The Cock Up Continues

It's New Year's Eve and several holidaying Liberal Cabinet ministers have awakened to the fact there is a major disaster in Asia and that as Ministers of the Crown they are supposed to be at their post waving the flag and providing direction to the civil service. Even Prime Minister Martin has signalled his intention to leave his Moroccan beach any day now and return to Ottawa. But he's in touch by cell phone, so don't worry.

The Liberal spin doctors are frantic that the government looked rudderless at a very critical time. Of course, this perception grew with the public because the government was rudderless at the time. Pesky facts! They keep interfering with the myth making. ...the Government is on top of things, .... really .... honest .... cell phones you know ..... DART team may not be the best instrument .... blah, bah, blah, ....

(But the people know what's happening, or rather what's not happening ..... Ministers of the Crown may not be up and running, but the peoples' BS detectors are fully functioning .... They know this is a grand cock up.)

The Liberals are still trying to spin the failure to send the DART team. They thought they bought themselves some time by sending a 12 person DART reconnaissance team to Asia. I think it merely highlights the cock up. We have diplomats abroad who should be able to assess the situation in their respective countries and report back. Other countries are already there with assistance teams ... the non-governmental aid organizations (NGOs)are on the ground and working hard .... the Canadian Government has sent one aircraft so far .... which, given the serviceability of CF Hercules transports may be about the best the airforce's 8 Wing can do.

Cock up test. If other assisting governmments in the world and NGOs like Oxfam, et al, can find the coal face and dig in with assistance, then why can't the Government of Canada do the same? Why don't they just pick up those damn cell phones and call an NGO, or a government in distress. Answer. It's a cock up, that's why.

The Liberals are great admirers of the United Nations. So much so they've abandoned their faith in God for faith in the UN. This must be why they are emulating the one other organization that hasn't got its act together in this disaster. A very interesting post in the Diplomad http://diplomadic.blogspot.com has the goods on the UN effort.

We have US C-130s flying in and out of here dropping off heaps of supplies; US choppers arrive today; USAID is doing a knock-out job of marshalling and coordinating US and local resources to deliver real assistance to real people. The Aussies have planes and troops delivering stuff; even the Indians have goods on the way. The UN? Nowhere to be seen. OK, I'm not being fair. Last night they played host to a big "coordination" meeting of donors to announce that the UNDP has another large "assessment and coordination team" team arriving. Our USAID guys, who've been working 18-20 hrs/day, came back furious from this meeting saying everybody would be dead if the delivery of aid waited for the UN to set up shop and begin "coordinating." The UN types are upset with the US, Ms. Short, dear, not because we're undermining them but because we're showing them up as totally inept.

Yup, the UN is upset with those nasty Bushites again. They won't join in the UN assessment and coordination team exercises because they're too busy providing assistance. I bet Canadians are on that UN team. Sounds like it runs at about our government's speed.

Fact. In 1996 the Liberal government established (with great fanfare) a 200 person disaster relief unit of the Canadian Forces that can't assist in any disasters because they clearly can't move 200 troops and their equipment beyond the gates of CFB Trenton.

People will die because of this Liberal cock up. But the Liberal spin doctors and vacationing Minister's of the Crown will die before admitting it.