A rose, by any other name

The first rent-a-plane Antonov (picture above) has arrived in Canada and has now left for Colombo. A second (and smaller) plane will arrive tonight, and is expected to make the trip tomorrow morning, it has been reported. The bold and ever-decisive Minister of defense, the Hon. Bill Graham, will be at hand at 8 Wing Trenton tomorrow morning to see the second plane take off. It is estimated that each of the four return trips undertaken by the Antonovs carrying DART equipment and personnel will cost about $1.6-million US.

The Liberal government has gone on the offensive, it seems, to redefine the terms of the discourse, continuing to hide its responsibility in the slowness of the process. In order to save some face from the embarrassingly slow response of DART (largely provoked by the federal government's indecision), the military has been given new talking points. Canadian Forces officials are now at the forefront of the public reinterpretation of the purpose and mission of DART, calling the Sri Lankan mission now "non-traditional." It has been admitted that

normally, DART is deployed quickly, to provide aid before non-governmental aid agencies arrive on the scene (See CTV Story).

However, these clearly are not normal times. The inference can be made that there has been an abnormal rate of response, which has made DART arrive pretty much after everybody and their grand-mother instead of before most NGOs. The National Post reported yesterday (5 January: "A Slow Moving Dart") that a rapid response unit from Italy arrived and set up in the devastated area after five short days. The difference, beside a committed and decisive political leadership in Italy, is that the Italian unit has its own transportation. They do not have to rely on, and wait for, aircraft traveling to their country from a foreign country located almost as far as they are supposed to be going. The painfully ironic part for Canadians in all of this is that the Italian unit's aircraft are Canadian-built --and made by a company heavily subsidized by the Canadian taxpayer.

Mr. Alberini said there is some Canadian content to the Italian effort in Kinniya: The two cargo aircraft his team is using to ferry medicine and other supplies were built by Canadair.

Not that the central issue is about competition between countries. It's not the Olympics of disaster relief. However, the Canadian taxpayers, in some twisted sense, have helped the Italian rapid response team beat the Canadian DART team. Yes, I have acknowledged that it is not about competition; it is about helping many others in need and saving lives. Well, same thing then. The Italians have been helping others and saving lives in Asia for more than a week longer than our team, and one of the central reasons is that they own their planes, fabriqu�s au Canada.

But rather than owning up to say that the snail pace of the canucks is the result of faulty policy in the lack of an integral airlift ability to the unit, and of stiff government indecision, the operation is now quickly being dressed as non-traditional. This is an interesting Orwellian euphemism. It is used to hide the reality of the government's incompetence, and even more so when one considers the Forces' affinity for tradition. Swiftness, efficiency, and success are no longer part of the new tradition. It seems evident that the redefinition is being driven by the liberal propensity for dispensing with tradition and with proper military readiness. Still, it seems rather daring to speak of tradition when this is only the unit's third deployment ever. At least the Cabinet has stopped blaming its incompetence on Sri Lanka itself, and the lack of that country's adequate landing facilities. Surely, the next move is likely going to be the re-naming of the DART unit to reflect the new non-traditional (glacial) nature of its response speed. Without meaning any disrespect to the brave men and women of the DART, one might also propose that the government rename its Cabinet the FART (Frustated Assistance and Relatively Tardy) unit. A new logo will be needed to accompany the new moniker.

Either way, the federal government once more has soiled the brave men and women in uniform in this country. Either way, the actions of the liberal government smell foul.