Keep up the pressure on the torture scandal

November 25, 2009

Dear word warriors ….

If you haven’t written a letter-to-the-editor already PLEASE do so right now. This is an extremely important moment in the immediate political future of the country and for the next election. If Harper manages to frame this horrific story to his advantage the damage done to the political culture will be considerable. It is struggles like this which have a big impact on public attitude towards government and on voter turn out. (Copy all letters to the Globe and Mail – letters@globeandmail.ca and the Ottawa Citizen - letters@thecitizen.canwest.com)

It is critical that Harper either be forced to call an inquiry or be seen (by not calling one) to be clearly guilty of a cover-up. The public response will determine this question. At the moment Harper’s stonewalling/attack strategy is working.

It is important to frame your letters with outrage and moral indignation at the government’s slanderous attack on a courageous civil servant and it refusal to call a judicial inquiry to do a thorough investigation of all allegations. References to Canada’s international reputation as a respected member of the community of nations is also important.

Some of the key arguments to use, given the Harper government’s aggressive response are as follows:

Elements

•  The government insists that there is no credible evidence that anyone was tortured suggesting that only eye-witness evidence is credible, is absurd. It’s the very nature of torture that it is done in secret, away from any observers, so it can be denied.
• Defence Minister Peter McKay and Harper both ridicule evidence of torture saying it is known that all Taliban will make such claims. Even if this were true, it is clear from the evidence that many of those handed over by Canadian forces were innocent farmers and others. Is their testimony also to be dismissed?
• The government admits that it has halted prisoner transfers 3 times – why? Because they obviously were worried about torture and were not being given appropriate access to the prisoners handover. They clearly haven’t different evidence standards for themselves than they are demanding of the opposition and Mr. Colvin.
• McKay attacks the credibility of Richard Colvin yet for months did everything they could to prevent him from testifying at the Military Police Commission’s hearings into torture. If he has nothing to say, what were they concerned about
• Mr Colvin is characterized simply as a diplomat implying that he isn’t qualified to talk about intelligence matters but in fact he is an intelligence officer – promoted to a high intelligence post in Washington -  who is eminently qualified to speak on the issue which was his responsibility in Afghanistan.
• If none of the evidence of torture is credible why will the government not turn over the documents that are relevant to determining this question – the documents linked to Mr. Colvin's testimony.
• Why would Mr. Colvin, a career diplomat and public servant with many years left, put his career fatally at risk if he was not telling the truth? A Conservative supporter and one who was once a conservative candidate his decision to testify only makes sense if he has something to reveal.

[See previous letter here]

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