Zell_Dietrich said:
.... it is common practice for the Canadian government to give rough outlines and suggested talking points to visiting dignitaries. It allows them to understand how to make the best impression possible while visiting here. (We even do this for American presidents who come to visit - we really do.)
As a matter of fact..... (shared with the usual disclaimer - highlights mine)
(BTWI,
here's the speech if you want to see how "tainted" it is. :
)
Afghan officials deny DND wrote speech
NDP allegations about Karzai's address 'insulting'
Mike Blanchfield, CanWest News Service, 26 Sept 07
Article link
OTTAWA - The Afghanistan government says the federal NDP is being "ludicrous and insulting" for suggesting that Canadian military officials wrote President Hamid Karzai's speech to Parliament last year.
The Afghan embassy in Ottawa issued the blunt denial after the New Democrats released documents obtained through Access to Information indicating the Department of National Defence provided "messages" and "themes" that were adopted by Mr. Karzai in his address to Parliament.
An internal military report, provided to the federal party under Access to Information, says members of the Canadian Forces strategic advisory team accompanied Mr. Karzai and his Afghan delegation to New York before his arrival in Ottawa last September for a historic address to a joint session of the House of Commons and the Senate.
It says that "at the request of president's office" the Canadian military team "prepared initial draft of president's address to Parliament Sept. 22."
The note goes on to say that: "It was noted that key statistics, messages and themes, as well as overall structure, were adopted by the president in his remarks to joint session."
NDP defence critic Dawn Black said the report is an example of how the Conservative government is trying to manipulate public opinion for the country's military involvement in Afghanistan.
"President Karzai's address to Parliament was an elaborately staged political stunt by this government to sell Canadians on the combat mission in Kandahar," said Ms. Black, who called Mr. Karzai a "front man" for the Conservative government.
The NDP has called for the immediate withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada, Omar Samad, lashed out at the NDP, and said
top Afghan officials, including Mr. Karzai himself, crafted drafts of the speech.
Mr. Samad said government officials from both countries shared information over several weeks as Mr. Karzai's trip was being planned.
"As is customary in diplomatic arrangements and co-ordination, they shared information about protocol, agenda, discussion items and other relevant bilateral issues," he said in a statement.
"To suggest otherwise is not only ludicrous and insulting, it is also sadly diverting attention away from the real issues we face as two nations."
A spokesman for Peter Mac-Kay, the Minister of National Defence, said there is nothing nefarious in a host government providing input for a speech by a foreign visitor.
"The NDP's attempt to undermine President Karzai's integrity shows once again its willingness to say anything as it opposes Canada's commitment to the United Nations and NATO to help Afghanistan," Dan Dugas said.
Mr. Karzai's speech before Canadian MPs and senators did not differ significantly in substance
from the usual theme of other international speeches he has given in recent years.
As he has done in most of his public appearances in the past five years, Mr. Karzai spoke of the need for foreign troops to remain in his country until it can protect itself from radicals and terrorists.
He cited both progress in reconstruction -- a doubling of per capita income to $355, six million children in school including more than two million girls, and 28% of the seats in parliament occupied by women -- but did not shy away from the problems that his country still faced.
He told Parliament that the Taliban insurgency in Kandahar had burned down 150 schools, denying 200,000 children access to education, while the illegal opium trade was threatening to destroy his country.
He thanked Canadians for the sacrifices of their "sons and daughters" who have laid down their lives fighting to secure his country's freedom.
Ms. Black questioned Mr. Karzai for failing to repeat controversial subject matter he used a day earlier in a speech in New York, when he criticized the accidental killing of Afghan citizens by NATO bombers.
Canada has not deployed fighter jets to Afghanistan and has so far not been implicated in any of the accidental killing of civilians there.
Ms. Black said the memo raises questions about whether a recent news conference in Kabul Mr. Karzai gave to Canadian journalists based in Kandahar was also a stage-managed event designed to disseminate "propaganda."
The embedded journalists were flown on a military aircraft to the Afghan capital especially for the press conference, where Mr. Karzai warned that if troops were withdrawn from his country, it would descend into anarchy.
Ms. Black called for an inquiry by the Commons defence committee on the military's communications strategy as well as an emergency debate in the House of Commons on that matter.
