Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion has stepped into a mess of his own making. He has advocated direct action inside of Pakistan's borders:
Any attempt to counter terrorists war-torn Afghanistan will not succeed without an intervention in neighbouring Pakistan, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said Wednesday.
Mr. Dion hinted NATO could take action in Pakistan, which has a porous border with Afghanistan, if the Pakistani government doesn't move to track terrorists.
"We are going to have to discuss that very actively if they (the Pakistanis) are not able to deal with it on their own. We could consider that option with the NATO forces in order to help Pakistan help us pacify Afghanistan," said Mr. Dion in Quebec City, commenting after his two-day trip to Afghanistan last weekend. "As long as we don't solve the problem in Pakistan, I don't see how we can solve it in Afghanistan."
Stephen Taylor has gotten the official Pakistan response:
We are dismayed by the statement of the leader of opposition, Mr. Stephane Dion about NATO intervention in Pakistan.
The price paid by Pakistan being a frontline state cannot be undermined by certain irrational comments.
Hey, we're all dismayed by Stephane Dion's irrational comments, and not just about Pakistan. I think it's fair to say most Liberals at one time or another, and perhaps much of the time, are dismayed by Stephane Dion's irrational comments.
Stephane Dion insists that he was misinterpreted. No one is buying that line. Plenty of people are insisting that Stephane Dion retract his statement.
That means retracting the "I was misunderstood" line, admitting that he was clearly understood, and then retracting what everyone understood him to say.
The man is an embarrassment.