If you don't have time to read the whole thing I can synthesize his 650 word statement down to two words: Afghanistan: WTF?
Jack Layton : We deserve to know
National Post
Thu Dec 24 2009
Page: A19
Section: Issues & Ideas
Byline: Jack Layton
Source: Special to the National Post
Canada has at been at war in Afghanistan for nine years now.
The blood of our sons and daughters has been shed on its
battlefields and the country has become the largest recipient of our
foreign aid. Our combat role will end in 2011. Like many Canadians,
we are asking, what non-military role can or should Canada then
undertake?
This should be the subject of an urgent national debate. That's
unlikely to happen, if we are to judge by the actions of the *Harper*
government thus far.
When we asked for an accounting of the cost of the war, the
government refused. It took Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page
to make an informed estimate: $18-billion and counting. For his
troubles, the government cut Mr. Page's budget and now consistently
undermines his work.
When, in 2006, my colleagues and I raised the treatment of
prisoners detained by Canadian troops and transferred to Afghan
authorities, we were attacked as Taliban dupes and sympathizers. We
were accused of ignoring security concerns. We were vilified for
failing to show support for our troops in the field.
Our troops are doing what they were trained to do when conducting
operations. We can all be proud of the professionalism they have
demonstrated. They are risking their lives for Canada. They deserve
to know that decisions being made in Ottawa are not exposing Canada
to charges under international humanitarian law.
We raised concerns about the detainees because, as Judge Advocate
General Kenneth Watkins recently put it, "the transfer of detainees
to a real risk of torture or ill-treatment is contrary to
international humanitarian law, also known as the law of war." Mr.
*Harper* appears not just indifferent to these concerns, but
unrelentingly hostile to them.
His government's stonewalling prompted human rights groups to
successfully lobby the Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC)
to conduct an inquiry into the treatment of detainees. This fall,
chair Peter Tinsley was obliged to suspend that inquiry after the
government threatened witnesses, refused to hand over documents and
challenged the authority of the MPCC. True to form, the government
announced that Mr. Tinsley would not be reappointed.
My colleagues, foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar and defence critic
Jack Harris, called for a parliamentary committee to take up where
the MPCC had left off. In classic doublespeak, the government said
there was no need because the MPCC was investigating.
No sooner had the parliamentary hearings begun, than the government
once again
began intimidating witnesses and refusing to hand over documents.
Diplomat Richard Colvin bucked the threats and offered damning
testimony to the committee. In response, Defence Minister Peter
MacKay and others trotted out the old accusations, insinuating that
he was a Taliban dupe and mocking the quality of his evidence. All
of Mr. Colvin's evidence has since been corroborated.
Our party firmly believes that only a public inquiry will enable us
to get at the truth of the detainees issue. On Nov. 19, we called
for such an inquiry. Mr. MacKay and his colleagues have said there
is no need because, as the Prime Minister told Parliament, "this
issue has long since been dealt with."
When we entered the Afghan conflict, we were told that it was about
dismantling the terror network of al-Qaeda. Eight years later we are
helping to reform the economy, root out the heroin trade, eliminate
corruption, build schools, strengthen the legal system, improve the
prison system and much more.
These are admirable but terribly ambitious goals. We have tumbled
down this path without a national debate about what we are doing and
why. We have done so while the government of Canada has viciously
attacked anyone who has raised questions about the mission, and
fended off all attempts to get at the truth of how the war is being
managed by officials in the Prime Minister's Office, the Department
of Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Before we are asked to commit any more of our blood and treasure in
this war, Canadians deserve to know the truth. We are not likely to
get that from the *Harper* government.
- Jack Layton is the leader of the federal New Democratic Party
WFDS
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