The debate concerning the alleged mistreatment of prisoners handed over by Canadian troops to local authorities in Afghanistan seems important, even noble, on the face of it. But as is often the case when moral issues turn into rabid political feuds, the moral crusaders have lost sight of the big picture: Their efforts threaten to undermine our entire military presence in Afghanistan, and thereby strengthen the Taliban, which has a record of “mistreating” Afghans on a far larger scale.

In the opposition’s relentless gotcha campaign against the government, in other words, we are witnessing a perfect example of the moral great becoming the enemy of the moral good.  Read more... (576 words, 1 image, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

A foreign affairs source said a memo sent by Colvin in the winter of 2007 was searing in its criticism and indicated the governor was corrupt, dangerous, self-serving and deeply unpopular with Afghans. OTTAWA– A former governor of Kandahar who is accused of personally torturing Afghans might have been removed from office as far back as 2006 if Canadian officials hadn’t defended him, according to diplomatic memos that have never been made public by the Canadian government.

The revelation about Asadullah Khalid, who stayed on as governor two years after concerns about his reputation were raised, opens up another embarrassing avenue of inquiry over Afghan prisoner abuse.  Read more... (872 words, 1 image, estimated 3:29 mins reading time)

The unknown insurgent, if he’s still alive and somehow following Canadian politics, must be laughing at the chaos he has unleashed.

The unidentified Taliban fighter, rescued by Canadian troops from a severe Afghan beating more than two years ago, could end up seeing a public inquiry held in faraway snowy Ottawa and may yet terminate a Cabinet minister.

All this because he was detained by suspicious Canadian soldiers back in mid-2006 with a scratched nose and had his picture taken to prove he didn’t have any serious injuries before being turned over to Afghan police — where he was badly roughed up and promptly reclaimed by our sympathetic troops.  Read more... (756 words, 1 image, estimated 3:01 mins reading time)

Canada’s top soldier says he’s working to get to the bottom of what happened to reports from a senior Canadian diplomat in Afghanistan, which repeatedly warned that Afghan detainees turned over to local authorities risked being tortured.

Gen. Walter Natynczyk, chief of defence staff, said Friday he did not yet know where the diplomat’s reports landed back in Ottawa, who read them, and what was done with the information.

“That’s why I want to see the forensics, what actually happened,” Natynczyk said in an exclusive interview with Global National in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Read more... (402 words, 1 image, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

OTTAWA — Canadian Forces personnel suspended the transfer of suspected Taliban insurgents to Afghan authorities three times this year on fears the detainees were being mistreated and possibly tortured after their transfer.

The Defence Department said Monday that the suspensions were each for “a brief period of time” and lasted until Canadian authorities were satisfied that the Afghans were living up to a 2007 agreement not to torture or mistreat prisoners captured by Canadian troops fighting in Afghanistan.

The transfers of suspected insurgents were also suspended once in 2007 after that agreement had been signed, the Defence Department said.  Read more... (899 words, 1 image, estimated 3:36 mins reading time)

OTTAWA — Senior diplomat Richard Colvin was far from being a lone wolf when he sounded alarms about detainee torture in Afghanistan soon after he arrived for a posting in 2006.

At the time, numerous reports in Canada and abroad concluded that torture and abuse was routine in Afghan jails, including warnings from the U.S. State Department, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the United Nations.

There was even a 2006 report from Canada’s Foreign Affairs Department, which asserted that “extrajudicial executions, disappearance, torture and detention without trial are all too common” in Afghan prisons.  Read more... (1074 words, 1 image, estimated 4:18 mins reading time)

OTTAWA — Three generals declared Wednesday that there was no mention of the word “torture” in reports from a senior diplomat who asserts that he repeatedly warned the government against surrendering Afghan detainees to local authorities because they would almost certainly be abused.

Retired Gen. Rick Hillier led the military defence as he denounced Richard Colvin’s allegations that the government and the military turned a blind eye to widespread torture in Afghan jails as “ludicrous” and “absolutely untrue.”

The former general, who was Canada’s top soldier during Colvin’s posting in Afghanistan in 2006-07, said he has reread all of the diplomat’s widely circulated reports to ensure that Colvin’s alleged concerns did not escape his notice the first time around.  Read more... (982 words, 1 image, estimated 3:56 mins reading time)

OTTAWA — The federal government released almost 200 pages of heavily censored documents about Afghanistan detainees on Wednesday, prompting critics to assert that the excessive secrecy highlights the need for a public inquiry.

“What we’ve seen from this government is a whole lot of redaction, in other words blacked out documents,” charged Paul Dewar, NDP foreign affairs critic. “It’s like reading tea leaves.”

Dewar produced his own document, obtained through an access to information request, showing that the government had blacked out a reference to torture in a 2006 report from its own Foreign Affairs bureaucrats on the state of human rights in Afghanistan.  Read more... (787 words, 1 image, estimated 3:09 mins reading time)

OTTAWA — Defence Minister Peter MacKay on Tuesday dismissed a letter from more than two dozen former diplomats stating that the government’s treatment of the envoy who triggered the Afghan detainees controversy wrongly cast doubts on his personal integrity and could put a chill on what public servants tell the government.

MacKay dismissed the letter by saying such current diplomats as David Mulroney, ambassador to China, Gen. Walt Natynczyk, Canada’s chief of defence staff, and former top general Rick Hillier had “rejected and refuted” Richard Colvin’s Nov. 18 testimony before a House of Commons committee about alleged torture of detainees transferred by Canadian Forces to Afghan security forces.  Read more... (600 words, 1 image, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

OTTAWA — Canada’s military police watchdog announced Thursday three weeks of “public interest” hearings starting March 22 for its probe into the politically hot topic of Afghan detainees.

But even as legal counsel for the military police complaints commission vowed “we are bound and determined to see these hearings proceed,” doubts were voiced whether they will take place.

One reason is that Friday is commission chairman Peter Tinsley’s last day on the job and the government has not appointed a replacement.

Another is the snail’s pace of government screening documents for national security censorship — and there are 340,000 pages to go through, a government lawyer told the commission.  Read more... (564 words, 1 image, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)