Winnipeg Free Press: Befuddled Haitians subjected to Harper's domestic political prattle

[tuvor]

THERE is, apparently, no tragedy too heart-rending, no political situation too fraught with danger, that you can’t find a politician eager to exploit it for political advantage.

In Haiti this week for what seemed like little more than a prolonged and expensive photo-op, Prime Minister Stephen Harper regaled the Haitian army and the Haitian people with heart-warming tales of how his Conservative government had rebuilt the Canadian Armed Forces from a rag-tag embarrassment under former Liberal regimes into a slim-trim, fighting-fit military machine.

As an example of improvements that have been made, he cited the purchase of Boeing C-17 Globemaster aircraft, giant transport planes that can carry tons of aid into the Haitian disaster zone as easily as they carry tanks into Afghanistan. The tanks, although of not much use in Haiti or any other civil disaster zone, are also part of the Tories' military buildup.

That buildup is a good thing, and Canadians should be grateful that, as Harper put it, Canada's military policy has switched from the "soft power" of the Liberals to the "hard power" of today. "To do soft power, you need hard power," as the multi-purpose C-17s are proving in Haiti and Afghanistan today, the prime minister told a befuddled Haitian audience that had probably hoped to hear more about what kind of hard help Canada was going to offer.

...

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/befuddled-haitians-subjected-to-harpers-domestic-political-prattle-tombits-in-a-nutshell-84838267.html

[HeresyLives]

1. Sigh, you'd think we'd never mounted a rescue mission before.

And I notice he didn't mention DART...even tho it's first call-out.

[Prometheus Bound]

2. What an embarrassment that buffoon is.

[HeresyLives]

3. Country flinches every time he goes overseas.

You never know what nonsense he's going to spout next.