Afghanistan Committee Watch: None dare call it conspiracy!

No, really.

We're not alleging that the sudden return by the Afghanistan committee to the quiet, cosy confines of its usual East Block quarters after holding its last two meetings in Centre Block's far more spacious and camera-friendly Railway Room is a sly attempt to bury the detainee story by making it more difficult for TV networks to provide live coverage of today's meeting. Really, it's almost certainly pure coincidence that the move comes after the committee has already heard from  Ambassador Mulroney and the three generals, who were all touted in advance by various ministers and government spokesmen as crucial, and highly credible witnesses.

According to the Speaker's office, as far as the allocation of the good (read: media-accessible) committee rooms goes, certain committees have priority on certain days -- such as those studying estimates, or have a minister on the witness list. Which, in this case, explains why Health was able to snag the other main committee room, although it's still not entirely clear why Public Accounts could bump the Afghanistan committee from 253-D. Not that a briefing by Auditor General Sheila Fraser isn't important, mind you -- although to be fair, she does tend to drop by Public Accounts fairly often, so this isn't really a special occasion, but there, we're being all cynical again.

See you this afternoon in East Block, everyone!