Inside Politics

UPDATED: Colvin memos "now in the public domain"?

by Kady O'Malley Posted: November 28, 2009 11:07 AM Last Updated: November 28, 2009 1:11 PM
So says the Globe and Mail's Christie Blatchford, who, after reading "what appears to be the entire collection of emails Mr. Colvin sent on the subject during the seventeen months he spent in Afghanistan," concludes that "it is Mr. Colvin who has some explaining left to do." 

A colleague points out that Blatchford quotes directly from only two of the emails, at least one of which appears to be among those that have already been released -- which, incidentally, are posted here so that readers can judge the contents for themselves. 

But if we take her at her word that she has perused the full set, there is something else that needs "explaining": How, exactly, does a Globe and Mail columnist have access to documents that the parliamentary committee charged with investigating the allegations in question was, at last check, still unable to get? 

UPDATE: Former Colleague Wherry went through Richard Colvin's affidavit and cross-referenced dates and numbers, which provides a bit of context to the dates that appear in Blatchford's column, and seems to confirm that she did indeed have access to some memos that have yet to be released -- publicly, that is. (He also notes that her collection does not, in fact, appear to be complete, as she states that Colvin wrote only three memos in 2006, yet his affidavit mentions six.) 

Tags: blackberry jungle, leaked memos, richard colvin, saturday curiosities