Presumably the NDP supported the Conservatives because they want Canada to withdraw immediately or as soon as possible. However there is no chance of a vote passing to withdraw immediately so rather than defeating a motion that at least put a date for the mission to end the NDP is in effect leaving the Conservatives free to extend the mission and stay the course indefinitely. This is a piece of prime stupidity not a position of principle. Politics is the art of the possible not the art of being as stupid as possible.
Juliet O’Neill and Mike Blanchfield, CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, April 24, 2007
-- As MPs defeated a Liberal motion to halt Canada’s combat mission in Afghanistan in February 2009, the head of the European Commission in that war-torn country appealed to Canadians to stay the course.
"It would be sending a very negative signal if today, for example, one nation, which is seriously involved here, would decide to call it off and to pull back its troops," Hansjorg Kretschmer, the European Commission ambassador to Afghanistan, told CanWest News Service Tuesday in an interview from Kabul.
The motion, which called upon the government to notify NATO allies immediately that Canada’s combat operations in southern Afghanistan will conclude in February 2009, was defeated 150-134 later in the day by Conservative and New Democratic Party MPs.
The Liberals were supported by the Bloc Quebecois.
Kretschmer said a withdrawal of military forces would compromise the billions of international dollars already invested in rebuilding Afghanistan.
Canada pledged $1.2 billion in development spending to Afghanistan between 2001-2011, making it the single largest recipient of Canadian aid money.
The European Commission is the executive arm of the European Union, which has pledged more than $5.5 billion over five years to Afghanistan.
And Kretschmer said the real work in rebuilding Afghanistan would begin after the current Taliban insurgency is pacified by NATO troops and would entail a long-term commitment of many years.
"When you look at the need to build the education system, build the economic structures, to build a functioning government, a functioning court system, this is not done within two, three, four years," Kretschmer said, hours before the vote on the Afghan motion. "So everyone in the world that is contributing to this effort of building Afghanistan must be aware of that … It will be a long haul exercise."
In question period earlier, a heated debate erupted over alleged abuse of Afghan prisoners transferred by Canadian military to Afghan intelligence police.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said it was "disgraceful" that opposition critics would impugn Canadian troops on the basis of unverified allegations of torture from Taliban prisoners.
But he promised to take corrective action if necessary.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, at a terrorism conference in Quebec City, characterized the majority of detainees as brutal cowards who show no regret about mowing down children with machine guns, decapitating or hanging elderly women, or torturing innocent people.
Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor, under pressure from opposition parties to resign, said the government had not received any confirmation of reports in the Globe and Mail that as many as 30 detainees were tortured by intelligence police or that the Afghan human rights commission does not have the resources to provide oversight on prison treatment.
O’Connor said the Afghan human rights officials are in regular contact with Canadian military and diplomatic representatives and "they have not raised any issues."
The Canadian military has operated in Afghanistan since 2002 and now includes about 2,500 troops.
Last year, the mission was extended for two years to February 2009 in a Commons vote in which the Conservative government was supported by a group of Liberals who broke party ranks.
Harper and O’Connor have repeatedly told the Commons the current mission is until February 2009 and that if the government wants to extend the mission, it will seek Commons approval at the appropriate time.
Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre issued a statement saying Canadians deserve to know how long and under what circumstances Canadians will remain in Afghanistan.
"We cannot ask our military to continue to shoulder such a large share of this burden for an indefinite period of time," Coderre said.
During question period, deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe attacked the government over the detainee question, saying Canadian troops may be breaking international law.
"The honour of our country is at stake," Ignatieff told reporters. " We have - our military have - a great record of compliance with the Geneva Conventions but we’ve got to get control of this situation."
O’Connor said Afghan human rights officials have confirmed "they can do what we asked them to do" under an agreement with Canada to provide oversight of prisoner treatment and report abuse to Canadian authorities.
When Ignatieff accused the government of disgraceful handling of the situation, Harper replied that if the prisoner transfer arrangements are not being respected, "we will obviously act."
"But what is disgraceful is to simply accept allegations of Taliban suspects at face value," Harper added. "That’s not appropriate for a Canadian member of Parliament."
Harper also said it was the height of irresponsibility "to suggest that Canadian Forces would deliberately violate the Geneva Convention and to make that suggestion solely on the basis of allegations of the Taliban."
Day said at Quebec City the detainees are "people largely who’ve been captured in the firefights, who realize they’re overwhelmed and even though they encourage others to commit suicide aren’t prepared to do it themselves and they lay down their arms- the majority of the people."
Day said they are interrogated for up to 72 hours by Canadian soldiers and handed to Afghan authorities because Canadians do not have the right to detain other people in their country.
"And quite rightly we should be concerned about their human rights," he said.
Day also rejected Liberal Leader Stephane Dion’s suggestion Canada bring its Taliban prisoners home to Canada.
“We want the Taliban to stay in Afghanistan,” he said.
Ottawa Citizen/with a file from Kevin Dougherty (Montreal Gazette)
© CanWest News Service 2007
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