Colvin's letter: public service

Several people have covered Colvin’s letter, Further Evidence of Richard Colvin to the Special Committee on Afghanistan.  Off the top of my head, here are a couple of good posts, dealing with specific points that support Colvin’s credibility - here  and here.   

I want to comment on his closing statements:

I am not a whistleblower. Rather, I am a loyal servant of the Crown who did his job in Afghanistan to he best of his abilities, working through internal and authorized channels.
...Contrary to Minister Cannon’s suggestion, I testified in Parliament because I was summoned by the Committee and legally compelled to speak the truth. I feel it is my duty as a public servant, when commanded to appear before the Parliamentary Committee, to give evidence that is full, frank and fair. I feel duty bound to be frank and thorough in responding to the Committee’s inquiries.

Colvin is a public servant of the highest quality and he clearly defines what it means to act in that capacity.

It is not always an easy job.  Many public servants face what Colvin did: serving the public with honesty and integrity, not backing off despite the knowledge that doing your job properly can bring you major grief from some of your supervisors, or from the government, or both.

They also know they will likely be harassed and attacked by members of the public should their actions negatively affect the political party those members worship.  And I do mean worship, because there is little effort at understanding that the public servant was doing their best for Canada and Canadians.

You don”t need to carry a gun to serve your country, and you don’t need to be on a battlefield to be subject to attacks.

We are familiar by now with the on-going attacks from the government and even other public servants.  Here is a sample of some of the public’s attacks (complete with spelling errors), via the comment section in this article -  

The old must be a Liberal assumption:

 FearlessCrusade - It appears likely that this man is a Liberal mole trying to cause problems for the Conservatives. My suggestion to him is to "Let it Go".

Threats and death wishes:

 Austrian - Colvin will be rewarded by the same way like other thoughtless trators.

 ruthanddave  - colvin should be tried for treason! If he had been captured by the taliban how would he be treated? Must be a liberal for sure.

 Gerrypolitical  - Colvin should join the witness protection program (in the States) and disappear

There was one that said: We used to hang people like Colvin.  Maybe we should start to again.  It appears to have been removed, though.

The ridiculous distortion of information and mind boggling stretch in a bid to assassinate character:

koconnor100  - In 2002, he moved to Ramallah in the Palestinian territories, where he served as head of a new political mission in the wake of Yasser Arafat's death. His marriage failed, and he returned to Canada in 2005, moving to Calgary. During a vacation in Whistler he was offered a job in Afghanistan [5]. --- --- ---- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Colvin_%28diplomat%29 ---

Oh this guy is hardly a disinterested observer. He lived in Palestine for 3 years ? And the palistinians love him , they offered him a job.

Bull shit, of course.  The Crown offered him a position, just like the CONs did.

We can’t afford to have public servants like Keene and Colvin be bullied into silence.  This is why I harp on and on about the public service and the importance of keeping it independent from the elected government.  We can’t afford to have serious issues hidden.  How can we take charge of our own lives if being denied information, we cannot act on our own behalf or vote in an informed fashion?

The vast majority of comments (despite the obvious cut and paste jobs by neanders - compare the comment section in Kady O’s post to the CBC one) were very supportive of Colvin.  Here is my favourite positive comment:

 socialjusticequest  - Until now I disliked government civil servants. With your courage and professionalism, Mr. Colvin, I have changed my view now and acknowledge my own bias. You are a professional with integrity and I salute your efforts for revealing the truth. To know that someone like you serves as a civil servant, makes me a proud Canadian.

We need to give more of this support and encouragement to our public servants.  It not only helps to affirm they are performing a valuable service, it also lets our politicians know that we aren’t going to sit back and allow them to be undermined.

We have a responsibility as citizens to make our democracy work.  Applying pressure on our politicians forcing them to follow legislation, to be open and transparent, to respect the actions of agents working on our behalf - that’s showing love for your country.