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From the Globe:
PMO backtracks on detainees
CAMPBELL CLARK AND BRODIE FENLON
Globe and Mail Update
January 25, 2008 at 7:24 PM EST
OTTAWA — The Harper government's position that it was not aware the military had suspended the transfer of prisoners to Afghan custody fully unravelled Friday as the Prime Minister's communications director retracted comments she had made to that effect, while the Opposition claimed it was briefed on the policy change two weeks ago.
Mr. Harper made no mention of the controversy late Friday in a speech for party supporters to celebrate the Tories' second anniversary in power.
In an e-mail to The Globe and Mail on Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's communications director, Sandra Buckler, said the military did not tell the government about the suspension.
Ms. Buckler called Friday to say she “misspoke†but would not say whether the military had or had not informed the government.
“I should not have said what I said to you, I misspoke, and I wanted to make sure you were aware of that,†she said. “I made a mistake…what I said was wrong.â€
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said Friday it is obvious the Prime Minister's Office was aware of the policy change because he and deputy leader Michael Ignatieff had been personally briefed on it in mid-January by Canadian officials during their visit to Afghanistan.
Mr. Dion said he was prohibited from making it public under a security undertaking the Liberals had agreed to before their visit.
“We never, Mr. Ignatieff and I, disclosed this information, we did not have the right to do so, it would not have been responsible for us to do so, but we were aware. We forcefully disagreed with it,†Mr. Dion said.
“This is the only reason why I never believed [the government's] story they were not aware.â€
Ms. Buckler, when asked Friday whether the military had informed the government that the transfer of prisoners to Afghan jails had been suspended in November, would not comment.
“I shouldn't have said it and I'm not going to comment on operational decisions made by the military,†Ms. Buckler said.
The opposition accused the government of deception for failing to disclose the suspension of transfers. But CTV News began reporting late Thursday that the government had said it was not informed by the military.
When asked soon afterward if it was true that the government had not been told, Ms. Buckler replied in an e-mail: "Yes. This is an operational matter and is the responsibility of the Canadian Forces. The military exercises discretion concerning the transfer policy and agreement."
The Globe reported the statement in its edition Friday.
Mr. Dion said he and Mr. Ignatieff were briefed on the change during their visit to Afghanistan the weekend of Jan. 12.
Mr. Dion also noted that Defence Minister Peter MacKay was in Afghanistan on an official visit Nov. 5, the day the policy changed.
The three opposition parties asked 44 questions about the transfer of detainees in Question Period in the Commons after Nov. 5, often asking when the transfer would stop. Government ministers, including Mr. Harper himself, replied without revealing the transfers had been suspended.
“They are not interested to communicate the truth, they are interested to give the good spin according to their own ratings and polls,†Mr. Dion said. “If you cannot believe them on something as important as torture, when will you be able to believe them?â€
In a speech Mr. Harper made late Friday to mark the Tories' second anniversary in power, the Prime Minister was silent on the detainee issue.
His comments on Afghanistan were limited to the Manley report, which he said was “strong, balanced and realistic.â€
Any decision the government makes will be based on what's right, not on what the polls say, Mr. Harper said. The report of the blue-ribbon panel, led by former Liberal cabinet Minister John Manley, called on Harper to press NATO for 1,000 more troops in southern Afghanistan and to secure helicopters for Canadian soldiers.
The questions of whether the government had been informed about the policy change arose after Justice Department lawyers revealed in a letter to rights groups – which have launched a court action to halt the transfers – that the military had stopped transferring prisoners to Afghan custody as of Nov. 5.
On Thursday, a senior military officer, Brigadier-General André Deschamps told a Federal Court hearing that the decision to stop transfers was made by the deputy commander of the task force in Afghanistan, Colonel Christian Juneau, while the commander, Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, was on leave.
“The chain of command was made aware of the decision,†Gen. Deschamps said.
He said Gen. Rick Hillier, the Chief of Defence Staff, was told, but suggested that there was no need for approval from the high command because the ground commander in Kandahar had the authority. “The task force commander made his decision independently,†he said.
The government's ambiguous response on what it was told will do little to quiet the firestorm, which has come just after a panel headed by former Liberal foreign affairs minister John Manley said a secretive government communications policy on the mission is eroding public confidence.
Last year, former Conservative defence minister Gordon O'Connor came under fire for providing erroneous information to the Commons about safeguards for detainees and, in 2002, Liberal defence minister Art Eggleton was blasted for mistakenly telling the Commons that he had not been informed that Canadian troops had captured prisoners in Afghanistan.
New Democratic MP Dawn Black said she finds it hard to believe the government was not informed of the decision to halt transfers last November. “If that's true, then the Canadian military is out of control,†she said.
Justice Department lawyers contesting a Federal Court bid by rights groups to halt the transfers revealed on Wednesday that Canada stopped transferring prisoners into Afghan custody on Nov. 5, but Mr. Harper and his senior ministers had never mentioned it, despite repeated questions in the Commons.
“This is a government that lied to the people, that lied to the House, which manipulated public opinion, which manipulated the House of Commons,†Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe told reporters Thursday in Victoriaville, Que.
Opposition politicians cited the silence over the suspension of transfers as a reason that they cannot place trust in the government's conduct of the mission as Parliament heads into a new round of debate on extending it past February, 2009, sparked by the report of the Manley panel.
On Nov. 14, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier revealed that Canadian officials “did see a Taliban prisoner with conditions that concerned them.†But Mr. Harper said then that the transfer agreement “works well.†The next day, Mr. Bernier said that Afghan authorities had launched an investigation.
The government and the military maintained a stony silence Thursday about whether Canadian troops are still taking prisoners in the field, and if so, what is happening to them.
It is not clear if they are being released, held by the Canadian Forces in temporary cells, or transferred to U.S. forces.
With reports from Canadian Press, Rhéal Séguin in Victoriaville, Que., Karen Howlett in Toronto and Paul Koring in Ottawa
AoD
PMO backtracks on detainees
CAMPBELL CLARK AND BRODIE FENLON
Globe and Mail Update
January 25, 2008 at 7:24 PM EST
OTTAWA — The Harper government's position that it was not aware the military had suspended the transfer of prisoners to Afghan custody fully unravelled Friday as the Prime Minister's communications director retracted comments she had made to that effect, while the Opposition claimed it was briefed on the policy change two weeks ago.
Mr. Harper made no mention of the controversy late Friday in a speech for party supporters to celebrate the Tories' second anniversary in power.
In an e-mail to The Globe and Mail on Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's communications director, Sandra Buckler, said the military did not tell the government about the suspension.
Ms. Buckler called Friday to say she “misspoke†but would not say whether the military had or had not informed the government.
“I should not have said what I said to you, I misspoke, and I wanted to make sure you were aware of that,†she said. “I made a mistake…what I said was wrong.â€
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said Friday it is obvious the Prime Minister's Office was aware of the policy change because he and deputy leader Michael Ignatieff had been personally briefed on it in mid-January by Canadian officials during their visit to Afghanistan.
Mr. Dion said he was prohibited from making it public under a security undertaking the Liberals had agreed to before their visit.
“We never, Mr. Ignatieff and I, disclosed this information, we did not have the right to do so, it would not have been responsible for us to do so, but we were aware. We forcefully disagreed with it,†Mr. Dion said.
“This is the only reason why I never believed [the government's] story they were not aware.â€
Ms. Buckler, when asked Friday whether the military had informed the government that the transfer of prisoners to Afghan jails had been suspended in November, would not comment.
“I shouldn't have said it and I'm not going to comment on operational decisions made by the military,†Ms. Buckler said.
The opposition accused the government of deception for failing to disclose the suspension of transfers. But CTV News began reporting late Thursday that the government had said it was not informed by the military.
When asked soon afterward if it was true that the government had not been told, Ms. Buckler replied in an e-mail: "Yes. This is an operational matter and is the responsibility of the Canadian Forces. The military exercises discretion concerning the transfer policy and agreement."
The Globe reported the statement in its edition Friday.
Mr. Dion said he and Mr. Ignatieff were briefed on the change during their visit to Afghanistan the weekend of Jan. 12.
Mr. Dion also noted that Defence Minister Peter MacKay was in Afghanistan on an official visit Nov. 5, the day the policy changed.
The three opposition parties asked 44 questions about the transfer of detainees in Question Period in the Commons after Nov. 5, often asking when the transfer would stop. Government ministers, including Mr. Harper himself, replied without revealing the transfers had been suspended.
“They are not interested to communicate the truth, they are interested to give the good spin according to their own ratings and polls,†Mr. Dion said. “If you cannot believe them on something as important as torture, when will you be able to believe them?â€
In a speech Mr. Harper made late Friday to mark the Tories' second anniversary in power, the Prime Minister was silent on the detainee issue.
His comments on Afghanistan were limited to the Manley report, which he said was “strong, balanced and realistic.â€
Any decision the government makes will be based on what's right, not on what the polls say, Mr. Harper said. The report of the blue-ribbon panel, led by former Liberal cabinet Minister John Manley, called on Harper to press NATO for 1,000 more troops in southern Afghanistan and to secure helicopters for Canadian soldiers.
The questions of whether the government had been informed about the policy change arose after Justice Department lawyers revealed in a letter to rights groups – which have launched a court action to halt the transfers – that the military had stopped transferring prisoners to Afghan custody as of Nov. 5.
On Thursday, a senior military officer, Brigadier-General André Deschamps told a Federal Court hearing that the decision to stop transfers was made by the deputy commander of the task force in Afghanistan, Colonel Christian Juneau, while the commander, Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, was on leave.
“The chain of command was made aware of the decision,†Gen. Deschamps said.
He said Gen. Rick Hillier, the Chief of Defence Staff, was told, but suggested that there was no need for approval from the high command because the ground commander in Kandahar had the authority. “The task force commander made his decision independently,†he said.
The government's ambiguous response on what it was told will do little to quiet the firestorm, which has come just after a panel headed by former Liberal foreign affairs minister John Manley said a secretive government communications policy on the mission is eroding public confidence.
Last year, former Conservative defence minister Gordon O'Connor came under fire for providing erroneous information to the Commons about safeguards for detainees and, in 2002, Liberal defence minister Art Eggleton was blasted for mistakenly telling the Commons that he had not been informed that Canadian troops had captured prisoners in Afghanistan.
New Democratic MP Dawn Black said she finds it hard to believe the government was not informed of the decision to halt transfers last November. “If that's true, then the Canadian military is out of control,†she said.
Justice Department lawyers contesting a Federal Court bid by rights groups to halt the transfers revealed on Wednesday that Canada stopped transferring prisoners into Afghan custody on Nov. 5, but Mr. Harper and his senior ministers had never mentioned it, despite repeated questions in the Commons.
“This is a government that lied to the people, that lied to the House, which manipulated public opinion, which manipulated the House of Commons,†Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe told reporters Thursday in Victoriaville, Que.
Opposition politicians cited the silence over the suspension of transfers as a reason that they cannot place trust in the government's conduct of the mission as Parliament heads into a new round of debate on extending it past February, 2009, sparked by the report of the Manley panel.
On Nov. 14, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier revealed that Canadian officials “did see a Taliban prisoner with conditions that concerned them.†But Mr. Harper said then that the transfer agreement “works well.†The next day, Mr. Bernier said that Afghan authorities had launched an investigation.
The government and the military maintained a stony silence Thursday about whether Canadian troops are still taking prisoners in the field, and if so, what is happening to them.
It is not clear if they are being released, held by the Canadian Forces in temporary cells, or transferred to U.S. forces.
With reports from Canadian Press, Rhéal Séguin in Victoriaville, Que., Karen Howlett in Toronto and Paul Koring in Ottawa
AoD
