11.02.2010 07:09 AM

Two big Lilley scoops

Here.

It’s a scoop because my Sun colleague has fascinating behind-the-scenes stuff on the Khadr plea deal.

It’s also a scoop because the Reformatory cabinet has been leaking – in this case, to Brian.

Believe me: when that stuff starts to happen, it’s the beginning of the end.

8 Comments

  1. Will M says:

    I don’t eat crap so I’ll pass on the two Lilley scoops thanks.

  2. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    Some people had better start praying hard and fast RIGHT NOW that the old man was “fully engaged” on this file. Otherwise, it won’t be pretty! Call that the understatement of the year.

  3. Cath says:

    Easy way to scoop the truth. Which “foreign affairs official” signed that “diplomatic note”.
    I’m pretty sure that if the PM doesn’t know who that is now, he will in no short order. The question then becomes how it’s all received in the court of public opinion from there on in.
    This is not an issue in my neck of the world..it’s just not even close to being on the radar.

    • JH says:

      Same in my area Cath. Folks don’t care who leaked what to who. This is just more inside Ottawa stuff that no one outside of Parliament Hill pays attention to. People don’t want any part of Khadr for the most part, defninitely don’t want him out a year after he comes back and basically think the Liberals and and the NDP are lobbying for this and are soft on crime and terrorism. That may be incorrect, but some of the statements coming from individual membes of their caucuses have given rise to these perceptions.
      I think they need to worry more about imposing some discipline on their members then worrying about the Conservatives.

  4. Still Anonymous says:

    It could be a strategic leak. This way, Harper comes across as a reliable hard-core anti-Muslim reformer, while the sissies at Foreign Affairs take the blame. Hence, the leak to Sun Media. Surely, Warren, you can see through this, right?

  5. Namesake says:

    Well, they’ve probably leaked to Lilley before: as on the BS ‘”Secret survey” shows 70% of Tamil Refugees Go Back for ‘Vacations'” story this summer. What’s diff. now is that they’re leaking about a) some dissension; & b) an actual Cabinet meeting. So watch for a Captain Queeg internal inquiry & head to roll on _that_.

    As for the article’s musings whether the Cndn. diplomats took advantage of Harper’s absence & exceeded their authority in signing off on those those notes, I don’t buy it for one second:

    I’m sure Harper could still be reached 24/7 (doesn’t he _have_ to be, in case those fighter jets we scramble has to shoot someone down?); and that if it was done w/o authorization the gov’t wouldn’t be so quick (for them) to announce that they WILL be repatriating Khadr after all — they’d be working behind the scenes to nullify the agreement; and that it’s probably also been in the works for quite a while (likely all summer), not just those 4 days.

    As for the way the communications were handled: that’s just par for the course for this gov’t, as with the Census affair — try to sneak it through, then deny, deflect, try to attribute the decision to someone else, throw a civil servant under the bus if you can….

  6. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Namesake,

    My sneeking suspicion is that Khadr will make Canadian land all right only to get the brush off from The National Parole Board. Translation: potentially rot in a Canadian jail for another seven years…

    • smelter rat says:

      Hopefully not. However, even his lawyer has indicated that Khadr needs some sort of programming/re-programming to allow for an eventual re-entry to the community. this is someone who was brainwashed by his family at least as early as 10, and for the past 7 years has been shot, tortured and held in solitary confinement. No one expects that he’d be able to successfully walk away from those experiences without significant intervention, supervision and support, likely for many years to come.

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