Here it is...
PUBLICATION : The Ottawa Citizen
DATE : 2004.01.15
HEADLINE: ‘Bush=Hitler,‘ brought to you by Canada‘s army: George W. Bush
is the new Hitler. It‘s time the Liberals got booted out of power.
Jean Chretien speaks with a funny accent worthy of a Monty Python character.
And if the U.S. does invade Canada, the military could try scorched-earth tactics to destroy everything in the path of the marauding Americans so nothing would fall into their hands.
While such statements might be typical chatter on Internet sites covering Canadian politics or conspiracy theories, these come courtesy of the
Canadian taxpayer. In an effort to promote professionalism and debate in the ranks, the Canadian army is operating the Internet discussion forum where the public and soldiers can anonymously post statements such as these.
The site, including less-than-flattering comments aimed at Prime Minister Paul Martin and former defence ministers, as well as insults between
participants, has all been copyrighted by the Department of National Defence. "If anyone out there thinks we will be better of with paul martin think again!," warns one participant in a discussion about government funding for the military. "Martin and Chretien are cut form (sic) the same cloth with either one in power the CF is in trouble." "You can be sure that when the Libs are replaced it will be by a right-leaning government and defence spending will increase greatly," writes another. "It‘s only a matter of time, so fear not."
The U.S. invasion of Iraq is also hotly debated with some suggesting the war was simply an American grab for that country‘s oil. "In my opinion Bush = Hitler," writes one forum participant. "I‘m not insulting anyone or anything but I think america is the cause of all this crappy terrorist garbage ... without america there probably would have not been a sept. 11," states another.
The six-month old site carries a disclaimer such opinions are "not necessary those of the Department of National Defence" and that personal attacks, insults and inappropriate comments will not be tolerated.
Army spokesman Lt.-Col. Rejean Duchesneau said he has not seen some of the comments in question, but acknowledged it can be difficult to monitor the site. He said there is no funding available for military staff to do full-time monitoring, but argued that participants have to feel they can
speak their minds. "The discussion forum has to be quite open," he noted. "You can‘t really police it. If you want people to use it you‘ve got to allow them a bit of freedom."
The Army does not know the identities of the participants or whether any of them are even military personnel. In a follow-up interview, Lt.-Col. Duchesneau said the site was temporarily taken offline Tuesday night to remove inappropriate comments. Those were discovered after the military‘s webmaster returned from being away on a course for 10 weeks. It is not known when the site will be back up.
Lt.-Col. Duchesneau said the original idea behind the site was to foster discussions on army issues. But the forum has become popular with young people, many whom are new or potential recruits looking for information about the military. Although some forum participants warned others about making political statements, those seem to have little effect. One discussion containing an obscenity-laden attack on former prime minister Jean Chretien was partially
censored.
Other participants blame Mr. Martin for gutting the military in the mid-1990s while he was finance minister. Defence Minister David Pratt fares better, garnering kudos for his support of the military. But even he is suspect. "Want to silence a critic?" writes one forum member "Appoint him as a minister."
One of the hottest topics on the site discusses whether the U.S. will invade Canada to seize its natural resources. If the attack did come, Canada
could rely on a scorched-earth policy similar to what Russia did when invaded by Nazi Germany, one participant recommends. "With such emmense (sic) land, and with our cold climates, we may be able to hold them off, even though we have the much weaker military," the individual concludes.
The invasion debate prompted additional anti-American rhetoric, with one forum member recalling the British attack on Washington in the early 1800s and the torching of the White house. "I‘m proud to know that the Canadians / British are the reason why the whitehouse is white ... way to burn that f--ker down!" was the statement posted on the army site.
Others suggest the U.S. government was behind the Sept. 11 attacks, but that theory was dismissed by most forum participants. In another case, U.S.
President George W. Bush is referred to as a cheat and a liar.
Former Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Maurice Baril is also roasted. One soldier writes that he was once selected to have lunch with Gen. Baril. "He talked about cartoons, smurfs to be exact," wrote the soldier. "Kind of funny to hear the then CDS talk about a cartoon that people commonly associate with lsd."
Lt.-Col. Duchesneau said he did not believe the government can be held legally liable for some of the comments. "When we did our research everything we saw said that discussion forums are wide-open and that there is no body of law that people are being sued," he added.
Two people have been kicked off the site for inappropriate comments, but army officials suspect they have come back on under new identities.
Right now she is saying no he didn‘t....There was no mention of any disciplinary action taken other than a stern talking too.
