Canadians Support Training Mission

A new poll shows that a slight majority of Canadians support a training mission in Afghanistan after our combat troops leave in July 2011. I feel that we should have a continued presence in Afghanistan, but non-military. We should focus completely on humanitarian aid and development of the country. I don't see the training mission as a big monster: I can live with it. We just need to make sure that we don't end up on a slippery slope. We simply cannot abandon the civilians in that country. Humanitarian aid and development will allow us to help Afghanistan without putting a large number of Canadians at risk.

OTTAWA — An narrow majority of Canadians support keeping upwards of 1,000 troops in Afghanistan until 2014 to train Afghan forces, says a new Ipsos-Reid poll that also shows the decision is most popular with westerners and men.

Fifty three per cent of respondents said they support the revamped and extended mission, although there is a caveat. Slightly more than six in 10 said there should be a debate and vote in Parliament even if the new mission involves only training, said the poll, which was released Friday.

Read more at the National Post.

Related articles

• Afghanistan 'training' mission not 'strictly civilian' (cbc.ca)
• Canada to pull civilian staff from Kandahar, base trainers in Kabul (theglobeandmail.com)

Staying in Afganistan. Okay!

Harper just stated that he will keep some sort of mission after the 2011 date. I have stated this before if we are asked to stay we should stay. I think that all countries should always have some sort of mission after 2011. NATO members shouldn't just leave Afghanistan we need to help make a military and defence. Harper made the right choice, but this issue of Afghanistan he was asked before only month's ago saying Canada will leave Afghanistan on schedule. I think it is right to have a presences in Afghanistan after 2011 we should always have some sort of foreign relationship with Afghanistan officials to check up on the country from time to time. The NDP on the other hand want to leave right now I say that's stupid Canada committed to something and it should follow suit to make sure it did the best it could. Harper is no angle when it comes to keeping commitments (ex: Kyoto), but at least he is doing something right.

Out of the Mirage

The United Arab Emirates have decided to kick Canada out of Camp Mirage, a stopover point for Canadian troops going in and out of Afghanistan. After no agreement was made on the issue UAE decided to ban Defence Minister MacKay and General Natynczyk from ever flying through UAE airspace. This is an insult towards our country. It's not like the minister poses a threat to their country. This act will just cause more tension between the two countries.

However, as a Liberal MP suggested, there might be a last minute solution. Canada should persuade UAE to accept a "six-month cooling-off period." After tempers on both sides have cooled down, we could enter negotiations without hot heads. The government should try really hard to keep this base.

The United Arab Emirates abruptly ended years of collaboration with the Canadian Forces on Monday, forbidding Defence Minister Peter MacKay and his top general from even flying over the country on a return trip from Afghanistan.

The public rebuke flowed from a spat over Canadian landing rights for airlines based in the Gulf and will complicate the Canadian Forces’ exit from Afghanistan next year, officials and experts said.

Read more at the Globe and Mail.

Related articles

• Canada troops to leave UAE base (bbc.co.uk)
• Canadian military leaving Dubai base: MacKay (thestar.com)

A war many wants gone.

The war in Afganistan has become a war that everyone wants gone. Poll after poll show that everyone thinks that the war in Afganistan should end soon. The timeline of leaving in the next summer people agree should happen , and shouldn't be extended. I have stated my opinion on this before we should stay in Afganistan if needed ,but it seems that people just want to end it, and that would probably stop any extension dates in NATO coutries. the prblem is that if we leave Afganistan and it isn't secure enough agaisnt the taliban then we might be pushed back into the war again, so we should stay till the Afganistan army can have the support of all parts of there countries and have a strong hold on there country away from the taliban. If we try to go away from Afganistan not because it is secure and we have done are jobs but for political points then we might go back, and watse more time and money.

Ignatieff you are right. Maybe.

Ignatieff just stated that he would support a type of Afghan mission to last longer than the July 2011 period. I have said this before: Canada should have some sort of involvement in Afghanistan after the military mission. Now, I think if Afghan officials are not yet trained enough to beat the Taliban, we should stay for a minor time until they are, but still end the mission anyway. Now Ignatieff is proposing to keep on schedule, but believes that there should be a "fixed period" of training. I support this only if it is needed. I still believe in leaving Afghanistan, but I think what is more important is for all countries to have some sort of involvement to make sure that Afghanistan is stable for the civilians after 2011.While I commend Harper on his decision to leave Afghanistan as scheduled, I believe that Harper should stay committed to Afghanistan after 2011 (non military). We can have a post Afghanistan involvement without military, but again we would have to wait to see if the Afghanistan is ready and stable.

Along with a continued civilian presence to bolster Afghanistan's fledgling government, Ignatieff proposed that some Canadian troops to remain in the Afghan capital Kabul for an undefined "fixed period" to provide training at a military and police staff college.

In the meantime, he accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of "walking away" from the Afghan mission "as if it never occurred."

Read more at CBC.

Fire Away!

An MP from Calgary wrote on a card for Canadian troops, "When in doubt, pull the trigger." What a good attitude to the war in Afghanistan. The Conservative MP says that this expression is common in military use and means keep safe and to defend yourself. I actually believe him. However, I do think he could have used different words to express what he means. There is no need to offend people for no reason. He might need to make a few apologies, and that is fine. This MP wished well for the troops just as we all do. This should nevertheless be a lesson to others. Think before speaking, writing or expressing yourself in public.

Controversial Calgary West member of Parliament Rob Anders is coming under fire for a well-wishing note he left for Canadian troops that says: "When in doubt, pull the trigger."

A Christian group, El Shafie Ministries, asked if a large "Support Our Troops" card could be placed in the House of Commons lobbies for MPs to sign in Ottawa -- a request agreed to by the Conservatives and opposition parties.

Read more at the National Post.

The Compromise

All political parties in Parliament have reached a decision regarding the Afghan detainee documents. There will be a committee of MPs from all four parties reviewing the uncensored documents to decide which of them other MPs and the public should view. Personally, I don't think we should have come to a compromise. I don't think Harper is willing to go to the polls right now. He would have had to hand over all the documents. Now, this compromise is fine, I just think that we, the public, should be able to get the full uncensored documents. I hope we won't have any more black pages.

OTTAWA—A last-minute deal on the release of Afghan detainee documents has been reached by government and opposition MPs.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson tabled the agreement in the House of Commons, saying it will allow a committee of MPs from all four parties to review documents in their “unredacted” or uncensored form, to determine whether they are relevant to a Parliamentary investigation into the treatment of detainees handed over to Afghan authorities.

 Read more at the Toronto Star.
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WIN!!!

The federal Tories have two weeks to provide Parliament with the full uncensored documents. It's been a long fight but we finally won. Today, the Speaker announced that the Conservatives would be in violation of the privileges of Parliament if they didn't provide the documents. Though the documents wouldn't be made public, the opposition MPs would still get to look at them. The MPs have two weeks to sort out a compromise or the speaker will assist in it. I'm sure that the opposition will not back down from seeing the full uncensored documents. They may compromise on other demands.

OTTAWA—The speaker of the House of Commons, charged with settling a power struggle between the Conservative government and the opposition gave both sides two weeks on Tuesday to sort out their differences.

Peter Milliken announced his decision after opposition parties asked him to find government ministers guilty of contempt for refusing to hand over uncensored files on people detained by the Canadian military in Afghanistan.

Read more at the Toronto Star.

There's no business like Torture!

A Canadian interpreter who worked for the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan said that soldiers shot an innocent 17 year old, and then proceeded to round up a 10 year old and a 90 year old and transferred them to the Afghan security service. Let's make it clear from now on. He was not a witness, but, he says he read an intelligence report on the issue. He goes on to make another series of accusing claims. Look, I'm tired of blogging about this subject and I think most people are tired of reading on this subject. But I won't relent until we know the truth. Come on Harper. Release the documents.

OTTAWA -- The Canadian military "subcontracted torture" to the Afghan security service and shot an unarmed 17-year-old man in the back of the head, alleges an Afghan-Canadian who worked as an interpreter for the Canadian armed forces in Afghanistan.

Read about it at the National Post or the Toronto Star.

Leave with a impression

This new poll shows that 60% of Canadians want to make are military in Afghanistan end on schedule. I support this date , but I do think that if we are needed more in Afghanistan or are asked by the NATO allies to stay with them to do more military efforts in southern Afghanistan to fully get rid of the Taliban then I agree we should. There are not to many countries staying much longer than we are, so Canada can not by itself control Afghanistan. I think even if we do stay in Afghanistan longer or leave on schedule we should have many negotiations to secure Afganistan has a proper standard of living for the Afgan people.

http://www.ekospolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/full_report_april_8.pdf

Collateral Murder

A web page called "Wikileaks" has released a video (actually two) showing US troops gunning down innocent civilians including two journalists who worked for Reuters. This video shows a lot that the military didn't say how the journalists were killed and said they did not know how children were injured. All lies. These two videos show that the military could have found out who they hit. If some smart guys running Wikileaks could do it, I'm sure the US Army, with all their hi-tech equipment could have pinpointed a grape in the destruction if they wanted to. The point is that incidents can be covered up. Soldiers aren't angels. And investigating incidents like this, can lead to the truth. Investigating incidents like this or demanding access to incidents like these doesn't mean that we don't support the troops. All we want is the truth. The cold hard truth whether it's supportive of our soldiers or not. Is that too much to ask of our government? Therefore, I demand the release of the full uncensored Afghan detainee documents. In other words, I want the truth. Now.
Warning: the videos might be disturbing for some viewers.

Short Version


Long Version


http://www.collateralmurder.com/

Torture is Real

Torture is, was and should be a concern. A few people with first hand experience voiced their opinion and what they saw . Nevertheless, the Tories refuse to give the documents or be cooperative with the opposition. Col. Christian Juneau, one of the soldiers responsible for the transfer of detainees said that he was getting very little information from diplomats about the matter. In fact, he was so much in the dark that he stopped transferring Afghan detainees.

“I am forced to conclude that I must cease approving the transfer of further detainees on the basis that the legal test upon which such decisions must be based can not be satisfied at this time, having due regard to all the information and lack of information at my disposal."

 This letter was copied to Defence Minister Peter Mackay. So, the Tories did know about the torture concern. In 2007, the Conservatives boasted that the security of Afghan detainees was at it's best. However, as we read the paragraph above, we know that it can't be true. If they are lying about this, on which other subjects are they withholding the truth from us?


Read about it at the Globe and Mail or the CBC.

Harper strong on afganistan date

I have to say that Harper is doing something right, now. Harper said he will not keep Canadian troops in Afghanistan longer than 2011 when they are set to leave. This is after Hillary Clinton said that she would like Canada to stay in Afghanistan longer than it's year of 2011. I am very happy that Harper keeps this promise to end our involvement in Afghanistan at 2011. I do think that unless a major need is made we should leave at 2011  but Canada should have some talks meetings and involvement without military after 2011. I think if we do this we can help the people of Afghanistan and still help it keep away from the Taliban. I am curious why the U.S would want us to stay longer than they are even willing to stay for. the U.S is plan to leave 2011 why should we stay longer. I think the mission in Afghanistan is since the beginning has improved a major amount and now Afghanistan is going to have to walk on it's own two feet without the Taliban.

"But I'm not going to sit here and tell you we're happy about it because … that wouldn't be telling you the truth. We'd love to have Canada stay in this fight with us. But again, you know, you've got your own considerations and we respect that."

At least 2,500 Canadian soldiers are in Afghanistan, serving under NATO. Since 2002, when the mission began, 141 Canadian soldiers and two civilians have died.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/03/30/afghanistan-clinton-cannon.html

Censure the Tories!

On the issue of government censorship of the Afghan detainee documents, the opposition MPs are being urged to censure the Tories.That is a sharp rebuke of the person's actions. This happens rarely, but can lead to devastating consequences for the person reprimanded. In the 19th century, Louis Riel was ultimately expelled from Parliament over his participation in a revolt. It's very real but unlikely that it would happen today. However, it still has a symbolic meaning.

Mendes, one of the country’s top constitutional scholars, said Parliament’s power exceeds that of the various national security laws that have been used to censor government memos and diplomatic cables describing who was warned about possible war crimes violations going back to early 2006, when Canadian soldiers moved to Kandahar province.

That means translates into the opposition being able to demand documents form the government and that they have to release the documents. Of course if Harper's ministers don't release uncensored the uncensored docs., full steam ahead! We will not back down on this issue. We must press on until we win one way or another. Censuring MPs only takes a simple majority; which the opposition has. This scandal will not die until the information is released.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/760035--censure-tories-over-detainee-handling-mps-urged

Worried Troops

Now about the contents of the documents. They show that our soldiers in Afghanistan were worried about the treatment of detainees. In fact, one soldier reports that the Afghan police/army took a detainee and for all of our and his knowledge, killed him. However, there was very little follow up on any of these observations. Therefore, the comments were deemed unfounded. While our own troops were worried about the treatment of prisoners, the opposition MPs were too. By just inquiring about the detainees, they were submitted to an onslaught of accusations that they were attacking our soldiers. But, our soldiers were also worried and inquiring about the treatment of prisoners. So according to the Conservatives, the soldiers were attacking themselves. Again, great arguments from the great Tories.

All of the incidents are deemed unfounded by military investigators, but the documents also show a disturbing trend of front-line soldiers and senior military officials keeping their own police investigators in the dark and even threatening them at a time when sensitivity to how Canadians treat and handle their Afghan detainees was at its highest.

Read about it at The Toronto Star

Thud!!!!

The sound of 2,500 pages falling on the Speaker's desk. His office now needs to photocopy those thousands of pages for the opposition MPs. It came in a cardboard box with no warning at all. These heavily censored documents were released by the Tories to try to avoid three of their ministers being in contempt of Parliament. This action actually shows more contempt. They just dumped a pile of documents on the Speaker's office. This kept the opposition MPs and journalists waiting for hours for photocopies. Stephen Harper calls himself a strong leader. Well, it's time he became more responsible.

"I have to say it's a sad day when members of Parliament request information and they are treated in such a contemptuous fashion by the government," New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton told the Commons. While MPs have been fighting for several months for access to uncensored documents, they wound up with "a pile of censored documents" produced without notice or ceremony.

Also, the documents were not translated into French, one of Canada’s official languages. Well, It would certainly make life easier for francophone MPs to read in French. Another display of irresponsibility.

Holding up a page that was completed blacked out, Bloc MP Claude Bachand mocked the government's request for unanimous consent for tabling the documents because they are not translated into both official languages. How long would a blank page take to translate, he wondered.

This is a complete political move meant to quiet the opposition. The Conservatives want to say, “We’ve done everything we have to do. Now shut your mouths!” It will not work. This display of total disregard is disgusting. And the Tories say that releasing documents in this manner will  continue to be done. So, the MPs will continue to wait in line for their photocopies. And imagine, that’s not in an airport.
You can read about the new releases at the CBC, the National Post, the Toronto Star and two articles at the Globe and Mail, here and here.

Documents, Now!

Liberal MPs and Bloc MPs are calling on the speaker to rule that basically, the government must release the documents on on Afghan detainees. Good for the opposition. We are moving forward and hopefully past the Tory censors. We will find out the truth and nothing but the truth. But only if the speaker accepts the motion, will their be victory for us.

Liberal MP Derek Lee, NDP defence critic Jack Harris and Bloc Québécois MP Claude Bachand argued in the House on Thursday morning that the Conservatives' refusal to abide by a House order to hand over the documents flies in the face of parliamentary rights and traditions.
"If we don't stand up, efforts to undermine our constitution will have succeeded," Lee said.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/03/18/parliament-afghan-detainee-documents.html?ref=rss#ixzz0iYZA23hN

Intentional Torture

A law professor from Ottawa says that the Government is censoring the Afghan detainee documents because the prisoners were intentionally tortured. This person says he has seen the uncensored version of the documents. However, this can’t be taken as truth. What needs to be done is the release of the documents in full so that all Canadians know the truth. If intentional torture is the truth, then something needs to be done about whoever is responsible. Further investigation and the release of documents is necessary.

If the allegation is true, such actions would constitute a war crime, said University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran, who has been digging deep into the issue and told CBC News he has seen uncensored versions of government documents released last year.

"If these documents were released [in full], what they will show is that Canada partnered deliberately with the torturers in Afghanistan for the interrogation of detainees," he said.

"There would be a question of rendition and a question of war crimes on the part of certain Canadian officials. That's what's in these documents, and that's why the government is covering up as hard as it can."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/03/05/afghan-attaran005.html#ixzz0hQaD53wV