This video from January of 2005, is at the heart of my postings on Canada and her disgraceful shunning of her own Vietnam veterans. The video is of Ann Coulter being interviewed on Canada’s Public Television by Bob McKeown:
Regarding the McKeown/Coulter exchange at the heart of my posts, at first glance, a fair-minded person would say that both McKeown and Coulter were correct. Ann Coulter said “Canada sent troops to Vietnam,” which was certainly true in 1973, although she was probably thinking of the tens of thousands of Canadians who everyone knows were in service with American forces during the Vietnam era. Bob McKeown said “Canada didn’t send troops to Vietnam.” and if he was meaning the government of Canada, he would have been correct also.
However …. neither McKeown nor Coulter specified “the Canadian government.” Although Ann Coulter never backed away from her original statement, although she may not have known the circumstances of the Canadian troops being in Vietnam, Canadian journalist Bob McKeown embellished his statement, saying that “Canada … took a pass on Vietnam,” a statement that cannot be accepted by any fair-minded person.
A polite person could say that Canadian journalist Bob McKeown was ignorant of Canadian history. A more realistic person would say that Bob McKeown, spokesman of the Canadian government’s CBC, was misleading the Canadian people by rewriting history.
As for Ann Coulter, she is not a Canadian and she has never claimed to be a student of Canadian history. She was stating what she believed to be true … and guess what, it was. As for Bob McKeown, and other ignorant Canadians who have condemned Ms. Coulter, they need to become more aware of just what their country was all about during the Vietnam era.
“Canada Took A Pass On Vietnam?” — give me a break from Canadian fairy tales!
Kerfuffles and Flourishes 