Last year, in March 2005, before Maclean’s had completely morphed into a glossy weekly version of the repugnant National Post, the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge wrote an opinion piece in the magazine entitled, ‘Maybe Bush was right: Even U.S. critics agree that the Iraq invasion may have sparked democracy’ (March 11, 2005).

The soothing authoritative voice of Canada’s public broadcaster laid out an unlikely analogy, suggesting potential parallels between the impact of the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall and the events initiated by recent U.S. policy in the Middle East and the 2003 launching of the war on Iraq. Citing Afghanistan, Iraq (then enjoying something like relative stability following January 2005 elections), a “hint” of democratic reform in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and “remarkable scenes” in Lebanon, Mansbridge clearly implied he thought Bush was on his way to making a decent omelet, and that the broken eggs (and lives) of the Iraq war just might have been worth it.

The past eighteen months have made a mockery of Mansbridge’s optimistic prognostications. Indeed, his eagerness to give Bush the benefit of the doubt a year and half ago would be irrelevant if it weren’t for the fact that Mansbridge is today a key pillar of the effort to justify Canada’s more aggressive foreign policy, and specifically the frontline role Canadian armed forces are playing in the current occupation of Afghanistan.

Mansbridge has been carrying the flag into battle on a nightly basis, even broadcasting the National from Afghanistan. An effective propagandist, often subtle and understated, he has been almost without fail completely uncritical of Canada’s highest officials responsible for the Afghanistan policy. In recent months, the body bags coming home from Kandahar have belatedly sparked a cross-country debate on the deployment. Unfortunately, when Rick Hillier and the Liberal government of the day announced the Kandahar mission in the summer of 2005, the established national media utterly failed to ask the hard questions or to cast doubt on the lack of even a token parliamentary discussion. (A “debate” would merely have been for show, because at the time none of the federal parties in the House objected seriously. NDP leader Jack Layton, for instance, raised eyebrows when he seemed to excuse Hillier’s remarks about the enemy Afghans being “detestable murderers” and “scumbags”.) 

The kid gloves that Paul Martin and Bill Graham were treated with on Afghanistan have been kept on for Stephen Harper and Gordon O’Connor, despite the growing casualties and the mounting calls to bring the troops home.

A feature interview of the Prime Minister by Mansbridge on last Tuesday night’s National was a prime example of the soft touch journalism at the national broadcaster. The only reference to the increasing public calls for Canadian troops to be withdrawn was implicit, with Mansbridge advancing the idea that Canadians just needed to be better informed about what role the army is playing in Afghanistan. Harper responded with a shrug of the shoulders, explaining away the lack of support with the assertion that average people just aren’t paying close attention:

Mansbridge: “How do you explain, to yourself, the apparent lack of knowledge on the part of a good number of Canadians as to what we are doing in Afghanistan…?”

Harper: “You know, Peter, I don’t know if I am shocked by that. I’m not sure if it’s different on Afghanistan than on any other area of public policy."(You can watch the entire tête-a-tête here)

The “apparent lack of knowledge” in question was an apparent reference to a series of public opinion polls that show a growing number of people in Canada having serious doubts about our military’s role in Afghanistan; recent polls have in fact shown a majority in favour of withdrawing the troops. Perhaps the numbers will soon be overwhelming enough that even the likes of Peter Mansbridge will feel compelled to ask the Prime Minister about this anti-war sentiment.

Mansbridge, in reality a part of the Canadian establishment himself, has for some time been asking his questions from the opposite perspective to that of a responsible, critical journalist.

Rather than giving those in power the benefit of the doubt, as in “Maybe George Bush was right”, he should be putting their feet to the fire, as in “Maybe Stephen Harper and Rick Hillier are wrong”.

But that, unfortunately, is not an article anyone would expect to see from either Maclean’s or Peter Mansbridge anytime soon.

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