Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have been reporting on the torture of detainees of the “war on terror” since about 2002. There are plenty of specific reports of people dying in detention, people being tortured to death, and so on. Some of that is documented in “Bleeding Afghanistan”, the book written by my friends Sonali Kolhatkar and James Ingalls.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have been reporting on the torture of detainees of the “war on terror” since about 2002. There are plenty of specific reports of people dying in detention, people being tortured to death, and so on. Some of that is documented in “Bleeding Afghanistan”, the book written by my friends Sonali Kolhatkar and James Ingalls.
So we’ve had plenty of evidence of this since 2002. We’ve had stories of Bagram. We’ve had stories of Abu Ghraib, and photos. I think it’s 2007 now, so the story is about 5 years old. Canada has been in Afghanistan essentially from the beginning of the US occupation of that country, and it has been participating in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in the south essentially that whole time.
Now, however, there is a “scandal” in Canadian politics about it. Of course, that we find torturing people scandalous now says something good about us. That we haven’t noticed it over the past five years is not so flattering. Why is that, anyway?
The most interesting aspect is that this little collection of quotes was published by the Globe and Mail:
The government’s changing story
Officials of our government will be following up these allegations with officials of the government of Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday
[We’re] taking this matter seriously
Brigadier-General Al Howard on Tuesday
We have heard these allegations. We always take these allegations seriously.
Primer Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday
… to make that suggestion [of torture] solely based on the allegations of the Taliban, I think is the height of irresponsibility.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper later on Wednesday
If they have a specific name, we’d be happy to have it investigated and chased down.
Government House Leader Peter Van Loan yesterday
The government’s reaction seems to have been to attack the media, and specifically the Globe and Mail, the establishment newspaper that “broke” the story of the detainees recently. Now the Globe has been very supportive of the “war on terror” and having Canada in Afghanistan. It might be that this is becoming a “scandal” because the Harper people are handling it so clumsily, accusing a Canadian business journal that has only ever done its best to support military adventures of being Taliban apologists and the Globe isn’t taking it kindly. I wonder whether the Globe will emerge disciplined or Harper will. It seems to me that Harper owes a lot to the Globe and the Star for making him out to be more moderate and reasonable than he is and helping him win the last election. If him and his gang keep lashing out at their natural friends, maybe the friends who are not without power themselves will react. People like Mike Harris of Ontario and Ralph Klein of Alberta had the good sense to pick on people who couldn’t defend themselves – poor people, unionists – not the Globe and Mail.
In any case, outside of these narrow circles, that torture is generating a scandal is only a good thing. Maybe people will consider that torture and occupation and counterinsurgency generally all seem to run together, and that all are incompatible with peace and independence. That in turn might lead to rethinking Canadian foreign policy more generally to stop doing and supporting this sort of thing in the world.
