This is a very difficult column for me to write as it affects me deeply and personally. My son, who is an infantry private in the Canadian army, will in all likelihood see combat in Afghanistan later this year.
The casualties our soldiers sustained and the controversy that surrounds whether or not the media should be allowed to cover the unloading of the coffins and the families' pain has brought out the worst in those who have the smallest stake in this issue.
In a recent column in the Toronto Star, Rosie Dimanno, the Star's resident "qvetch", takes the Harper government to task for not allowing press coverage of the return of the dead soldiers. Dimanno wrote "Fine words, this Canadian government has for its soldiers, especially when they die at their country's bidding. But words without pictures-except from a distance. Without even-any longer- witnesses (sic)"
She goes on to lament that soldiers serve and politicians serve themselves, but fails to mention that Toronto Star columnists like Dimanno serve their bosses' agenda. So spare me the crocodile tears, Rosie, as you don't know what the hell you are talking about.
Dimanno, who in my opinion has the attention span of a flea in heat, crosses the line in implying that keeping the media away from grieving families watching their loved ones' bodies being off-loaded at CFB Trenton, amounts to government censorship. Her question, "Does anyone really believe, as [Defense Minister] Connor has posited, that this abrupt and unilateral shift in policy was undertaken out of respect for the families of the dead?" I, for one, do, hard as that may be for Dimanno to understand.
If, God forbid, something happened to my son, I would be outraged at having to share my personal grief with the likes of Dimanno, or Ujjal Dosanjh, or Jack Layton.
Dosanjh, who is among the flotsam remaining from the previous corrupt and arrogant Liberal government, also crosses the line in equating the government's decision to keep reporters away from the repatriation of dead Canadian soldiers with being American. One could do a lot worse than be American. For instance, one could be a former Minister of Health in the previous government. When Dosanjh piously declared that the Prime Minister has taken "a page from the Bush book", that "Mr. Harper is acting very presidential, very American...absolutely un-Canadian" he proves to me that he is the type of politician who would kill his own mother just to regain power. Shame on you, Mr. Dosanjh for being so callously partisan to use the death of your country's soldiers to attempt to improve your miserable lot in life.
Ditto for Jack Layton, who is an oleaginous opportunist with no real core beliefs. His assertion that the government has modeled itself after the way George W. Bush is approaching it, is yet another bald-faced, cynical attempt at gaining political advantage.
I see nothing wrong with allowing the soldiers' families the dignity to express their grief without the accompanying commentary from people like Rosie Dimanno. If our family ever found itself in this tragic circumstance, there would be no reporters or politicians and those attempting to break into our mourning would find themselves tossed out on their ear.
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