Posted on 03/24/2007 3:47:43 PM PDT by Stultis
Harper accuses Liberals of having more sympathy for Taliban than soldiers
Friday Mar23 2007
OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper went for the jugular again in question period Wednesday, accusing Liberal MPs of being more supportive of Taliban prisoners than of Canadian soldiers. A furor erupted in the Commons when the Liberals demanded the resignation of Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor for misleading statements he made about prisoners in Afghanistan. ``I can understand the passion that the leader of the Opposition and members of his party feel for Taliban prisoners,'' Harper replied. ``I just wish occasionally they would show the same passion for Canadian soldiers.'' His attack drew angry jeers from the Liberal ranks and had Stephane Dion demanding an apology. The Bloc Quebecois, meanwhile, said Wednesday's exchange on a world issue explains why the prime minister gets compared so often to George W. Bush. ``It's indecent,'' Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe said. ``That's the same logic as Bush: `You're with me or against me. If you're against me, you're with the enemy. If you're with the enemy, you support the Taliban'. . . ``But what makes democracy great is that you treat your enemy like a human being _ which is something dictatorships do not do.'' Wednesday was the latest in a series of backhand, personal swipes Harper has taken at Liberals in recent weeks. Last month, he suggested the Liberals were voting against extending an anti-terror law in an effort to keep an MP's father-in-law from having to testify before the Air India inquiry. The MP, Navdeep Bains, asked Harper to apologize, without success. Then Harper tried to link two other Liberals to patronage appointments to the Immigration and Refugee Board. Those accusations prompted Ralph Goodale, the Liberal House leader, to paint Harper as a bully who stoops to ``character assassination ... slur, innuendo, falsehood and personal abuse'' to score cheap political points. The Wednesday furor erupted after the Liberals went after Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor in question period, demanding his resignation over erroneous statements he made about prisoners in Afghanistan. The minister, red-faced and flustered, repeated the apology he has made several times, saying he had acted in good faith. Dion demanded O'Connor's resignation, and Harper rode to the rescue of his beleaguered minister. Dion called the prime minister's statement about his party's sympathy for the Taliban ``shocking,'' and asked for an apology. Harper ignored that. ``I would like to see more support in the House of Commons from all sides for Canadian men and women in uniform,'' he said. ``I think Canadians expect that from parliamentarians in every party. They have not been getting it, and they deserve it. Outside the House, Dion said Harper trivialized the treatment of Afghan detainees and wasn't acting as a prime minister.
The best.
Well, co-best with John Howard.
The libs in Canada are no different than the libs here, they insult decent people and demand apologies when called on their unpatriotic rants.
They have a different form of government for one thing. Like Britain, it is much more confrontative...
If you saw Pres. Bush yesterday...he was at least as hard on the dems as Harper was in this article.
Good for Harper! No apology for the truth.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Way to go , and it would be nice to hear Bush get some backbone.
Canada ping!
Related threads.
Dear Stephane: Be a man (Stephane Dion, Canadian Liberal Opposition Leader)
Tories reach 'Magic' 40% in poll
Muslim moderates threatened in phone call
Canada ping.
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
Thanks for the ping.
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The President was very effective yesterday.
I hope he continues on that tack, enough with being a nice guy,
it gets him nowhere with the Democrats and doesn't inspire his base.
Sounds to me like Harper is guilty of stating the obvious.
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