Canadian media chastised for not reporting Richard Holbrooke's final words on Afghanistan

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      A Vancouver peace activist has questioned why major Canadian news reports have not mentioned U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke's last words to end the war in Afghanistan.

      Holbrooke, the top U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, recently died after undergoing heart surgery for a ruptured aorta.

      Family members reported that his final words were: "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan."

      Derrick O'Keefe, cochair of the Canadian Peace Alliance, told the Straight by phone that reports in the Globe and Mail and on CBC's national televised newscast neglected to mention Holbrooke's final statement, even though this was included in many U.S. broadcasts and print outlets, including the Washington Post's obituary.

      O'Keefe noted that the Washington Post has traditionally been one of the more hawkish U.S. newspapers about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

      "The whole thing indicates that Holbrooke and the foreign-policy establishment—the elite in the U.S.—are very frustrated by how the war is going and are beginning to look for ways out," O'Keefe said. "That may have been his final assignment, although there is all kinds of fighting going on within the [Obama] administration and the Pentagon, including between Holbrooke and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama."

      O'Keefe added that the three of them were not necessarily on the same page.

      "I think all of the chaos and confusion within the U.S. administration over Afghanistan and Pakistan is an indication of just how badly the war itself is going," he said.

      The Canadian Peace Alliance described the failure of national Canadian media outlets to report Holbrooke's final words as an "unacceptable omission".

      It has also stated that if the top U.S. envoy felt the war was unwinnable, why did Canada extend its presence in Afghanistan until 2014?

      Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley told reporters today that Holbrooke's final words were a joke and weren't intended to be taken seriously.

      Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.

      Comments

      4 Comments

      glen p robbins

      Dec 14, 2010 at 4:15pm

      Our media is a pinhole where a tunnel is required.

      glen p robbins

      Dec 14, 2010 at 4:23pm

      Don't for a second underestimate Holbrooke's influence on foreign policy. Straight talking U.S. diplomat. Assuming this is true - its significant.

      It affirms what most Canadians and many Americans are expecting.

      Joey Votto

      Dec 15, 2010 at 10:18am

      Read the whole obituary before writing a misguided column like this.
      The comment was sarcastic. The surgeon was Pakistani.

      Elder of Z

      Dec 15, 2010 at 8:39pm

      Once again great example of the dreck that passes for "Journalism" these days.
      Clearly this "confession" was omitted because the Ziofascists control the media.

      http://tinyurl.com/26tj4s3