Well, Ain’t That Special? The Dog Ate Them!–UPDATE

After reading some of the Blogging Tories this fine wintery morning, watching them all fall all over each other over how the evul opposition (especially the separatists) will endanger our national security and above all, how Speaker Milliken’s decision has just put the troops’ lives in danger overseas. I was going to write a simple rebuttal saying basically, wanna protect the troops, pull them out immediately, but POGGE beat me to it, for one additional  reason. Very special reason: apparently, the military apparently  suck at basic  filing and administrative tasks.

It was revealed today that Afghan detainee transfer documents are all stored in some shipping container in a haphazard manner so chaotic as it would take years to catalogue, file and inventory them properly. Funny, how this only comes out now after all of this.  I wonder why this wasn’t revealed in the first place?  Seems Brother Steve could have avoided things like prorogation and such; should have said, “the military dog ate the documents at some Kandahar airfield.”  In the words of Scott from Scott’s Diatribes: “How Conveeeeenient!”   Not that incompetence of  the most basic of skills from the government should surprise anybody.  Why should the care of supposedly sensitive documents be any different? Hello,  Ex-Lax Max?

The revelation by Maj. Denis Gagnon emerged when he was closely questioned by lawyer Paul Champ, who said the commission is on the verge of deciding whether it has to suspend public hearings, partly because of missing and delayed documents from the Defence Department. A senior military official admits to delaying the documents requested due to concerns (here we go again with that all to convenient excuse) about the safety of the troops.

“We know full well that Canada’s enemies are ready to use that kind of information against our troops that are deployed there,” Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette said. “That is why there have been certain delays in producing those documents.”

Well, now we know where the Harpercon cheerleaders get this liberally deranged parnaoia.  That old Georgie Bush ‘with us or against us’ schtick. It begs the question who in  Brig. Gen. Blanchette’s mind is the enemy? Is it the Afghans or Canada’s opposition parties?

It seems that Major Gagnon not cannot give straight answers as to how long it will take for them to produce the documents,  When acting commission chairman Glenn Stannard asked why the transfer orders weren’t included in the paperwork that has already been turned over to the inquiry. Major Gagnon pulls his best Sergeant Schultz act:

“I don’t have an answer for you, sir,” Gagnon said.

but also can’t find the personnel to to take care of them.

“The documents in theatre are far more difficult to find because of the constant rotation of our personnel,” he said.

“Plus . . . with the current tempo of our operation, they don’t have the ability to . . . dedicate the proper troops to task in order to properly identify all those documents that may be co-located with many other documents.”

 As I’ve mentioned,  the best way to keep these troops safe is not hiding behind the truth. It’s not scrambling about so we can continue endorsing an Afghan national sport of torturing detainees.  No, it’s to pull them out of Afghanistan immediately.  Would those Blogging tories feel assured by that idea? Probably not. 

I’ll be  waiting for Blathering Blatchford to defend this incompetence to Ricky P sometime soon.

A logical person would think that losing documents  lord only knows where,  or storing them in the haphazard way Major Gagnon describes would definitely be far riskier than in the hands of a parliamentary committee or the opposition parties.  At least, everyone would know where they are. If they’re really lost, no telling who’s hands these ‘sensitive’ documents would found in. I wonder if those Harpercon cheerleaders would see that? My guess is no;  funny how a bad case of Liberal Derangement Syndrome can severely hamper sound judgement.

Yes, no doubt there will be some firings, perhaps even Major Gagnon, as POGGE suggests, but I don’t think it will be over the loss of these documents floating around Gawd knows where: it would be because they weren’t put through the paper shredder.

I wonder if the British will have the same problem of missing documents as their torturegate case proceeds in the courts?

Update:  Dawg offered his prediction as how the Harpercons and the Liberals will handle this issue.

I think it highly likely that the parties will reach an agreement in the next few days. It is certainly in the interests of both the Liberals and the Conservatives to do so, given their current standings in the polls.

Dawg, I think you’re prediction is correct, at least, for now anyway. The Harpercons are eager to compromise.  They seem willing more than likely after good ol’ Vic Toews found an American precedent.

 He points out that other countries, including the United States, routinely swear politicians to secrecy when reviewing sensitive documents.

Oh, yeah! Did I forget to mention, the maintenance of secrecy disguised as protecting national security?

Iggy also seems willing to meet Brother Steve half way  provided Brother Steve change his “secretive ways”.

“I am willing to reach out,” the Liberal Leader told reporters today after the meeting of his national caucus, which dealt with yesterday’s historic ruling by the Speaker of the House of Commons. “What I’m saying once again is, let’s not make this more complicated than it need be. A government and an opposition that are both acting in good faith can find a solution in a couple of hours.”

Yes, I guess most Canadians would like to see compromise between Harpercons and opposition most of all.

Given the dismal polling numbers (below 30%) each party, I guess we can understand the hesitation of  triggering and election from either side.  Funny, Brother Steve, nor Iggy  can no longer use the old ‘Canadians don’t want an election’  schpiel. From what I’ve been reading so far, it seems many would welcome an election.