All Afghan Detainees likely Tortured

Even I thought that the Harper government was going to do better than this. Canada has been known for our zero-tolerance of torture. However, during Harper's reign, torture has increased. Torture is not a joke. It scars those prisoners for the rest of their lives. Physically and mentally. If Stephen Harper wants the population of Afghanistan to cooperate with the Canadian Forces, maybe he should force the Forces to keep an eye on the torture of prisoners. Imagine what would happen to us if Stephen Harper increased the military presence in our cities like he said he wanted to.

Harper said a Conservative government would increase underwater and aerial surveillance and enlarge the navy, army, and air force presence.

This was said in 2005, before the 2006 election. This proves that if he gets a majority, he'll increase the size of the military.

All detainees transferred by Canadians to Afghan prisons were likely tortured by Afghan officials and many of the prisoners were innocent, says a former senior diplomat with Canada's mission in Afghanistan.

Appearing before a House of Commons committee Wednesday, Richard Colvin blasted the detainees policies of Canada and compared them with the policies of the British and the Netherlands.

The detainees were captured by Canadian soldiers then handed over to the Afghan intelligence service, called the NDS.

Colvin said Canada was taking six times as many detainees as British troops and 20 times as many as the Dutch.

He said unlike the British and Dutch, Canada did not monitor their conditions; took days, weeks or months to notify the Red Cross; kept poor records; and to prevent scrutiny, the Canadian Forces leadership concealed this behind "walls of secrecy."

"As I learned more about our detainee practices, I came to a conclusion they were contrary to Canada's values, contrary to Canada's interests, contrary to Canada's official policies and also contrary to international law. That is, they were un-Canadian, counterproductive and probably illegal.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/18/diplomat-afghan-detainees.html