Wednesday, July 02, 2008

At what point does he become a partisan, I wonder?

Over the past year or so, Mark and I have taken increasing notice of Michael Byers' ill-considered pronouncements on the Afghan mission, and on the media's continued insistence upon ignoring his political ties to the NDP:

Here's what ticks me off about all this: although the good Dr. Byers has been interviewed and quoted at length in the media over his opposition to the detainee transfer agreement, not a single story that I can find puts his words into context for the average Canadian news consumer.

According to the Canadian news media, Michael Byers is nothing more than a "human rights activist," a "political science professor," and an expert on international law. Somehow or other, on a file so politically charged that it has dominated the news columns and airwaves for weeks, so politically dangerous that it threatens to sack the Minister of National Defence, it has been deemed irrelevant by the Canadian journalistic establishment that one of the key instigators of this drama is a declared partisan for one of the parties in opposition to our effort in Afghanistan.


Well, the professor has just decided to throw his hat into the political ring and will be trying to win a nomination in the federal riding of Vancouver Centre for...wait for it...the NDP!

I’ve decided to run because of my growing concerns about the lack of Canadian leadership on critical issues such as climate change, the war in Afghanistan, health care, housing and human rights.

I’ve studied the various federal party policies on climate change. The NDP policy makes the most sense. And it respects individual citizens. The Liberals want to force Canadians to change their behaviour through taxes; the NDP wants to help Canadians to change with solutions.

We need real political leadership, with bold and effective public policy, and Jack Layton is the only one in Canada offering that.


So, I guess that puts our pet peeve to rest - no more will the media sterilize his opinion with the pretence of objectivity...

...oops:

But determining the nature of the countries' joint continental shelf is a step toward being able to resolve those issues by providing more data, and thus more opportunities for both sides to compromise, said University of British Columbia professor Michael Byers, who specializes in global politics and international law. [Babbler's emphasis]


I assume that "University of British Columbia professor and aspiring federal NDP candidate professor Michael Byers, who specializes in global politics and international law" would have exceeded the Globe & Mail's ink budget for this story.

Even if the ethical implications of such an omission of critical information don't register for the press, self-interest should: the first thing that goes through a reader's mind when they know about something like this is "if they're not telling me about this, what else aren't they telling me about?"

All of us here at The Torch did that enough times on military matters to devote much of this blog to it.

Watch and shoot, folks.

5 Comments:

Blogger Mark, Ottawa said...

Gary Mason, in the Globe and Mail, fails to notice Prof. Byers' long-standing NDP connections.

So does this reporter in the Vancouver Sun.

Great journalists we have, what? Good on you Babbling for doing better.

Mark
Ottawa

8:43 a.m., July 03, 2008  
Blogger Webgear said...

With regards to the NDP, I have a question.

I am currently in correspondence with Paul Dewar in regards to his recent trip to Afghanistan, in his last email he stated that he flew on a Sea King Helicopter.

It has been two years since I have been in Afghanistan however I am not aware of any country flying Sea Kings in Kandahar province or southern Afghanistan.

I was wondering if you guys have any information on this aircraft being used.

Thanks

2:26 p.m., July 03, 2008  
Blogger Mark, Ottawa said...

webgear: The UK has deployed some Sea Kings to Afstan (near end of link):

"3 Mar 2008 : Column 2052W

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many sea king helicopters are to be fitted with Carson blades; and how many of those helicopters with such blades will be deployed in Afghanistan. [188616]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth: We are fitting 14 Sea King HC4 helicopters with Carson blades. We have deployed a number of Sea King helicopters fitted with Carson blades to Afghanistan, and expect to deploy more later this year. I am withholding information on the exact number of helicopters deployed as its release would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces."

As they are also in Regional Command South it would be a British helicopter Mr Dewar was on. They are Sea King Mk4s (a special commando version of the aircraft), more on the Carson blade for Afstan here.

Mark
Ottawa

3:15 p.m., July 03, 2008  
Blogger Webgear said...

Mark

Thank you for the quick reply. This information will be useful.

3:25 p.m., July 03, 2008  
Blogger Webgear said...

I just found this article on Prof. Byers at

http://www.rabble.ca/rabble_interview.shtml?sh_itm=ee404d11df983682a6d3aef9375cb505&rXn=1&

He makes some pretty wild comments about Afghanistan.

12:22 a.m., July 17, 2008  

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