Ambassador seeks to rebut Afghan detainee allegations

Tue Nov 24, 2009

CBC News, Nov 24, 2009

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David Mulroney, the high-level federal bureaucrat who used to run the government's Afghanistan Task Force, says he wants to appear as soon as Wednesday before a parliamentary committee to rebuff allegations that detainees were tortured in Afghan prisons.

However, opposition politicians don't want to hear from Mulroney yet.

Mulroney, who is now Canada's ambassador to China, said he wants to rebut the testimony of diplomat Richard Colvin.

Last week, Colvin, a former senior diplomat with Canada's mission in Afghanistan, alleged that all detainees transferred by the Canadian military to Afghan prisons were likely tortured by Afghan officials.

Colvin also said his concerns were ignored by top government officials and that the government might have tried to cover up the issue. Colvin further maintained that Mulroney told him to keep quiet about the situation.

Since then, the government has attacked the credibility of Colvin's testimony. Defence Minister Peter MacKay has claimed that Colvin's statements "cannot be sustained."

Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh said Monday he can't wait to hear from Mulroney, but insisted that Wednesday is simply too soon.

Dosanjh has moved a motion calling on the government to release reams of documents related to the torture allegations before Mulroney appears.

"What I want to do is make sure that we have all of the appropriate documentation," Dosanjh said.

"The government expects us to go into that committee blindly and Mr. Mulroney sits there and tells us this happened and we have no way of knowing whether it happened or not."

The prime minister's spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, told the CBC on Monday night that if the opposition was serious about investigating Colvin's claims, they would let Mulroney speak, disclosure or not.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/24/mulroney-colvin-detainee-committee.html

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