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Chris Freind: Freindly Fire
Chris Freind's Freindly Fire: McCanns Are Guilty Either Way
By: Chris Freind, The Bulletin
09/14/2007


It's time to stop pretending. It's time to pronounce guilt in the Madeleine McCann case.
A little girl's life may have been snuffed out, so let's dispense with political correctness and call it like it is. By doing so, maybe we can prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.
Maddy's fate lies squarely with her parents, Gerry and Kate McCann. They are either directly responsible for her death (accident or otherwise), as Portuguese authorities believe, or they are complicit in her disappearance by their unconscionable irresponsibility in leaving her alone, night after night, in their apartment (along with her two-year-old twin siblings).
Either way, they are guilty and should be held accountable.
McCann supporters have asked me if I sympathize with the parents of a missing child. Of course I do. My heart always goes out to any parent who suffers the loss of a child.
But that doesn't absolve Gerry and Kate from their crimes.
How is it that they haven't, at the very least, been charged with child endangerment? Are they too famous and powerful for that kind of treatment? Perhaps. After all, these globe-trotting celebrities were able to arrange an audience with the Pope and a trip to the White House, tops among a long list of marketing coups.
I'm sorry, but it offends me that the Pope - my Pope - all but canonized these people for such a horrendous act. How much of a "devout" Catholic, as the British media continually labels her, could Kate actually be to leave her babies alone on a continuing basis?
I'm equally offended that top American officials in the White House - my White House - met with Gerry, effectively condoning his behavior and elevating him to bona fide international star status.
To be sure, there was, and still is, the need to publicize the case to help find Maddy, but to welcome the McCanns with open arms, while refusing to publicly admonish them, borders on criminal.
Does anyone really believe that if the same situation occurred to a black family, the same preferential treatment would be given to the parents? What if it happened to another white family, but instead of the parents being attractive, well-off doctors, they were merely "average joes"?
There are no bounds to the hypocrisy in this case.
If the situation wasn't so tragic, it would be comical to watch the British media implode. It is beside itself right now, not knowing whether to excoriate the McCanns, as it started to do after they became suspects, or to continue to blindly defend them and blame the Portuguese for everything.
Since, for the most part, the British media has chosen to ignore its journalistic mission of objectivity and aggressive investigation of all facts, it will continue to waffle on the McCanns -day by day and even hour by hour - as more developments come to light.
That's integrity for you.
Perhaps the biggest inconsistency of the McCanns, and there are many, is the weak admission that they take responsibility for leaving Madeleine alone. While it took them quite some time to put forth this sentiment, they then turned around and, in the same breath, exonerate themselves by saying they would never have left her had they thought anything bad could happen.
Remind me never to get sick in the McCanns' hometown of Leicestershire. If they can't see the flaws in that thought process, I don't want them treating me. I might go in for a heart examination and come out missing a kidney.
Sure, once again I will be accused of callousness, insensitivity, slander and, of course, being "unhelpful." After all, it was a "simple mistake," and woe to those who cast the first stone.
I have never accused the McCanns of killing their daughter, and they are entitled to the presumption of innocence in that regard. But not so with the negligence they have shown.
Those who criticize the McCanns certainly aren't perfect. But they do have a brain, a sense of decency and common sense.
Are these all traits that the McCanns lack? Guilty as charged.