Is It Time For Defense Minister O’Connor To Go?

[Liberalman]

Gordon O’Connor Canada’s very own true to life hero has served this country well.

He started as a Second Lieutenant in our Armed Forces to retire as a Brigadier General thirty years later.

Then he became a military consultant then he went into politics.

He is one of oldest and has the most stressful portfolios as Defense Minister.

And he is doing this job while there is an actual war going on.

I look at him in Question Period in the House of Commons on TV, he is always under a constant barrage of questions asked by the opposition over and over again and I have to wonder if he really has what it takes to do the job.

This guy is almost seventy years old and he is our hero and he has sacrificed himself on many occasions for us and I have to wonder what kind of Prime Minister would inflict so much torture on this great war hero.

There must be some other duties this great hero can do.

Is there no compassion left in the Conservative party?

I hope there is.

 

[Cobalt_Kid]

Hero? WTF are you talking about?

He's helped the Harper government conceal the role of Canadian Forces in war crimes. Our troops have turned over captives to a Afghani government that has tortured and/or summarily executed many of them against international law. We've helped send scumbags to the Hague for doing this sort of thing.

The heros are the young men and women who have put their lives on the line so these lying bastards can strut around Ottawa like some super patriots.

Is it time for O'Connor to go, damn right it is, and every other friggin Harper lovin MP sitting in Parliment.

One good thing about all this is we won't have to listen to any more crap about a spring election from the new conservative party.:lol:

 

[vishliberal]

i have no respect for this guy as defence minister. In question period ive seen him misquote and even MAKE UP quotes of other MP's to make himself look good, make up or skew facts, and now this....He needs to realize hes not a lobbyist anymore and this is not the way to run things becuase eventually it will catch up to you. I hope he can resign sooner or later, sooner rather than later.

 

[BitWhys]

He should have been gone a long time ago, but he won't be. That's not their style.

He won't even be Ambrosed. I thought he would for a while but it seems I underestimated the Stevenator's obsession with image.

 

[BitWhys]

heh

The Stevenator is totally oblivious to the stench of stewed albatros :lol:

 

[BitWhys]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

The whoppers keep rolling in...

1)
"We have yet to see one specific allegation of torture," - Peter Van Loan - quoted in the Globe and Mail - April 30

"Monday Public Security Minister Stockwell Day said Correctional Service Canada officials given the task of helping improve Afghanistan's jails were told by two prisoners that they had been tortured. It remained unclear whether the two were among those handed over by Canadian soldiers to Afghan officials or when the prisoners made the allegations of torture.

But a spokeswoman for Mr. Day said Monday the minister was informed of the reports last week. He has made no previous mention of their existence despite repeated questions following a furor that erupted after The Globe and Mail's reports on detainee abuse were published last week.

But a spokeswoman for Mr. Day said Monday the minister was informed of the reports last week.
..." - Globe and Mail - May 1

2)
"Mr. Speaker, in the Sarpoza prison facility just west of Kandahar city there are 838 detainees, alleged terrorists, and 138 of them are kept in what is called the national security component of that particular facility.

There are 40 alleged terrorists and other suspects in the national directory security facility, which is a separate one, and in the third facility, which is run by the Afghan police, there are 35. We have had access to those three facilities." - Stockwell Day - in Commons April 27

"Mr. Speaker, prisoners, numbers of prisoners, details about prisoners are operational matters and they are not revealed in the public" - Gordon O'Conner - in Commons May 1

ALBATROSS!

 

[BitWhys]

In the Commons Tuesday, Harper helped feed the storm of confusion over what Canadian officials have heard - and when - about allegations of torture.


Harper insisted that Day informed the House last Thursday that corrections officials had heard from prisoners about torture, and said it was on the parliamentary transcript.

But a review of the transcript shows no mention of allegations, torture or abuse.

Here is what Day actually said: "Two of the individuals talked to them about their treatment, and our officers raised the issue of them being in leg irons. We do not think they should be in leg irons." Day first mentioned the officers hearing about the torture claims on Monday, despite a week of intense questioning and changing accounts.

its getting hard to keep track

 

[Cobalt_Kid]

Now Harper is at Petawawa claiming the opposition is putting the Afghan mission in jeopardy by questioning the conservative policy of handing captives over to a government with a well established record of torture and killing of prisoners. Even Hillier chipped in last week by claiming that anybody captured by our forces had to be guilty because they were in a combat zone. Even if that is true(his logic is debatable) international law still protects combatants.

The conservative policy puts Canadian troops lives at risk. Afghanistan is a tribal society and one that places a high value on family honour and retribution. If the captives that Canadians turn over to the government are tortured or killed that could be the incentive for some of the attacks on our soldiers.

The Indian and Pakistani governments are already preparing for the withdrawl of NATO forces that they see as inevitable in the near future. We need to stop playing patriot games over the Afghanistan War issue and have a real debate in Parliment. The fact that the conservatives are now behind the Liberals in the polls and are losing their support base in the west should help that happen.