Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Kent On Fire

MP Peter Kent's brudder on Afghanistan:

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has delivered a scathing rebuke to Canadian soldiers and taxpayers by nominating to his cabinet a disgraced former minister who presided over the embezzlement of up to one-third of Canadian aid dollars donated under the U.N.’s Law and Order Trust Fund (LOTFA).


In naming Zarar Muqbul as his new counter-narcotics minister, Karzai delivers a forehand smash into the court of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is already under fire for proroguing Canada’s House of Commons - in part to avoid a parliamentary committee’s probe into the Afghan government’s mistreatment of battlefield detainees.

The siphoning off of Canada’s LOTFA contributions is arguably a more flagrant abuse of trust than the issue of prisoner abuse. The financial support is intended to strengthen the National Police and kick-start Afghanistan's rule of law.

There's more. And somewhere in Ottawa, our Prime Minister is asking: can't the military have this guy imbedded in something?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I agree with the sentiment, at a time when we are mourning the death of Calgary Herald journalist Michelle Lang, your last sentence was crass.

Anonymous said...

Crass? Maybe but when a journalist decides to become a government stenographer by embedded herself with the troops...

I'm certain that we are only getting a very small portion of the abuses (be it from our tax dollars to the military) that is being reported...

“This Prime Minister’s approach, and that of his staff, is a considerable impediment to the public’s ability to comprehend what the government is doing. It’s really a different way of doing business than anything we’ve experienced before.
“The PM and his advisors treat every issue as if it’s his own, as if it’s personal. It’s just very strange, and it results in a management style that blocks every door, including the ones that might actually take the government forward.”

Ti-Guy said...

While I agree with the sentiment, at a time when we are mourning the death of Calgary Herald journalist Michelle Lang, your last sentence was crass.

Are you for real?