Harper goes beyond Kandahar base to spread morale message to Canadian troops

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - Decked out in protective gear, a helmet under his arm, Stephen Harper delivered a thumbs-up to no one but a solitary cameraman Wednesday as he boarded a Black Hawk helicopter to become one of the only serving prime ministers to venture perilously close to the front lines of war.

For the first time, Harper travelled beyond the safety of Kandahar Airfield to a forward operating base at Ma'sum Ghar, a rocky, mountainous patch of Afghanistan hard between the Panjwaii District Bazaar and the Arghandab River that's steeped in the blood of Canadian soldiers.

But thanks to a controversial decision by the Prime Minister's Office to cancel a military convoy of journalists who were supposed to accompany him, the event - billed as historical by the deputy commander of Canadian forces - went largely unwitnessed by the media, save for a handful of photographers.

"I have a doctorate in history," Col. Mike Cessford told a news conference in advance of Harper's departure.

"No sitting prime minister, in my opinion, has been closer to combat operations than this prime minister today."

Pooled videotape showed a helmeted Harper in a khaki-coloured flak jacket, hands on his hips as he surveyed the landscape from one of the base's lookout points. Soldiers, rifles at the ready, flanked him on either side.

The base at Ma'sum Ghar sits on the very patch of rock where Pte. Mark Anthony Graham was killed and 30 other Canadian soldiers were injured when they were mistakenly strafed by a pair of U.S. A-10 Thunderbolts in the middle of a major combat operation.

It's also at the heart of a tract of territory hard-won from the Taliban with Canadian sweat and blood, but a part of the country that remains far from safe, as evidenced by a rocket attack on the base last week that killed a Canadian-hired interpreter and injured another.

"It's a pale shadow of what it once was," Cessford said of the fighting in the region. "But it cannot reasonably be described as a benign environment."

Asked whether Harper's visit would have been possible a year ago, Cessford said: "Absolutely not."

Harper began the second day of his two-day visit with a speech to soldiers gathered at Kandahar Airfield's maple leaf-festooned ball-hockey rink, where he dropped the ball at a ceremonial face-off and hinted strongly that troops won't be leaving Afghanistan anytime soon.

"You know that your work is not complete," he told about 300 soldiers, many of whom had been asked by military officials to attend the morning's event.

"You know that we can't just put down our weapons and hope for peace. You know that we can't set arbitrary deadlines and simply wish for the best."

The Liberals want Canada to withdraw its troops when the current mission expires in 2009, while the NDP wants to pull them out immediately. Finding a soldier on the ground in Afghanistan who wants Canadians to pull out in two years is a nearly impossible task.

"February 2009, I don't see this being done, and nobody wants to leave with this mission half-done," said Master Cpl. Mark Caverson, 36, from the Joint Signals Regiment based in Kingston, Ont..

"We've got a fairly good name now, we've spent a lot of time and blood building that name, so let's get this done and get this country back on its feet."

Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant, the senior Canadian military commander in Afghanistan, said there are contingency plans in place that extend beyond the current pullout date.

"The work will not be done here in February 2009, so we want to make sure we do as much as we possibly can between now and then," Grant said. "But at the same time, it would be irresponsible of us not to plan past that point, for the good of the country."

At Ma'sum Ghar, Harper shook hands and posed for pictures with members of A Squadron from the Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) armour regiment, who stood before several of Canada's Leopard tanks - aging sweatboxes that the Conservative government has already promised to replace with a fleet of cooler, more efficient models.

But no one with a notebook was on hand to interview the troops or Harper as he made his way around the base.

The PMO provided the media with only three seats aboard one of two helicopters that made the trip. They were filled by two photographers and a TV cameraman, all three of whom were part of the media contingent that travelled with Harper to Afghanistan.

The PMO's decision countermanded the military's plan to shuttle reporters, many of whom are embedded with troops, to the site in an armoured convoy.

Dimitri Soudas, Harper's deputy press secretary, said the convoy was cancelled because it wasn't part of the prime minister's scheduled agenda.

"I stick to the plan and to the schedule that we decided upon prior to departure," Soudas said. "There's more than one angle to moving the prime minister around Afghanistan, and I'm not in a position to make any changes at the last minute."

Military officials said the PMO complained that the Canadian Forces "didn't have the authority to plan anything on their behalf."

One senior military source said the convoy was cancelled, at least in part, because it didn't fit with the PMO's "cookie-cutter approach" to media relations. Others have spoken in the past about senior government officials being strongly opposed to the Canadian Forces embed program.

Harper began the final day of his two-day visit to Afghanistan by having breakfast with soldiers in the mess hall, delivering a speech lauding the troops and offering a gift of hockey sticks and balls.

"Each of you stands among the greatest of your generation," Harper told the soldiers.

"You are Canada's sons and daughters. And your country - as much as this country - owes you a debt of gratitude and its unwavering support."

But there were visible signs his audience, which crowded around the podium and sat atop armoured vehicles parked behind Harper for the benefit of the cameras, was decidedly non-partisan.

Scores of soldiers began filing out the moment the prime minister finished speaking. An officer stopped them and said: "The prime minister is still here - so that means we're still here. Get back inside."

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper managed to throw an elbow the Senate's way from the other side of the globe yesterday while recruiting a new young fan for Canada's Stanley Cup hopes.

After meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Harper gave Karzai an baby-sized Ottawa Senators jersey for the president's 4-month-old son. "These are not members of the upper house," Harper said. "They are admired hockey players."
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The monkeys of the left chatter...
"The Prime Minister is on a smoke and mirrors tour," said NDP defence critic Dawn Black. "He knows full well we spend millions more on search and destroy missions than we do on building schools. The Prime Minister has travelled halfway across the world to con Canadians. His tricks won't work."

Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh said: "Harper and his government have long neglected and downplayed the reconstruction and development aspects of the mission by highlighting the combat aspect. The reality and the perception of the mission have been distorted by this government's handling of it — so much so that he now has to visit Afghanistan just to rebalance it in Canadians' eyes." On the sprawling air base — home to more than 10,000 troops from a more than a dozen nations — calibrating the right balance between combat operations and reconstruction seems a faraway and largely academic debate.
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“With their selfless efforts and accomplishments in Afghanistan as our proof, we will let no one diminish all that Canada has achieved here,” the Prime Minister added. “And such achievements come only through the secure environment our troops are building here, and from the training and mentoring they are providing the Afghanistan coalition, through this mission.”
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"You know that we can't just put down our weapons and hope for peace. You know that we can't set arbitrary deadlines and simply wish for the best," Harper said, deflecting critics who want the mission to end immediately or at least in two years.

"Thank you for proving to Canadians and to people around the world that when Canada makes a commitment, Canada follows through."
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"We are not daunted by shadows because we carry the light that defines them - the light of freedom and democracy, of human rights and the rule of law, the light of this country's tangible progress to date, and its determination and hope for the future,"

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