Monday, November 30, 2009

Stephen Harper: REMF



The title of this article below is actually bang-on when it states PM says he stands behind troops.

Indeed Harper DOES stand behind the troops. Operative word “behind”. Harper is cowering behind the troops and using them as his convenient shield and fabricated excuse to displace the furor that is being directed against him and not the military men and women at large.

Harper is exploiting the military men and women and the high regard that Canadians have for THEIR service as HIS flak jacket. This is the military equivalent of throwing your fellow soldier on the incoming grenade in order to save one's own sorry ass.

As with all things in the military, the front line US Military in Vietnam had a term for this kind of cowering conduct being displayed by Stephen Harper......REMF......as in, Rear Echelon M.....F.......

That term captures Harper perfectly for the sniveling cowardly REMF that we have all learned him to be....starting with his income trust promise made to seniors that was followed up by his tax leakage lie that destroyed $35 billion of their hard earned life savings and left Canada vulnerable to wave of foreign takeovers that caused billions in real tax leakage, where none existed previously

Stephen Harper: Lie. Conceal. Fabricate. REMF extraordinaire.


PM says he stands behind troops

By THE CANADIAN PRESS
30th November 2009

PORT-OF-SPAIN — Prime Minister Stephen Harper assured Canada’s military Sunday that he and most Canadians stand behind them, even if his political opposition does not.

Before leaving the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago, Harper took another backhanded swipe at MPs and others who have questioned the handling of prisoners captured during the war in Afghanistan.

“Let me just say this,” Harper said during a photo opportunity, “living as we do, in a time when some in the political arena do not hesitate before throwing the most serious of allegations at our men and women in uniform based on the most flimsy of evidence, remember that Canadians from coast to coast to coast are proud of you and stand behind you, and I am proud of you, and I stand beside you.”

That sparked another broadside from Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff who said: “Stephen Harper’s comments are beneath the office of Canada’s prime minister.”

“To use an audience of active Canadian service men and women serving abroad as a prop for political attacks is bad enough. To try to hide behind the brave men and women in uniform for his own government’s handling of the Afghan detainee scandal is even worse.”

The war of words erupted over questions about Canada’s prisoner-exchange practices in Afghanistan and committee testimony from intelligence specialist Richard Colvin.

Colvin told the Commons special committee on Afghanistan on Nov. 18 that as Canada’s No. 2 diplomat in Kandahar he repeatedly warned that prisoners turned over to Afghan authorities by Canadian troops were probably being tortured.

Harper and his Conservative caucus have continually cast Colvin and others who have questioned prisoner protocols and the practices in Afghan prisons as Taliban dupes and unpatriotic critics of Canada’s military.

The Tories have pointed fingers at their political opponents and played the patriotism card ever since opposition MPs and others began questioning prisoner transfer policies two years ago.

“I can understand the passion that the Leader of the Opposition and members of his party feel for the Taliban prisoners,” Harper told the Commons on March 21, 2007.

“I just wish occasionally they would show the same passion for Canadian soldiers.”

Yet Defence Minister Peter MacKay acknowledged Friday that his government knew of the problems and began to act shortly after taking office in January 2006.

A 2005 prisoner transfer agreement with the Afghan government was eventually renegotiated in May 2007 under intense public scrutiny after explosive media revelations about torture in Afghan prisons.

The international community has also acknowledged that torture is widely used in Afghan prisons.

An Afghan agency that was once entrusted to monitor Canadian-captured insurgents in Kandahar said last week it has documented nearly 400 cases of torture across the war-ravaged country.

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission said in its latest report it uncovered 47 cases of abuse in Kandahar, where Canadian troops have been based since 2005.

“Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are common in the majority of law enforcement institutions, and at least 98.5 per cent of interviewed victims have been tortured,” said the commission’s April 2009 study.

The independent study, which tracked abuse claims between 2001 and early 2008, shows the vast majority of them — 243 — were levelled in 2006 and 2007, when Colvin was in Afghanistan and warning the federal government about torture.

11 comments:

CanadianSense said...

Please board a plane to confirm the reports of those 47 "farmers".

Fillibluster said...

No thanks. That's the role of a Public Inquiry.

Brant said...

No its not; its the role of a partisan witchhunt by a desperate Liberal party feeling the squeeze from both sides and trying to stay relevant when every sinle one of their manufactured scandals have failed miserably.

Clear?

CanadianSense said...

This person is a denier.

He has denied Red Cross, Ambassador, 3 retired generals,
and
Canada’s top soldier in Afghanistan says he’s confident the current Canadian process for holding and transferring detainees has enough checks and balances to ensure they are treated properly by Afghan authorities.

At the Kandahar Airfield on Sunday, Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard said that a combination of military and civilian monitoring, inspections and interviews now ensures that detainees will not be abused.

Yep he is a denier.

Fillibluster said...

Brant:

Unlike the dogmatic you, I am not prepared to make such sweeping conclusions, since I, along with all Canadians, do not have all the facts.

The facts will lead us to whatever conclusion is supported by the facts. Why is Harper so reluctant to release all the facts, It's as if he has something to hide

Harper is helping to make that very.......clear!

At least it is being made clear to those Canadian who possess even the most basic of instincts.

Brent Fullard

ridenrain said...

It's obvious that the troops respect him more than they did Chretien.. that, or Harper knows the difference between the front & the back of a helmet.

Fillibluster said...

Canadian Nonsense:

Denier? The only denier I see if you, as you are now conveniently framing this issue in the context of "now" and not the "past", which is what this whole issue is about....possible PAST abuses of Afghan detainees....not the PRESENT.

Again I find your arguments to be absurd, when you state in support of your misguided argument that:


Canada’s top soldier in Afghanistan says he’s confident the CURRENT Canadian process for holding and transferring detainees has enough checks and balances to ensure they are treated properly by Afghan authorities.

At the Kandahar Airfield on Sunday, Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard said that a combination of military and civilian monitoring, inspections and interviews NOW ensures that detainees will not be abused.

Fillibluster said...

Respect?

How much respect do you suppose the troops have for Peter MacKay, another REMF:

UPDATE: Scott Taylor, a veteran and experienced investigative reporter on military matters with strong ties to the rank and file, rips into Peter MacKay:

Initially, MacKay charged that by retelling "Taliban lies" Colvin has essentially been fuelling enemies’ propaganda machine. When that tactic failed to score a hit, MacKay wrapped himself in the flag, curled up in the fetal position and pleaded for everyone to "stop attacking his soldiers." This is an emotionally charged issue for many of those who are justly proud of the service of our Canadian Forces, and MacKay claiming that Colvin is somehow attacking our military will immediately invoke their ire.

Although the manoeuvre was dramatically played out by MacKay, the fact is that no one engaged in this debate has alleged wrongdoing on the part of any of our troops.

Anonymous said...

Patriotism; the last refuge of the Scoundrel...

Harpler: Still Lying, Concealing & Fabricating


michael

Dr Mike said...

Our PM & his minions are excellent at "legalese" to keep them just inside the wall of what is true & what is not true.

Slipping-in a "now" or "current" shoves the past to the present & removes the lie.

Using the "security" threat to allow for the redacting of documents is as good as a shredder---just ask us poor sap trust investors where we were subjected to not only the security shredder but the same redacted documents were recalled by the privy Council (the first time in history) to hide a smoking gun.

These guys are gutless wonders & there is no hiding that fact.

There are a lot of folks here in Ontario who vote for these Neo-Conservatives because they think they are still the old PC party , & my God are they wrong--I know as I voted PC for 36 years & these guys are sure not it.

Dr Mike Popovich

PS---I see Canadian Sense still does not have the cojones to identify himself---poor baby , doesn`t want to get his feelings hurt , I guess.

Fillibluster said...

Andrew Coyne of Macleans writes:

Trash
by Andrew Coyne on Monday, November 30, 2009 5:06pm - 58 Comments

Gotta go with the pack on this one — this is just trash:

Let me just say this: living as we do, in a time when some in the political arena do not hesitate before throwing the most serious of allegations at our men and women in uniform, based on the most flimsy of evidence, remember that Canadians from coast to coast to coast are proud of you and stand behind you, and I am proud of you, and I stand beside you.

That’s your prime minister talking, folks, accusing members of Parliament who raise legitimate questions about Canada’s policy on the transfer of prisoners in Afghanistan of smearing “our men and women in uniform.” There is no sense in which this is true. There is no interpretation you can give it that draws it near to the truth. It is not even close.

There are many points of uncertainty in the detainee issue, and some members of the opposition may have leapt to some conclusions about it. But not about the soldiers on the ground. No one that I am aware of has made any criticism of the soldiers who handed over the prisoners to the Afghan security services — only of those who issued the orders to do so.

Coupled with the continuing refusal to release the Colvin memos and other relevant documents — or rather their selective release, to some but not others — it makes it very hard to give the government the benefit of the doubt in this affair. Their story has become more believable, but their every action suggests that they themselves don’t believe it.