Unless you've been avoiding the news for over a week, you've probably heard at least something about Canadian forces transferring Afghan detainees over to Afghan officials that were suspected of torturing the prisoners and in addition did not keep records of who they were transferring and to where they were transferring them(It's even made headline in China!).

So what's the problem here? Isn't that what war is about? Well other than the obvious moral and ethical implications, it's illegal according to the "Law of War", which is a collection of laws put together by international conferences over the centuries and which includes the well-known Geneva Convention.

Here are some relevant excerpts from Article 122 of Section 11 of the 3rd Chapter of the Law of War taken from GlobalSecurity.org:


So where's the controversy? Well, Colvin claims to have issued reports to many different key figures including, among others, David Mulroney, former deputy minister of the federal government's Afghan Task Force, now Canada's ambassador to China and Rick Hillier, former Chief of the Defence Staff. Most of of those named claim they never saw any such reports or are avoiding the media.

In addition, not everyone agrees with the whistleblower, Richard Colvin, on this case. In fact, most of the conservative party dismissed his claims outright and called him untrustworthy. It seems odd to me that they would assign Mr. Colvin a position as a diplomat when he is "not credible". In fact, the conservatives decided that they would allow Colvin to retain his position as senior intelligence official at the Canadian Embassy in Washington even though they dismiss his statements as fabrications.

On the other hand, some people, like former Afghan MP and activist, Malalai Joya, claims that Colvin's statement is true. She said that Colvin's statements echo what she had been hearing from her people. Mrs. Joya was suspended from parliament in 2007 for openly criticizing officials.

Who is Colvin exactly? Well, currently, as I stated above, he's a senior intelligence official at the Canadian Embassy in Washington. Prior to that, he was a senior Diplomat with Canada's mission in Afghanistan. The Toronto Star had this to say about the man himself:


Colvin has a Masters in Journalism, speaks three languages fluently and has an extensive career in foreign affairs. He volunteered as a diplomat in Afghanistan in order to act as a replacement for a close friend of his who was killed by a suicide bomber while holding the position.

So, if Colvin is so untrustworthy, why not investigate to prove that his allegations are wrong? Well, unfortunately, it seems like the Tories don't want an inquiry, which just makes you wonder what they're trying to hide.

On Tuesday, Amnesty International requested an inquiry. In my opinion, that's a request that should be met. Instead of having our officials and diplomats calling each other liars, a formal inquiry and investigation of paper trails should clear things up. It's unlikely that any one person would be to blame if it was found that the military was aware of the situation, if anything, Canada as a state would be at fault. I don't think we should hide from the truth and if any of the officials feel that they should, they obviously shouldn't be holding office.

-Adje

There's a lot more to this story and I'll be following it closely and likely posting new articles on the same topic so stay tuned.