Mark Sedra writes about the reality of Afghanistan.
Tag Archives: transfer
The redacted Colvin memos (III)
Here, again, is how Richard Colvin described seven memos he sent between May 26, 2006 and April 20, 2007.
What do we know for now?
In lieu of Richard Colvin’s memos, there is, again, Richard Colvin’s affidavit and what he says there about those memos. In that affidavit, filed for the Military Police Complaints Commission, Colvin describes sending seven memos before the Globe’s report of April 23, 2007.
More e-mails, more questions
Richard Colvin indicates at least some of his reports were sent directly to the Foreign Affairs Minister’s office, while internal e-mails show Foreign Affairs was worried that making too big a deal of a change to the detainee transfer agreement in early 2007 might compel some to ask why it took so long. The Star pinpoints the arrival of Colvin’s memos to Peter MacKay’s office in spring 2006. The Globe profiles David Mulroney. The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers issues a statement on the public treatment of Richard Colvin. And op-eds from Errol Mendes, Wesley Wark, James Ron, Lewis MacKenzie and Vic Toews.
About those times the transfers were halted
The government has released a statement to explain General Walter Natynczyk’s disclosure that transfers have been stopped more than once.
What happened to those 130?
The government has long maintained that to disclose the number of detainees transferred by Canadian Forces in Afghanistan would violate operational security, but a government source now tells the Globe that approximately 130 were transferred during the first 14 months of combat operations in Kandahar.
What they said (III)
On April 23, 2007, the Globe reported what it had learned from interviews with 30 detainees. Two days later, the paper revealed what the Foreign Affairs department’s own reporting disclosed about torture in Afghanistan. After the premature announcement of a new transfer agreement that week, a new deal was signed on May 3.
What they said (II)
In the first few months of 2007, the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan was discussed during 14 sessions of Question Period: February 6, February 12, February 13, February 21, February 27, March 1, March 2, March 19, March 20, March 21, March 22, March 23, March 26 and March 29. It was on the morning of March 19, that Gordon O’Connor apologized to the House for misleading it about the monitoring of detainees by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
What they said
Richard Colvin testified that he and his colleagues in the field began informing Ottawa about the treatment of detainees in May 2006. He left Afghanistan in October 2007 and most of his testimony covered events in between.
‘We did indeed stop the transfer more than one time’
General Walter Natynczyk reveals the transfer of detainees has been stopped more than once. Until now it has only been disclosed that transfers stopped briefly in the fall of 2007.