Government wanted quick Afghan detainee transfers

[CHIMO]

Canada's top two commanders in Afghanistan in spring 2006 said the government pressured them to transfer detainees to Afghan authorities faster than they felt was appropriate, CBC News has learned.

Investigators for the military police complaints commission interviewed Brig.-Gen. David Fraser and Lt.- Col. Tom Putt, who both described the government as being obsessed with speed when it came to the transfer of Afghan detainees, according to transcripts of those interviews obtained by CBC News.

Commanders in Canada wanted detainees handed over within as few as 12 hours — faster, in most cases, than soldiers in the field could process them.

Fraser was in charge of Canadian troops in Afghanistan in 2006. He told investigators examining allegations of abuse of Afghan detainees that the moment a detainee was captured, he had to notify his boss in Ottawa, Lt.- Gen. Michel Gauthier.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/12/03/afghan-detainees003.html
Thursday, December 3, 2009 | 6:40 PM ET

Directly up the line! And who was at the top?

The organisation will start cracking.

After four years there are now many skeletons in the closets.

Start pulling them out and the rest will unfold.

[Spazito]

1. Interesting!

Lt.- Gen. Michel Gauthier's boss in 2006: Hillier the warmonger, surprise, surprise. The same Hillier who testified he knew NOTHING, NOTHING about any torture and that Colvin was lying.

The leaking is becoming more of a stream than a trickle and that's good!

[CHIMO]

2. Don't

Forget that Harper was at the top!

His top down control now brings it back to his lap!

[Spazito]

3. Yep, his obsessive micro-managing just might be coming back to...

bite him in the ass. If documents/testimony comes out proving McKay knew, which I have NO doubt he did, then it lands directly into Harper's lap. As it stands now, Harper can continue with the disingenuous lie he knew nothing but the facts coming out are definitely 'climbing the ladder' higher and higher up the chain of command.

[CHIMO]

4. Yep

About time things come home to roost.

Would expect to see Mulroney/McKay guys to start coming out of the shadows. And that fellow from Quebec.

Hope you are comfy for the next day or two.

[JohnyCanuck]

5. A former UK ambassador (speaking from experience) expresses support for Colvin,

Torturing Ordinary People

Obviously I feel a great deal of sympathy with Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin. Those of us who reveal connivance by our own governments in gross human rights abuse, find little protection from fleeting media support and interest.

One thing I would underline which Colvin said, as it mirrors precisely my own experience in Uzbekistan:

He said the vast majority of the prisoners were ordinary Afghans, many with no connection to the insurgency

. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5geW1uXt-wU7Ky8e7rW3U57whblQwD9C4VKVG0


That is the truth about the "War on Terror" torture industry which its proponents refuse to face. The overhwelming majority of those tortured have been innocent. Of course, after torture, they have all confessed their guilt....

The "ticking bomb" scenario is supposed to pose the classical justification of torture. It denies that any action is per se wrong, and posits that inflicting terrible pain on one person is justified if it prevents terrible pain to more numerous others. That is precisely the argument which was being put to me when I was officially informed of the new British government policy of using torture for intelligence:

http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/index.html