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 There is an old air force phrase to the effect that ‘when you start taking flak, you know you’re over the target’. Applying that same formula, one has to presume that whistle-blowing diplomat Richard Colvin is hitting close to the mark with his allegations pertaining to the Canadian Forces’ handling of Afghan detainees.
After dropping his bombshell testimony at a Parliamentary committee hearing, wherein Colvin claimed that his warning of prisoner abuse had been repeatedly ignored by his superiors in Ottawa, the counter-barrage aimed at the diplomat has been both ruthless and relentless. Not exactly a disgruntled revenge seeker, Colvin served in Kandahar for 17 months in 2006 and 2007, is a highly regarded civil servant, and has since been promoted to the post of Deputy Head of Intelligence at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC.
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 Last week it was reported that the Canadian Battle Group in Kandahar has officially begun the wrap up of their Afghanistan mission in anticipation of the December 2011 pull-out date.
As the successful withdrawal and repatriation of our forces is now the official government-mandated mission for our troops, one might have expected the usual cast of pro-war suspects to grudgingly go silent. Not so. Rather than accepting that the termination of our combat role is final, those radical continue-the-conflict cheerleaders have instead abandoned all pretence of logic in their arguments, and resorted to ludicrous historical analogies instead. ‘Setting a pull-out date is not the Canadian way,’ they argue. ‘What would have been the result if we told Nazi Germany that we were only going to fight them until 1943?’ they ask. Unfortunately there are some Canadians so unfamiliar with the contextual realities of World War II history that this fallacious argument needs to be quashed immediately.
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On July 8, the Defence Department pulled out all the stops in staging a press event to announce their $5.2 billion procurement of new armoured vehicles. On hand for the event were Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk, Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Army commander Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie—the latter two voluntarily suspending their summer vacations in order to attend. The national media were advised well in advance, and the massive dollar figure attached to the project was hinted at in the advance promotion.
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A couple of weeks ago, it was reported in the national press that the Air Force had used one of their C-17 strategic airlift cargo planes to transport a privately owned vintage aircraft from New Zealand. It was Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese who first got wind of the story and began asking questions. The puzzler was why the admittedly cash-strapped Air Force would provide such an expensive service for the private company that took possession of the World War II-era P-40 Kittyhawk.
There is no question that the end recipient, Vintage Wings of Canada, a not-for-profit foundation originated by Ottawa millionaire businessman Michael Potter, does progressive work in keeping Canada's aviation history alive and well.
However, there are few aircraft in service that are more expensive to operate than a C-17 transport, and a modest estimate of the flight cost to include a New Zealand stopover amounts to more than $200,000.
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The buzz around defence circles in Ottawa these days is the notion that Defence Minister Peter MacKay is being touted as a candidate to be NATO's next secretary-general.
The rumours first began to fly about one month ago, and then caught fire following President Barack Obama's meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Feb. 19. It is alleged by White House correspondents that during that private conversation, Harper offered up MacKay's candidacy for the top NATO post. Subsequently, much has been made of the fact that Vice-President Joe Biden is apparently prepared to support MacKay in this quest.
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