may do to them. While this is war they are not soldiers but TERRORISTS!!

I am totally disgusted with the opposition parties on this issue.
Canadian soldiers do not have the facilities to keep POW’s.
Would Canada accept “suggestions” from the US about treatment of our prisoners?
Afgnanistan is THEIR country, they can do with their prisoners what they want. “Afghan detainees” is a whitewashed term for “Taliban scum.”
Frankly, I don’t care what happens to Taliban terrorists when they are caught. If I were in charge my instructions would be : “Take no prisoners.”
Prisoners are problems. Need I say Omar Khadr? SHOOT THE BASTARD!

The issue of what happens in Afghan detainees outside of our jurisdiction in a dysfunctional society is of little import to average Canadians. This has become an issue solely in the effort of opposition parties to gain political advantage. It is big mistake because it gives political ammunitions to those who oppose our forces in Afghanistan and wastes our money here in Canada. Surely those who are promoting this issue and represent us could be spending their time and our money on things that would be of more benefit to us who provide the money that support them and the programs we voted them in to carry out.

I think opposition parties have made far too much of this especially when it was the Liberals in power when this orginally took place. After all it is not our soldiers who did this, it was their own people.
The safety of our men and women takes precedence in this situation and we must remember we are fighting a war against terrorists.
Pat

I agree with the NCC and the government position. We are all sick of partisan politics which puts party above National interests. There was a time when traitors were executed, and it was acceptable to put fatally wounded soldiers out of their misery when you had no other means of relieving their pain.
If you were to read Pierre Berton’s book “Canada’s Wars” you would understand how the Liberal’s have never been friends to our military, and in fact have done much to destroy it’s image. For the Liberal’s it has always been party power over national interests.

My thoughts are; if a Country is at war and personnel are captured or killed, that is the consequense.
If “we” are to return the detained persons to their own government, that is what is being done. “We” have no way of knowing what or how the deained people are going to be traeted in their own country unless “We” send people to hold their hands and ward off any retaliation.
I think ower governing personnel were vote to the positions they hold to govern Canada. Lets get down to some real governing instaed of wasting tax payer dollars worrying about some other country and what they do to their own people. Plus whining about what others are doing in the Canadian Government

More and more the life of this country is shaped by people whose intentions are driven by political interests and/or personal short-term gains and not what is the best for Canada. Common sense has been disappearing. I feel very disappointed and hopeless for the future.

I think that action of our parlament opposition is bordering on treason. Are they doing it with hope of scoring some political points? This should hurt them, not help them. Am I the only one who thinks so?

I thank you for the clear expression of your stand on this issue involving our National security and the lives of our military at war.

Do our politicians lack the brains or conscience to rise to this level of thinking?

In my opinion those calling for this are nothing but opportunists and will stoop to any level in seeking power. I hope this forces an election. Will Canadians finally do the right thing and punish those that will do anything in order to gain control? What else would they do for their power? How could they be trusted? There is important business of the country to attend to and instead the opposition spend their days creating one dog and pony show after another. I don’t understand how Canadians can’t be sick of it by now. The opposition have exposed themselves for who they are time after time for all to see. If our fellow countrymen can’t see through this then so be it. We get the government we deserve. These are trying times indeed.

Political games are not worth risking the safety of the men and women who serve in the military. If the Government opens these documents to the Parliament, with an agreement by each MP to secrecy, any MP who breaks that agreement should be put to death. This is serious and should not be played with like they do for taxes and spending.

Unless National Citizens Coalition is prepared to start having rallies for your causes such as this one, like the left wing movements in this country do, you will not accomplish more than what you may have accomplished in the past. You want strong support, get the rallies going.

Hello, I mean HELLO, as in do the others get it.

“Will those guys in Ottawa grow up ?” - Marg. Wente

Hello Peter:

I agree 100% with NCC’s position; having had a great-grandfather, grandfathers, father and step-father in both world wars, and a small stint myself while at university, I have the greatest respect for our military.
It would be helpful to have a few examples of how the release of these documents will affect the safety of our troops and the future of the government. One, no doubt, would be Canada’s reputation internationally, but some other examples would be helpful.

Thank you for your note.

Sincerely,
David Hamber

Canada has a reputation as a peace keeper. That being said I understand their commitment to Nato.People said that in world war two, that the enemy knew the smaller countries such as Canada, Australia etc. would never be their overlord so they showed much less restraint in battle protocol then they did with the dominate countries such as England and the United States. Our behavior in war, I would think would be subject to the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. History has shown that usually one person causes the death of millions.Personally I would say that if we cannot win the war against Totalarian Governments through example then we may as well throw Democracy and Christianity out the window.
We need to fight for freedom and integrity right here at home. Government,Corporate and individual honesty must be above reproach, before we can win the hearts and minds of other cultures in the world. Our attitude that crap flows downhill so we can dump it all on the bottom guy isn’t going to wash. An Englishman once told me that the French fought dirty”they would kick you” I wonder where they learned that from? Do we want to teach the Afghans how to fight dirty too? This institutional idea of thinking where we punish millions for the actions of a very few needs to be addressed or the whole world is going to end up in jail.

ATTENTION: MR. PETER COLEMAN, REGARDING THE ABOVE BLONG, YOU WROTE “Are political games worth RISKING the safety of the men and women who serve to protect democracy and our national security” Absolutely NOT, PLEASE LET ALL FEDERAL PARTIES KNOW WHY WE, THE CONSTITUENCY FILL ABOUT THE STUPID POLITICAL GAMES IS PLAYED IN CAPITAL.

AS FOR THE SPEAKER MR. PETER MILIKEN, PLEASE REMIND HIM THAT, WE,THE PEOPLE DID NOT VOTE HIM IN THE POSITION, THAT HE WAS ELECTED BY THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT.

Quote: In an unprecedented move yesterday, Speaker Peter Miliken said that “Parliament has the right to ask for all documents held by the government pertaining to Afghan detainees.” Giving the government and opposition parties two weeks to reach an agreement, Miliken could eventually hold the Government in contempt and impose a solution, refer the matter to the Supreme Court or force an election – a result no Canadian would be happy with. End Quote.

If the Opposition tries to force the Conservative government to reveal secret defense documents… then all Canadians should hold the Opposition parties in contempt and punish them both at the next election but also in advance… by denying them political contributions for their future election campaigns. And we shouldn’t be shy about mocking them loudly for endangering our national security and safety. Military secrets are secret to protect the nation and thereby the citizens.

I agree with you 100% I firmly believe the opposition are on a useless witch hunt to further their political gains and nothing more. T0 give these idiots the things they want will put our troups in danger because they will not be able to keep their mouths shut. the whole exercise is to get their name a photo op in the news and nothing more

Agree with NCC; we are at war,- not playing ‘war games’. Glenn

Looks like my thoughts are pretty well represented here. If the Liberals and N.D.P.’s get ahold of secret documents, believe me, they will not be secret for long. Handing over documents to the Opposition Parties would ultimately mean handing them over to the media. This is purely for the Oppositions political agenda, and nothing more. They don’t really care about the detainees, they only see this as a possible opportunity for them and that’s all.

We are at war with these afgan detainees and they kill our troops so why is parliment wasting valuable time on this issue ? With present economic issues in Canada and in fact the world we need to be focusing on these issues. The oppostion parties are only trying to score polictical points at the expense of Canadians. We may not be happy with all of the decisions our government is making but we do need opposition parties that act in a responsible manner for the benefit of all Canadians. This will not happen until we have a majority govenment. We claim to be supportive of our armed forces and this behaviour in parliment does not support that claim.

The Canadian Opposition parties in the HOC are so desperate for power, so self-possessed, so unpatriotic (although their unbridled ego would lead them to believe that their quest is rooted in patriotism), so tied to “political correctness” as defined by them, so out of touch with the silent majority (buoyed, as they are, by the cacophony of leftist voices in the MSM) and so inured to intellectual dishonesty that they no longer see it as such. They will take any opportunity, no matter how destructive to Canada’s best interests, to take power.

They don’t really care about the welfare of Canada’s military, to which they pay lip-service. After all, the Liberals, without objection from the NDP or Bloc, almost succeeded in emasculating our military and yet sent them into combat in Afghanistan with antiquated, unreliable gear. Dozens of Canadians with their boots on the ground have been killed & scores maimed when they should have been safely aloft in helicopters. And we know why Canada had no helicopters. The blood of these soldiers is on Liberal, Bloc & NDP hands.

Give these selfish, tin-pot politicians access to confidential info & it will be a death sentence for more of our military.

Their obsessions are so extreme and their lust for power so profound that they cannot think temperately or reasonably.

They cry for cooperation from the Government, but they offer nothing more than a stream of thoughtless invective in return.

Bring on an election ASAP and let’s be done with it.

While I agree with most of the content and intent here, a lot of the problem has been caused by the government trying to deny the obvious - that we had no real control over the fate of Afghans once they were handed over to the Afghan authorities. As many of you have pointed out, the average Canadian is not that concerned about the fate of questionable Afghan detainees, but they are concerned with being lied to by their government. If Harper and McKay had been more honest and open, early on, most of this would have been long forgotten.
So, yes we need security for our troops, but we also need honesty form our government - that’s part of what they’re fighting for.

Really, Jo DeMarco, I have to disagree with you. it is blindingly obvious that Canadian troops could not “control” the fate of Afghan enemy combatants without building a prison to hold them. But wait, the Opposition would make that poliltically impossible, just as they have already made it monetarily impossible. But without a Canadian-run prison, there is no control — none — over what happens to the detainees once they leave Canadian oversight.
As to “honesty”, here is some… if the jihadis and Taliban forces were not busy killing across the ocean, it’s so very likely that they would be busy killing over here. People like you… people like me.
As to the Conservative government “lying”… one could request of the Afghanis that they treat detainees humanely, and likely the Canadian government and military did so. If they then stated that they hoped for proper treatment of detainees, I can’t see that as a lie, even if it might indeed be only a faint hope.

The Overall SAD story is that polically parties are too busy trying to do what ever they can for the party (self interest) instead of for the COUNTRY.

I am fed up with the Opposition Parties continual bashing of our Armed
Forces and trying to embarrass the Government. This was a UN effort and
it was their responsibility to set up a system to handle detainees. This
just shows the mentality of our so called leaders.

Partisan politics has degenerated to the point of risking military
exigencies and personnel safety. This issue should never have been allowed to be debated in open parliament, by MP’s whose closest contact with confrontation has been at most verbal, according to well established rules of conduct. War is not a gentlemen’s game of chess. The appropriate forum, if any at all, should have been a military tribunal.

Do not forget that Peter Milikin is a Liberal appointed by Cretian. Harper permitted him to remain as Speaker of the House considering his experience, the fact that he is fluently bilingual, and believing in his apparent neutrality. Also, the Governor General is an ultra left Liberal who as appointed by Cretian for many politically correct reasons including that fact that she is a celebrity with the Montreal Francophone elite. Again, Harper retained her as GG because it was politically astute to do so. Remember, that when the Çonservative Party took power it was primarily made up of western based members with little talent, experience or influence from central Canada. Hence, both of these re appointments seemed like a good idea at the time. However titular the position of GG may be it does include the position of Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Canada. As such, could the GG speak out a take a position to protect the security of the Armed Forces at war? The operative word is” would” this GG do so. I think not. Yet she is willing to travel at expense of the Canadian public to Rwanda to apologize for the Canadian Armed Forces for not doing enough to suppress the massacre of the Tutsi people and on to Haiti to support Canadian aid to her home village. Expect her to be replaced in June. Both of the aforementioned individuals have allowed their Liberal sentiments to cloud their judgements on this issue. Harper put them there and “Iggy” has them where he wants them. What concerns me most is our relationship with our allies when it comes to international security. If the Speaker of the House can order the Government of the day to release sensitive documents involving liaison with it’s allies in matters of security and secrecy to the Opposition, with all of the risks of disclosure to the public that that entails (particularly with that collection of narcissistic bozos), our Security Services and Armed Forces will never be trusted with sensitive material again, and for good reason. The sources available to us, both official and unofficial, will dry up and we will a pariah to all in the intelligence community.

What concerns me most is our relationship with our allies when it comes to international security. If the Speaker of the House can order the Government of the day to release sensitive documents involving liaison with it’s allies in matters of security and secrecy to the Opposition parties, with all of the risks of disclosure to the public that that entails, our Security Services and Armed Forces will never be trusted with sensitive material again, and for good reason. The sources available to us, both official and unofficial, will dry up and we will be a pariah to all in the intelligence community.

On many issues the Liberals and NDP do not have any practical or concrete ways to handle the situations so it seems they default to trying to find emotional triggers to get support from people who are viewing things mostly from a non analytical perspective. This Afghan situation is just another example of cynical political fishing for support at the expense of real living people who are in a dangerous situation. I, like Saan, would also suggest getting out of Afghanistan and letting the Moslems fight each other for the next 100 years except for the fact that because of the writings in their religious book they have declared war on all others and the U.S. and Canada in particular. {and Israel of that side of the world } In war when the enemy sets the standards and values that are being used in the conflict it seems only moral and fair to use the same standards as set, first, by them. Self righteously demanding that the rules of civility that are normal in healthy social society be applied in a knock em down drag em out, use bombes carried by duped mentally slow women in burquas, is at the best foolhardy. Especially when those targets are not even troops or military installations but crowded market places filled with men women and children who are just trying to get on with their lives. [It would be a complicated and different scenario if those places were recognized support bases] The Moslems want the advantages of a government supported and condoned full country base from which to launch their attacks. That is dangerous to us and others and therefore our troops are doing a valiant job at the risk of their own safety and should be supported without the opposition [who originally sent them] trying to whip up scandal to try and garner emotional but short sighted support for their own cynical bid for power, even if it compromises our troops and even ourselves as citizens of this country.