blasts from the past

That’s what the lawyer for Mohamed Harkat told the Federal Court yesterday.

… in 2005 – and you’ll never guess who was leading the charge!

What with the Parliamentary Budget Officer coming out with the most complete accounting to date of the full cost of the war in Afghanistan, it seemed as good a time as any to repost this summary of what Canadians told the Manley Commission during its consultations on whether to extend the mission until 2011.

(I still wonder whether anyone but me — and John Manley, one hopes — can claim to have read every single one of these submissions):
Touching a nerve

When John Manley asked Canadians for their thoughts on Afghanistan, he got more than he bargained for

Kady O’Malley | Jan 24, 2008 |
Kady O’Malley

For the full report and reactions from Maclean’s bloggers, columnists and Maclean’s 50 members, read our full coverage of Manley’s Afghanistan report here. For more submission samples click here

When the Manley panel announced, with little fanfare, that it was ready to take suggestions from the public on Canada’s future in Afghanistan, it’s likely that they didn’t expect more than a handful of contributions. The consultations, after all, were purely virtual: there were no public hearings or town halls, just a minimalist and virtually unpublicized website, and a form to file submissions. But over the next month, over 200 associations, interest groups and ordinary Canadians provided the Manley panel with their thoughts on where Canada should go from here – and not just in Afghanistan.

In contributions ranging from one sentence to eight single spaced pages (the maximum length accepted) they offered opinions not just on the mission in Afghanistan, but the future of Canadian foreign policy, particularly in the waning era of the Bush doctrine, and the post-post 9/11 world.

Just 30 per cent of the submissions, the website notes, “directly addressed one or more of the options included within the panel’s terms of reference.” Most advocate “either for Option 1 (continue training the Afghan police/military and pursue a phased withdrawal of Canadian troops starting in February 2009) or Option 4 (withdraw Canadian troops completely after February 2009 except for a small contingent to protect aid workers/diplomats).”

Macleans.ca conducted its own survey, and came up with the following breakdown:

Option 1 – 20 submissions
Option 2 – 10 submissions