Hostages To MacKay's Misfortune

Peter MacKay's shoot from the hip style might have been effective in opposition and endearing to hostile media flogging the tired old moderate PC v. radical Alliance wing meme, but it is dangerous in his present role. For which he is rapidly proving himself unsuited:

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay has apologized to the families of the two Canadian hostages being held in Iraq after suggesting he had new information about their fate.

MacKay told reporters on Monday he was confident the hostages were alive and would be released soon, and that he believed they had been moved several times.

The next day, he told reporters he had no new information since a video was released three weeks ago that indicated they were alive and well.

There isn't a whole lot that he and the rest of the Foreign Affairs people can do to secure the release of the hostages. Several years of hectoring the Americans from the sidelines and moralizing about international law while the coalition put one of the world's ugliest tyrants out of business hasn't exactly endeared Canada to the free Iraqi government.

They remember who was trying to protect Paul Desmarais' Total Fina ELF Iraqi oil interests under the guise of moral purity.

MacKay would be well advised to keep his mouth shut in future about Iraq. He is clearly out of his depth. Stockwell Day wouldn't have stepped in it like this. Heck, even Joe Clark would have handled it better.

Source: CBC