It's not the torture, it's the cover-up

I haven’t followed the ins and outs of Richard Colvin’s testimony and the ensuing Conservative smear campaign super-closely, but I do have some thoughts here on what the issues are and how the opposition should be pursuing them.

To me, this isn’t so much about allegations of torture in Afghan prisons, and the program of the Canadian military transferring prisoners to Afghan custody where they could face abuse. When the government, after much public pressure and pressure from the opposition parties, finally revamped the transfer program a few years ago it was an acknowledgment by the government that yes, there is a problem here, and we need to take appropriate action to ensure our soldiers aren’t unknowingly complicit to abuse.

Colvin’s testimony served to underline the necessity for the reform of the transfer program, and again raise the question of who knew what when, and why the government took so long to act.

What is new, however, and newly damaging and meriting of close scrutiny, is Colvin’s testimony of how when he tried to raise these issues, he was constantly shut-down, told to report verbally so there would be no paper-trail, his memos sent to the circular-file.

You can say that the reports of torture and abuse he raised are hearsay and second or third-hand, whether that matters or not is debatable but it is a legitimate point.

But what is not second-hand, what is not hearsay, are the roadblocks he ran into from his superiors in government when he tried to pass these allegations and reports up the chain of command. He had direct, first-hand knowledge of being told to report verbally so there would be nothing on paper, nothing that could be released under Access to Information requests.

Whether the allegations of abuse were legitimate or not, and indeed if they weren’t the government wouldn’t have later revamped the transfer programs, they should have been evaluated and considered and not covered-up. This is compounded by the extraordinary lengths the Conservatives went to in attempting to stop Colvin from telling his story, whether to the courts or to parliament.

It’s not the crime, they say, it’s the cover-up. Here it’s probably both, but the cover-up may be more damming. The Conservatives are trying to distract attention by trying to discredit Colvin's testimony as third-hand hearsay. We need to pivot back to the cover-up, and the direct attempts to stifle and suppress his reports.

BY THE BY, speaking of Rick Hillier jumping in to take a few swings at Colvin and say he knew nothing about nothing, it's worth remembering that it was Hiller as Chief of Defence Staff who tried to clamp-down on the growing scandal in 2007 by ordering the halt of the release of any information on the detainnee program under Access to Information on flimsy national security grounds.

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Serving general stumps for the defence minister?

The Hill Times has a piece today on the looming battle in the riding of Central Nova, where Elizabeth May is taking on Peter MacKay in an interesting battle, with the NDP having a strong shot as well. This line in that article caught my interest:

Mr. MacKay got another boost recently, when he arranged a visit to the county by wildly popular and then-outgoing chief of defence staff Rick Hillier. Mr. Hillier attended fundraisers, visited monuments and hospitals, and chatted up the locals on the waterfronts and main streets.

The excitement over Mr. Hillier's visit was splashed across the local newspaper, one headline declaring: "Hillier wows 'em."

Is it really appropriate for a serving general, and the chief of defence staff, to be stumping for a member of parliament and the minister of defence? After he’s retired he can do whatever he wants, but while he’s still wearing the uniform it hardly seems appropriate.

Kind of serendipitous though that, after his tour through Central Nova and a boost to Peter MacKay’s fortunes, the now retired general has a new job:

Fresh from running a war, Rick Hillier, who stepped down as chief of the defence staff this week, is temporarily joining Gowlings, a huge law firm in Ottawa, to consider a future "career in the private sector." The general is not a lawyer and says he has not made any firm decisions about his future. Still, a statement provided by the firm said he "has indicated that when he assumes a new career in September, he is looking to provide strategic advice, leadership training and other consulting services." And Gowlings can help him with all that. Does this spell lobbying? Certainly, Mr. Hillier's name and expertise in the defence world will add even more cachet to the national firm, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP.

Not a lawyer..strategic advice…won’t lobby…where have we heard this before? Oh, right…

John Reynolds, the man who co-chaired the Conservative national election campaign, is now offering advice to some of Canada's largest companies on how to access the government.

Reynolds has been hired by Lang Michener, a national law firm with offices in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver. The company says it's hired Reynolds for his wealth of experience and connections….

The company said he was hired as a senior strategic adviser for Lang Michener's clients who need access to government, but Reynolds denies that means he's now a lobbyist.

Reynolds, of course, quickly changed his mind and registered to lobby his old boss. I wonder how long it will be before Hillier follows suit, and signs-up to lobby MacKay? And after a visit to Central Nova to boost the sagging fortunes of his old boss, the least Peter could do would be to take the call…

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This Hour has 22 Conservatives MPs in Afghanistan

Rather than drag Mulroney's 30lb book with me to Las Vegas (airline weight restrictions and all) I took Rick Mercer's much slimmer tome. Look for a review in a day or two, but, given the topic of yesterday's post, I was pretty interested to be reminded that Rick Mercer has been to Afghanistan three times.

His last visit last Christmas was at the personal invitation of General Rick Hillier:

On this leg of the trip were three other Newfoundlanders – broadcaster Max Keeping, singer-songwriter Damhnait Doyle and my old colleague Mary Walsh...

So, an entertain the troops visit. A very worthy trip, and one I fully support. But it wasn't just entertainers on the government-approved mission.

...and three members of the Conservative caucus – whip Jay Hill, MP Laurie Hawn and President of the Treasury Board John Baird.

Let me be very clear that I'm a big fan of Rick Mercer, and he is to be commended for going to visit the troops three times, and for his very strong support of our Armed Forces over the years. As a former Air Force Brat myself, I passionately share his sentiments in that area.

My only point is that if the government can allow an entertainer to go over three times, and allow visits by their whip, a backbench MP and the president of the treasury board, it's pretty hard for them to justify continually blocking the defence critic of the official opposition.

For more on the important, totally not a photo-op or publicity stunt work Maxime Bernier and Bev Oda are doing right now in Afghanistan, see Keith, Steve, Apply Liberally, KNB, Impolitical and Dave.

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General Hillier out, General that Harper likes in?

According to CTV news, the Conservative government plans to replace General Rick Hillier as chief of defence staff when his term expires in February, because he's outshining his political masters and he made Gordon O'Connor look like a doofus.

Now don't get me wrong. I won't be sad to see Hillier go. Indeed, I think it's probably a good idea. And this detainee document cover-up scandal won't be going away either.

But what I wanted to mention was this line from the CP piece, where they speculate on possible successors to Hillier as CDS. I'm not sure if I'm amused, or concern. I'm thinking a little of both actually.

CTV says potential successors include Vice-Admiral Drew Robertson and Maj.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, although insiders say Lt.-Gen. Walter Natynczyk is likely to get the top job because the prime minister likes him.

Surely the most important qualification, no?

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Two Tory scandals that aren't going away

There are many reasons why, pronouncements to the contrary, Stephen Harper is likely eager to have Canadians trek to the polls this fall. Beyond the obvious motivations, there are also two lingering scandals that’d he’d rather not have erupt before the campaign.

*The first is a real ticking time bomb, and it’s the Conservative election advertising “in-and-out” scandal. It may have slipped out of the headlines but this situation is still developing, and is far from over.

Conservative uber strategist Tom Flanaghan, who is to Harper as Karl Rove is to Bush, is flogging a book and so has been all over the media, saying lots of interesting things. Today, he talked about the alleged ad laundering scheme:

Tom Flanagan says it was only a shortage of money in 2004 that kept the Tories from employing the "in-and-out" money transactions that were used by the party in the 2006 election and are now under investigation by the federal elections commissioner.

He adds:

"It looked to me as if this is in conformity with legislation, but I don't claim to be an expert on it."

No, Tom, you’re not an expert. You know who are experts on election legislation? Elections Canada. The guys your party have taken to court for refusing to sign-off on your little scheme.

This line from the same article was also of note:

Three of the candidates have told the Citizen they believed the payments to the party were for national advertising, and one former candidate has said his campaign was compelled by party headquarters to join in.

So, while Conservative apologists continue to maintain these ads were local and all is above board, three of the candidates have admitted the obvious: these were national ads. Which blows the Conservative defence right out of the water. The fact national campaign was pressuring ridings to participate in this scheme is also troubling.

Speaking of candidates, the LPC has released a list of the 66 Conservative candidates they allege were potentially involved in the ad scheme. There are 17 elected MPs on the list (and five cabinet members), namely:

Dick Harris, Ron Cannan, Jim Abbott, Stockwell Day, Colin Mayes, Jay Hill, David Anderson, Patricia Davidson, Maxime Bernier, Sylvie Boucher, Daniel Petit, Steven Blaney, Jacques Gourde, Luc Harvey, Jose Verner, Christian Paradis and Lawrence Cannon.

Quite a few on the list are from Quebec. Wouldn’t help Harper’s promised Quebec breakthrough to have this scandal explode between now and a spring election, now would it?

*The other lingering issue the Cons have been able to sidestep without Parliament sitting, and would likely be able to keep on the backburner if the throne speech triggers an election, is the suppression of information by DND relating to Afghan detainees.

If you haven’t been following, the government’s mishandling of the Afghan detainee was one of the final nails in the defence minister Gordon O’Connor, now put out of his misery in the revenue portfolio, where he may never be seen again.

Likely looking to save the government, and DND, further embarrassment CDS Gen. Rick Hillier decided all detainee information would henceforth be classified for highly dubious “national security reasons” denying the public’s right to know. Not one Conservative elected official has yet come forward to support or condone what would appear to be a decision outside of Hillier’s purview. O’Connor dodged it until he was put to pasture, I’ve not heard a peep on it from McKay.

I was reminded of this issue again the other day reading this story:

Canada is still unable to account for at least 50 prisoners it captured and handed over to Afghan authorities, keeping alive concerns that some detainees could have been subject to torture.

This issue isn’t going away. The Liberals were out on front on this when it broke, and the NDP threatened to recall the defence committee over it, although they didn’t follow through on that threat.

If parliament were to resume this fall however and not be quickly dissolved for an election, I have no doubt the freedom of information issue will be the subject of heated hearings by the defence committee, which would no doubt call Hillier, O’Connor, Ward Elcock (since shuffled out of DND) to get an explanation into this mess, and figure-out just whom was running the show at DND. It would be an unhealthy media spectacle to say the least.

Two reasons why, no matter what he says in public, Harper may more than be happier to go to the polls this fall.

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Whatever happened to the NDP's 10-day ultimatum?

Yes, bear with me, it's back to the O’Connor/Hillier detainee document classification scandal. Remember that? If you don't the government’s strategy of silence and stonewalling has worked. Such is how it goes when the HoC isn’t in session and the media have short attention-spans.

Anyway, you may remember that back a few weeks ago, after the Liberals had been pushing this issue for a week, NDP defence critic Dawn Black made a media splash by issuing a news release that promised unless O’Connor explained himself within 10 days…

…Black will make a formal request under Standing Order 106 (4) for the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence to convene and discuss this matter on 48 hours notice and to call such witnesses as it wishes including O'Connor, the Deputy Minister, the Chief of Defence Staff and all relevant officials involved in this decision.

That release was issued July 17^th. That’s 20 calendar days ago. Or 14 working days with the civic holiday factored in. Still, not a peep from O’Connor, let alone a formal letter of explanation. Their strategy is clear: keep quiet and hope it goes away.

And also not a peep from the NDP about the passing of the deadline, or Black making a formal request to call back the defence committee. I trust that will soon be forthcoming, and that the ultimatum wasn’t just intended to garner some quick and easy media headlines? Or maybe they just forgot to issue a release.

I’m disappointed this issue seems to have fallen off the Liberals’ radar too. It’s unfortunate, given that Denis Coderre was out in front of this a week before the NDP caught-on. If the NDP isn’t going to follow through on its threat perhaps the Liberals should. Because we can’t let this one go unchallenged.

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O'Connor's 10 days are up today

On July 17, the NDP joined the Liberals in drawing attention to the latest concerning actions at DND, namely General Rick Hillier’s clamping-down on previously available information on captured Afghan detainees and Minister Gordon O’Connor’s (continued) refusal to publicly explain why national security is being used as an excuse to save potential political embarrassment.

In her release, NDP defence critic Dawn Black gave O’Connor 10 working days to respond, or:

…Black will make a formal request under Standing Order 106 (4) for the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence to convene and discuss this matter on 48 hours notice and to call such witnesses as it wishes including O'Connor, the Deputy Minister, the Chief of Defence Staff and all relevant officials involved in this decision.

By my calendar, today is the 10^th working day, so that means O’Connor has until the end of the day to get back to Black, and Canadians, or Black will need to make good on her threat. And with the Cons having called back committees last week they have no right to complain about summer committee hearings.

We’re waiting Gordon…

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I guess he's not a politician after all

Or at least, not a Conservative one. Good thing Rick Hillier is only the defacto minister or he’d be kicked out of Deceivin’ Steven’s cabinet for crossing the big guy like this.

Hillier though has come out and called the titular defence minister, Gordon O’Connor’s, plan to create 14 army reserve units in cities across the country militarily unnecessary. While Hillier doesn’t come out and say it, it’s clear what O’Connor and Harper are doing here, and that’s using defence spending to buy votes in selected regions across the country.

"We're not in the business of creating new reserve units," Chief of Defence Staff General Rick Hillier told the CBC. "We have sufficient units. ... We don't need new units."

O’Connor has been on quite the spending spree lately, dropping many hundreds of millions in military spending from coast to coast, although mainly in Quebec, where CPC fortunes have plummeted of late.

Alas, he still hasn’t found time to comment on the withholding from the public of previously available information in Afghan detainees Hillier. Any day now, I’m sure.

Stand on guard for thee

In the Globe article they included a list of military-related Con election promises, and their status in being kept. I found this one amusing. First, the promise:

An Arctic National Sensor System, including underwater surveillance technologies.

Alrighty, sounds interesting. Sort of like a SOSUS for the North I guess. And it’s status in being kept:

Mr. Harper is planning a northern tour this summer as part of an Arctic sovereignty campaign.

Umm. So is Harper like going to stand in an ice flow and look for intruders or something? Is he like a one-man sensor system or something? Me no follow.

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NDP joins Liberal opposition to Hillier/O'Connor detainee cover-up

I was glad to see today that the NDP has joined the Liberals in speaking out against the Hillier detainee document clamp-down, and is calling for swift and immediate action. Following two releases from Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre over the past week, the NDP weighed-in with a release of their own on the topic yesterday.

The issue, of course, is the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Rick Hillier, issuing orders to not disclose previously available information on the number of Afghan detainees by Canadian soldiers, hiding behind national security, with the minister, Gordon O’Connor, hiding behind Hillier and refusing (or not being allowed to) defend the decision in public.

The first Liberal release was issued a week ago, and rightly called on the Information Commissioner to investigate the matter, filing a formal request with the commissioner and O’Connor:

“There is no doubt that it is in the public interest for the Information Commissioner to conduct this investigation. Canadians are asking questions about our mission in Afghanistan, and the only way to have an informed debate on the issue, is for all the facts to be laid out,” said Mr. Coderre.

“I have written to the Information Commissioner to request a formal investigation, and I have written to Minister O’Connor, asking him to take responsibility for what is happening in his department, and to reverse this politically motivated decision,” said Mr. Coderre.

The Liberals issued a second release on the matter yesterday, with O’Connor not having yet had the fortitude to address the mater publicly. The second release renewed the request for an investigation by the Information Commissioner, and called for O’Connor’s resignation:

"Enough is enough. The Minister has been the source of misinformation and confusion for too long. To avoid further exposure of his complete incompetence, he has been choking off access to legitimate requests about Canada's role in Afghanistan. He knows this is unacceptable and its time for him to go," said Mr. Coderre.

"Whether it's the cover up of the Department of Foreign Affairs report on torture in Afghanistan, or it's a blanket order to ignore the Access to Information Act, this runs against every accountability and transparency promise made by the Prime Minister in the last election campaign. Minister O'Connor can no longer hide behind his generals and his civil servants to keep Canadians in the dark about Canada's involvement in Afghanistan."

Following Coderre’s work on the issue over the past week, NDP defence critic Dawn Black released her own statement yesterday threatening to attempt to reconvene the HoC Defence committee and summon Hillier and O’Connor if O’Connor doesn’t explain himself:

“…these reports [of interference by the CDS] are concerning and I request that you advise me and relevant Parliamentarians as soon as possible as to the role the Chief of Defence Staff played in these decisions. If the reports are accurate, this would represent a major step backwards in accountability on the part of the Conservative Government, as well as a possible violation of the Access to Information Act and will have undermined the concept of civilian control over the military.”

I’m glad to see the NDP joining the Liberals in recognizing the importance of this issue and calling for action. Hopefully the BQ will come on board too and the opposition can be united here. This flagrant subjacation of Canada’s information and access laws for political ends cannot be allowed to stand, and whatever happens O’Connor has got to go.

Still hiding

And speaking of O’Connor, he still hasn’t summoned the courage to face the public on this, even through a spokesperson:

A spokeswoman for Mr. O'Connor could not confirm whether the minister had received the letter as of yesterday afternoon, but said all such requests are answered in a timely manner.

Conservative accountability: hiding behind unelected buracrats.

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Is O'Connor muzzled, or just scared?

Sorry if it seems like I'm harping on this, but I think it's an important story that isn't getting the attention it deserves. Another day, and still no comment from defence minister (for now) Gordon O'Connor on the withholding from the public of previously available information in Afghan detainees ordered by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier.

As far as I can tell O’Connor has yet to comment on the decision, supposedly based on national security considerations, to withhold even the number of detainees captured by Canadian soldiers and turned over to Afghan authorities. Indeed, I don’t think any elected Conservative official has commented. Accountability indeed, Mr. Harper. Will the CPC hide behind bureaucrats all summer?

The decision to reverse course and stop releasing detainee information, which had previously served to deeply embarrass Deceivin’ Steven’s government and expose O’Connor’s incompetence, was announced by Hillier’s office. In a follow-up story, O’Connor’s office refused comment.

Today, DND trotted out another unelected official, deputy minister Ward Elcock, to defend the unprecedented decision which makes a mockery of Canada’s freedom of information and access laws.

“This is being done for one reason and one reason alone: to ensure there is no inadvertent release of information that could assist the enemy and put Canadian, allied or Afghan lives at greater risk,” the statement says.

Bullshit. I don’t want to put lives at risk; sensitive information on methods, procedures, strategy and so forth should be kept classified. But that information wasn’t released previously anyway. That’s a bait and switch.

Such simple information as the number of detainees captured is not in any way a security risk. That’s a laughable assertion. The national security excuse is a smokescreen. This is about politics, and the Conservatives should be ashamed to be hiding behind our troops and crying national security to avoid political embarrassment.

And O’Connor should be ashamed as well for hiding behind General Hillier, and now Ward Elcock, instead of stepping-up as an elected, accountable MP and Minister of National Defence and attempting to explain this policy to the Canadian people.

If you’re not muzzled, Gordon, step up and be accountable. And if Harper does have you muzzled (that’s my guess) just do the right thing and resign, because obviously you’re not able to do the job.

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A Gordon O'Connor sighting

I was just about ready to release the hounds in the hunt for Gordon O’Connor, rumored to be Canada’s minister of national defence, but he has turned up.

It seemed like he had gone to ground after General Rick Hillier decided to brush aside disclosure laws and the public’s right to know by refusing to release any information on Afghan detainees captured by Canadian soldiers, deeming even the number to be a national security issue.

The office of General Rick Hillier, Canada's top soldier, has halted the release of any documents relating to detainees captured in Afghanistan under the federal Access to Information Act, claiming that disclosure of any such information could endanger Canadian troops.

Noticeably absent from the news of the ridiculous decision, that seemed to have a lot more to do with saving Decievin’ Steven political embarrassment then national security, was any comment at all from Hillier’s boss, Minister O’Connor. A follow-up story the next day also had no comment from O’Connor’s office.

A spokesman for Mr. O'Connor had no immediate comment on the controversy.

But while his days in the job may be numbered, it appears O’Connor is still around. He was in my old stomping grounds in B.C. last week, politicking on an air force base (CFB Comox) and using the military as a backdrop for taking partisan shots at the Liberals (the riding went NDP in 2006 and the Cons want it back):

The federal government will spend $121 million on new construction -- including new living quarters and health-care facilities -- at 19 Wing Comox over the next 10 years.

Minister of National Defence Gordon O'Connor made the announcement at the base yesterday, saying the new spending would make up for the previous government's "years of neglect."

"I am here to demonstrate, once again, this government's support for our military -- and specifically for the brave men and women of our air force," O'Connor told a group of 19 Wing officers. "The future of this base is secure into the future as long as you can imagine."

I’m glad for the funding (wonder how much of it is old money and how much is new?) but the years of neglect line is simply a lie. Having lived down the road from CFB Comox for years, construction and investment on the base has been steady and consistent over the years. There is still work to be done for sure, but neglect is inaccurate. And the base’s future has always been secure; it’s the search and rescue hub for the West Coast. It’s not going anywhere.

Unfortunately, it seems none of the local media present at the O’Connor campaign stop asked the minister if he agreed with Hillier’s decision to withhold information on Afghan detainees, or how in the heck the number of detainees captured could possible be a national security concern.

Will Gordon be able to avoid the national media, and embarrassing questions, until Harper fires him later this summer? Time will tell.

In other news, Hillier says he’s not a politician. I guess he just plays one on TV.

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Is embedded media syndrome coming to Canada?

A very interesting story at Macleans.ca examines whether if, with Deceivin’ Steven having failed utterly in building public support for the mission in Afghanistan himself, the government and our military leaders are now using our soldiers to sell the war.

As the Rideau Institute's Steven Staples sees it, this is very much part of a concerted effort by the military. He points to a departmental communications strategy, produced by National Defence and released via Access to Information that foretold such a strategy.

"They felt that soldiers were held in much higher esteem by the public and would be much better salespeople for the war than politicians," he says. "Politicians are reluctant to debate anyone who isn't also a politician, especially someone in uniform."

In addition to the new strategy of forcing opponents of the conflict to appear as if they’re “against the troops” the article also suggests the media are falling for the strategy, and instead of questioning the spin are starting to fall into line with government policy much like the American media abdicated its responsibility before and during the invasion of Iraq:

Of course, no matter how meticulously planned a p.r. strategy, its ultimate success - or failure - depends on whether the media accepts the message. And, at the moment, it's safe to say military officials elicit a far less confrontational response from reporters (at least when compared to the rough ride politicians tend to receive).

"I've seen many journalists fall head over heels for soldiers in uniform and it absolutely colours their view of the war," Staples said. "Canadian journalists used to chide their American colleagues for their coverage and now they're almost worse."

An interesting hypothesis. They’re treading a dangerous line. Canadians do have the utmost respect for our military members. And part of that respect means reacting harshly if we sense they’re being used as political pawns.

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Does O'Connor still have a job or what?

Like Rick Mercer, I've always liked our Chief of Defence Staff, General Rick Hiller. We've had our disagreements to be sure, but I like that he’s plain spoken and tough and stands-up for the troops. That’s what a good general should do.

And Hillier is a good general. But what he’s not is a politician. He’s our top soldier, and as such he shouldn’t be crossing into the political arena. He’s done it before, and these actions seem to be to be outside his purview as well:

The office of General Rick Hillier, Canada's top soldier, has halted the release of any documents relating to detainees captured in Afghanistan under the federal Access to Information Act, claiming that disclosure of any such information could endanger Canadian troops.

You’ll recall it was lies, obfuscations and confusion by DND and the Harper government on detainee disclosures that led to a lot of heartache for Deceivin’ Steven in the last parliament and probably ensured Hillier’s boss, defence minister Gordon O’Connor, won’t have the job all that much longer.

Never, however during the detainee disclosure gong show was security mentioned as a concern around revealing the information. But now…

In another e-mail on the same day, Lt.-Col. Clarke suggested it had been a mistake for DND to release information about detainees earlier and that the department was rethinking its disclosure policy.

So, they should never released it in the first place, they say. Security reasons, you see without explaining, as if that’s supposed to just end it. But Hillier has gone even further:

Even disclosure of the number of detainees captured by Canadian soldiers is now considered off limits, after the intervention of Gen. Hillier.

Is he serious with this? Even the number of detainees captured is now secret for security reasons? That stretches the plausibility of the security argument from weak to pathetic. It’s utterly ridiculous.

And why is this Hillier’s call in the first place? Guess what name doesn’t come-up one in this article? That’s right, there’s no mention of Gordon O’Connor. He’s still the Minister of National Defence right? Or did I miss a memo?

Assuming he is, this should be his call. Because he is the one that is elected and is (in theory) accountable to the people, and to the House of Commons.

And both O’Connor and Hillier and O’Connor should be called before the HoC Defence Committee to justify this trampling of the people’s right to know, and explain how knowing the number of detainees captured by Canadian soldiers could possibly be a security risk.

Because it seems to me, based on the last time they released this information, that the only security threat posed is to the security of Harper’s government.

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