Arar commission counsel rejects the ‘have to see it to believe it’ defence of the government.
A lot of professional diplomats and other credible persons are coming to Richard Colvin’s defence today. This Star column is an interview with Paul Cavalluzzo, the senior commission counsel at the Maher Arar inquiry. He says the Conservative government’s claims of needing “first hand evidence” to believe that torture was being committed in Afghanistan is not very credible and very similar to what Maher Arar faced: …Cavalluzzo, a respected Toronto lawyer, cited similarities between the Conservative government’s hard-line position and Canada’s role in the torture of

European Union diplomat says Colvin is correct.
Richard Colvin’s diplomatic equivalent in the EU says in the Saturday Toronto Star that Colvin knew what he was talking about when he tried to warn Canadian officials about torture: EU diplomat backs claims on torture Canadian’s warnings on Afghan detainees reflected common view, says his European colleague Richard Colvin’s repeated warnings to the Canadian government about detainee torture in Afghanistan were an expression of the common concerns of like-minded Western nations, not the baseless ramblings of a rogue diplo

Expert on laws of war says that war crimes may have been committed by Canadian officials
Note that this rather blunt opinion of Canada or Canadian officials possibly being in breach of international law comes from a 3rd party, not an opposition political party. Here’s an excerpt of an article posted at Macleans by Professor Michael Byers, “who holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia, and has He has taught the laws of war at UBC, Duke University, Oxford University, the University of Cape Town and the University of Tel Aviv”: ‘Elements of a war crime seem to be present

Timed for distraction?
In brief, the other big issue today – at least amongst Liberal blogs – is the disgraceful latest “10 percenter” flyer that’s being mailed out with taxpayer’s money to Liberal-held Jewish ridings (and NDP’er Thomas Muclair’s riding as well) which distorts the Liberals positions the past several years on Israel, and more or less accuses the Liberal Party and/or members as holding anti-Semitic positions/views; another example of Harper and his Conservative

Time for an independent probe on the Afghanistan detainee transfer issue.
The testimony brought forth by diplomat Richard Colvin was indeed “explosive” on detainee transfers yesterday: A senior diplomat delivered a series of explosive allegations to a rapt House of Commons committee Wednesday, telling MPs that Afghan prisoners transferred by Canadians to local authorities in Kandahar were likely all tortured – while high-level officials in Ottawa looked the other way…Colvin, the second-ranked Canadian diplomat in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, said he tried repeatedly to raise concerns with senior militar