Not in command

CBC reports on yet another reason why Con Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor can't be trusted, as he apparently has neither any knowledge of nor any control over what's going on in his own department:

Defence Department lawyers are trying to block investigations into the way Canadian troops handle detainees in Afghanistan, even though the defence minister has promised they would go ahead.

Minister of Defence Gordon O'Connor told MPs earlier this week that an independent commission would review allegations that military police broke the law when they turned Afghan prisoners over to the Afghan government, knowing they might be tortured.

But lawyers working for O'Connor's own department are now at odds with him.

A spokesman for the Canadian Forces legal office said lawyers are reviewing whether an independent commission would be overstepping its bounds by reviewing how Afghan detainees are treated. The lawyers may pursue legal action to stop such an investigation.

To my recollection, the issue isn't a new one within the House of Commons. But even if there was any room for confusion or miscommunication before this week, surely a new set of assurances from O'Connor that his office is cooperating with the investigations should be taken as an important signal to his department.

Instead, the department is going ahead contrary to O'Connor's publicly-stated plans. That may by the result of their simply not seeing him as a leader worth listening to - or it may be that O'Connor is giving different instructions away from the cameras than in front of them. But either way, it only adds to O'Connor's complete lack of credibility...which leaves only the question of whether Harper really has so little left on the bench that nobody else within his caucus can do better.