Steve hides behind his troops

Faced with mounting condemnation for government ass-covering over Richard Colvin’s testimony about Afghan detainees, Harper resorts to an oblique slight-of-tongue blackmail :

“There were allegations of Canadian troops involved in torture. We’ve been very clear that’s not the case.”

So who is pointing fingers at the troops?

No one.

No. One. But. Steve.

Least of all Richard Colvin, as he made abundantly clear right away at the beginning of his Nov. 18th testimony before the Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan :

“I was very proud to have served in Afghanistan alongside the courageous and professional men and women of the Canadian Forces, including Canada’s military police. The focus of our attention, in my view, should not be on those who obeyed their chain of command, which soldiers are obliged to do. Instead, any responsibility for Canada’s practices toward detainees lies, in my view, with the senior military officers, senior civilian officials, and the lawyers who developed the legal framework, designed the policies and practices, and then ordered that they be implemented.”

Well that seems clear enough.

Evidently not clear enough though for warporner Christie Blatchford :

but certainly clear enough for anyone not looking to turn Colvin’s words upside down and pretend that any criticism of the HarperCons and their public service camp followers equals a danger to the troops and military police, as Harper does here today:

“… 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.”