It's one of the most famous pictures of Canada's mission in Afghanistan. It shows members of the secretive JTF2 unit escorting three detainees off a plane at Kandahar airport, and handing them over to the U.S. military.
The date was January 21, 2002. And the picture caused an uproar in Parliament. There were fears the detainees would end up in one of the CIA's secret torture dungeons.
As a result the decision was taken to hand detainees over to Afghan authorities, notably that country's brutish National Directorate of Security (NDS). The one staffed by many former KGB agents.
But now the Wikileaks have revealed that nothing really changed. Because the CIA was running the NDS.
It’s the second-last line in a report of a March 8, 2008, meeting with Amrullah Saleh, at the time head of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security. And it casually notes that until 2009, the entire budget of this secret police force was provided by America’s Central Intelligence Agency.
As the New York Times, one of the handful of newspapers first given the documents by the non-profit group WikiLeaks put it: “For years, the CIA had essentially run the NDS as a subsidiary.”
Which leads to the obvious question.
Did Ottawa know this? If so, that could explain why the Conservative government is so adamant about keeping its files on the detainee issue secret.
If ministers knew at the time that their elaborate attempt to stay on the right side of the Geneva Conventions was a ruse, they would be in contravention of Canadian and international law. They could be prosecuted.
And that’s an incentive to keep things quiet.
You know, I realize that many Canadians don't care about any of the above. They'd rather not know. Just like they don't care about the fate of a Canadian child soldier who has been locked up and tortured for eight years in a place like Guantanamo.
But I believe that a country that doesn't ask questions about human rights, or one that is afraid of the truth. Or one that settles for lies or the silence of the Cons.
Isn't much of a country, and is heading for a very dark place...
And that's all I have to say. Because it's so obvious eh?
But why is Stephen Harper being allowed to get away scot- free?
Despite his silence, Harper has much to answer for about the G20 in Toronto and the G8 held a day earlier in Huntsville — from why the summit was held in downtown Toronto to the staggering $1.2 billion cost to questionable federal spending in the Muskoka area.
Inquiries are rightly being held into police actions that resulted in some 1,000 people arrested during the two-day summit in what many contend was an unprecedented and excessive manner.
But a separate inquiry is needed into the overall planning and handling of the G20 by Harper and his government.
Because let's be very very clear about one thing. If Harper is allowed to emerge unscathed. And the story is reduced to a clash between police and the protesters. He will use that to create a wedge issue in Toronto, and collect enough votes to maybe win himself a majority.
And turn this country into a permanent police state.
I know most of the people reading this believe in human rights, and were horrified by the actions of some police officers. Like I was.
But we must understand the nature of the country we live in.
A country full of coarse, ignorant, people who suck up Amerikan values with their mother's milk. And don't give a flying fuck about human rights, or the plight of the protesters.
And above all we must deal with this most brutal of facts: The Fake Lake brouhaha can hurt Harper more than what was done to so many innocent people ever will.
Appealing to the reason or the conscience of the rabble is just a waste of time, the only thing that will turn them against Harper is a pain in their wallets. And questions like these:
How did the costs reach $1.2 billion?
What efforts were made to control spending?
Who approved more than $50 million in spending in Industry Minister Tony Clement’s riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka for such “summit-related” items as bandshells and street paving in towns never visited by any delegate?
Yes we need to find out why so many police officers could treat their own citizens like they were The Enemy, and Canada was a police state. And who the hell gave them that idea?
But we absolutely must focus on the man really responsible for this Gorilla Show, because the future of our country is at stake.
If we do, some good may yet come out of this.
These questions will likely dog Harper right to the election.
And unless he answers them, no good will come out of the summit for Harper, just as nothing good has come out of it for Toronto.
If we don't. And we fall into his trap. You can be absolutely sure of something.
He will use it to claw himself a majority.
And we will end up living in a country we don't recognize..
Well at least now we know what gazillions of dollars, a fake lake, a G20 Gorilla Show, a Conada Day celebration, and inhaling the Queen's farts can get you eh? A boondoggle bonus..
I must say at first I was worried. I mean if Iggy shrinks anymore they'll have to carry him around in a jam jar...or an oil barrel. But then I read this:
A final interesting hypothesis is that Stephen Harper may now be assuming a symbolic as well as political role...If indeed Harper is now becoming a proxy for national pride, this may make the challenge for Ignatieff even more formidable.
And I knew it had to be the brutal heat wave. Because I've never heard anything more ridiculous.
Finley said he's hopeful senators will eventually bow to the will of the elected Commons, which has already approved the bill. But if they don't, he said: "Let's dance."
"We're ready to go to an election if we have to. The buses, the planes, the trains, the money, the boardroom — everything's ready to rock and roll."
Cons can dance? The buses are ready? They're ready to take their show on the road?
NOW?
Nah. I just can't see it. And neither can the Cons.
While we do hold a lead over the Liberals, Caucus members should be aware that a 10-point lead is inconsistent with the findings of other pollsters and our own, internal assessments.
When subsequent polls show different findings, this will NOT mean that Michael Ignatieff has suddenly gained momentum.
Because they know it's just a mirage. When Canadians recover from this heat wave, and they realize how much money Harper and his Cons have spent trying to buy a majority minority , they'll be back to where they started.
And even Iggy will look good better.
Memo to Doug Finley: Surrender to summer like the rest of us. You idiot.
The Cons are going NOWHERE.
Stephen Harper's probably rolling on the floor, biting the carpet, and screaming: I spent FIVE BILLION dollars and all I got was a lousy minority ???!!!
And only Jack can DANCE...
The really good news? If a guy who is battling cancer can dance for three hours in the blazing heat, he's in better shape than I am.
Jack... Jack.. can I have a vuvusela if I join the NDP?
Well I'm glad to see that Premier Five Metres McGuinty has finally acknowledged that the people of Toronto were traumatized by the G20 Gorilla Show.
"I think it was very intrusive on life in Toronto. It did result in some fairly serious property damage."
"I also think that there was some tremendous psychological scarring because of what people saw on TV. Burning police cars is not something that anyone will forget for some time."
But he's wrong if he thinks it's just about property damage and three burning police cars. Because 16 police cars and far more stores were damaged during the Stanley Cup riot in Montreal.
And what traumatized me and so many others was going downtown and finding an army of police officers playing what seemed to me like some strange kind of Black Sunday war game.
Where ordinary, peaceful, Canadians were The Enemy.
Squads of police were running around in the humid heat like toy soldiers being moved by some invisible hand.
Rushed here, there, and back again for no apparent reason.
Take this bizarre incident. A group of peaceful protesters and onlookers is being held back easily by a few police officers on bicycles.
Then suddenly allowed to move two blocks closer to the summit site, only to be blocked by these riot cops.
And then pinned up against the giant plate glass window of a Bank of Montreal.
It was like they were inviting trouble. Looking for an excuse to start cracking heads and arresting people.
So I wasn't surprised when about two hours later this happened.
And police began arresting hundreds of innocent people and locking them in cages like animals.
Now I just want to know why. I don't want revenge. I just want the TRUTH.
I want to know who in the ISU war room 200 kilometres north of the city gave the order for the crackdown to begin.
How could they know what was really happening at ground level in the city, when they were watching it on television monitors?
Who gave police the crazy idea that Toronto wasn't Canada?
And did the fateful order to arrest all those people really come from them...or the Harper Cons in Ottawa?
The only way I'm going to get those questions answered is if we get a public inquiry. Because even an independent police investigation isn't enough.
Collectively, they turned our city into an armed camp with empty streets, secretly invoked special police powers, allowed a few hooligans to run amok burning police cruisers and smashing store windows, and then arrested and incarcerated more than a thousand people, the vast majority of them guilty of no crime. Businesses in the downtown area suffered a big drop in sales. Instead of showcasing the city, the event produced damaging images, broadcast around the world. What is needed is a full public inquiry, called by either the province or Ottawa.
And until I get those answers this little story by Margaret Atwood will also continue to haunt me.
Why – knowing of the dangers of holding the G20 in a fenced-off, emptied-out downtown Toronto – did Prime Minister Stephen Harper not respond to Toronto’s pleas and change the venue?
Was the treatment of those arrested some sort of dry run – a testing of the waters to see how far those in authority can move toward Tinpot Dictatorship North, without a vote-losing backlash?
Because others have more powerful stories, others really suffered. Others really lived the nightmare.
But all I can say is that when I saw that Black Sunday war game I felt like I was staring at the face of fascism. Or living in the dark foulness of a Harper majority. And it was HORRIBLE.
Yup. I definitely need those answers. We need a public inquiry.
I don't know what's more disturbing. This chilling account of what it was like to be a prisoner in the G20 detention centre.
We start losing it a little bit. Saying to every officer, “You know this is wrong, look at us in here!” We hear from the other cells that some only have 20 or 15 guys. Why is this happening? How is this happening? Some guys start screaming, kicking the cage, and shaking it. We can hear this happening all over the place. We yell for help, some cops are laughing, some look devastated and helpless. I’m so thirsty and I’m screaming for water. It felt like nothing I’ve ever felt before. A prisoner. Innocent. Screaming at my captors for water. Right then my heart broke.
Or this video of a gay teenager describing how he and other gay prisoners were segregated.
What I do know is that by now it should be clear to everybody that something horrible happened last weekend.
We absolutely need to know who gave the orders to start arresting so many innocent Canadians.
Whether the chain of command led all the way to the Harper Cons.
And why so many decent people were treated so badly. While the real criminals were allowed to escape.
And the only way to find out the truth is to hold a public inquiry.
Many Canadians may not want one. The politicians may be too scared to call for one. But we must continue to push for one anyway...if we love our country.
Because those who don't learn from their mistakes are condemned to repeat them.
And something like this, so horrible and so un-Canadian, must NEVER happen again...
I thought I'd tell Stephen Harper and his pathetic Canadian lackeys that civil rights and democracy may mean nothing to them.
But he's not going to get away with this billion dollar boondoggle.
The ballooning of the summit budget, from an initially projected $180 million to over $1 billion put lie to Harper government preaching about fiscal prudence and the affair of the "fake lake" exposed it to that deadliest of political afflictions -public ridicule.
Because ALL Canadians are going to pay for that one. Whether or not they hate Toronto ...or love the smell of jackboots in the morning.
And furthermore I'd like to let Great Gorilla Leader know how I REALLY feel about him.
After this hideous barbed wire show.
Tell him that if my doggie's face looked as UGLY as his....
I'd shave his ass and make him walk BACKWARDS.
And that there's much much more where that one came from...
Because sometimes you just have to say what you feel eh?
And besides I tried out a few of them, and I definitely feel better.
Well at least now we know why he sent the Governor General off to China.
So he could hog the Canada Day festivities on Parliament Hill.
Stick to the Queen of England like a fridge magnet ...
Turn the event into yet another tacky Con Campaign ad, paid for with OUR money.
And no doubt privately give thanks to the Black Bloc for their outstanding contribution to his never ending quest for a majority.
The Angus Reid poll, which surveyed 1,003 Canadians and 503 Torontonians, found that 73 per cent of Torontonians and two-thirds of Canadians believe police treatment of protesters was justified during the G20 summit.
In Toronto, 81 per cent said they are disgusted with the G20 protests, while 74 per cent are angry, 65 per cent are sad and 61 per cent feel ashamed.
Because if Torontonians feel that way you can blame it on these goons.
The useful idiots of fascism, and Harper's little helpers.
Which of course makes it important to find out why police didn't go after them.
Who made the decision for police to stand down despite the fact the city was under attack?
And why?
Was it a police decision or political?
And even more important to remind Canadians that 99.9 % of the protests were completely peaceful . And if the thugs in black deserve to be denounced, so do the thugs in blue.
The chief of police and mayor of Toronto have come out swinging at the thugs in black, vowing to hunt them down and bring them to justice.
But the thugs in blue are ignored, hiding behind the wall of security offered by their employers. It has become a two-tiered level of justice, where thugs in black are hunted while thugs in blue are congratulated for a job well done.
Because one was a crime against property which is deplorable. And the other was an assault on democracy which is INTOLERABLE.
The good news? This part of today's poll:
Seventy-three per cent of Torontonians and 57 per cent of Canadians believe it was a mistake to hold the summit in Toronto.
So Harper can still wear this billion dollar boondoggle...and drown in his fake lake.
Police Chief Bill Blair, who once had a reputation as a progressive cop, but now looks like a bully, a liar, and an idiot.
In an attempt to bolster support, Toronto Police displayed a range of weapons – from a machete and arrows to gas masks and cans of spray paint – that officers seized from G20 summit protesters.
However, police also included objects taken from a Whitby, Ont., man who was heading to a role playing fantasy game in Centennial Park Saturday morning. As was reported by the Globe on Saturday, Brian Barrett, 25, was stopped at Union Station for wearing chain mail and carrying a bag with an archery bow, shield and graphite swords. His jousting gear was seized by police, but was on display Tuesday, even though he was not charged and police told a Globe reporter it was a case of bad timing.
The small shop owners who had their windows smashed, because an army of police officers couldn't protect the city's busiest street, from a handful of anarchist goons.
Also on the list of losers the city's dying tourist industry...
Because you try telling people now that Toronto is a safe city, with a real lake, and a HOT music scene.
And of course the entire population of Canada who will be paying for this piggy party for YEARS.
It's all outrageous, and we definitely need a public inquiry.
But right now I need a day or two to recover from this Gorilla Show, and search for my sense of humour.... that I lost while being chased by a cop on a horse.
So I thought I'd start by sharing this video...
Because isn't nice to know that some losers are more loosers than others eh?
The bad news? That video is going VIRAL. So now they're laughing at us all over the world.
The good news? If we focus on blaming the man really responsible for this Gorilla Show debacle.
More than 1,000 loud but peaceful Torontonians – furious at police tactics, the G20 and seeing their city hijacked – converged on Toronto Police headquarters on College Street late Monday afternoon. Parents, businessmen, protesters and grandparents chanted and drummed in front of dozens of police officers before marching through downtown and converging on Queen’s Park for a dance party.
I almost didn't go. After three days of wandering around a city turned into a police state I was just so beat.
But then I thought I just had to go because I want everybody to know that this gorilla show was not all about a burning police car and some broken windows. As some in the media seem to think.
Because I saw it all, or a lot of it, with my eyes wide open.
By bringing in thousands of heavily armed strangers and throwing up barricades everywhere to regular traffic, frightening off good and decent citizens, Canadian authorities created a ghost town in the heart of our city.
They took our city to hold a meeting and bullied us out of the core, damaging the commerce of thousands of merchants and inconveniencing the entire population. Then, they failed to protect our property
I'm not a cop hater. And I realize they were just following orders. But the way they were allowed to intimidate, jail, and abuse the rights of so many innocent citizens is simply unforgivable.
In Toronto the Good, we saw a law passed and enforced that was more anti-democratic than the War Measures Act. And we saw twice as many people arrested over a single 24-hour period in Toronto -- more than 900 at last count -- than what took place during the October Crisis in Quebec 40 years ago. And that event is in our history books as the most notorious abuse of civil rights in modern Canadian history.
And I'll never forget the hatred in the eyes of some of them...as if we were THE ENEMY.
Or the way I was almost arrested several times for doing absolutely nothing. Just staring at that Planet of the Apes spectacle with my eyes AND my mouth wide open.
And rage in my heart.
So anyway I dragged my weary ass to today's demo.
And boy was I glad I did....
Because it was awesome. Young and old together. And the sweet sound of FREEDOM.
I just hope Great Ugly Leader and his fascist monkeygorilla Con thugs got the message. Because if not we'll have to remind them over and over again eh?
You guys are saying 'Wrong place, wrong time'," a police officer said to two detainees who argued they were just passing by. "Yup," replied a young man in his early 20s. But that didn't make any difference -- the handcuffs stayed on and the two continued to be processed by officers who read them their rights and told they they had the right to call a lawyer. Whether or not they had the opportunity to call a lawyer is a different question.
And all I can say is how very fitting. Because this Gorilla Show has been insane from start to finish.
The bottom line? The police lost control of the situation because they were too obsessed with keeping protesters from getting within three blocks of this fence.
So they allowed vandals to run amok in other parts of the city.
And then over reacted by treating innocent citizens like CRIMINALS.
The peaceful protesters got burned by these sinister goons.
Who drowned out their message. Turned ordinary citizens against all the protesters. And allowed Stephen Harper to claim today he was right to spend a billion dollars on security.
When of course all it showed was that he was CRAZY to hold a summit in the heart of Canada's biggest city.
Tonight the protesters were all suddenly released, without any charges being laid.
Which leads me to believe that the Toronto police have a lot of embarrassing questions to answer.
And I've got two good ones eh?
Who the hell gave them the idea that we're living in a police state?
So I'm not surprised that a small group of mindless anarchist was able to go on a rampage in this police state atmosphere of total chaos.
Or that so many other people are also angry at being treated like The Enemy in the place where they live. Because I know how they feel, and I don't blame them.
Just like I don't really blame the police officers either because they are just following orders. But innocent people are getting roughed up.
So all I can say is that everything that happened today was totally PREDICTABLE.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office condemned the violence. In a statement, Dimitri Soudas said free speech is a principle of Canada's democracy, but "the thugs that prompted the violence earlier today represent in no way, shape or form the Canadian way of life."
Because this isn't my Canada either.
And Stephen Harper is entirely to blame for his criminally irresponsible decision to hold a summit in the heart of Canada's biggest city.
If he didn't know this might happen he's an idiot and should be dismissed for gross incompetence.
If he did, and he thought he might win some votes in Toronto with his phony law and order agenda, he should be ARRESTED.
Oh well. I finally made it home. It's raining now. The situation is cooling.
But if Harper thinks he can get away with this boondoggle of a gorilla show, he is sadly mistaken.
As I said about a week ago, I've always wondered what it would be like to live in the kind of police state Stephen Harper would create, if he ever got a majority.
Wearing bulletproof vests and helmets with the visors down, some 30 officers shoved their way through the crowd.
“This is what a police state looks like!” shouted one man before an officer sent him reeling with a kick to the groin. Another man was shoved repeatedly by police as he lay on the ground.
Because I've never seen so many police officers, there were many tense moments. And it almost turned into a nightmare on Elm Street.
At Elm Street, just north of the American consulate, police blocked the street. Officers donned gas masks and readied tear gas guns.
While a double line of officers in riot gear, holding shields remained at the front, about 200 extra officers, some on horseback, stood ready to reinforce them from behind. Officers also locked the gates to the perimeter fence for the first time.
It all ended peacefully, but with so many police and so many demonstrators, on a brutally hot afternoon, it could have ended horribly.
But you be the judge, because I made this video...
The bottom line: we need these summits like we need a hole in the head.
And by deciding to hold this gorilla show in the heart of the country's biggest city...
Stephen Harper has clearly shown he is unfit to govern.
