Despite the drum roll, the prime minister’s speech turned out to be a damp squib. He had cautioned, at the beginning, against the perils of misplaced rhetoric and the need to be clear about issues. That clarity remains elusive, since he didn’t really say much and merely set a date for an in camera joint session of parliament where senior military officials would give a presentation on why the proverbial hit the fan.
The only bit of clarity that did crystallise from his speech, however, would be disappointing to many, especially the intended audience of the premier’s English speech. He mentioned how the spooks were entirely subservient to the political government, how all state institutions were on the same page. These statements won’t have any takers. Nor would there be any candour towards other ditties within the speech. Consider: accusations of complicity or incompetence against our armed forces are incorrect. Now the world – and many within the country – views the matter in very binary terms. It has got to be one or the other. It could be both but it can’t, by any stretch, be neither. Mentioning, also, how many lives we have lost to terror isn’t going to placate the US because that is their principal argument in asking for our continued cooperation in the war against terror.
What makes the prime minister’s speech dangerous is that the message it transmits to the world at large is that of the status quo. For we are to expect no great revelations in the in camera session, just some stiff officers giving our legislators unverifiable explanations of what didn’t work and when. It is also unlikely that the Lt General appointed to investigate the matter is going to lay bare the flaws of our intelligence agencies.
More of the same. Has an opportunity been squandered?