Peter Desbarats on Afghanistan and Torture

Respected journalist and former Somalia Inquiry commissioner Peter Desbarats is on CBC's The Current this morning (no transcript or audio available at this time). He seems to feel quite strongly (and I agree) that a public inquiry would simply be an opportunity for the Harper government to punt this potentially devastating issue up the road.

He also feels that the issue is unlikely to have legs. Canadians, he suggests, are showing no outrage in this. Our understanding of the Afghan mission is minimal. More important, we get far more mileage, apparently, out of pointing our fingers at those awful Americans rather than looking at our own actions. We are allegedly complicit in the torture of innocent civilians. Our government. Our military. Our civilian officials. Just like the evil Bushies.

This is tragic.