Excerptcize

Richard Colvin Testifying Before a Commons Committee

Stephen Harper really came into power about five years later than what would have been optimal for him. So many of the decisions and maneuvers he makes seem to mirror the petty and weak actions of the horrible administration of George W. Bush. Earlier this week it was the revelation by the CBC that the Conservative government is looking at reducing the emissions goals for the oil and gas industries that made Mr. Harper appear like Mr. Bush. Ongoing as well is the debate over the transfer of Afghan detainees. The government’s response so far is one that seems more in line with the Bush approach to foreign policy than the incremental positive steps that President Obama has started to push forward on.

It is worth taking a moment to pause and remember what is actually at issue here. No claims are being made that Canadian soldiers tortured detainees.

…they were beaten, whipped, frozen and starved once they were transferred from Canadian military custody to Afghan security forces. [emphasis mine]

The question at hand is whether we continued to transfer prisoners to the Afghans after learning that they were torturing the prisoners we transferred. It is important to remember that prior to 2005 we transferred prisoners to the US. This process was stopped because of concerns that the US was not fulfilling their treaty obligations under the Geneva Convention. If we are knowingly transferred prisoners to an entity that then tortures said prisoners, we have also run afoul of our treaty obligations.

I would consider a Canadian diplomat in Afghanistan raising concerns about prisoner abuse to be a credible voice. Richard Colvin, just such a diplomat claims he did as much from 2006 to 2007. When reports began to come out in 2007 from monitoring agencies like the Red Cross that detainee abuse was indeed being perpetrated by Afghan security forces, the Canadian government quickly renogtiated a new transfer agreement with Afghan authorities that allowed Canadian access to the prisons the detainees would be transfered to. On November 18th, appearing before a Commons Committee, Colvin stated that:

All detainees transferred by Canadians to Afghan prisons were likely tortured by Afghan officials and many of the prisoners were innocent.

The CBC news story from that day also goes on to say:

Colvin said they began informing the Canadian Forces and Foreign Affairs officials about the detainee situation in 2006 with verbal and written reports.

He said the warnings were at first mostly ignored, but by April 2007, they were receiving written messages from government officials that in the future not to put things on paper, but instead use the telephone.

Colvin mentioned David Mulroney, a deputy minister who is now the ambassador to China, as one of the officials who didn’t want to hear the allegations.

Once again it should be pointed out that no one is arguing Canadian Forces tortured detainees. What is claimed howerver, is that it was known that detainees were being tortured after their transfer to Afghan Forces, that this fact was brought to the attention of military and government officials who in turn ignored this information and detainee transfers continued. Were this to be the case, Canada would be in violation of it’s treaty obligations.

For his trouble of airing a very concerning matter that cuts to the quick of any nation that holds the rule of law as paramount, Mr. Colvin was treated to various attacks by current and past government and military officials. Former Chief of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier questioned Colvin’s credibility and stated he never saw any reports indicating that torture was taking place, despite Colvin’s claim he sent at least one report directly to Hillier and that almost all of his reports were filed to senior military commanders, both in Ottawa and Afghanistan. Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon went so far as to mock Colvin’s assertions by reading from an Al-Queda training which instructs trainees to claim they have been tortured at their first opportunity to do so. I suppose it was irrelevant to him that almost no detainees were Al-Queda members, perhaps Taliban, but more likely simple peasants. Even if all prisoners were bona-fide Al-Queda this should not prevent us from investigating allegations of torture; there are supposed to be reasons we call ourselves the good guys. I would expect rule of law to top that list.

Mr. Colvin, to his credit has responded quietly by issuing a letter outlining specific reports he filed during the time in question. Very plainly he has shown that there is substance to his allegations. It would be heartening to see the American style attacks on him that he is lashing out against ‘our troops’ cease now. At the very least we should handle this in a ‘Canadian’ manner; open and orderly. We failed Maher Arar. A proper public inquiry was undertaken to air that incident out. We should do no less in this case as well. To dnt bring air and light to these matters is a disservice to all that our military forces defend.

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