PAUL HUNTER - Reporter's Notebook
Notes from an Afghan field trip
May 26, 2007
Not-so-secret top secret Camp Mirage, May 21
On the way to Afghanistan with the prime minister this week, everything was supposed to be top secret. We weren’t allowed to tell anyone where we were going.
After a stop in Germany, we flew to a staging base called Camp Mirage, where the secrecy seemed heightened even more. Even after leaving the base, we were told we should never describe where we’d been, other than saying it was "somewhere in southwest Asia," because neighbouring countries might not like the existence of such a base.
When we’d arrived at Camp Mirage, our BlackBerrys and cellphones were taken from us, and we were told the internet service was closed for what they called a comms lockdown (communications lockdown), presumably in case any of us had ideas of telling tales.
Top secret, except for one thing — ask any soldier there and you’d learn the place is easily located on Google Earth. There’s even a Wikipedia entry about it, complete with exact latitude and longitude.
So much for state secrets.
Attention Lonely Planet editors En route to Kabul, May 22
Canadian Press reporter Alex Panetta, who’d made this trip before, had a tip for flying into Kabul on a Hercules aircraft: "Keep the helmet on; you’ll sleep better, trust me. And use earplugs, or your ears will ring for days afterward."
He was right on both counts. It's also very, very important to go to the bathroom before you take off.
Listen up, kids Kabul, May 22
The first public event for Harper in Afghanistan was to tour a Canadian-funded school for orphans and street children in Kabul. The students range in age from maybe eight or 10 years old to mid-teens.
On the wall of the playground area was a big display case showing objects not to play with, if found lying about: 14 examples of hand grenades and landmines.
And what, exactly, is an Alfredsson? Kabul, May 22
At the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Harper and President Hamid Karzai made statements and took questions from reporters, but before leaving the podium, Harper made a presentation to Karzai, having noted the 49-year-old president had just fathered a baby boy.
From out of a bag, Harper pulled a fuzzy, bright red baby outfit with the word Senators emblazoned across the chest and an embroidered picture of a Roman warrior underneath.
He gave it to Karzai, who smiled and exclaimed "Senators!" but was seemingly unsure how to react.
"Not members of our upper chamber, but an admired hockey team," explained Harper.
Karzai, it seems, is not an avid NHL fan.
Comment? Sure thing! Kabul and Kandahar, May 22-23
Much has been said about the strained relations between parliamentary reporters and the communications staff at the Prime Minister’s Office (and of the resulting difficult relationship between Ottawa reporters and almost anyone in the Conservative government, be it real or perceived.)
Happily, none of that appears to have rubbed off on Canadian embassy staff and soldiers in Afghanistan.
Despite difficulties getting information from the PMO while we were there, embassy staff in Kabul and Canadian Forces personnel on the ground in Kandahar (and with us on the planes) seemed happy to talk to us.
No one refused a question and no one turned away from a camera, even if at times the prime minister’s staff tried to have our microphones moved away from people, and at other times hovered nearby when reporters chatted up soldiers or embassy staff.
Refreshing, it was, to have people speak frankly and openly with the dreaded journos. It made our stories more informed and better.
And I’m pretty sure the world didn’t come to an end as a result.
Made in Canada. Sorta Kandahar air field, May 23
Much noise has been made in Canada about the comforts of home that soldiers enjoy at the Tim Hortons outlet in Kandahar. Less so for the Pizza Hut, Burger King and Subway eateries right next door to the Kandahar Tim’s.
Maybe that’s because Pizza Hut, BK and Subway are all American-owned fast-food chains.
Oh. Right. So is Tim Hortons.
Almost forgot — people are dying Kandahar air field, May 23
When Harper’s trip ended on Wednesday, we were hauled off in an old bus to a half-bombed-out airport hangar at the edge of the Kandahar base. In the middle of its enormous floor was a single sad-looking wooden coffin shrouded with a Union Jack.
None of the military people hanging about seemed to be paying it much attention, but there it lay.
Meanwhile, all of the reporters who’d accompanied Harper on his visit were getting their luggage off the bus and stacking bags on the floor.
Most of them were quietly eyeballing the coffin.
"Is there a body in it?" seemed the obvious question. But what else could possibly be inside, as it sat baking in the dusty 40 C heat?
As it turned out — nothing. It was a practice coffin.
But a British soldier had just been killed, and there would soon be a ceremony here to send the body back to Britain. As we wandered out to the plane that would bring us all home to Canada, some British troops marched up to the coffin in unison as pallbearers-in-training, rehearsing what they would soon do in earnest.
Practice makes perfect.
Security being a relative term Camp Mirage, May 23
Personal security for Harper in Afghanistan was provided by the JTF2, Canada’s elite special forces. It was their job to keep him out of harm’s way, even in a combat zone. We chatted with them occasionally during idle moments on the trip — super nice people.
After the Afghan part of the journey, while we were hanging about at Camp Mirage waiting to board the flight home, someone asked one of the JTF2 guys if he’d had a good couple of days.
"Not at all," he said, suddenly looking very serious.
"Huh?"
"Our job is to eliminate the risk, but over here it’s impossible to eliminate all of the risk all of the time. We can only minimize the consequences. So it’s not a good time."
In search of ice cream and Harper Camp Mirage, May 23
Throughout Harper’s entire (albeit brief) trip to Afghanistan this week, reporters saw him in person exactly twice, by my count, beyond planned appearances and photo ops.
And there was just one official chance to ask questions of him — that was on Day 1 when we were allowed three queries after he’d met with President Karzai.
Other prime Ministers on international trips typically would come to the back of the plane during flights to chat with reporters; sometimes on the record, sometimes off. And usually there’s some sort of closing press conference.
Not on this trip.
The first non-official sighting came while reporters were locked in a holding room and Harper was seen through the window at a German airport while our plane refuelled. Some took photographs of him.
The other was on the way home during an hour-long stopover in the Gulf.
To beat the heat, some of us had snuck off to the air-conditioned base cafeteria.
Looking down as I went in, I nearly bumped into someone walking past the doorway. I looked up to say sorry, and there was Canada’s prime minister.
Instantly, I needed to muster up something to say that was not only smart and insightful, but perhaps witty as well.
"Hey! How’s it going?!" I blurted out, with my usual keen inanity.
"Pretty good," he said, by now surrounded by a gaggle of off-duty and overtired reporters and camera people. "What are you all doing here?"
"Looking for ice cream," I said.
"Me too," said the PM.
Then we chatted awhile about his helicopter flight that day with Canadian troops in Kandahar and about the things he saw, compared with what he’d seen and done on his trip a year ago.
It was all very casual, interesting and informative.
He seems like a swell guy.
It’d be nice to see more of him.
The forgotten war Ottawa, May 25
Back in Canada while talking to people about Harper’s trip, I’ve noticed a common reaction after describing the Kandahar base and its mix of Canadian and American troops: "What do you mean? There are Americans there too?"
Read a newspaper or watch television in this country and you might not get that impression. News coverage here tends to sharply focus on the role and fate of Canadians, often to the near exclusion of anyone else.
In fact, there are more than 25,000 American troops in Afghanistan. Canada has about 2,500. Think about that.
Oddly, in the U.S., many Americans are just as oblivious to the presence of their troops in Afghanistan. There, it’s often called the "forgotten war" because of the American media focus on Iraq.
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Biography
Paul Hunter is a parliamentary correspondent for CBC News in Ottawa. A 20-year veteran in television, Hunter has reported for CBC from more than a dozen countries spanning five continents. Prior to his time in Ottawa, he’d been based in Calgary, London, England, Toronto and Saskatoon as both a reporter and anchor. Among the stories he’s covered: Paul Martin’s time as prime minister, the invasion of Iraq as seen from U.S. Central Command in Qatar, the second Palestinian intifada, the crash of the Concorde, the Montreal ice storm, the Paul Bernardo murder trial.
