At some point in the near future I'll be doing an update on the whole issue of the handling of detainees in Afghanistan. This post is just to draw attention to Kady O'Malley's live blogging of today's testimony by Richard Colvin before the parliamentary committee of inquiry. Just to hit some of the high points:
- We can be pretty sure that detainees captured by Canadian forces and turned over to local authorities were tortured. We're not talking about just isolated cases; this was pretty much routine. The abuse continued even after the new agreement the government touted in May, 2007 as the solution to the problem.
- According to Colvin, he knows his memos were read by Rick Hillier and by Margaret Bloodworth who was (and apparently still is) the PM's national security advisor, among others.
- Laurie Hawn is an idiot.
And as of this writing, it's not over yet.
Trackbacks not working over here again, I see :(
Gallant, Abbott, Goldring ... just adding to the list of idiots.
Sheesh. A guy has the wits and courage to make a calm presentation like this, and all the Cons can think of is to jeer at him that he's the only one to have spoken up so far (no kidding), or to play the patriot card (Gallant).
I am not convinced enough people care about this, to matter. Polls may say people care, but people lie to make themselves look noble all the time. I think the government will come out of this just fine. (I am feeling particularly cynical this morning).
Exhibit A
http://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.com/2009/11/ctvs-lowest-moment.html