Alliance officials were not immediately available for comment. But Canadian government officials, speaking on background, said the cancellation happened at the last minute after an air force Challenger had been tasked to pick up the secretary general in Norfolk, Va., where he was participating in a change-of-command ceremony.
In Norfolk, Fogh Rasmussen lamented the growing backlash to the war in Western countries . . .
Such remarks – especially if they were repeated in Ottawa – would likely have been incendiary in the current political climate, where the Conservative minority government’s fate hangs by a thread.
His earlier musings about Canada staying in the fight drew swift, firm responses from federal cabinet ministers, who insisted the July 2011 deadline remains firm. (photo: Department of National Defence, Canada)