Monday, May 10, 2010

Is L'il Stevie Feeling the Heat?

Not a great day for the Prince of Darkness. Canadians have drawn their own conclusions about the Afghan detainee torture issue and they're convinced that Canada's military and political leadership knew full well that Afghan detainees were being tortured and turned a blind eye to it.

The troops? Support the troops? Oh we don't have any reservations about the troops. We support the foot soldier as we haven't in decades. It's their leaders - Harper and his cabinet and guys like "Big Cod" Hillier - we don't support on this one.

An Ipsos-Reid poll commissioned by Tory house organs, the National Post and the CanWest television network, Global, probably to their regret, finds Canadians pointing a decidedly angry finger at Harper, MacKay and "senior Canadian military officials" which seems to be code for the Big Cod hisself, safely retired ex-general Rick Hillier.

"More than half -- 52% -- said they believe Prime Minister Stephen Harper knew what was going on, and the same percentage said they believe individual soldiers knew it was happening, according to the poll.

However, a much larger majority -- 75% -- said they believe senior Canadian military officials would have known that transferred prisoners were being tortured. Sixty-five per cent said they believe the minister of defence had to have known, and 66% said they believe the Defence or Foreign Affairs Department were in the know.

Canadians see the story as a "chain-of-command issue" where responsibility rests at the top, and not with individual soldiers, said Mr. Wright, senior vice-president of Ipsos Reid.

For the first - and last - time to quote Don Cherry - "Beauty!"

So, if a solid majority of Canadians believe detainees were regularly tortured and a much larger majority believes that, if so, the guys at the top were in on it and did nothing, then surely it follows that the great unasked question - why is Harper digging in on the documents? - answers itself - to cover his rather exposed ass.

7 comments:

Louise said...

"...if a solid majority of Canadians believe detainees were regularly tortured"

Where'd you get that from?

"Of the 61% who believe torture occurred, 59% said they think the tactic was routine, compared to 34% who believe it happened only on rare occasions, the poll suggests."

59% of 61% is not a "solid majority of Canadians". In fact, it's only 36%.

The Mound of Sound said...

Jeez Louise, that's a nice spin but not even the National Stain is putting out that nonsense.

I suppose it's redneck math, eh?

Louise said...

Basic grade school math, sweetie. Try it.

The Mound of Sound said...

Tell you what Louise, even if I'm wrong do you believe your darling Beelzebub, control freak that he is, didn't know? C'mon, be honest.

Big Winnie said...

Louise, you conveniently forgot to include the fact that 34% of 61% = 21%.

"Basic grade school math"...maybe you should try it sometime.

Louise said...

Big Winnie, reading isn't your strong suit, is it. The big mound of gas is referring to the percentage that believe detainees are "regularly" tortured, not the percentage that believe detainees are tortured "on rare occasions". On the other hand, maybe it's mound of gas's propensity for exaggerated hyperbole.

The Mound of Sound said...

Ouch, Louise! Got yer woolies in a bunch? You still haven't opined whether you believe your bossman, Harper, knew.