Now would be the moment for prime minister to apologize for 'Taliban Jack' slur

[JohnyCanuck]

“A comprehensive peace process has to bring all the combatants to the table.” – Jack Layton, Sept. 1, 2006, on the war in Afghanistan

Now that the United States has entered direct talks with the Taliban, one wonders what Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative camp followers will have to say about this development.

The New Yorker magazine reported yesterday that "the Obama Administration has entered into direct, secret talks with senior Afghan Taliban leaders."

"The discussions are continuing; they are of an exploratory nature and do not yet amount to a peace negotiation," cautioned Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll.

Alert readers will recall that, back in 2006, Harper and his political and media echo chambers branded New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton "Taliban Jack" for daring to suggest that the best way to end the pointless and bloody civil war and Western occupation in Afghanistan might be to open lines of communication to the Taliban.

"Is it next going to be tea with Osama Bin Laden? This cannot happen," sniped Defence Minister Peter MacKay, then the minister of Foreign Affairs.

Primed by the Conservative leaders' vindictive line, the on-line Tory Rage Machine assailed Layton as naive at best and treasonous at worst, accusing him of betrayal of Canada's brave soldiers abroad. The usual right-wing suspects posted pictures of the NDP leader Photoshopped into ethnic Pashtun headgear along with their predictably uncreative verbal abuse.

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/djclimenhaga/2011/02/now-would-be-moment-prime-minister-apologize-%E2%80%98taliban-jack%E2%80%99-slur

[DRex]

1. A bunch of idiots and goons....

If they backpedal one foot I'll eat my hat. Political expediency and moolah is all that matters to these clowns.