Editor:
I am disturbed by the response of the government and many Canadians to the allegations of abuse in Afghanistan brought forward by Richard Colvin. He is an experienced and respected intelligence analyst, and to politically attack him instead of acknowledging his assessment and credentials shows a lack of respect and understanding.
For Mr. Baird to say the government can't act on unproven allegations shows a complete lack of understanding about intelligence services.
They do not always have proof; they act on information gathered from many sources, analyze it and use their years of knowledge and experience to make a best case scenario. If Mr. Baird needs proof before he acts, I don't want him in charge of my security, and neither should Canadians.
For Mr. MacKay to state they are all Taliban terrorists and imply by proxy they deserve to be tortured is a statement that should be denounced by Canadians. It goes against everything our soldiers have fought and died for in every war and it is disrespectful to the soldiers now serving and dying in the Afghanistan. If people studied the history of Afghanistan and how insurgent and terrorist groups operate, they would know many innocent people get caught in their web and should not be written off as expendable.
For the government ministers to deny even seeing these reports would be laughable if it didn't potentially involve acts of torture. If they didn't believe the assessments or decided not to act on them, then at least that shows that they read them. For them to say "the dog ate my memo" is not believable. It was a lame excuse I used in elementary school; it is a disgraceful excuse for a government to use now.
Paul Keyes
Hopkins Landing
