Defining Treason

The Sun's Peter Worthington questions Jack Layton's motives and actions in this morning's column, "Lucky it's not 1942", and suggests that in another era, this conduct would have been considered treasonous:

No Canadian of good intent should want to make life more difficult for soldiers. We should all show encouragement and offer moral support.

Whenever there's a casualty, the Laytons of our country are in full cry, like hound dogs after a coon. Soldiers in the field know what's happening at home, and it does their morale no good when people who should know better use any opportunity -- even the death of a comrade -- to advance their political agenda.

Conversely, the enemies of our country exploit any dissension -- which should concern all our politicians, regardless of party affiliation.

It's too easy -- and quite misleading -- to assume that because six soldiers died in an enemy attack, that the mission is flawed and failing.

Wikipedia defines treason as a:

...crime of disloyalty to one's nation. A person who betrays the nation of their citizenship and/or reneges on an oath of loyalty and in some way willfully cooperates with an enemy, is considered to be a traitor. Oran's Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as: "...[a]...citizen's actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the [parent nation]."

Is it an act of treason to merely express concern or displeasure over the mission? No, of course not. In fact it is the duty of the opposition to lend balance and be a voice for those who disagree with the government of the day.

However, timing is crucial.

I have been asked when and under what circumstances should dissension be allowed IMO. Personally, I think that is why we have a Parliament, and a Question Period therein.

But when politicians use the still-warm bodies of our brave, fallen soldiers to score partisan points, I think their actions are beyond revolting.

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Update: Please also read Dan Leger's excellent column in the Chronicle Herald - Canada: Do what's right but don't desert Afghans.

Right on

Great discussion in the Letters section of the National Post this morning (Is Afghanistan a Cause Worth Fighting For)?

Here's my favourite:

I can only assume that Jack Layton is as outraged as I am. 191 fatalities this year (compared to 66 military deaths), many of them young Canadians, is completely unacceptable. And that's just one province. This is not what Parliament signed up for when we permitted cars on our roads. Canada should stick to its traditional transportation role of riding bicycles and leave the driving to our aggressive American neighbours. The freedom provided by the automobile isn't worth the loss of life, and I expect Mr. Layton to call for Canada's immediate withdrawal from the roads. Some freedoms are simply not worth dying for.

John Ewing, Burlington, Ont.

Well done, John!


Actually, Jack Layton likely would support a car ban. I understand he doesn't own a car, and bikes everywhere. And think about the carbon credits Canada would accumulate!

Win-win for sure.

Put a lid on it Jack! - Reposted with important updates.

Jonathan Kay's excellent column in the National Post's blog, Full Comment, made it onto the editorial page this morning - They died for a good cause. (Thanks again to Darcey for that blog link.)

Kay takes Jack Layton to task for using the deaths of our Canadian soldiers as a political platform to reinforce his view that we should pull out of Afghanistan immediately. Worse, his actions may well be putting the lives of the troops in even greater peril:

Mr. Layton symbolizes why the West may just lose the battle against militant Islam: As soon as our enemies draw blood, he reflexively raises the white flag higher, offering to withdraw from whatever part of the world the jihadis happen to be targeting.

Warren Kinsella also raises the concern about the power of the media and how terrorists can use it to their advantage in a war of propaganda and demoralization (Don't give terrorists the attention they crave).


This of course will always raise the weary debate about how criticism of the mission is part of free speech and should not be stifled. I really do think there is a time for this discussion, and it is not immediately following the death of a soldier.

Kerry Townsend is a parent of an Afghanistan soldier and has just been interviews on Newstalk 570. I will update this post after hearing the rest of Jeff Allan's show. Her comments against Layton are scathing.

Lots more to come.

Meanwhile, read Sandy's latest post - Layton Promoting Defeatism.

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Update #1: I wish you could all have listened to Jeff's show this morning from 9 to 10 a.m. Very enlightening.

Brief summary - Kerry Townsend, who is the mother of a Canadian soldier and part of a local support group, said that one of the cruelest things someone can say is that your child died 'for nothing'. Have a discussion, fine, but don't use the immediate aftermath of the deaths of their children as your political springboard. This is from my notes, so not an exact quote, but you get the picture.

Jack Layton was his usual arrogant and la-la land-ish self. Layton advcated a 'comprehensive peace process' which would work towards a ceasefire and also involve reconstruction.

Jeff asked Layton how we would do that if people are shooting at us?

Layton obfuscated and muttered something about discussions being the first steps.

I don't know about you, but I really doubt some of those characters so bent on severing blindfolded heads with any available implement would be much into 'discussions'.

On the other hand, Jack is very adept at his role as a talking head, so maybe he could volunteer.

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Update #2: (Noon) Last night I was fortunate to catch an interview with a mother of a Canadian soldier on the local 6 o-clock news. Knowing that they usually reran news clips at 11:30 p.m., I threw a tape in the VCR before going to bed.

I just had a chance to review the tape. The mother is the same one interviewed on Jeff Allan's show this morning, but the T.V. news station had her name spelled "Townson" rather than "Townsend", and they listed her as belonging to "Families of Canadian Soldiers in Afghanistan".

Anyway, not being able to find any online links, I transcribed the clip myself.

Here is Kerry Townson's message (emphasis added according to her inflection):

"Our only fear is that when there is a lot of discussion in the media, after there have been fatalities, it's not a time for political debate; it is a time for empathy, and for sharing grief - not for debate over the mission.

This is exactly what the Taliban wants, and that's when attacks increase".

Could someone please deliver this message to Jack Layton?

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Friday Update: Newstalk 570 now has a link about Kerry Townsend. - Local Military Mom says Now is Not the Time for Politics.

On a Soldier's Right to Choose

I am growing weary of Jack Layton's predictable rhetoric every time a Canadian soldier is killed in Afghanistan.

Following the sad death of Cpl. Matthew McCully, who was killed by a roadside bomb on Friday, Layton used the occasion to say that "he hopes Canadians will ask the government to take a different approach to combat in Afghanistan."

"Our soldiers will risk their lives, according to what we request them to do. We saw yesterday the profound reality of that commitment," he said during an interview with the Canadian Press in Toronto.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall any soldiers being forced or conscripted here. For the most part, they are very committed, and believe in the mission. And the Afghans seem to be very grateful for Canadian assistance in trying to rid their country of the Taliban and help establish safety and democracy.

McCully's sister, Shannon McGrady, said the 25-year-old was a role model who acted a father figure to his younger siblings while growing up in Orangeville, Ont. He was also a soldier who loved his job, she said.

"I thought he was crazy. He loved the army," McGrady said. "If he was asked to do this all over again, he wouldn't change it."

And from his Dad:

"He was a very caring guy who just loved life," his father, Ron McCully, told CBC Newsworld from his home in Prince George, B.C., on Saturday. "His passion was the army. He lived it. He believed in what he was doing."

Perhaps Jack Layton's problem is that the concepts of integrity, commitment and freedom are foreign to him.

We often rail against that which we don't understand.

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Update: Jack has very kindly posted this entry at Jack's Newswatch - Daily Blogger feature.

Very interesting post here by Jarrett. I only had one issue with what he had written, which I mentioned in the comment section.