The Harper Conservatives are currently embroiled in two controversies over how to deal with the deaths of soldiers that are killed while fighting in afghanistan. The first came when the government announced that they would no longer fly the flag on the Peace Tower in Ottawa at half staff whenever a soldier loses his or her life in the line of duty. The second decision that has been subject to perhaps more criticism was the announcement that the media would no longer be given access to military bases such as CFB Trenton whenever flag-covered coffins arrive back on Canadian soil.
Much of the criticism unfortunately involves playing politics with the deaths of members of Canada's armed Forces, especially by the opposition Liberals who simply cannot adjust to being out of power. Liberal defense critic Ujjal Dosanjh used the refusal to allow cameras to film the soldiers' last arrival back in Canada to mockingly refer to Harper as "President Harper". It's the job of the opposition to take shots at the government, but to use to the deaths of members of the Canadian military that have paid the ultimate price to take a cheap shot at the prime minister is disgusting.
The tradition of lowering the flag on the Peace Tower dates all the way back to 2002 when then-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien ordered it lowered after four Canadian soldiers were killed by american friendly fire in afghanistan. Prior to that, it had been the practice of the previous 80 years not to lower the flag. The proper time to so honour soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice was considered to be November 11 when all soldiers who died in the service of Canada are honoured. For the cynical amongst us, would Chrétien have made the same decision had these soldiers been killed by the enemy instead of by troops from those "bastards" to the south? Probably not. as it stands now, the flag has been lowered for some deaths and not for others.
It's hard to judge the second issue of the media being banned from military bases because it is the media that provides information to us and they are not only reporting the story; they are part of the story. It is part of the ongoing battle that has been waged between the media and the Conservative government.
Much of the media coverage implies that the actions of the government are broader than they actually are. The non-lowering of the flag applies only to the one that is flown from Ottawa's Peace Tower. Everyone, from private citizens to truth-challenged premiers to Commie pinko mayors are free to fly their flags at half staff if they so desire. and there has been no evidence that casualties suffered in afghanistan are being covered up. The media are able to report on these deaths as soon as they occur and the names of the deceased are revealed as soon as the families are notified. Once the bodies are released to the families the families are perfectly free to invite the media to funerals and have as much contact with them as the media would like. While there is no doubt that coverage of the bodies arriving back in Canada would be counterproductive to our mission in afghanistan, the prohibition is a far cry from a cover up to bolster the war effort.
a lot of the opposition to the policies of the government comes from the left--the folks who think we should get out of afghanistan and have "meaningful" discussions with the Taliban and al Qaeda. Then they would like us and the world would live in peace and harmony. The real problem with these people is that while they love to throw out the phrase "we support the troops" they don't seem to be terribly interested in hearing what the troops they purport to support have to say about the policies of the Harper government.
No group as large as the military can have or be expected to have a monolithic view of government policy. But the consensus seems to be that the flag on the Peace Tower should not be lowered and that the arrival back in Canada of soldiers who have died should not be subjected to media scrutiny.
Cliff Chadderton, the Chairman of the National Council of Veteran associations perhaps put the flying the flag issue best when he said that although these deaths are a disaster they are not a "national" disaster. The military recognizes, although many Canadians do not, that we are at war and that military deaths are a natural occurrence in war. as many in the military argue, if we have a large number of casualties and the flag is perpetually flown at half staff, it will be seen as a sign of defeat.
Former General Lewis MacKenzie noted that if we lower the flag when a couple of soldiers die in a traffic accident what are we going to do if four or 20 soldiers are killed in battle? That's certainly something to think about.
Both the Canadian Press and the CBC interviewed soldiers in the field. Most of those questioned were of the opinion that the return to Canada should be something that is private and should be restricted to the military and families.
"We support the troops"--it's a phrase that is so easy to say. Let's really support the troops and listen to what they have to say before going after Stephen Harper. Let's let these troops decide.
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