Chief of the Defence Staff General Walter Natynczyk, middle, is flanked by Lieutenant-General Marc Lessard and Major-General Mark McQuillan as they appear at the Commons defence committee on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009.FRED CHARTRAND
The fury over the Afghan detainee controversy flared anew Tuesday with demands for Defence Minister Peter MacKay's head following an unprecedented letter from 23 former ambassadors condemning the Harper government.
The NDP demanded Mr. MacKay's resignation, accusing him of misleading the House of Commons over what the government knew about the possible torture of prisoners handed over by Canadian troops - and what it did about the allegations.
"MacKay has zero credibility," MP Paul Dewar told a news conference. "The buck stops with MacKay and he has to go, and the Prime Minister must call a public inquiry into this cover-up."
The fresh furor came after the release of a letter signed by 23 ex-ambassadors that condemned Conservative attacks on the credibility of diplomat Richard Colvin, saying it threatens to cast a chill over Canada's foreign service.
Mr. Colvin testified before a Commons committee that Canadian officials were warned about possible torture in 2006 but took little or no action to halt the transfer of prisoners to Afghan authorities.
A series of secret memos examined by The Canadian Press support his assertion and show the government placed more emphasis on writing key messages on how Canada respects human rights, rather than fixing the transfer arrangement.
Mr. MacKay and others in the Conservative government have tried to discredit Colvin's testimony. They accuse him of basing his reports on hearsay, and some have painted him as a dupe of Taliban propaganda.
The main line of defence for the government has been that there is no evidence of Canadian-captured prisoners being abused by the Afghans prior to 2007.
All opposition parties pounced on the government in the Commons in the wake of the letter, repeating demands for information and an inquiry. But the government ignored questions and criticism as the countdown to Parliament's holiday recess approaches. Mr. MacKay and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have ruled out a public inquiry.
Mr. Dewar said regardless of the government's strategy, the critical issue of human rights will not go away over the Christmas break. He said a special House of Commons committee, where some of the most explosive revelations have been made, is contemplating holding public hearings over the break.
Opposition parties have pointed to a June 2006 incident, in which a suspected Taliban was beaten by Afghan National Police, as proof that the Tory government knew of credible incidents of torture and of the dangers of transferring prisoners.
"Our soldiers saw it first-hand, they took photographs, they did the right thing, it was reported up the chain of command," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said.
"What kind of Canadian government refuses to act on first hand accounts of their own troops?"
Canada's top military commander denied that Canadian soldiers captured the suspect and offered a qualified explanation of events.
General Walter Natynczyk, the Chief of Defence Staff, told the House of Commons defence committee that Canadian troops questioned but did not detain the man, who was on the fringes of a battle.
He said the man was released, but picked up almost immediately by Afghan police, who led him away and started beating him with their shoes. Troops then rescued the suspect from the Afghan police.
Had Canadian soldiers captured the suspect, Gen. Natynczyk said, he would have been sent back to Kandahar Airfield and processed through a different system before being handed over to the Afghans.
Notes from a military police officer suggest the prisoner was captured by Canadians and turned over to the Afghans and his account is backed up by the sworn testimony of two other officers.
Gen. Natynczyk refused to say that the accounts of his soldiers were wrong, but said the military police officer wasn't present when the incident happened.
The general also skirted around the question of whether Canadian soldiers, who are either mentoring or acting as a security screen for Afghan forces, capture prisoners on the battlefield and transfer them directly to the Afghans.
"If you have an Afghan operation and we are along with them, it's their operation," he said.
During the June 2006 operation, Gen. Natynczyk said the "majority of the soldiers out there were Afghan army and it was their operation."