WHAT THEY SAID: No tears for Tobin, but some for al-Qaeda

 


Author:     Jane Taber

  OTTAWA - The plight of prisoners and politicians has been 
weighing heavily on the minds of editorial writers and pundits 
in and around the nation's capital.

  It's been a week now since Jean Chretien's Cabinet shuffle and 
the dramatic departure of Brian Tobin -- seven days during which 
the print pundits have had time to ponder his actions.

  
And what they have said about him has not been pretty.

  Still, before discussing the antics of Mr. Tobin and the 
elevation of Ottawa's John Manley to the status of golden boy, 
there is the controversial, and more pressing, matter of the 
plight of the al-Qaeda fighters imprisoned at a U.S. military 
base in Cuba.

  "Even thugs deserve humane treatment," reads the headline of the 
Ottawa Citizen editorial.

  "Conditions for detainees in Guantanamo Bay are harsh: wire-mesh 
cells 2.4 by 1.8 metres, a sleeping mat and blanket, a bucket 
for a toilet," writes the Citizen. "But that doesn't necessarily 
make them inhumane. On the other hand, U.S. assurances that it's 
treating the prisoners humanely don't mean that's so."

  The Citizen argues that Canada should "insist" the United States 
"allow a 'competent tribunal' to decide the legal status of the 
detainees, as required by the Geneva Convention. ... That might 
make it more difficult to find Osama bin Laden and his remaining 
thugs. But laws keep us from behaving like them."

  The Sudbury Star agrees: "This conflict must now move to its 
next stage. A tribunal, formed by the United Nations, must 
address the issue of these captured fighters and determine how 
they will be dealt with."

  Editorial writers at The Daily Press in Timmins disagree. In an 
editorial appearing this week, the newspaper is unequivocal in 
its U.S. support. "We can't help but wonder if some politicians 
and civil rights advocates are overreacting when it comes to the 
treatment of captured al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters by the 
United States.

  "For the U.S. military to treat the prisoners any differently 
might very well imperil American lives," reads the editorial. 
"If Osama bin Laden is still alive, we suspect he is giving the 
civil rights advocates a hearty thumbs up."

  No one, however, is giving a hearty thumbs up to Mr. Tobin. 
Rather, his sudden departure from politics provoked much 
criticism.

  "No tears will be shed in this corner since Brian Tobin's 
departure represents his third consecutive betrayal of voters," 
Walter Robinson, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers 
Federation and a regular columnist in The Ottawa Sun wrote 
yesterday. "Mr. Tobin seems content to be back home on the Rock 
playing with his bag of marbles and collecting his parliamentary 
pension."

  In the Citizen, columnist Rosa Harris-Adler wrote a 
devastatingly sarcastic piece, ridiculing Mr. Tobin's assertion 
that he was leaving for family reasons. She chronicles what she 
imagines his first week post-politics would have been like:

  "Day One: Brian decides it's finally time to learn how to diaper 
the baby. With some effort, he pins the flailing child down on 
the changing table only to discover there are no diapers in the 
house. Brian gives up in confusion."

  By Day Seven, however, Ms. Harris-Adler notes that though Mr. 
Tobin has finally mastered the diapering process, his "baby" who 
is 15 years old is "not amused."

  And Michel Vastel, a columnist in Le Droit, writes a goodbye to 
his "favourite Newfie." He says that Mr. Tobin walked on too 
many toes, and made too many enemies in Ottawa. He also wrote 
that while the former minister may have been one of the 
longest-serving MPs, he was also one of the most "unstable," 
noting his career was like a "rough sea," with highs and lows 
and never calm.

  The vitriol continues. In The Kingston Whig-Standard Paul 
Schliesmann writes, "Canadians don't need the kind of politician 
Brian Tobin had become -- flighty, opportunistic and lacking in 
commitment to his job as a Member of Parliament."

  The pundits in Ottawa, it seems, have saved all of their praise 
for John Manley, the new Deputy Prime Minister and a hometown 
favourite. "[Mr. Manley] has proven to be a sensible manager who 
Canadians can trust," says a Sun editorial, observing that he 
emerged from the Sept. 11 crisis as a "sensible, serious voice 
in Cabinet." And the Citizen calls Mr. Manley "competent and 
scrupulously honest."

  "Mr. Manley's continuing responsibility for national security, 
along with the added clout he gains as Deputy Prime Minister, 
bodes well for the country."



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