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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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 Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:08 pm Post subject: All Afghan detainees likely tortured: diplomat |
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All detainees transferred by Canadians to Afghan prisons were likely tortured by Afghan officials and many of the prisoners were innocent, says a former senior diplomat with Canada's mission in Afghanistan.
Appearing before a House of Commons committee Wednesday, Richard Colvin blasted the detainees policies of Canada and compared them with the policies of the British and the Netherlands.
The detainees were captured by Canadian soldiers then handed over to the Afghan intelligence service, called the NDS.
Colvin said Canada was taking six times as many detainees as British troops and 20 times as many as the Dutch.
He said unlike the British and Dutch, Canada did not monitor their conditions; took days, weeks or months to notify the Red Cross; kept poor records; and to prevent scrutiny, the Canadian Forces leadership concealed this behind "walls of secrecy."
"As I learned more about our detainee practices, I came to a conclusion they were contrary to Canada's values, contrary to Canada's interests, contrary to Canada's official policies and also contrary to international law. That is, they were un-Canadian, counterproductive and probably illegal.
"According to our information, the likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured. For interrogators in Kandahar, it was a standard operating procedure," Colvin said.
He said the most common forms of torture were beatings, whipping with power cables, the use of electricity, knives, open flames and rape.
Colvin worked in Kandahar for the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2006. He later moved to Kabul, where he was second-in-command at the Canadian Embassy. In both jobs, Colvin visited detainees transferred by Canadian soldiers to Afghan prisons. He wrote reports about those visits and sent them to Ottawa.
Colvin told the committee that the detainees were not "high-value targets" such as IED bomb makers, al-Qaeda terrorists or Taliban commanders.
"According to a very authoritative source, many of the Afghans we detained had no connection to insurgency whatsoever," he said. "From an intelligence point of view, they had little or no value."
Colvin said some may have been foot soldiers or day fighters but many were just local people at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"In other words, we detained and handed over for severe torture a lot of innocent people."
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.
Colvin said when a new ambassador arrived in May, the paper trail on detainees was reduced and reports on detainees were at times "censored" with crucial information removed.
He said all of these steps were "extremely irregular."
At the time, the government denied there were any credible allegations of torture.
But Tories questioned the validity of Colvin's sources, saying the information he received concerning the allegations were from second-hand and third-hand reports.
Colvin's testimony "seemed dramatic, but under questioning it was revealed to be filmsy, inconsistent, unreliable," Laurie Hawn, parliamentary secretary to Defence Minister Peter MacKay told CBC News. "[He] did not come across as credible."
While he didn't doubt Colvin's sincerity, "every time something has happened in that mission, we have taken action," Hawn said. "And that's evidenced by the improvements in the prison, the training we've done, money we've invested, the visits we've had organized with the various authorities there."
Colvin also said he only spoke to four detainees himself and he had no way to guarantee those prisoners had in fact been captured by Canadian troops.
He also admitted he never raised the allegations with ministers who travelled through Kandahar.
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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Canadian officials have halted the transfer of prisoners to Afghanistan's intelligence service "more than one time," because of the possibility of torture, Canada's chief of defence staff said Sunday.
Gen. Walter Natynczyk, speaking at the end of the three-day Halifax International Security Forum, declined to offer details, saying additional information is expected as more witnesses speak before a special House of Commons committee.
"We indeed did stop the transfer more than one time," he said. "At the same time, I don't want to throw out more information. There's a process that's undergoing and I know that the witnesses will be called forward for that process and give their testimony."
Last week, Richard Colvin, a former Canadian diplomat in Afghanistan who says he delivered repeated warnings that prisoners handed over to Afghan authorities were being tortured, testified that all of the prisoners Canada handed over in 2006-07 were likely tortured. |
Full Story |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 3:32 pm Post subject: Re: All Afghan detainees likely tortured: diplomat |
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| catman wrote: |
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"According to our information, the likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured. For interrogators in Kandahar, it was a standard operating procedure," Colvin said.
Colvin's testimony "seemed dramatic, but under questioning it was revealed to be filmsy, inconsistent, unreliable," Laurie Hawn, parliamentary secretary to Defence Minister Peter MacKay told CBC News. "[He] did not come across as credible."
Colvin also said he only spoke to four detainees himself and he had no way to guarantee those prisoners had in fact been captured by Canadian troops.
He also admitted he never raised the allegations with ministers who travelled through Kandahar.
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(Bolding mine)
I think that says it all. Someone is trying to make a name for himself and nothing more.
Move along folks nothing to see here. Just a politician grandstanding on (as he admits himself) virtually no evidence. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 7:15 pm Post subject: Re: All Afghan detainees likely tortured: diplomat |
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| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| catman wrote: |
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"According to our information, the likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured. For interrogators in Kandahar, it was a standard operating procedure," Colvin said.
Colvin's testimony "seemed dramatic, but under questioning it was revealed to be filmsy, inconsistent, unreliable," Laurie Hawn, parliamentary secretary to Defence Minister Peter MacKay told CBC News. "[He] did not come across as credible."
Colvin also said he only spoke to four detainees himself and he had no way to guarantee those prisoners had in fact been captured by Canadian troops.
He also admitted he never raised the allegations with ministers who travelled through Kandahar.
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(Bolding mine)
I think that says it all. Someone is trying to make a name for himself and nothing more.
Move along folks nothing to see here. Just a politician grandstanding on (as he admits himself) virtually no evidence. |
Colvin is a politician?  |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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Oh I knew it wouldn't be long until Harper pulled out this Bushism:
"Harper said that living in a time "when some in the political arena do not hesitate before throwing the most serious of allegations at our men and women in uniform, based on the most flimsy of evidence, remember that Canadians from coast to coast to coast are proud of you and stand behind you, and I am proud of you, and I stand beside you." |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:25 pm Post subject: Re: All Afghan detainees likely tortured: diplomat |
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| catman wrote: |
| TheUrbanMyth wrote: |
| catman wrote: |
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"According to our information, the likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured. For interrogators in Kandahar, it was a standard operating procedure," Colvin said.
Colvin's testimony "seemed dramatic, but under questioning it was revealed to be filmsy, inconsistent, unreliable," Laurie Hawn, parliamentary secretary to Defence Minister Peter MacKay told CBC News. "[He] did not come across as credible."
Colvin also said he only spoke to four detainees himself and he had no way to guarantee those prisoners had in fact been captured by Canadian troops.
He also admitted he never raised the allegations with ministers who travelled through Kandahar.
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(Bolding mine)
I think that says it all. Someone is trying to make a name for himself and nothing more.
Move along folks nothing to see here. Just a politician grandstanding on (as he admits himself) virtually no evidence. |
Colvin is a politician? |
That's affirmative. He's the deputy head of security and intelligence in Canada's embassy in Washington...unless he's been fired/promoted/demoted very recently. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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Gen. Walter Natynczyk, Canada's top military commander, is now saying a suspected Taliban fighter abused by Afghan police in June 2006 had been detained by Canadian troops, contrary to comments he made Tuesday.
"The individual who was beaten by the Afghan police was, in fact, in Canadian custody," Natynczyk told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday.
Natynczyk had told a parliamentary committee that Canadian troops questioned the man, picked up during operations in Zangabad. But Natynczyk said it was the Afghans who took him into custody.
On Wednesday, the defence staff chief said he has received new information and learned that Canadians had taken the suspect into custody before handing him over to the Afghans.
Natynczyk read from a report on the incident by the section commander, who said the Canadians had the suspect get down on his stomach before they conducted a detailed search, which included emptying the Afghan's pockets and cataloguing all the items.
But the sergeant also wrote that the man was photographed "prior to handing him over, to ensure that if the [Afghan National Police] did assault him, as has happened in the past, we would have a visual record of his condition."
"I did not have this information in May of 2007 nor yesterday when I made my statement," Natynczyk said. "But I am responsible for the information provided by the Canadian Forces and I am accountable for it today."
Natynczyk said he will investigate the incident and why it took so long to get the information about what happened.
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http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/12/09/natynczyk-detainee.html
Looks like General Natynczyk is part of this liberal conspiracy too. |
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 6:54 pm Post subject: Colvin a potential 'liability': military memo |
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Field reports by ex-diplomat Richard Colvin about Canada's policy of handing prisoners over to Afghan authorities ticked off senior military officials who wanted him disciplined and possibly removed from his job at the Canadian Embassy in Kabul, a bluntly worded memo reveals.
The memo dated May 7, 2007, and written by Mike Carter, a policy adviser at the Canadian Expeditionary Force Command, was released Monday as part of an inquiry by the Military Police Complaints Commission.
The commission is looking into allegations that the Canadian military was aware that prisoners it was transferring into Afghan custody were being tortured.
There were five reports by Colvin between February and April 2007 sent to as many as 100 people within the federal government that were of particular concern to CEFCOM, which manages all operations overseas, the memo stated.
In particular, CEFCOM was concerned about Colvin's:
reporting on operational detail or plans of a highly sensitive nature to an inappropriately wide audience;
expressing personal opinion or commentary regarding sensitive subject matter without prior consultations;
offering unqualified and unsolicited criticism of Canadian Forces' leadership decisions and the tactical practices of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.
The memo described the nature of the five messages of concern but much of the detail was censored.
In a report dated April 24, 2007, Colvin recommended that Canada develop "a more cautious field methodology" to ensure fewer detainees were taken, statements that the memo said "contradicted Canada's official position and policy on the issue of Afghan-led detention" and suggested "a lack of faith in the Canadian military leadership."
The memo concluded that, given Colvin's "pattern of questionable reporting decisions" and his failure to heed the advice of senior Canadian military officials on two occasions, "CEFCOM is concerned that his continued employment in Kabul as political counsellor and deputy to the HOM [head of mission] could become a liability to the government of Canada's interests if left unchecked."
The memo also recommended that the Department of Foreign Affairs remind Colvin of his responsibilities as a diplomat and reporting limitations.
"Otherwise, his contribution to the embassy in Kabul should be re-evaluated."
Last fall, Colvin's allegations became public when they were aired before a parliamentary committee looking into the torture claims. At the time, many in government and the military professed never to have heard of the diplomat.
But Gabrielle Duschner, a former senior policy adviser at the overseas command, said she was aware of the internal criticism of Colvin at the time. The memo recommending he be warned and possibly replaced was sent to her by one of her staff, she said.
Duschner said she disagreed with its conclusions.
She told the complaints commission there was a general awareness and concern about the treatment of prisoners in Afghan jails before April 2007.
But Duschner said the issue became a No. 1 priority after media reports were published that month alleging abuse had take place.
The civilian-run complaints commission is investigating what military police knew � or should have known � about abuse allegations. Colvin now works as a senior intelligence official at the Canadian Embassy in Washington.
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We need Richard Colvin and others like him. Here is a person who came forward many times to protest illegal and unethical actions by Canada. He did this despite the effect on his career, the venom excreted by the government lackies and the full assault of the Canadian Military. Why would he make all this up? He is a Canadian hero who put principles ahead of personal gain. |
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