Quagmire update

The Globe and Mail's agenda rolls forward with this misleading front page headline, and the story's first two paragraphs:

O'Connor envisions conflicts lasting 15 years [scared enough yet? - MC]

Canada needed to acquire 120 new tanks to deal with another 10 to 15 years of conflicts in Afghanistan and other countries, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said Sunday, amid opposition concerns that the war is escalating.

“Afghanistan and these type of engagements are the future for 10, 15 years,” Mr. O'Connor told CTV's current affairs program Question Period [a much more honest story, but Craig Oliver's actual interview is pathetic]...

The details of what the minister said are buried very deep in the story:

“When I talk about 10 or 15 years, I'm saying that's an assessment from defence and government that if we were to go to other ventures like Somalia, or, I don't know, Darfur or whatever,” the new tanks will be needed, he said.

He insisted he was not referring specifically to Afghanistan, saying “our commitment militarily is to the end of February '09,” and cabinet wasn't scheduled to discuss the matter until next year...

So he is not envisioning 10-15 years of virtually continuous combat as the first quote implies. He is merely referring to a time period for possible military operations and the utility of tanks in such operations. Not what the casual reader would realize, as the comment thread at the Globe piece well demonstrates.

The Globe really is without journalistic scruple. Moreover, in the Commons' Question Period today (the real one, or rather the surreal one), the Liberals took their lead from this story. Pernicious indeed.