THE CHAP who spoke to me in the supermarket wanted - to know what I thought of the courts’ having denied Royal Canadian Air. Force veterans the right to sue the CBC for that travesty of a “docudrama” called Death

: By Moonlight.

oy He probably knew [had bashed the program and expected a differ- ent answer from the onc | gave. 1 told him | was glad that the attempt to ‘sue had failed. The vets claimed to have been defamed. But they are part of history and history "cannot be settled in the courts. ~.. History belongs to no one. foe Death By Moonlight was part of : aseries broadcast on the CBC in © 1992. It enraged bomber crews who had risked their necks over Germany during the war. It depicted “them as killers of men, women and-» * children through the indiscriminate bombing of cities. .. Sir Arthur Harris, the Chief of © Bomber Command, was shown as a. ‘ruthless man who rachis own war

and the implica: , tion was that the * - Canadians who’: : fought under him were innocent - ‘ dupes... ; OA docudrama - is a TV show in which actors are - used. In this case | “Bomber Harris” was depicted, - grotesquely, as a,

njoyed what, he’. was doing, 2:

‘Actual ootage of the Se burning: German cities was ‘shown (but none “of burning British cities) ‘and a cou: «

“ple of former air crew were inter-! : viewed who gave the impression’ that our air strategy was a mistake.

The film was directed and nar-

ated by Brian McKenna, once of

hose present-day CBC “stars.” But”

- as Lt.-Col. John English of the ’ National Defence College stated;’. McKenna “started with a certain point of view and tailored his

“research to fit.” we

2 MeKenna: claimed initially that ‘the item was “bulletproof” He

ae learned to his cost that it could be

EG 1 was against court action from the start, though. Freedom includes. the right to be virong 59

Doug — Collims

on the other hand

shot full of holes. : Military historians were vocal in their criticism. Quite apart from the obvious anti- “war slant, 41 errors were listed. a Murray Peden, QC, of Winnipeg. himself a decorated former pilot and the author‘of A Thousand Shall ¢ Fall, perhaps the best book’ever. 3’ written on the air war, told the CB. the program was “studded with pus- tules that most Canaditins would | \ style peacenik-revisionist” iF Most of the press sided with

wa program was Con demned by a+. |

"and by the CBC ombudsman...” »His verdict, was that the series: was “flawed” and that it had “failed to measure up to the

policies and stan-, “dards.” “oF a o,There is no’ | Space here to. describe all those -flaws. Suffice it to, say that Hitler

was no Boy Scout, that'the bomber ~

- offensive tied down hundreds of: - thousands. of troops and weapons - ‘that could have been used on the

"_ batile fronts, that armament produc- tion in Germany was distributed alt

over the cities, and that the Nazis’: destroyed a few cities themselves. Bomber Harris died in 1984, He had already answered his critics and . if McKenna and Co. had- wanted to - ~show the other side of the story they

» Could have.used some of those fi Im

clips. not an actor spouting , McKenna’s words. ; in its “class action” the vets

“were seeking approval to sue for

ene

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gus to do the same thing.

McKenna but the +

Senate committee...

CBC's demanding *

halfa billion doltars, knowing, [ suspect, that they would never get that much even if the Courts give them the go-ahead. But whatever they might get was to be used for’ setting up an “ethics in journalism school.” A neat thrust.

I was against court action from the start, though. Freedom includes the right to be wrong.

“But.” said the man in the super- market, “they’ve had this progranr sent to the schools." ;

I told him to fight fire with fire. The vets have made their own

filmed response, I believe, so

demand that it be shown, too, if the CBC thing is.

After Moonlight was shown in the. UK. there was more outrage and the network that aired it was forced to put on a full show in which McKenna had to face his critics, British and Canadian.

He was ripped to bits and looked *

like a fool. . Pity the CBC didn't have the:

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