A Post-Easter Resurrection: Fat Arse is Back!

Sometimes self-imposed prorogues are healthy(?)
Don't ask where I've been... it's enough to know that I am back.
Too bad I've returned to find our governing party still rife with the same hypocrisy we have all come to expect of the "open and accountable" charade that is Harpo & Co.

Colvin's Letter & The Heart of the Issue

Colvin's letter today proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we Canadians deserve better. We are entitled to absolute and full disclosure from our federal government. Harper's government must answer why it took seventeen months to act, when it knew, categorically, that the detainees we were handing over to Afghan authorities were at a high risk of being tortured. Anything less than full disclosure is unacceptable!

From Colvin's letter, page 3 [emphasis added]:

"From February 2006 ... to May 3, 2007 (when Canada signed a new Memorandum of Understanding on detainees that gave us the right to monitor), our detainees continued to be transferred to the NDS, despite a substantial risk of abuse or torture.

Unlike our NATO allies in the south, we chose not to monitor our detainees. Because of notification delays, the Red Cross was also unable to monitor during the first days or weeks of detention, when the risk of torture was highest. Information on detainee transfers had to be sent to the ICRC via CEFCOM in Ottawa, where the information remained until CEFCOM commander Lieutenant‐General Michel Gauthier forwarded it. As late as spring 2007, there were delays in notification of up to 34 days.

Monitoring in Kandahar was implemented by a rotating pool of officers, some on very short deployments. As a result, Canadian detainees in NDS custody in Kandahar remained at risk of torture. Even after the new MOU was signed, Ottawa for the first five months did not send a dedicated DFAIT monitor to conduct the monitoring.When a dedicated monitor was finally sent out in late October 2007, he quickly found conclusive evidence of continued torture. This finally triggered a Canadian decision to stop transfers.

From the PRT’s warning of 2 June, 2006 ‐‐ which noted serious concerns about the treatment of Canadian detainees in Afghan custody ‐‐ until the cessation of transfers to the NDS was seventeen months."

Raging Tory MP John Baird: A picture perfect reflection of your government in action!

This is the face that our current Prime Minister chose to have speak on his behalf in the House of Commons yesterday. Is this the face you want speaking for you?

Forget about this other guy; John Baird is the true face of a Raging Tory. Apparently Baird is the one that Harpo & co. trust most to represent their position on the Afghan detainee issue in public. Criminy! We deserve better.

Pundit Dung of the 1st order: Andrew Coyne's intentional obfuscation of the issue at hand.

So I read this Coyne piece. I upchucked and then recoiled. His pro-Tory agenda is clearly on display. His goal, seemingly, is to deflect our attention from Harpo's &Co's responsibility for its role in the ongoing torture of Afghan detainees.

What Coyne fails to understand with the publication of his column is that we have an absolute right to know the truth about our present elected government's conduct on this file. All Coyne's article does is play unaccountable politics with a very serious issue. All he does is try to interject crass partisanship crap into the debate. Shame on him. Below is my stated objection to his tactics:

"Andrew,

Pundit dung of the first order sir.
Truth be told I have come to expect more than shoddy, lazy, and such obviously pro-PC partisan analysis from you. Sadly, you seem to be intent on obfuscating the issue at hand.

Really sir, it is not the historical paternity tale of our Afghan Detainee Policy (ADP) that is germane at this point, it is the current Government of Canada's inability to straightforwardly address the known issues of abuse. Our current government's shameful effort to censure and attack those who would speak truth to power can not go unchallenged. Our current government's absolute failure to be transparent on this issue must be challenged.

I care not what stripe our government of the day wears (PC Blue or Lib Red) it's irrelevant. Fact is, the government of the day, the government TODAY, owes us all an explanation. Do they, in OUR name, as OUR government participate in and/or condone and abet illegal war practices that any reasonable Canadian would deem inhumane treatment? Did they, do they, support policies that knowingly lead to the torture other human beings? It's a simple questions that deserves an honest answer. What Paul Martin did in 2005 is, of course, important. More importantly, however, now that more facts are known, is WHAT IS STEPHEN HARPER HAS (OR HAS NOT) DONE to live up to our international legal obligations NOT TO TORTURE HUMAN BEINGS?"