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Would anyone out there feel safe falling within the sights of this crowd of klutzes? As far as I know I have no secrets worthy of interest to our federal leaders, but I sure wouldn’t feel safe should someone level some spurious accusation of wrongdoing against me. It took more than two years from the time Norman was relieved of duty for prosecutors to admit they had no hope of conviction. Who has the money or resources to outwait this crowd, as he was forced to do?

The comedy routine started right off the bat. The RCMP seems to have decided the only people worth interviewing were those who had an interest in seeing Norman found guilty of the charge that he leaked information on an important ship-building contract.

Would anyone out there feel safe falling within the sights of this crowd of klutzes?

They didn’t question Norman himself — why on Earth would the police care about the accused’s side of the story? — or members of the Harper government who approved the ship. If a person was accused of shoplifting they’d expect the police to at least take the time to ask for an explanation, but apparently a military officer who has devoted 35 years to his country’s defence doesn’t deserve the same courtesy.

Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance proved about as useful in ensuring fairness for his colleague as a busted rudder on a battleship. As Postmedia’s David Pugliese has reported, Norman was ousted before a charge had even been laid. Vance declared he had lost confidence in his deputy, without details or explanation. As Pugliese notes, “there would be no internal hearing, and no formal opportunity for Norman to present his side of the story. The decision was based on the unproven claims that underpinned the RCMP’s search warrant that had been executed on Norman’s home.”