Misunderstanding Office... (Jack & the Media)

Earlier this week at a press briefing for a police officer slain in the line of duty, National Security Minister Jack Warner proved conclusively, definitively and beyond a shadow of a doubt that he believes himself more powerful than the most powerful man in the world. Why do I say that? Because only a man more powerful than the most powerful man in the world could get away with telling the media to shut up on an issue of urgent national importance and they shut up. Only the most powerful man in the world could say to the combined national press corps “don't ask me that” or “I tired answer that” and get away with it. Could you imagine Bill Clinton, when he was President of the United States and being literally grilled over allegations that he may have left a little something extra on a dress belonging to a White House intern telling the media he was not answering that? As my grandmother used to say – 'Lordy Miss Clordy!' That sound byte, when it finally hit the airwaves would have brought every American out of their home and into the streets heading in the direction of Pennsylvania Avenue. They would have closed America down. The press would have followed Bill home.

I remember the same poor Bill at a White House press conference to announce to the world that he had succeeded in getting the leaders of Israel and Palestine to shake hands and agree to talk after years of open hostility being asked the most intimate and embarrassing questions instead, questions that he HAD to answer despite being flanked by both leaders who were being openly ignored. That is how it works in a country where the press is free and they KNOW that they are free. Not here. Not in the land of the mighty and the majestic that is the Banana Republic of Trinidad & Tobago, where a Minister of National Security could go on live national television surrounded by other government Ministers, Parliamentarians and political leaders and openly threaten a journalist for having the hubristic audacity to be writing investigative stories about his government with impunity. In a real country he would have been fired on the spot, right there and then while the cameras rolled, but not here. In a real country the other Ministers would have gotten up immediately, removed their microphones and walked off set as quickly as they could manage rather than be seen to be endorsing what could only be an obvious act of complete insanity, but not here in lala-land.

This week the same Jack Warner put the media in their place for trying to get to the bottom of what, if any role he played or is playing in the creation of a controversial police unit outside of the controls put in place by the Constitution. Rumors and allegations are being leveled at him by the very people who claim to have been engaged to set it up and run it, and the issue has now attracted the attention of the Opposition as well as the Police Complaints Authority and other organizations concerned with the management of law enforcement. Reminiscent of the Iran Contra scandal that almost pulled down the Ronald Reagan Presidency, the disconnect between truth and fiction appears to be being manipulated to further deflect from the main issues.

Was or is former Flying Squad member, retired police inspector Mervyn Cordner telling a lie when he said/says that he was approached by National Security Minister Jack Warner last year to lead the unit? What was National Security Operations Centre director Garvin Heerah's role (if any) in the revamping of the squad? Is he being set up to take the fall a la Colonel Oliver North of the same Iran Contra scandal? Clearly something serious if not sinister is afoot here and the media would do well to insist on their right to do their jobs, get closer and press harder until these questions are answered satisfactorily to set the public's mind at ease. If Jack Warner believes that he cannot stand the scrutiny that comes with public office or that he is somehow above it he should step down now, now before he makes a bigger mess of things.