Hating my country with Zeal

Today I learned that a man who's conduct was both 'lamentable and inexcusable' in the murder of a 16 year old kid by Canadian forces in Somalia, just got a promotion to go to Afghanistan.

The 'Somalia affair' as it came to be known really didn't get its fair day in the press. An act that everyone should have seen as Canada's racist and imperialist nature, and which should have made Canadians have a mid-life crisis about our role in the world, was painted as a bunch of bad apples spoiling the good nature of what we were doing there.

Among the most horrible things about this story are that a) this dude worked closely about 3 years ago with our highest ranking military officer in Afghanistan, Rick Hillier AND the current president of Afghanistan, and b) that the CBC said the following things in their story:

Col. Mike Capstick, a former leader of the team, said Labbe will be well suited to the role.

Labbe was the commander in charge in Somalia when Canadian peacekeepers tortured and beat to death Shidane Arone, a 16-year-old Somali boy they had taken prisoner. The military was criticized for trying to cover up the death.

CBC senior correspondent Brian Stewart said Labbe's latest appointment in Afghanistan is significant for the Canadian military.

"I think the long shadow of Somalia is now over," said Stewart. "The years of apologies are over. It's time to move on."