Connect The Dots

I wonder if this is why Harper is trying to shut the lid on torture investigations? If the folks back home start to realize that torture isn't a historical curiosity, perhaps they won't want to wait until 2011 to get the Hell out of Dodge.

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The Other Smear Sister Heard From

Rosie Dimano:

I am dubious, however, of a diplomat relying on journalists and embassy compound chatter for information and using that, in part, as a basis for copy-all email memos. Further, those emails – on the evidence of passages published to this point – do not support the degree of alarm that Colvin has retroactively claimed. Nor does there appear to be, in any of that voluminous correspondence, an eyes-on grasp of the chaos on the ground in Kandahar in 2006 and 2007, when Taliban units engaged in traditional combat – standing and fighting, as they did during Operation Medusa – with Canadian troops taking into custody an unexpectedly huge number of prisoners.

What were they to do with them?

Nobody has answered that question. And few, I suggest – beyond those with an agenda that has nothing to do with protecting detainees from abuse – give a damn about Afghans, whether in chains or under Taliban tyranny. (emphasis mine)

Got that? Anyone who ask questions about torture hates Afghans and wants the Taliban to win. You can't get any plainer than that. The Conservatives must be really, really worried, to go all out like this.

Oh and to answer her question, that is something the politicians and military brass should have thought of before they sent our forces into action. Otherwise, it is kind of like looking for the life jackets after the ship has sunk. I mean, in a war you are going to capture people. Aren't our leaders paid to think about what is to be done with them?

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The Last Refuge Of A Sociopath

Shorter Harper: Dearest men and women in uniform. If you remember nothing else from your time in uniform, remember this. Only the Republican Party Conservative Party loves you and understands you. Conservatives and the military are two parts of one organic unit, like the brain and arm of a single body. So, even though no one in the opposition parties has even hinted you were involved with torture, they have accused us of turning a blind eye. And in accusing us, they are accusing you. It is that simple. So remember. Conservatives. Body. Love. Opposition. Traitors. Hate.

H/t to Impolitical.

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What Else Is New?

Greg Weston in today's column, on the Canadian Military Police Complaints Commission's attempts to wrestle documents about torture from the Harperites:

In fact, in the 18 months since the commission launched a public inquiry into the Afghan detainee issue, the government has yet to provide a single page of evidence of any kind. It hasn't been for a lack of trying on the part of the commission.

As the commission's chief lawyer recently said: "Despite numerous document requests and despite continuous assurances the documents would be produced ... the commission has not been provided with a single new document."

Instead, federal lawyers have devoted their efforts -- and no doubt staggering amounts of taxpayers' money -- to binding the commission in legal knots, intimidating witnesses, denying requests for documents and generally ensuring the inquiry goes nowhere. (emphasis mine)

As I have said before, this government has no spending limit on lawyers and lawsuits. None. Being able to go to court on the taxpayer's dime seems to be Stephen Harper's favorite perk as PM. H/t to the Jurist.

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Today's "No Shit Sherlock" Moment

The government-friendly witnesses, appearing before the committee studying Afghanistan, had access to all of Colvin's evidence and were coached by government of Canada lawyers. No wonder Petey was smirking.

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Christie Blatchford Reads Emails

From Richard Colvin. She admits that she has redacted copies (which seem to be better than our elected officials have. I wonder how that happened?), but that doesn't stop her from coming to the conclusion that Colvin needs to explain himself. You see, Colvin apparently insulted Christie's buds. I am not sure where he did this, but maybe when she wrote this: "In condemning with the same brush highly professional Canadian soldiers, and to complain that they were complicit in breaches of the law of armed conflict and knowingly buried his reports, it is Mr. Colvin who has some explaining left to do.", she was staring longingly at a picture of Rick Hillier. I presume it is Rick Hillier she is talking about because who else would have allegedly "buried his reports". However, Rick Hillier, she might be surprised to learn, is not the army and the army is not Rick Hillier. As far as I know Colvin made absolutely no claims that Canadian soldiers tortured people. That he did suggest that the higher ups in the military should have known that people were getting tortured is another matter, one that they need to explain, not Mr. Colvin.

Update: The Dawg is on her trail. Woof. As he says, there is evidence that Christie is presenting partial evidence as if it was the complete package.

Update: Kady asks some interesting questions too.

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PM Rejects Bloc Support.

Prime Minister Harper told a gathering reporters that, "On this anniversary of the attempted coup, by the Liberals, the socialists, and separatist Bloc Quebecois, I reject the support of the Bloc on the HST motion, to be introduced next week. It is offensive to the principle of democracy that my government should be forced to accept their votes of support. I demand that Mr. Ignatieff immediately declare that he too will support the motion. Otherwise, we will have no choice, but to declare that the coup is back on and I will go the Mme Jean to convince her to adjourn the house until after December 21, 2012. As you all know, many in my caucus expect the world to end that day, so I guess it will be a rather long break. But, I take democracy very seriously and I just cannot stand having Gilles Duceppe voting with me."

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