Tories not believed in Afghan torture case: PollToronto Star: Canadians aren't buying the Harper government's assertion that there's no credible evidence Afghan detainees were tortured, a new poll suggests. Indeed, the Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey indicates Canadians are twice as likely to believe whistleblower Richard Colvin's claim that all prisoners handed over by Canadian soldiers to Afghan authorities were likely abused and that government officials were well aware of the problem...
Fifty-one per cent of respondents said they believe Colvin's testimony... In stark contrast, only 25 per cent said they believe the government's contention... A majority in all regions -- except Alberta where 41 per cent believed Colvin and 35 per cent the government -- sided with the whistleblower... Moreover, fully 70 per cent said it's unacceptable that Canadian forces would hand over prisoners if it's likely they'll be tortured...
Harris-Decima chairman Allan Gregg said... Canadians' deep misgivings about the mission in Afghanistan, combined with their underlying belief that Canada is a peaceful country that should never condone torture, likely predisposes them to believe Colvin. 'We recognize that we may never be a military power or an economic power but we like to see ourselves as a moral power. The notion that somehow we might be knowingly giving up detainees for potential torture flies directly in the face of that sensibility.'
Nipa Banerjee, Ottawa Citizen: The Richard Colvin saga sounds much too familiar. Many departments of the government are studded with manifold incidents of a similar nature that violate our purported Canadian values. In my experience, most such violations are hidden from public eyes because the lid is capped at a very early stage...
Abuse of prisoners in Afghanistan has been common knowledge. I was told by one of my colleagues -- a political officer at our embassy in Kabul -- that his e-mails alerting Foreign Affairs headquarters... were ignored. One of Canada's former envoys also confirmed abuse in Afghan prisons was known since 2001... More serious, however, is that Colvin's warnings... not only went unheeded, Colvin was allegedly asked to shut up. And this allowed the government to dig itself into a deeper hole...
It seems to me the deliberate cover-up of unwanted truths is more the norm than the exception, especially on the Afghanistan file because of its high public profile. Hiding bad news from the media and the public are the standard operating procedures. What examples do we set while we demand eradication of corruption in Afghanistan?... I can recall numerous instances during my term with the Afghanistan program where the Canadian bureaucracy took a despicable stance on issues of ethics, accountability and the public's right to access information.
Image source: DND handout.
