Recognizing the damage

It's a plus to see the opposition parties criticizing the Cons' attempt to bury two reports on Canadian deaths in Afghanistan. But I have to wonder why the criticism is limited to the Cons' immediate effort at damage control, rather than including a wider view of the Cons' disregard for the well-being of Canadian troops.

Here's what opposition MPs had to say about the reports:

Opposition parties accused the Tory government Wednesday of delaying the release of the findings of military investigations into two incidents in which Canadian soldiers were accidentally killed by American firepower in Afghanistan.

"This is damage control, pure and simple," said Liberal MP Denis Coderre. "Let's call a spade a spade."...

Coderre said it's hard to believe that five months were needed to get Hillier's signature on the report and to liaise with American authorities...

NDP defence critic Dawn Black said she doesn't buy the explanation because the U.S. report into Costall's death was released a month ago in response to a freedom of information request by The Associated Press.

Releasing the Canadian findings in the middle of summer, when many are on holiday, virtually guarantees that the matter will be forgotten and swept under the rug, she said.

"It would work better for the government if they were more straightforward with members of Parliament and the Canadian public," she said.

"When information is held back -- rightly or wrongly -- it leads to a perception of coverup."

While the comments from Coderre and Black are reasonable enough, they fall far short of dealing with the larger issue raised by the Cons' consistent pattern of covering up key facts about Afghanistan. From hiding the caskets of troops to suppressing information about detainee transfers (which could expose Canadian troops to legal jeopardy due to their own government's negligence), the Cons have done nothing but try to paper over the real risks facing Canadian soldiers. And in consequence, Canadian troops will all too likely continue to face needless dangers which would be reduced if the country at large discussed them more thoroughly.

In sum, the mere fact that the Cons are indeed carrying out political damage control is far less damning than the likelihood that Canada's troops will end up worse off as a result. And the more Canadians see how false the Cons "support" really is, the less likely the Cons are to hold the ability to keep our troops in harm's way for much longer.