Canadian Armed Forces accused of complicity in torture of Afghan suspects

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Tiassa, Apr 22, 2010.

  1. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    37,882
    Canada? Oh, please, not Canada!

    I guess we'll just have to wait and see what comes:

    A former Canadian Armed Forces’ interpreter has charged that Canada’s military handed over Afghan detainees whom it deemed uncooperative to the Afghan secret police so that information could be beaten out of them through torture.

    Testifying before a House of Commons committee last week, Ahmadshah Malgarai said he “saw Canadian military intelligence sending detainees to the NDS [Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security] when the detainees did not tell them what they expected to hear.”

    “If the [Canadian] interrogator thought a detainee was lying, the military sent him to NDS for more questions, Afghan style. Translation: abuse and torture.”
    Canada’s military, declared Malgarai, “used the NDS as subcontractors for abuse and torture” ....

    .... There is already a mountain of evidence to show that the Canadian government and CAF ignored and suppressed warnings that prisoners transferred to Afghan security forces would be abused and tortured, making both guilty of war crimes. (Under the Geneva Conventions, it is illegal to transfer prisoners if there to is reason to suspect those to whom they are being transferred will abuse and torture them.)

    Malgarai, however, is the first participant in the Canadian military intervention in Afghanistan to charge the CAF with subcontracting torture—with transferring prisoners to the NDS with the express aim of having Afghan security forces subject them to torture and abuse.

    The former CAF translator testified that he personally translated more than 40 documents into Pashto authorizing the transfer of Afghan detainees from the CAF to the NDS. He told the Commons committee that when he asked his CAF bosses, “Should I translate this as transfer for questioning or transfer for torture? They would just laugh. They were subcontracting torture.”

    Malgarai insisted that “all along the chain of command” everyone “involved in any way, or at any level, with the detainee transfer” knew “what was going on and what the NDS does to the detainees.”


    (Jones)

    Right now it's a nebulous accusation. One Paul Dewar, of the New Democratic Party, claims to have documentation in the form of a Canadian Armed Forces report that will support claims of Canada's complicity and endorsement of torture by the Afghan National Directorate of Security, but cites Canadian national security laws in his refusal to produce it for review.

    Malgarai, for his part, does not appear to be some fringe whack job. Rather, he is highly regarded by the Canadian Armed Forces, and was allegedly considered for a job as governor of Kandahar province, a job that went instead to Canadian citizen Tooryaliai Wesa.

    The Harper government has already claimed national security issues in its refusal to cooperate with inquiries by Parliament and the Military Police Complaint Committee. Defense Minister Peter MacKay denounced Malgarai's testimony as a "drive-by smear".

    I thank our Canadian neighbors for sticking with us through this difficult period. If Malgarai's accusations are true, well, yeah, it's not as bad as the some of what Americans have managed to stir in the theatre. I can only wish Canadians the best of luck in their various quests for truth; may they do better by it than we have.
    ____________________

    Notes:

    Jones, Keith. "Canada subcontracted torture of Afghan detainees". World Socialist Web Site. April 21, 2010. WSWS.org. April 21, 2010. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/apr2010/afgh-a21.shtml
     
  2. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.
  3. soullust Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,380
    yeah this was being debated in Parliament for a while up here.

    And if there was Torture involved take it up with the current afghan, forces.

    we and any of the allies did and are doing the right thing by turning over people from that country to there Government were doing enough protecting there asses, let alone baby sitting there Prisoners.

    If it was up to me id torture them below the mountains where the tali ban is positioned set an example, human rights should not apply, in a war where your enemy does not give a fuck about treating our boy's right if there captured.

    wow, If anything comes from our war rulz, it will be our UN doing, Kindness can mean death in a real war. tjankfully this is just an extrem training field for the real war to come.
     
  4. Google AdSense Guest Advertisement



    to hide all adverts.

Share This Page