Don't back down

A useful compromise is possible on the issue of the Afghan detainee documents

The Speaker of the House, Peter Milliken, wisely urged that it is vital to de-escalate the crisis over access to documents on Afghan detainees. But Parliament must not settle for half-measures, writes Amir Attaran.

May 1, 2010 Four years ago in this newspaper, I introduced Canadians to a problem about Afghan detainees. I warned that Canada's military had "signed a treaty with Afghanistan that dangerously -- and illegally -- compromises Canadian soldiers and our country's taboo on torture." In transferring often innocent detainees to unsafe Afghan prisons, I wrote, the Harper government and the Canadian Forces' commanders recklessly "(risked) that Canadian soldiers will be prosecuted as parties to torture." Editorial Continues