Friday, July 18, 2008

BC Premier Gordon Campbell's support for killers of Robert Dziekanski is disgusting

There are quite a few things to be learnt from one of CBC's latest Access To Information (ATI) requests, consisting of email exchanges between RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass and RCMP Commissioner William Elliot. Here's the obvious (read the emails at the bottom of this posting):

  1. The RCMP's “law and order” ideology is highly supported by BC's top Liberal administrators, including (well-known drunk and overpaid monkey) Gordon Campbell.

  2. The RCMP doesn't trust the Globe and Mail, suggesting the paper is biased against the RCMP.

  3. The RCMP doesn't trust the public at large, especially those critical of the RCMP.

  4. The RCMP's own investigation was part of the overall media strategy to whitewash the killing of Robert Dziekanski by the four RCMP officers.

Let's get a bit more detail here:

(1) Do you remember what happened to BC's Premier in January 2003? Wikipedia does! He's Canada's only premier that has spent time in jail due to drinking and driving, yet is still in office. Driving with a blood-alcohol concentration level of above .08 per cent he COULD have easily killed someone!

Compare that with Robert Dziekanski's final “holiday trip” to heaven, killed after being tasered to hell and back. Having spent hours in the Vancouver airport's security zone, not knowing where to go and what to do next, he just lost it. Yes, he threw some computer stuff around, but anyone who has seen the Dziekanski Tasering video would agree with me that Dziekanski himself WASN'T going to kill anyone, not in a million years.

We now know that Gordon Campbell was highly supportive of the Force and the four officers involved.

(2) The anti Globe and Mail bias was quite revealing to me. I personally don't take the G & M too seriously (because of it's overall corporate and culturally conservative bias), but why does the RCMP hate the Globe and Mail so much? Perhaps point #3 is the answer?

(3) Gary Bass labels those critical of the RCMP as “armchair quarterbacks”. The derogatory seems to be used to disqualify all criticism, regardless of the validity.

I'm pretty sure that the majority of the people who saw the video were appalled by how the four RCMP officers “solved” the “C.E.W. incident”... there were plenty of very good reasons for critical discourse. Why did the RCMP use the taser on an unarmed immigrant in one of the most secure zones of the Vancouver Airport? Why did the RCMP have to kill Robert Dziekanski? Why did the RCMP not try to resuscitate Robert Dziekanski? Why did RCMP tell so many lies about the killing? Why have the killers not been charged? Who are the RCMP officers? Why are their names not made public? All valid questions (if you ask me), but non of them have ever been answered properly, and no apology has been made either.

The RCMP might not trust the public, but with "incidents" like these we surely can't trust the RCMP, and for overly obvious reasons: they get away with killing and lying without further consequences.

(4) Whitewash galore! At least the RCMP gets some things done! Remember Ian Bush? He was the youngster that was shot in the back of his head by the incredible rubber mountie while in custody. No serious problem for the RCMP spin machine (as long as pesky video cameras have been turned off, and ATI requests can be neutralized).

And the same RCMP started their media campaign in the Dziekanski killing case right "from the get-go". Remember Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre, lying through his teeth? I do.

Make no mistake about it; Robert Dziekanski was killed by four RCMP officers. And plenty of people have helped to cover it up or whitewash it, including Gordon Campbell:

[Gordon Campbell] was highly complementary of the Force, disappointed over the degree of criticism, and wants to support [the four RCMP officers that killed Robert Dziekanski] somehow.”

Supporting killers now, Mr. Gordon Campbell?


LINKS
- CBC: RCMP e-mails throw Dziekanski Taser probe into question, critics say
- Dr Dawg: Ian Bush and the incredible rubber mountie
- Wikipedia: I'm Gordon Campbell, and I got caught drinking and driving
- Wikipedia: Ian Bush (1983 -2005)
- Benediction Blogs On: RCMP Emails regarding Robert Dziekanski's taser-death(pdf)
- Getting it right: something fishy about Sergeant Pierre Lemaitre...
- Getting it right: Robert Dziekanski

Rush transcript of the emails:
---------------------------------------------------
2007/12/04 Gary Bass - Re: Members Involved in YVR C.E.W. Incident

From: Gary BASS
To: Elliot, William
Subject: Re: Members Involved in YVR C.E.W. Incident

That's great. I'm sure that they did appreciate the call as do I your comments of support.
This is really tough business these days and really hard on the men and women in the trenches trying so hard to serve well.
When I arrived home tonight, there was a Langley Det car and two young members next door.

[ deleted material]

It sure made me very proud. Not likely to see that one in the G and M in the morning, or anyone else for that matter.

Gary.
-----Original Message-----
From: William Elliott
To: BASS, Gary <00000t654.ops.ediv_ehq>

Sent: 11/15/2007 10:44:39 PM
Subject: Re: Members Involved in YVR C.E.W. Incident

Thanks Gary,

I have just now placed calls to all 4 members. I spoke to 3 of the 4.

The only person I did not reach is [deleted material] I left a message on his home voicemail indicating who was calling and that I would try again to reach him. I'll try to do that tomorrow.

I know this is tough and you and all our folks in E Division. Please be assured of my ongoing support.

Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: Gary BASS
Cc: MACINTYRE, Al <000001690.ops.ediv_ehq>
Cc: BOUCHER, Byron <000038391.ops.ediv_ehq>
Cc: PETERS, Gerry <000039349.ops.ediv_ehq>
Cc: Rideout, Wayne <000037745.sc.ediv_lmd>
To: Booth, Rod <000036789.nhq3.ncr_hq>
To: Elliott, William <000163439.nhq4.ncr_hq>

Sent: 11/15/2007 9:33:28 PM
Subject: Re: Members Involved in YVR C.E.W. Incident

Cmmr;
Further to our conversation today, I confirmed with the OIC IHIT that your proposed calls will not be a problem. I will call them as well after you have done so.
You can be confident that a highly professional and thorough job is being done by the team. CPC are fully engaged and pleased with the cooperation they are receiving.
Lots of armchair quarterbacks on the news there tonight and linkages to the Bush case. The sooner the CPC makes that release the better. We are monitoring very closely and I will once again review the duty status with the Crops Officer inthe (sic) morning.

[ deleted material]

2007/12/04 Gary BASS - YVR

From: Gary BASS
To: William Elliott, Bill Sweeney
Date: 2007/11/24 10:47
Subjecty: YVR

I just ran into our Premier at the airport and we had a great discussion on the issue generally. He had called Mrs. Cisowski yesterday just after we left there. He was highly complimentary of the Force, disappointed over the degree of criticism and wants to support the members involved somehow. He asked me to think about what he could do in this regard and get back to him next week.
He supports the continued use of Taser and any other tools which support and protect our members. He said that the inquiry will not be a negative attack on the Force but a focused examination of all the issues. Extremely positive and supportive comments which we really cannot do much with but good to know.

Gary


2 comments:

leftdog said...

"Make no mistake about it; Robert Dziekanski was killed by four RCMP officers. And plenty of people have helped to cover it up or whitewash it ..."

Absolutely correct!

I want to point out also that Canada Border officials have NEVER commented on the incident since it occurred! Their staff were nowhere to be seen during the 10 hours that Dziekanski sat in the Vancouver area .. mere yards from where his mother was in another room. No one took the couple of minutes to answer her inquiries concerning his whereabouts.

There is something very wrong with 'police science' if it can result in this. The only other possible explanation is that the 4 officers inappropriately used highly aggressive force (lethal force) after only 24 - 27 seconds of contact with him.

The RCMP needs to be upfront about this. This cannot simply 'go away' - an 'unfortunate accident'. It wasn't an accident. At any point in the seconds that led up to the killing of this man, someone could have / should have taken a few minutes to determine WTF was going on.

Erik said...

Thanks for your comments, Buckdog, good to hear from you!

It's also good to see you have been on this story from "the get-go" :)

I think the Canada Border officials have been smart to downplay any involvement. They probably can be blamed for creating the situation, but not for the killing (IMHO).

There's something eerie about Gordon Campbell and the Mounties, that I didn't get to articulate all that well in my posting.

The emails tell us that the RCMP doesn't trust the G&M, they don't trust taxpayers (those armchair quarterbacks), but worst of all, the Premier seems to support their behaviour.

At least we know now that it's not mere police brutality/stupidity; there's apparently a right-wing ideology in today's BC Liberal Party that is unmistakably pro-institution (compassion for the killers? WTF!) and anti-taxpayer, spawning a police force that is overly aggressive and abusive.

And somebody paid with his own life for such a "Force", namely Robert Dziekanski.

Sure, Gordon Campbell can have compassion for killers one day after seeing that lovely video, but did he also contact the mother of Dziekanski right away? - I don't think so.

The video of killing was released on November 14 - Gordy's email to the RCMP was on November 15, and the apology to the mother of Robert Dziekanski? November 19!

Immediate compassion for killers but not so immediate for the victims and their relatives; it's quite telling, isn't it?

Gordon is a monster, and he doesn't even realize it (is he still drinking?).

Long live the BC Liberals.

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