Saturday, November 21, 2009

A trip down memory lane on torture and Liberal spin.

(Reproduced from the original post April 26, 2007.)



I find the Liberals to be full of nostalgia as of late for a time when they were still in power. For them everything was rosy and much better than it is today, take the Afghan prisoner ruckus that the Liberals and their close friends are trying to milk for all it is worth as an example.

Care to join me in a trip down memory lane......


Does anyone remember this picture?

For those that do not, this picture is of Canada's own JTF 2 in Afghanistan with prisoners that they had taken and was published Jan 2002 (AP / DarioLopez-Mills) .

Please note the date of the photo January 2002. A time where the Liberal led Government of Canada was not even admitting to Canadians that we had troops in Afghanistan; never mind that they were already involved in active combat and were taking prisoners.

When asked in QP about how Canadian Forces would deal with prisoners, PM JeanChrétien said "You are asking me a purely hypothetical question at this time." totally unaware that the event(s) had even happened and having no idea what was going on with prisoners. CBC NEWS SOURCE

The Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien, the man that sent our troops into war, did not know what our forces were doing on the other side of the world in the name of Canada!

Good times, good times.

A more positive note for the Liberals was that after a few years in Afghanistan, and after numerous prisoners were handed over to the Afghan authorities, the Paul Martin government negotiated a prisoner transfer agreement. Does anyone want to guess why the Liberals negotiated that deal? Could it be that allegations of coercion and torture just did not start in March of last year when the CPC took over, and that this has been an issue from the time Chrétien first showed all that "Liberal compassion" for the Canadian Armed Forces in question period?

That same transfer agreement, which was good enough for the Liberals, remained intact right up until yesterday when the Conservative Government negotiated the right for Canadian authorities to visit all detention facilities to check on prisoners. Why this was not in the agreement in the first place is beyond me, but maybe while those Liberals are going back down memory lane they could ask themselves why they didn't add this clause when they negotiated the deal!

Thanks for the memories, Liberals.

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On another related point; I am getting tired of Liberals deliberately misleading Canadians on the role of the International Red Cross with Afghan prisoners.

From a Liberal Press release: "...Minister O’Connor told Canadians the Red Cross was responsible for monitoring the treatment of detainees, until the Red Cross came forward to confirm that was not its mandate."

This from the ICRC: "According to its international mandate, the ICRC visits detainees held as a result of armed conflict and other situations of violence being held by the Afghan authorities and forces such as the United States and NATO. Delegates regularly assess the conditions of detention, the treatment of detainees and respect of their fundamental judicial guarantees."

I don't think the truth could be any clearer. The Liberals again are lying for their own political gain and while lying may bring back memories of the good old days for many Liberals, it just goes to show the rest of us that the Liberal good old days should be remembered for what they really were.


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Mr.Colvin was in Afghanistan from April 2006 until September 2007*. Compare those dates to what you have read above and ask yourself under whose watch did most of the problems occur and who was it that tried to make the situation better once they found problems.

Then ask why the time line seems to be completely ignored by most of the media in their quest for smear.


*Does anyone have the exact dates?

Update:A must read Interview with an Afghan Warden. ( ht Wilson from the comments)

Liberals in charge a history.


20 comments:

Jen said...

That is not all, here's more but not on afghanistan but, relatively close:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2007/10/12/janice-gross-stein-and-eugene-lang-our-man-in-iraq.aspx

I gother that the liberal national media kept this story under the carpet for many years.

Gayle said...

Hi AA

I see you are fully engaged in censorship again. Nice little slash job on my last post. That is some major dishonesty you have going on there.

I love you right wing free speechers. You are such a hypocrite.

You best hope you do not encounter me on a blog where they actually practice what they preach and do not censor. Not that you generally have the balls to go to those places. I seem to recall making mincemeat out of you on Janke's blog, and you never came back.

Good times, good times...

The thing is, it is obvious when you post "snippets" of my post, and delete the rest, that you are completely unable to deal with what I actually said. Sure some of your little minions may profess support, but even they know what you are really doing.

Do have a nice day.

Countdown to deletion in 10...9.....

Anonymous said...

D'ya think that the foolish fella with a fascinating fondness for frequent fancy feasts of fried or friccaseed
flesh of the furry feline, close 'friend' of JC, might have some info on their wee lie and cover-up?

Ardvark said...

Gayle, you called myself and others liars, and you called many Blogging Tory's racist in an effort to smear and distract from the topic at hand.

Sorry but comments like that will not be tolerated.

If not being able to smear people bothers you so much, why don't you just stay away and not come back as you have already said you would do. On more than 1 occasion I might add.

I am done with your games Gayle, bye bye.

Anonymous said...

Gayle,

You sound very immature.

bocanut said...

Gayle's a legend in her own mind.

Rich said...

Afghan prisoners 'no concern of ours'
National Post
Published: Saturday, November 21, 2009

From whom do reports of " torture" of Afghan prisoners come? Are there Canadian eye-witnesses, and just what constitutes "torture"? Canadian soldiers are not in Afghanistan to act as babysitters. There is no identifiable way to determine friend from foe in the prevailing conditions; witness the suicide-bombings carried out by children, women and males alike.

General Rick Hillier had it right: the first and foremost concern is the welfare of Canadian personnel, not prisoners.

Douglas Stallard, New Glasgow, N.S.

Rich said...

I agree with Mr Stallard, and I have one major question, why is Richard Colvin now bring these allegations up in 2009; he refers to the spring of 2006 when he first went to Afghanistan, he left Afghanistan in 2007 right after the Conservative government introduced their new rules for transferring detainees instead of the rules implemented by the Liberals in 2001. Since Colvin has not been in Afghanistan since 2007 how does he know about the prisoner abuses in 2009. It strikes me as a government bureaucrat with a axe to grind.

The Taliban detainees are the reponsibility of the Afghan government. We in Canada would not like Harmid Karzai telling us how to handle our prisoners: Libs, Dippers and Bloc should stop trying to make politcal points with the lives of our Canadian Forces.

Anonymous said...

Colvin appears to be reasonable young , and more than a bit abrasive. I wonder if this is some sort of Lib-friendly rant , possibly because he may have been pushed aside in the bureaucracy , and now feels it is the Conservatives fault because he lost his promotion?

... any thoughts ?

Bec said...

This whole extravaganza being played out has really bugged me and should be bugging all rational Canadians.

The time line is certainly one of the smoking guns but the bigger smoking gun as far as I'm concerned is WHY DIDN'T COLVIN SPEAK UP, loud and clear when given many audiences with many high ranking government officials?
I can't reconcile this aspect in my formulating a judgement.

Ardvark said...

Colvin left Afghanistan over 2 years ago but the Liberals don't care. They will use anything they can to make the government look bad and could care less about those they smear or the damage they do to the country in the process.


When was the last time you heard ANYTHING positive coming from the Liberals? Think about that.

CanadianSense said...

Great post. Gayle, clown car brigade member can set up their own blog and refute your post.

The timelines of Colvin should not be ignored. The history of problems as a result of the Liberals should not be ignored. We should defend and mitigate the damage being done to the reputation of our armed forces who are not responsible for the Liberals decision in sending them without a proper detainee agreement.

Jen said...

At least Canadiansense, our troops know which political party stand by them for them and respect them. Most definitely the BLOC nor the NDP nor the LIBERALS who in fact sent them into AFGHANISTAN in the first place.

I pray for the safety of all canadians and our men women in uniform that the LPOC nor their Coalition parties, never seek OFFICE again.
The LPOC has made it very clear that they don't like you, they use you. They prove it every day How? they refuse point blank to give back the missing money, they abused the E.I funds forcing you to repay your own funds- they did a dam good job screwing us around.

wilson said...

Funny how the only Colvin memo to surface is from April 2007.
G&M got it thru access to information,
what happened to all of the 2006 memos?????


Colvin's own memo discredits what Colvin said in committee:

''... He said ALL the detainees Canadians turned over to Afghan authorities were tortured.
The memo suggests that most turned out to be of little value.

In fact, Amrullah Saleh, chief of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security,
told Canadians most prisoners were later released – meaning they weren't likely high-value captures, according to the memo....''

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/many-detainees-were-just-farmers-afghan-official-says/article1372428/

wilson said...

Gayle is just slow to accept that the evil Harper is going to be PM for quite some time.
She's in the angry stage,
tho the media seems resigned to the fact that Iffy is a dud, and the LPC has lost it's way.

Libs and their luvin media gave it their best shot, and they just couldn't get it done.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper still stands,
stronger than ever.

Gayle said...

Right - so saying the LPC is anti-semitic is AOK, but pointing out there are some racist comments on BT blogs is not.

That is why you are called a hypocrite.

And a censor.

Gayle said...

And with that, I shall go.

Enjoy your little protected censorship world.

Ardvark said...

Gayle you are like Kinsella in drag and on spin cycle all of the time.

Since this is your last visit here I will go through the motions one last time.

I did not call the LPC antisemitic, this is a total fabrication on your part and I am tired of you posting crap like this about myself and others to bait and distract.

You did not say "some racist comments" you wrote "There are plenty of BT'ers who are racist" big difference but you will never admit that and will just keep spinning away in your own little delusion.

Bye Bye.

bocanut said...

Gayle accuses others of being a hypocritical but, she begrudges her tax dollars going towards a child's education while getting paid by thiose same tax dollars to help children in need,her apparent profession.
Looking in that mirror of hers must be tough.

wilson said...

Ignore the headline, read the article.

Afghan Prison's cheif warden says:

''...Bawar strongly contradicted Colvin’s testimony that all Taliban prisoners had been beaten.
Of the 100 prisoners that had suffered abuse, many were from other wings of the prison rather than the area where several hundred political prisoners were held, he said...''

He goes on to praise Canadians,
really praise them!

http://www.canada.com/news/Prisoners+tortured+fewer+than+alleged+warden/2251880/story.html


These other prisoners would not have been originally detained by or transferred to Afghan authorities by Canadian troops.