Canadians in Afghanistan: June 2016

Thursday, June 23, 2016

On the refusal to quit

Dishonoured Legacy Part 2

Burying the Afghanistan Inquiry

Entire report is here.

“We can only hope that Somalia represents the nadir of the fortunes of the Canadian Forces. There seems to be little room to slide lower. One thing is certain, however: left uncorrected, the problems that surfaced in the desert in Somalia and in the boardrooms at National Defence Headquarters will continue to spawn military ignominy. The victim will be Canada and its international reputation.”

- Preface, Dishonoured Legacy,
The Report of The Commission of Inquiry into the Deployment of Canadian forces in Afghanistan

"So I said, you know, the NDS tortures people, that is what they do, and if we don’t want to have detainees tortured, we shouldn’t give them to the NDS."

– Richard Colvin, testimony before the Canadian Military Police Complaints Commission, April 13, 2010

"Canada is proud of the honourable work of the men and women in uniform and civilian officials who served in Afghanistan. Canada remains the leading donor supporting the work of the AIHRC to strengthen its capacity to fulfill its constitutional mandate to monitor human rights in Afghanistan. Throughout Canada’s military operations in Afghanistan, the Government of Canada ensured individuals detained by the CAF were treated humanely and handled, transferred or released in accordance with our obligations under international law. Therefore the Government of Canada does not believe an independent judicial commission of inquiry is necessary."
- Harjit Sajjan, Minister of National Defence, response to petition 421-00217 (for an inquiry) June 16, 2016