Colvin - The Diplomat who cried wolf?

As some have noticed, I haven't bothered to wade into the whole Afghan torture "allegations" issue all that much because, well, it's a non-issue for me. So expect this to be all you'll hear from me on it.

First of all, as we've been reminded by our Canadian Forces, the only people who were handed over were people who were either "caught in the act", or who tested postive for GSR... gunpowder residue. I'm sorry, but I just have a hard time getting worked up over protecting people who've been caught red-handed with guns, or roadside bombs. (And I thought the lefties were all about gun control... just not in Afghanistan, I guess...)

Second of all, did you ever hear the story of the boy who cried wolf? It's my guess, and this is admittedly total speculation on my part, that the Mr. Colvin's memos on this issue got routienly ignored, perhaps even with a roll of the eyes, and the recipiants probably even said "Oh great, here he goes again" every time they got such an e-mail.

I mean come on, admit it, we all have one or two of those people that we work with. People that have an "issue" that they're always harping on, and when we get a message from that person, we just roll our eyes and think "Oh what are they whining about now."

The one line we've been hearing over and over again from the Government and the Military is that no "substantiated" allegations were brought forward. Meanwhile the Opposition are pointing to the Colvin memos as "proof" that there were such allegations. But if his memos weren't acted upon because he was regarded as a boy crying wolf, well then, how exactly can anyone hold the Government he held accountable for that?

So maybe he got it right ONCE, after all the years of harping on the issue. But unfortunately, the one time he may have been right got drowned out by all his other memos.

Just like that poor little boy... the one time he was right, no one listened to him, and it was his own fault.