Whose lie is it anyway?

Apparently the Cons' attempt to get Gordon O'Connor out of the spotlight hasn't led to any better-informed answers on Afghan detainees, as Peter MacKay is now under fire for conflicting stories on the number of complaints of torture:

Canadian officials have received allegations of torture or abuse from six Afghan detainees, two more than reported by cabinet ministers during testimony at a Commons committee a few days ago.

The change of facts prompted Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre yesterday to accuse Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day of "misleading the House and the people of Canada."

The higher number was cited by MacKay at a news conference Friday, after two days of inquiries by opposition MPs and reporters about discrepancies in testimony he and Day gave at a joint meeting Wednesday of the Commons defence and foreign affairs committees.

MacKay's defence is supposedly based on a difference in the time periods involved. But it's worth noting that any attempt to artificially cut off the time period was itself nothing but a Con creation: see for example this exchange from Question Period, where Denis Coderre's straightforward question the number of allegations of torture and abuse received a heavily-spun response about MacKay's latest sightseeing expedition.

As a result, MacKay has nobody but himself to blame for the confusion he's fostered. And with the Cons' backup talking head apparently having no more idea what he's talking about than the minister who's been pushed out of the limelight in disgrace, the Cons' incompetence in dealing with Afghanistan is only becoming more clear by the day.