I find it quite bizarre that, after so much concern was recently expressed over the Canadian military's practice of handing over detainees in Afghanistan without any appropriate follow up, the most recent news on this file is that a secret agreement between "military commanders" and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has been signed to oversee the treatment of those detainees.I suspect, as would most, that those "military commanders" include General Rick Hillier who for some unknown reason also signed the original, legally ineffective agreement regarding those detainess back in 2005. Why are members of the military involved in handling these agreements when it would seem obvious that such matters should be handled by the foreign affairs ministry? Further, why was this recent agreement signed in secret? You'd think that the military would have made this public since it's been under fire about its lax policies in this area.
There are now 4 probes into abuse alleged to have to been suffered by Afghan detainees at the hands of the Canadian military.
The Canadian Military Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation into whether soldiers knew about alleged evidence that detainees would be tortured if they were handed over to Afghan authorities.
[...]
The latest investigation stems from a joint Amnesty International Canada and British Columbia Civil Liberties Association complaint. It alleges the Canadian Forces military police on at least 18 occasions transferred detainees to Afghan authorities notwithstanding alleged evidence that there was a likelihood they would be tortured.
"They are alleging the military police knew or ought to have known that the prisoners handed over to Afghan authorities would be tortured and therefore acted improperly in doing so, so that will be our focus," said Stanley Blythe, the chief of staff of the commission.
Peter Tinsley, chairman of the commission, has not decided whether to hold public hearings — something that could force high-ranking officers to defend the practice.
Tinsley has a checkered past when it comes to investigations and, as Esprit de Corps magazine pointed out upon his current appointment to the Canadian Military Police Complaints Commission, Tinsley should be pushed to hold a public inquiry on these concerns in Afghanistan considering his background:
As of Dec. 12, Peter Tinsley will be the new chairman of the Military Police Complaints Commission. Keen-eyed military followers may recall that Tinsley was the prosecutor in the court martial of Trooper Kyle Brown, one of those accused and convicted in the beating death of a Somali. The blatant injustice meted out in those legal proceedings was well-documented in a national best-seller by Peter Worthington titled Scapegoat.
During the dark days of the public inquiry that followed, Tinsley held the job of "special adviser" to the Judge Advocate General. In other words, no one is more a symbol of the military justice system indicted by that 1997 Somalia inquiry’s report than ex-colonel Peter Tinsley.
Using the old adage "If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em," it would appear that the inmates have once again seized control of their own asylum.
Even though Defence Minister O'Connor dismissed concerns that what has allegedly happened to those detainees in Afghanistan doesn't rise to the level of the Somalia affair, he'd be wise to learn from past mistakes in order to be as transparent as possible when it comes to handling these new concerns. Then again, O'Connor's defence department knew about these allegations in Afghanistan months before they were brought to the public's attention and did nothing. Perhaps he's more inclined to continue with the secrecy surrounding all of this regardless.
