A trip down memory lane on torture and Liberal spin.

(Reproduced from the original post April 26, 2007.)



I find the Liberals to be full of nostalgia as of late for a time when they were still in power. For them everything was rosy and much better than it is today, take the Afghan prisoner ruckus that the Liberals and their close friends are trying to milk for all it is worth as an example.

Care to join me in a trip down memory lane......

Does anyone remember this picture?

For those that do not, this picture is of Canada's own JTF 2 in Afghanistan with prisoners that they had taken and was published Jan 2002 (AP / DarioLopez-Mills) .

Please note the date of the photo January 2002. A time where the Liberal led Government of Canada was not even admitting to Canadians that we had troops in Afghanistan; never mind that they were already involved in active combat and were taking prisoners.

When asked in QP about how Canadian Forces would deal with prisoners, PM JeanChrétien said "You are asking me a purely hypothetical question at this time." totally unaware that the event(s) had even happened and having no idea what was going on with prisoners. CBC NEWS SOURCE

The Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien, the man that sent our troops into war, did not know what our forces were doing on the other side of the world in the name of Canada!

Good times, good times.

A more positive note for the Liberals was that after a few years in Afghanistan, and after numerous prisoners were handed over to the Afghan authorities, the Paul Martin government negotiated a prisoner transfer agreement. Does anyone want to guess why the Liberals negotiated that deal? Could it be that allegations of coercion and torture just did not start in March of last year when the CPC took over, and that this has been an issue from the time Chrétien first showed all that "Liberal compassion" for the Canadian Armed Forces in question period?

That same transfer agreement, which was good enough for the Liberals, remained intact right up until yesterday when the Conservative Government negotiated the right for Canadian authorities to visit all detention facilities to check on prisoners. Why this was not in the agreement in the first place is beyond me, but maybe while those Liberals are going back down memory lane they could ask themselves why they didn't add this clause when they negotiated the deal!

Thanks for the memories, Liberals.

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On another related point; I am getting tired of Liberals deliberately misleading Canadians on the role of the International Red Cross with Afghan prisoners.

From a Liberal Press release: "...Minister O’Connor told Canadians the Red Cross was responsible for monitoring the treatment of detainees, until the Red Cross came forward to confirm that was not its mandate."

This from the ICRC: "According to its international mandate, the ICRC visits detainees held as a result of armed conflict and other situations of violence being held by the Afghan authorities and forces such as the United States and NATO. Delegates regularly assess the conditions of detention, the treatment of detainees and respect of their fundamental judicial guarantees."

I don't think the truth could be any clearer. The Liberals again are lying for their own political gain and while lying may bring back memories of the good old days for many Liberals, it just goes to show the rest of us that the Liberal good old days should be remembered for what they really were.

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Mr.Colvin was in Afghanistan from April 2006 until September 2007*. Compare those dates to what you have read above and ask yourself under whose watch did most of the problems occur and who was it that tried to make the situation better once they found problems.

Then ask why the time line seems to be completely ignored by most of the media in their quest for smear.


*Does anyone have the exact dates?

Update:A must read Interview with an Afghan Warden. ( ht Wilson from the comments)

Liberals in charge a history.