Daily Archive

Man, what do I do after denial stops working?

The Canadian occupation of Afghanistan is an international shame.  We are killing innocent people and torturing people.  The Geneva Convention needs to be dusted off and read 100 times by our military leaders and political drones so they get the idea of human rights are not just for “us” but extend to everyone in the world.

The CBC reports:

“A parliamentary committee has heard stunning allegations from a former translator who claims the Canadian military tried to cover up the fatal shooting of an Afghan man in October 2007.

Ahmadshah Malgarai also alleged to MPs in Ottawa that the Canadian military “panicked” and rounded up a half a dozen Afghans between the age of 10 and 90 after the shooting of a man sleeping on the roof of a compound in southern Afghanistan.”

Fantastic, murder someone and then round up possible witnesses for intimidation interrogation.

Apparently though Mr.Malgarai did not actually witness the execution.

“Malgarai testified he was not at the compound during the alleged incident, although he was allowed to see the intelligence report and took part in the interrogation of the detained men. He alleged a member of the military personally described it to him as “murder.”

Of course Conservative MP Laurie Hawn was there sowing confusion.  Best to muddy the waters in defence of  aberrant government policy.

“When Hawn then asked if Malgarai was calling Hillier a liar, Ahmadshad became agitated and accused the Tory MP of trying to put words in his mouth.”

What did happen that night?  Something significant, the ripples are to big just to be a false allegation in my opinion.

Alfred Mccoy was right in his book A Question about Torture:  using torture as official policy has serious corrosive effects on both the victims and the abusers.  The effect is evident already in Afghanistan as the Canadian Armed Forces torture scandal continues to unfold.