As readers may recall, I supported, and support, the Canadian mission in Afghanistan.
I am troubled about the government there and its apparent lack of legitimacy.
I am more troubled about torture, especially where it seems commonplace, random and pointless (yes, I know, am I saying uncommon, focussed and goal oriented torture is ok? No -- my point is that here the torture is not just immoral, it's stupid).
And yes, the structures were intially set up by a Liberal government -- but this isn't a partisian issue -- it's an issue going to morality and Liberal or Conservative government, we cannot condone or allow torture.
Ottawa's deny, delay, disparage strategy: So far, it's working
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/the-governments-deny-delay-disparage-strategy-so-far-its-working/article1373377/
Nearly four years after Canadian troops started waging a tough counterinsurgency in the Taliban heartland of Kandahar, the government continues to deny there has been a single proven instance of torture.
Deny, delay, disparage. For years, government ministers and Canada's top brass have marched in unison, fighting off accusations that turning prisoners over to Afghanistan's ill-trained and brutal security forces consigned them to torture and abuse.
So far, the government's three-pronged counterattack has been largely successful. Nearly four years after Canadian troops started waging a tough counterinsurgency in the Taliban heartland of Kandahar, the government continues to deny there has been a single proven instance of torture. At the same time, it has fought in Federal Court to scuttle an independent inquiry and continues to portray anyone who suggests that transferred detainees are tortured as a gullible lackey of the Taliban.
At every stage, ministers and generals have fired off flat denials only to retreat. Within weeks of deploying to Kandahar in 2006, then-defence-minister Gordon O'Connor confidently proclaimed that if any detainees were abused after handover, the Red Cross would promptly tell Ottawa.
Mr. O'Connor is a former general, presumably schooled in the Geneva Conventions and the role of the Red Cross. Except he was wrong. Only after the Red Cross publicly contradicted him, pointing out that it was prohibited from ratting out the Afghans to the Canadians, did the minister apologize to the House of Commons for misleading it.
6 comments:
".....but this isn't a partisian issue..........
Oh really. Perhaps today you should watch QP, then come back here and tell us that.
The Canadians once, were sending prisoner to the Americans..people here did no like that, so Bill Graham, changed things and wanted, the Karzai government to apply the Geneva Convention to these prisoners. Hillier was to set that up ..then the Election.
Anon @ 10:10 is right.It was a terrible decision.
Having said that. What is the alternative?
-U.N. POW camps?
-NATO POW camps?
-Canadian POW camps?
-A Canadian version of Gitmo?
Sometimes war leads to terrible problems that are unavoidable. I wish the people who send our troops to war would acknowledge that.
They knew some of our soldiers would die but somehow are shocked that torture is going on.
Anon 10:48 you lose sight of the critical fact that we're not waging a "military" war but a "political" war for the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. The insurgents know the difference, we don't. Each time we lose sight of the distinction, we lose.
The Taliban & Co. rebels love it when we're tagged with torture just as they love it when we call in airstrikes on villagers and when we become seen as supporting the predatory regime that besets them.
They may not need our help while we're babysitting Afghanistan's unresolved civil war but they're grateful for it all the same.
And James, I can't figure out what there is over there for you to support. When Chatham House labels the central government (that'd be the one we're propping up) a "criminal enterprise," when we allow warlordism and corruption to thrive and prosper, what exactly is there to support?
Anonymous number two asks what the alternatives were.
The number of prisoners taken by Canadians, and transferred to the Afghans was not large. The Globe today reported today 130 during the first months of the mission.
These prisoners would have to be processed judicially: most of them would be released, but some number needing improsonment would build up over time. This suggests that, if imprisoning such numbers were beyond Canada's or Nato's joint capability, it would not have been beyond Canada's capability to monitor those prisoners once transferred to the Afghans. This was not done initially, but later, much, much later, this was implemented.
There is no reason to think these latterly implemented policies could not have been implemented initially, or much sooner than they were, by either the Liberals, and most certainly, the Conservatives.
It should have been known to the Canadian military from the get go, before any explicit warnings by Colvin or others, that transferring prisoners to Afghan jail would result in their torture. It was known before a single Canadian soldier set a boot in that country that the modus operandi in Afghani jails was routine torture.
Other Nato countries had policies in place, from the get go, to help ensure prisoners transferred to Afghans were not tortured, with monitoring provisions. Canada has been exceptionally incompetent in this area.
It is difficult to believe such gross incompetence from the head of our military. If he were stymied by politicians in developing or implementing prisoner transfer policy, that would be one thing. If he tried to ensure that Canada followed the laws of war but the kibosh was put on such a well-developed policy by Ottawa, then he should have resigned, rather than precipitate a war crime. But he's never adequately explained himself.
Where is Ignatieff on Torture? Why isn't he standing up and denouncing the Conservatives on torture? Why wasn't there a response to Hillier's implausible statements today that there was no knowledge or awareness of torture?
I should be seeing statements and video. I'm not seeing anything. If CTV won't cover the statements, then he should be posting them on YouTube, so sites (like yours) can link to them, so they can go viral.
No excuses. It's Ignatieff's job to oppose torture, and he is failing to do that.
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