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Ottawa Fears Losing Control of Afghan Mission

Steven Staples is the director of security programs for the Polaris Institute, a public interest research group in Ottawa. He wrote this article in the Sunday edition of The Toronto Star, about Ottawa and the Afghan mission.

I received it from the Ceasefire.ca Insider news, to which I subscribe.

Ottawa fears losing control of Afghan mission, says Steven Staples
Sunday, April 30, 2006
By Steven Staples
The Toronto Star


Any death of our own in Afghanistan today is a national story. It touches everyone, not just the soldiers' immediate families or the military community. It is covered by the news media, quite rightly, as a national news story, because it affects us as a nation.

Generals have long complained that Canadians aren't sufficiently interested in the military. Stephen Harper made a point of visiting Kandahar within weeks of becoming prime minister to raise Canadian awareness and show his support.

So, at a time when Canadians' concern about our modern military is probably at an all-time high, why would the government cease lowering the flag and deny the media access to cover the return of fallen soldiers to Canada? Why now?

This is not about following tradition. It was not very long ago that Canadians killed in combat were buried in the country where they fell. In the early 1970s this practice ended and since then remains of soldiers killed abroad have been returned to Canada. Surely the Conservatives don't want to revive that old tradition, too, and start burying soldiers in Afghanistan.

Nor is this about adhering to a long-held Conservative policy. In 2004, Conservative MP James Moore introduced a motion to lower the flag for the death of submariner Lt. Chris Saunders. It was adopted unanimously.

And this is not about respecting the wishes of families. None has ever complained about media coverage. Quite the contrary. The father of Corp. Paul Davis, who was killed March 2, said the coverage helped him grieve. "I thought, `Gee, Paul, all the whole country is watching you come home,'" he said.

In fact, the media coverage has always struck me as respectful, reverential and, frankly, very moving. Maybe a little too moving. That could explain why Harper looks like he's now regretting having stirred up so much public interest in the military and Afghanistan.

These two decisions, not lowering the Peace Tower flag and denying access to the media, are best understood when taken together. Add Harper's insistence on vetting the outspoken Gen. Rick Hillier's speeches, and a pattern emerges.

This is a government worried that the mission in Afghanistan could get out of their control and become a huge political problem for the Conservatives — especially as pressure builds in anticipation of a decision to renew the mission before it ends in February 2007.

Polling has shown the public virtually split down the middle on whether Canadian troops should be in Afghanistan. No doubt, the Conservatives have figured out that the sight of flag-draped caskets and flags at half-mast are not going to help them win a majority in the next election, especially since they have staked so much of their agenda on the Afghanistan mission.

But if the Prime Minister thinks this ploy will work, he should ask that other politician who has tried it but still finds himself dragged down by an unpopular war: U.S. President George W. Bush.

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posted by Annamarie at 12:26 AM