Friday, March 09, 2007

Hey Gord, About Those Three Detainees...


Still no word on those three Afghan prisoners Canadian forces handed over to Afghan authorities. For a while our so-called Defence Minister, Gordo O'Connor, tried to mislead Parliament and the Canadian public by claiming the International Red Cross was on to this and surely would have notified Canadian authorities if anything was amiss. Turns out Gordo was pulling that straight out of his ass.

So it's been weeks now since a controversy erupted about these detainees and still no sign of the prisoners or any indication of what happened to them - at least none that Gordo is going to share with you or me or even Parliament.

It turns out a visit to an Afghan prison really isn't conducive to a captive's health or even life, at least according to the US State Department:

"Security and factional forces committed extrajudicial killings and torture," the U.S. report says. Broader "human-rights problems included: extrajudicial killings; torture; poor prison conditions; official impunity; prolonged pretrial detention; abuse of authority by regional commanders; restrictions on freedoms of press, religion, movement, and association; violence and societal discrimination against women, religious converts, and minorities; trafficking in persons; abuse of worker rights; and child labour."

"Canadian troops usually turn detainees over to the Afghan National Police. The State Department said, "The ANP . . . was the predominant government institution responsible for security in the country. Its performance engendered mistrust among the local population, and reports of corruption and mistreatment of citizens in custody were widespread."

Of course Gord thinks that the Afghan National Police, the local gestapo, are a real asset to our troops in winning the "hearts and minds" of the locals in Kandahar province. The man is positively delusional.

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