A damning letter by Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin has shredded the Harper government’s cover-up of the torture of Canadian-transferred detainees, Liberal MPs said today, leaving the government with no option but to call a public inquiry.
“Mr. Colvin’s letter makes it essential that we have a public inquiry,” said Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff. “All roads lead to the Langevin Block and the Prime Minister’s Office. Mr. Colvin informed the Clerk of the Privy Council, the highest civil servant directly responsible to the Prime Minister. The Clerk must have informed the Prime Minister – and yet no action was taken to stop the torture of detainees handed over by Canadian forces.”
“The government tried to cover up the evidence of torture from the start by discouraging and censoring written reports,” said Liberal Defence Critic Ujjal Dosanjh. “Now they’re trying to cover it up by intimidating witnesses, boycotting Parliament’s Afghanistan committee, refusing to release unredacted documents, and even considering proroguing Parliament to stall the release of information.”
Liberals pointed to the findings of Mr. Colvin’s letter as insurmountable evidence of the need for a full, independent, judicial public inquiry:
Reporting:
• The Harper government knew about torture in Afghan prisons through multiple Canadian and international reports, dating as far back as March 2006.
• Detainee reports were based on multiple, credible sources.
• Credible third-party sources reported that prisoners were routinely tortured.
• Investigations of torture by the Afghan NDS were so weak that the Canadian embassy refused to accept them.
• Credible allegations of torture to Canadian-transferred detainees were found as soon as the transfer agreement was fixed in May 2007 – not six months later in November 2007.
Censorship:
• The Canadian Embassy censored parts of reports directly related to detainee concerns.
• “Embassy staffers were told that they should not report information, however accurate, that conflicted with the government’s public messaging.”
Detainees:
• The Afghan NDS told Canada “that many or most of our detainees were unconnected to the insurgency.” As one military officer told the MPCC, they were primarily “local yokels.”
• Afghan detainees have no incentive to falsely claim torture, as it would put them at risk of more torture. Furthermore, they were highly unlikely to have received training to falsely claim torture.
Government response:
• The Harper government did not fix the problems with the transfers when they knew that torture was happening.
• Canada had multiple options other than handing detainees over to the Afghans.
• There was no advance draft or consultation concerning a new detainee MOU prior to the explosion of controversy regarding detainee torture in the media on April 23, 2007. In fact, advice to implement a new MOU was initially rejected on April 24, 2007.
• Senior Canadian officers twice intervened to keep Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid in place. Requests by other NATO countries to have governors removed were complied with.
Accountability:
• It was the obligation of senior figures in the government and the military to be informed of the reports coming from the Canadian Embassy and the Provincial Reconstruction Team. The reports were read, but they were not acted on.
• Mr. Colvin respected the chain of command by informing his superiors – such as Clerk of the Privy Council Kevin Lynch and DFAIT ADM David Mulroney – about the torture of detainees. It was their obligation to tell the Minister or Prime Minister directly – not Mr. Colvin’s.
• Decisions about the implementation and operation of the detainee transfer system were made in Ottawa, not in Kandahar.
• Mr. Colvin is not a “whistleblower.” He was subpoenaed to testify, and therefore his attendance is compulsory and he is legally compelled to speak the truth.
“We now know why the Conservatives are so afraid of this issue – because all roads lead to the Prime Minister’s Office,” concluded Mr. Ignatieff. “Only a public inquiry will shed the necessary light on this troubling issue.”
