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Canadian Diplomat Alleges Troops in Afghanistan Were Complicit in Torture
Senior diplomat formerly stationed in Kabul claims troops 'handed over for severe torture a lot of innocent people'
The Canadian government was fending off calls for a public inquiry on torture today after allegations from one of its senior diplomats that Canada was complicit in the torture of Afghan detainees.
Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin has alleged that troops routinely handed over detainees to the Afghan intelligence services. Photograph: Chris Wattie/Reuters Richard Colvin, who was second in command at Canada's Kabul embassy in 2006 and 2007, said that Afghans swept up in security sweeps by Canadian troops during that time were routinely handed over to the Afghan intelligence services.
"According to our information, the likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured," Colvin told Canada's parliament. "For interrogators in Kandahar, it was standard operating procedure.
"In other words, we detained, and handed over for severe torture, a lot of innocent people."
Colvin said his frequent memos about the abuse were ignored and that senior officials attempted to cover up Canada's complicity until prisoner transfer procedures were changed in 2007, partly as a result of his complaints.
The allegations have shocked a country that generally regards itself as an upholder of humanitarian values and intensified scrutiny of Canada's military presence in Afghanistan. Canada has about 2,800 troops based in Kandahar province, who are due to be withdrawn in 2011.
The government has denied the allegations and attacked Colvin's credibility.
"There are incredible holes in the story that have to be examined," the defence minister, Peter MacKay, told parliament yesterday, arguing that Colvin had based his accounts on Taliban propaganda. He rejected opposition calls for a public inquiry.
"It doesn't stand the test of cross-examination. It doesn't stand the test of credibility," MacKay said.
Government attacks on Colvin's credibility have been undermined by its admission that it acted on his complaints about the treatment of detainees in May 2007, a year after he began sending memos. Colvin now holds a senior intelligence post in the Washington embassy.
Colvin said his complaints about the torture of Afghans were "mostly ignored" for a year. After that he was told by government officials to keep quiet and to express his concerns by telephone rather than put them on paper.
He said "the paper trail on detainees" was reduced after the arrival of Arif Lalani, Canada's ambassador in Kabul from May 2007. "Reports on detainees began sometimes to be censored with crucial information removed," he said.
Senior Canadian officials and military officers deny having seen Colvin's dispatches. General Rick Hillier, who commanded Canadian forces in Kandahar in 2006 and has since retired, said: "I don't remember reading a single one of those cables ... He doesn't stick out in my mind."
Hillier rejected the allegation that Canada was complicit in war crimes and compared the uproar to "howling at the moon".
"Even in our own prisons somebody can get beaten up," he said. "We know that."
Gordon O'Connor, Canada's defence minister in 2006 and 2007, suggested yesterday that Colvin's memos might not have travelled all the way up the government hierarchy.
"Reports like this may have occurred and gone through the system and people at lower levels may have decided there's no credibility to different reports," O'Connor said.
18 Comments so far
Show AllGiven that Prime Minister Harper is about as believable as a Republican snake-oil selling puppet can be, it is no surprise that they have attacked the credibility of a witness who was actually in country, doing their dirty work.
Canada *IS* a willing accomplice in the commission of American war crimes, and *should* be held accountable in a court of law. Every Canadian Prime Minister since Jean Cretien is guilty and should be held to account. As should every MP who stood by and allowed this to happen.
I say this as a Canadian. I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada. And I am ashamed of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his reactionary right wing party, and the government it dominates by a narrow margin.
Canada once had a proud tradition of being peacekeepers and only going to war when absolutely necessary. Now we are little more than enthusiastic colonial auxiliaries to the US Military Legions...
So far, government attempts to discredit this guy are floundering. Check out the Globe and Mail. If conservative mainstream media support this whistleblower, which seems to be what's happening so far, the government could be in trouble. This is good news.
It well worth noting that Canadian troops used to turn captured prisoners over to American forces.
When the tortures at Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Gitmo were revealed it was decided that it would be SAFER to turn captured prisoners over to the Afghani forces because as an elected Government the Afghanis would be less likely to torture them then the Americans.
When this was all going on in the previous administrations , Human rights groups suggested that under international and Canadian if the Canadians could NOT TRUST third parties not to torture prisoners that Canadian forces had turned over to them , then Canada was OBLIGATED to keeep the prisoners under Canadian Custody.
Neither The Liberals or Conservatives were very open to this idea. They just wanted them off their own hands.
Just another reason we should not be there in an ever growing list.
The RIGHT thing to do would be for our forces to pull out of that Country. If that is not going to happen then we should be holding the people Canadian troops Capture in a Canadian prison.
Trying to claim we not responsible for the consequences of our actions by turning these people over to third parties is just too easy.
Clearly, turning prisoners over to Boshama's or Karzai's forces means delivering them to torture, and clearly the Canadians knew that during at least most of the time they engaged in the practice.
But what else would we expect from a country aiding and abetting an unprovoked invasion?
The rape was in full progress, and he Canadian government figured if they slapped the victim and made enthusiastic noises they might get themselves a piece.
Memo may not have travelled all the way up the government hierarchy.
Okay, anyone buying that story? No? Okay, what do you want to hear? What excuse will get the government off the hook?
It is ironic that the hero of this story is the one who is being punished, while the villains are being protected. Nevertheless, Mr. Colvin will be rewarded by his own conscience, with peace of mind, while the guilty parties will get no rest from their shame. Karma is inescapable, and those who do wrong must accept the consequences.
"There are incredible holes in the story that have to be examined," the defence minister, Peter MacKay.
But only behind closed doors. MacKay and the rest of the Conservative government refuse to hold an enquiry, and litigated to prevent Colvin from testifying in public.
This really smells.
"There are incredible holes in the story that have to be examined," the defence minister, Peter MacKay.
There sure are and primarily on the government side, both the current and previous Liberal government.
The political panel on Thursday night's CBC news considered that this story has legs and won't easily be buried as the calls for a public enquiry get more exposure. Furthermore why would a senior diplomat do something that could damage his career if it were not true, and why was this diplomat promoted from Kabul to Washington if he was unreliable.
The whole pile stinks, especially since the story has been know in outline for 2 or 3 years. The top level commanders and their political handlers should not be let off the hook.
Holy shit! Where did Canada go?
General Rick Hillier "I don't remember reading a single one of those cables."
Darth Cheney has taught his padawan learners well.
Typical Harper drive by smear of a guy who was doing his job honestly. Harper continues to exploit the worst of the Repubican Party and the toxic Chicago School of Economics and its Canadian version, the Fraser Institute. The fear is that Canada is being lost in what some refer to as a corporate "coup d'etat in slow motion" whilst most Canadians are slumbering at the wheel.
Harper and MacKay want to be Bush and Cheney when they grow up. They are both HUGE douchebags.
And Colvin looks like his head is going to explode in those pictures...you dont get that upset when you have just made shit up.
Also disturbing that Canada found it less likely the prisoners would be tortured if they turned them over to Afganistan, than to the USA.
The South Park guys had the right idea about Canada. It's supposedly a nice, civilized country, but it's got Harper -- and Harper's "liberal" opposition is a bloodthirsty neocon.
Like any other country that has professional politicians, the psychopaths of the business world cross over to running the Government to suit themselves and their cronies.
Only approved puppets seem to be able to become leaders of "mainstream" parties in the so-called "Western democracies."
Harper and Ignatieff are both flunkies of the US/UK corporate imperialists.
If Jack Layton became Prime Minister, he would be visited by USUK representative and within one hour he'd be singing the corporate-imperial anthem. I don't know if they use some kind of fast-acting heroin or just money, but they bring politicians to heel.
The US duopoly is a bad joke on democracy, but look at the UK: Labour, Conservatives and Liberal-Democrats all support the Afghanistan invasion/occupation. And they know the war does not have popular support.
USUK - filled with USUKKERS.
Richard Colvin - War Hero.
There are too few.
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"Even in our own prisons somebody can get beaten up," [General Rick Hillier] said. "We know that."
note to Hillier: most prisoners have been justly convicted.
I once felt proud being Canadian and fooled myself into thinking that we were morally superior to our war mongoring 'american cousins' at least partially because Canada decided not to go along with the 'illeagle' US lead invasion of Iraq.
Meanwhile during the darkest days of the bush administration I watched as my nation went from being a former 'peace keeper' to a country complicit in 'war crimes'.
Peter McKay should be run off parliment hill for the way he is attacking the credibitlity of a senior canadian (albeit whistle blower) diplomat. To claim now, as he is, that there is no creible evidence that torture was/is routinely used by the Afgan secret service is extreme bullshit and it upsets me greatly to hear his spin.
It would seem that the majority of Canadians don't even give a shit as long as the people (men, women, children) being tortured are those 'awfull muslims'.
Maybe some people got use to the idea of torture as being acceptable during the 'war on terror' being as how we saw the same pictures of the abuses committed by the Americans at gitmo, etc.
This is Canada, not the states. If we are complicit in war crimes then those responsible must answer, period! What has gone down in the states is beyond unbelievable. The newly elected "change" deciding not to go after bush et al just sets the stage for more of the same. Closer to home here in friendly Canada my hope is that this stinker won't go away and haunts harper and his ilk into the next federal election. Seems to me they hung people during the war crime trails following WWII.