The Con Torture Scandal and the Local Yokels

I knew the Cons were trying to hide something even bigger than what they knew about torture. But who knew it would be so monstrous?

Canada's top two commanders in Afghanistan in spring 2006 told investigators the government pressured them to transfer detainees to Afghan authorities faster than they felt was appropriate, CBC News has learned.

As soon as I got a detainee, I would phone him," Fraser said, adding the question he got back was: "How fast could we get them to hand over to the Afghan authorities?"

I knew that General Hillier's claim that our prisoners were all battle hardened Taliban was nonsense.

Putt's testimony also suggests Canadian troops frequently weren't capturing high-value Taliban targets — an assertion Colvin first raised two weeks ago.

"I mean, we were basically capturing a local yokel, " Putt said. "Detaining the local yokels and handing them off."

Now I can't help but wonder how many of those local yokels...a.k.a. poor farmers... joined the Taliban after experiencing the horror of an Afghan prison? How many Canadian soldiers paid the ultimate price for this immoral and insane policy?

And why if we were in such a HURRY to hand over prisoners to the Afghans, were we so SLOW to inform the Red Cross?

Or is it all part of the same story, and the REAL reason for the cover up?

Was it just a case of bureaucratic hyper-caution, flowing possibly from the micro-managing style of the Harper government? Or was there something more sinister at play?

If you wanted to ensure your detainee was grilled to the hilt over days, weeks, or months, would this not be the kind of play-for-time system that you would devise?

Because if it was that would be a war crime. And how can you trust the Cons when they are STILL lying?

Afghanistan's intelligence service refused to accept Canadian-captured prisoners over the summer because the military was providing "insufficient evidence" of wrongdoing, The Canadian Press has learned.

The Afghan-imposed halt in transfers is at odds with claims by the federal government that the Canadian military refused to turn over detainees because local authorities were not living up to obligations to allow unfettered access to prisoners.

Don't believe a word they say.

Now more than ever we need a public inquiry...