Warren — Musings —05.01.2012 04:02 PM
…but not down the memory hole. From a year ago:
The NDP got its first taste of the perils of prominence Wednesday after being forced to handle two public relations disasters as the newly elected Official Opposition.
While MP-elect Ruth Ellen Brosseau was scrutinized for allegedly filing falsified nomination papers in Quebec, deputy leader of the NDP, Thomas Mulcair, drew gasps when he said he does not believe the United States government has photographs of terrorist Osama bin Laden. He also hinted there may be “more going on,” behind the scenes of his assassination than the U.S. is making known.
“I don’t think, from what I’ve heard, that those pictures exist. And if they do, I’ll leave that up to the American military,” Mr. Mulcair said during an appearance on the CBC TV’s Power and Politics Wednesday.
Asked again whether he thinks the photos exist, Mr. Mulcair said: “No, I don’t think they do. If they’ve got pictures of a cadaver, there’s probably more going on than we suspect in what happened there.”
Doubting that the US intelligence establishment was less than forthcoming about a black op? And that’s laughable why? You can always tell when they’re lying. The first clue is that their lips are moving…
I’m not going to vote for him, but I think Mulcair is going to win.
It wasn’t a clear question, and once it was clarified, Mulcair gave a clear answer.
When Liberals are going after the other parties on “leadership” and “professionalism”, they have nothing left on policy.
You’re funny. You’re also a year too late, genius.
Hey, you’re the one who dug this one up and tried to brush the dust off.
It’s a non-issue.
He’s paranoid. That’s not an issue? He’s a citizen of a foreign country. Is that an issue? He has anger control issues. Shouldn’t that be an issue?
It wasn’t a clear question, and once it was clarified, Mulcair gave a clear answer.
Debatable, but here are the questions Evan Solomon aske about it:
Evan: PEOPLE WILL WANT YOUR OPINION, AND IT MATTERS MORE, FRANKLY, ON A WIDE RANGE OF ISSUES. FOR EXAMPLE, SOMEONE MIGHT SAY, THOMAS MULCAIR, SHOULD THE U.S. RELEASE PICTURES OF OSAMA BIN LADEN AS MANY ARE DEMANDING? WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?
And…
Evan: JUST SO I UNDERSTAND THAT, WHEN YOU SAY YOU DON’T THINK THE PICTURES EXIST, JUST EXPLAIN EXACTLY WHY YOU THINK THERE MIGHT NOT BE PICTURES OF THE CADAVER AND THE BODY OF OSAMA BIN LADEN?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/inside-politics-blog/2011/05/mulcair-transcript.html
As for doubting US Intelligence… fine, but you should have something to back it up otherwise you just sound like you’re indulging in conspiracy theories.
Thanks for that fuller transcript link;
I saw the original, which was very soon after the original announcement that Bin Laden was killed — & remember the context:
originally it was claimed that there was a firefight, with Bin Laden going down in a blaze of inglory upstairs, outside his bedroom, with a machine gun in his hands, using his wife as a shield…which is why they couldn’t just arrest & try him; & supposedly they dumped his body in the ocean out of respect (!) to Muslim sensibilities, not wanting to inflame more rebellion, etc.
— as opposed to what his wife later alleged (tho I can’t find that links just now): that they captured him w/o incident, took him out to the courtyard, & shot him, executioner-style: an extra-judicial assassination.
As his fuller remarks indicate, it’s THAT Mulcair is questioning: whether the killing was in self-defence, as the US initially claimed, and whether they had any photographic evidence of that.
And his instincts were right: it was total BS on the part of the US Administration
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/05/the-slippery-story-of-the-bin-laden-kill/238261/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/05/us-binladen-raid-idUSTRE74482G20110505
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/05/obama-aide-bin-laden-not-armed/1#.T6B_8lLO-So
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8500431/Osama-bin-Laden-killed-Behind-the-scenes-of-the-deadly-raid.html
As his fuller remarks indicate, it’s THAT Mulcair is questioning: whether the killing was in self-defence, as the US initially claimed, and whether they had any photographic evidence of that.
I believe the idea that it was self-defense came out later in the exchange (and a separate issue), but from the transcript, I got the impression that Muclair didn’t believe that the Bin Laden photographs exist.
Evan: YOU DON’T THINK THOSE PICTURES EXIST?
Muclair: NO, I DON’T THINK — IF THEY’VE GOT PICTURES OF A CADAVER, THEN THERE’S PROBABLY MORE GOING ON THAN WE SUSPECT IN WHAT HAPPENED THERE.
The controversy at the time was that the U.S. wasn’t going to release the photographs of Bin Laden’s corpse. It was the breaking news of May 4, 2011, the day Mulcair was interviewed by Solomon.
“It is important to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool,” said the president.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20059739-503544.html?tag=breakingnews
If I remember it at all, Brosseau’s nomination had mor ethan enough signatures, but some of them were iffy. I understand, too, that a complaint about the signatures was made by the defeated candidates.
As for questioning any one of the many USA intelligence/black ops organizations, oh yes, I bet dozens of Canadians would think this a foolish thing to do, and would gasp.
Dozens!
(Story I like about USA intell is the one about when Cheney et al were feeding the frenzy to attack Iraq in 1991. Cheney said that satellite photos showed the Iraq miltary massing on the border between Iraq and Kingdon of Saudi Arabia. Then Cheney, for national security reasons, classified the photos. So, late in the 1990’s came the news that Russian satellite photos at the same time showed empty desert where Cheney said the Iraq miltary was massing. Gasp!)
The anti-Mulcair campaign will get darned interesting, when it comes.
I’ve seen that wing-nuttish side of Mulclair come out a few times now. Closet conspiracy theorist?
Super weak to dredge that Tory trash up again, Warren. So much for progressive unity, huh?
It’s amusing. So are you.
If that’s the worst of the ‘oppo research’ on Mulcair, then the Liberals and Conservatives can look forward to another couple years of steady slide at the expense of the NDP.
As for ‘uniting the left’, yes, it was indeed eye-opening to see the first attack ad on Mulcair launched not from the permanent Conservative war room but from the Young Liberals. And now we witness the voices of ‘progressive unity’ here appeal to stale ad hominem and yellow journalism in order to carp from the sidelines at the one cohesive political entity that is putting dent’s in Stephen Harper’s armour?
I guess we won’t all be singing Coombaya after all…
Sorry, but Jack Layton had more class in his little finger than Mulcair has in his whole being…….Would Jack have reduced the other opposition parties down to 20 minutes with which to speak on the budget, or deny Elizabeth May seating outside the parliamentary chamber?…I think not…..
I would have considered a link-up with someone like Nathan Cullen…..but I’ll have no truck nor trade with this a**hole…….
I look forward to M. Mulcair’s next tantrum caught on camera……Im sure we wont have to wait long…….
Interesting that on International Workers Day, you hadn’t anything better than a superficial attack on the NDP, the closest thing we have to a labour party. Mulcair’s current polling numbers must be worrisome not only for Harper, but more so for the LPC, which may be on the verge of total irrelevance. As for Brosseau, I’m sure you’ve seen the articles reporting how well she is doing and how well liked she is in her riding.
Since we’re travelling down memory lane….why not view this again for the first time…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4sLHt6rcmo&feature=related
As a gay man, I was upset at the man’s deportation as well……but is this the kind of behaviour we want to see from a possible PM?….Id hate to see the man in a crisis…..