To our fallen soldiers....

"At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we shall remember them...."

With respect and condolences to the family and friends of

Corporal Matthew Dinning,

Bombardier Myles Mansell,

Corporal Randy Payne,

Lieutenant William Turner

A job well done lads. Rest easy now.

(h\t The Galloping Beaver. If the government won't do it, we will).

Jane Jacobs, 1916 to 2006

Just 9 days shy of her 90th birthday, Toronto writer and "urban legend" Jane Jacobs died this morning in Toronto.

Mrs. Jacobs was a true hero of the little guy and she championed all her life sensible, liveable communities centred on people, rather than the high-rise downtown culture of the car-centric suburbs we have today. She was a brilliant thinker and her appeal seemed to have trancended labels like "left" or "right" - she is respected by libertarians and communists alike, as well as the rest of us in between.

Jane Jacobs is one of the few special writers and thinkers for me personally. I lived 2 blocks from her in Toronto's Annex nieghbourhood through the 90's (although, except for seeing her at the grocery store, I never actually met her). It wasn't until a year or so ago, when I heard the first chapter of "Dark Age Ahead" being read aloud on CBC's Writers and Company, that I became a fan. It was this book that gave me a greater understanding of both economics, politics and urban planning that turned me on to others in the field.

If you have never read this book, pick it up. It should be a required read in schools. It is at once a warning about the path we are on and a message of hope that we can, as we have in the past, overcome these problems. She presented inovative solutions and brought a perspective to our modern times that no one under the age of 80 could ever hope to.

So, my mission is now to read some of her other great books - "Systems of Survival" or "Death and Life of Great American Cities" - and know her better.

So, now, whenever I read David Warren's anti-science, ultra-religious tripe, I am reminded that the abandonment of science and reasoning is one of the signs of the impending Dark Age Mrs Jacobs warns about. I am inspired to fight harder for critical thinking being taught in schools.

Whenever I read revisionist-history and the yearning for an age that never was, as George Jonas likes to do, I am reminded that cultural amnesia and the forgetting of the truth is one of the signs and causes of a Dark Age. I am inspired to fight harder and remember history.

But more fundementally, when I pay my mortgage, I am reminded it was Jane Jacobs that taught me that rent controls don't work and that dual-income families need to be that way because of the high cost of realestate and housing.

Thanks Jane Jacobs. We will not forget you. And we will not let a Dark Age claim us.

Hypocricy, thy name is Conservative

First, it was the flag flap. The Conservatives refused to carry on with the Liberal-instituted practice of lowering the flags on federal buildings, including the Peace Tower, for our fallen in Afghanistan. According to the Conservatives:

"Proper military protocol has been restored and that, for most of the military, that is something they support" - Peter Van Loan, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs.

Now while I strongly disagree with that descision, at least the return to tradition has some merit. It is a good arguement, even if it is not supported but some of the families - Lincoln, father of Cpl. Matthew Dinning, wrote a letter to Stephen Harper asking for the practice to be reinstated, in a bitter irony, only 2 weeks ago.

But that was then, this is now.

According to my tree-ware version of The Ottawa Citizen this morning (for some reason, the story is not online yet - the version that is there is different than the one in print), Harper and O'Connor have banned the media from being at Trenton to cover the soldiers return home. From O'Connor:

"The repatriation of our fallen soldiers back to Canada is a private and solemn event between the families and the Canadian Forces."

No, according to the hard-copy Citizen, this is "unprecedented" - never before in Canada has the media been barred from such an event. The story indicates that General Hillier was not informed and actually expected the media coverage. DND has reported that they have not requested any change in media for privacy reasons. Further, DND refused to run the announcement on their website. DND spokespersons indicate that this came soley from O'Connor and the government and not from them.

In short, the Conservative government today, is changing a long-held tradition without the support of the military for political reasons.

Though this is only speculation, they appear afraid to show caskets and casualties for fear that support for the mission will erode. In otherwords he is doing exactly the thing that Bush did - trying to hide the truth and sweep reality under the carpet. Look how well it turned out for Bush.

Yesterday, they had to adhere to tradition at all costs. Today, its to hell with tradition, we can't trust the Canadian public with the truth.

Hypocrites. The whole damn lot of them.

Next time the government goes on about openness and transparency in government, remember this day. Remember how they choose to stiffle freedom of the press and to deny Canadians not only the truth, but the chance to grieve alongside the families, even at a distance.

Update:

An anonymous poster has called me partisan and sadomasocistic for wanting the press there, ignoring my reasons of wanting to share in the grief of the family and show my respects to the fallen by observing them coming home for tha last time. Andrew at BBG has pointed out to me that I am not alone in this sentiment:

"Lieut. William Turner was my cousin. I didn't really care too much about the flag not being lowered at Parliament Hill. Lots of other places have flags lowered. What really concerns me though is that I heard today that the media is not going to be allowed to film the coffins coming home and that this is a new permanent rule. As a member of one of the families I can tell you that I and some of my other family members have been glued to the TV and the internet, downloading pictures and stories of Bill. We have to wait along time until we can have his funeral and the media coverage has brought a lot of comfort to us. They have all been very respectful when told "No comment" and they have respected our privacy while still giving us a window into his time in Afghanistan. I will not be at the tarmac in Trenton just as I was not on the tarmac in Khandahar. I would dearly love to see him arrive home just as I was able to see him loaded onto the plane this morning. However, I will not be able to and the reason, I believe is political and not out of respect for the families. Honouring their sacrifice is what is respectful to the families.
Posted by: Kim | Email | 4/24/2006 9:57PM"

I wholeheartedly agree Kim. Please accept my condolences and pass them on to your family, as a grateful Canadian and supporter of the mission.

Out of respect for the families, the government still has until 18:30 this evening to change its mind and make this right.

Some concerns....

Well just when I thought I could post about something other than Afghanistan and the military, something new comes up.

Thanks to Rob at My Blahg for pointing this out:

Members of a family from Gumbad, the village where the Canadians are based, said Saturday in a telephone interview that the bombing had been organized by villagers who were angry about what they described as inappropriate treatment during searches.

One elder, whose family asked that he not be identified for fear of reprisals, denounced the Canadian troops for bringing dogs into the village mosque and peoples’ homes, and for conducting intimate body searches.

“I am an educated person, and I know a bit about how they do things, but I am getting angry when they are bringing dogs to my mosque and to my house,” the elder said. “I also feel like attacking them with an ax, but I lack the courage.”

-New York Times

And the response to this from our government?

Russ Hiebert, parliamentary secretary to the minister of national defence, said they “made the ultimate sacrifice for a cause worth fighting for.”

He also dismissed a New York Times report that local villagers may have helped organize the attack, in response to allegedly intimidating behaviour by Canadian troops.

“The information I’ve been getting is that anytime Afghans have had contact with our soldiers, it’s been very positive experience for both sides,” he told Question Period.

“The people of Afghanistan are incredibly pleased with the security and stability that is emerging in their country.”

Now I am skeptical of the veracity of this report. But given earlier reports of our guys throwing water bottles out of LAVs and bouncing off the heads of Afghanis as they pass has me concerned. Are we seeing a shift away from our more traditional and successful methods toward a more "American" methods (which has been oh so successful in Iraq)?

I voice this concern as a supporter of the mission. If the mission is to be a success we must not abandon the "firm, fair and friendly" approach that has always served us well.

Now, it is likely that the Afghan elder quoted above simply mistook the Canadians for the Americans that had previously been stationed in Gumbad and who have been known to use such tactics regualrly in both Afghanistan and Iraq. It is possible he is lying. But given the sensitivity of the mission, I think this needs a serious invesigation by the military and exposure by the press that are in country.

Our military is quite good at learning from its mistakes and ensuring that every tragedy is used to learn how to prevent further tragedies. I hope that if what this elder says is true, that we immediately stop that kind of engagement and return to what we know best. Fighting an insurgency using the American model just doesn't make much sense.

Think of this as a red flag being raised, so that we can correct course to make the mission a sucess.

I am concerned that our government is immediately discounting this because it doesn't jive with their particular cheerleading vision of the mission. To pretend its not happening if it is is a sure way to a quagmire and failure. Russ Hiebert could have at least indicated that the government would look into the allegations to ensure they weren't true, rather than simply dismissing them out of hand because they did not like what they said.

Update (for Candace):

See what happens when the press is allowed the freedom to pursue these things instead of being muzzled?

Thank you Stephen Harper

Seems we will have a debate on Afghanistan after all.

As a long-time supporter of this mission, I wholeheartedly believe that this will increase support for the mission among Canadians, not decrease it. Debate on important issues is good in a democracy, no matter when it occurs.

I guess someone is figuring out how to make Parliament work in a minority.

Again. Thank you, Stephen Harper, you are doing the right thing. This bodes well for this parliament.

Half-Mast

Continuing with my military theme for a bit longer, I have to wonder about our new Conservative government.

File this as another "What are they thinking?" item.

So, after falsely accusing the opposition parties of wanting to "cut and run" in Afghanistan, after paying a much hyped and hardly secret visit there last month, after trying to hide behind the "support our troops" canard in order to avoid debate, what does our new Conservative government do?

They stop the practice of lowering flags on all government buildings to half-mast in honour of our fallen troops.

From today's Ottawa Citizen:

Joshua Errett

The Ottawa Citizen

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

The decision to stop lowering national flags to half-staff when a Canadian soldier dies in Afghanistan is a return to an 80-year old tradition broken by the previous government, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said yesterday.

"For the last 80 years, our national tradition has been to honour all (Canadian troops killed in service) on the same day in a national Remembrance Day ceremony," said Mr. O'Connor.

But during the tenure of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, the Prime Minister's Office requested that Canadian flags at government buildings and on the Peace Tower be lowered when soldiers are killed in Afghanistan. Stephen Harper's Conservative government -- citing Canada Heritage flag-lowering protocol -- will not make those provisions.

"We've reverted back to the tradition," said Defence spokesman Jae Malana, adding that it was previous Liberal governments that broke tradition, not the current Conservative government.

Mr. Malana said the official policy is not to lower flags for every casualty unless the Prime Minister's Office makes a request.

The three soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since Mr. Harper took office have not had flags lowered on all government buildings, most notably the Peace Tower.

Mr. O'Connor said that "the protocol clearly states" flags will be only be half-staffed for a soldier's death in specific locations: the soldier's operational base, home base and the National Defence Headquarters, from the day of death to the day of the funeral, and all flags within the soldier's service (Army, Navy or Air Force) on the day of the funeral.

Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh said the previous Liberal governments recognized that protocol, but lowered flags regardless.

"It was appropriate to change that," said Mr. Dosanjh. "I believe lowering the flag is the least a government can do."

The Liberal government began the flag-lowering policy in 2002, when four Canadian soldiers died in a friendly fire incident with a U.S. pilot in Afghanistan. The policy continued until last month, after the Conservatives took office.

But Mr. Dosanjh said the issue should not become one of partisanship.

"The fact that the Liberals started the tradition of flags at half-mast for every soldier is not the point," he said. "And it should not be a political point.

"That practice should continue."

© The Ottawa Citizen 2006

In otherwords, when the Liberals under Martin and Chretien took a long standing protocol and extended it to, in my opinion, make it better, the Conservatives have decided to discontinue because its not "traditional"? Or is it because it came from the (hated) Liberals?

Frankly, I don't care who came up with it, lowering all the flags on government buildings, including the House of Commons, to honour a fallen soldier is right and appropriate and a new tradition that should be started and maintained. I would hope that the Conservatives reinstate this practice.

Or they can stop the hollow blathering about "supporting the troops" when they can't be bothered to lower a flag.