Hearing: Former defence chief contradicts diplomat

A7

THE CANADIAN PRESS

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

OTTAWA - Canada's former top soldier has blasted claims by diplomat Richard Colvin that the military handed over Afghan prisoners to face torture despite warnings, calling the allegation "ludicrous."

A bristling Rick Hillier, mixing indignance with folksy charm, told a special Commons committee Wednesday that reports from Afghanistan in 2006 never mentioned that prisoners were at risk of torture.

"We didn't base our work on things like reports written in May or June 2006, which said nothing about abuse, nothing about torture or anything else that would have caught my attention or indeed the attention of others," he testified.

He was backed by Michel Gauthier, former head of Canada's expeditionary forces, who said reports in 2006 and early 2007 never even used the word torture - except in one isolated incidence.

Both men said no one, civilian or military, ever approached them during their numerous visits to Afghanistan to whisper allegations of torture in the Afghan prisons.

The testimony from Canada's former top generals appears to flatly contradict Colvin - the former No. 2 at the Canadian embassy in Kabul - who told MPs his reports warned that prisoners handed over to Afghan prisons were almost certain to face torture.

Opposition MPs say they can't get to the bottom of the issue without seeing Colvin's reports and other documents the government may have on the topic of abuse.

But there are doubts the government will agree to release the report, especially uncensored versions. While Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised the committee will get "all legally-available" documents, Colvin's lawyer said the Justice Department has clamped down on him.

Lori Bokenfohr said government lawyers have told Colvin they do not accept an opinion that testimony - both written and oral - before Parliament is exempt from national security provisions of the Canada Evidence Act.

That comes after the clerk of the special Afghanistan committee advised that parliamentary immunity would apply to almost all testimony.

Opposition MPs say it's another broken promise and they renewed demands for a public inquiry.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay and other Conservative MPs have attacked Colvin's credibility, suggesting - as did Hillier - that his reports were based on hearsay. The attacks came despite the fact that Colvin was promoted to an intelligence job at Canada's embassy in Washington.

However, they acknowledge that the government changed its policy on prisoner transfers in 2007, to include closer monitoring of those handed over, based partly on Colvin's advice.

Hillier, who commanded the Canadians Forces from February 2005 until July 2008, testified that he wasn't going to act on hearsay or self-serving Taliban complaints.

He said he recently reread the reports to reassure himself that he didn't blunder three years ago.

"I actually started to question myself. Did I really miss something as important as that?"

He said he didn't.

"There was no reason based on what was in those reports for anybody to bring it to my attention."

Gauthier said he first heard of torture allegations in April 2007 from a Globe and Mail reporter, and the first field report citing credible evidence of torture was received on June 4, 2007.

At that point, the military suspended the process of transferring detainees, pending a new and tougher prisoner agreement with the Afghan government. This new policy allowed for greater access to the prisons and provided for unannounced inspections to check for abuse.

Gauthier, who said he was briefed on the prisoner situation every day, said he never received Colvin's reports at the time, likely because his staff didn't feel they were important enough to bring to him.

Maj.-Gen. David Fraser, the first Canadian commander on the ground in 2006, also said he was never told about the alleged torture of prisoners.

"If I had. I would have done something about it," he said.

Harper and his cabinet ministers have also insisted they never knew of the torture reports at the time

Colvin also alleged that many innocent farmers were arrested by Canadian troops and turned over to the Afghans.

"Nothing could be farther from the truth," an indignant Hillier responded. "We detained, under violent actions, people trying to kill our sons and daughters who had, in some cases been successful at it."

The vast majority of detainees were caught after firefights, he said, and were found to have explosive residue on their hands and gunshot residue on their clothing. If innocent farmers were swept up, he added, they would have been quickly released.

The retired general said it's "ludicrous" to suggest that all detainees turned over by Canadian troops were tortured.

Earlier, Harper suggested Colvin's warning were more about the "general conditions" in Afghan prisons and that there was nothing for federal officials to follow-up on.