There's an earnest, high-school debating tone to the ubiquitous discussions of airport security. It has many worthy subjects like, Full body scanners: Will they work? High moral concerns such as The invasion of privacy. There's Human rights versus racial profiling, which would be a better topic if it hadn't already been a reality for males of a certain age and hue since 9/11. There's room for witty replies, like Billy Connolly's, who'd like to say, when asked if he packed his own bags: "No, no, a big Arab guy in a hotel -- a nice big man, named Mohammed, who had a flying licence -- packed it for me."

The nauseating component in current claims and reactions about Canada's role in turning Afghan detainees over for torture does not lie in the betrayal of some mythic Canadian role as an idealistic actor on the world stage -- as opposition questions implied in the House of Commons yesterday. We have always played an ambiguous, often duplicitous, role in international conflict. It began with our original peacekeeping foray at Suez in Lester Pearson's days, and continued in Vietnam, Haiti and now Afghanistan. Foreign policy equals deceit.

It doesn't lie in the Conservative refusal to call an inquiry. They simply learned from Jean Chrétien, who shut one down (on Somalia) and stonewalled others.

"Where have all the flowers gone?" sang Mary Travers of Peter Paul and Mary, who died this week at 72. The song has been widely covered (Dolly Parton, Marlene Dietrich ...) Pete Seeger wrote it during the Vietnam War but it has applied before and since. It didn't call for an end to that war; every war ends. It asked instead why new wars always arise: When will they ever learn?