Attawapiskat Needs School, Afghanistan Takes Priority

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, my boogin' buddy and ofttimes sparring partner, Cam Holmstrom, is agitatin' fer a school fer the kids up in Attawapiskat. We been hearin' a lot about how us Canajuns is buildin' schools over in Hamid Karzai's warlord-ruled opium-financed torture den, The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. How 'bout we spread a little of that edu-love here in our home and native land?

That pasty-faced, eyeliner-wearing, psychic-consultin', Bush-worshippin', war-mongerin', hypocrit we call Pryminister is still dolin' out $1.4 billion per year to his big oil buddy-boys up in the Athabasca tar sands. Yet, we got First Nations folks with no schools and not even clean drinkin' water. Not only that, the permafrost is meltin' out from under 'em and Harpoon ain't got even a whiff of a plan to deal with climate change.

I say good on Cam fer callin' attention in the boogeysphere and bad on the gummint fer neglectin' our kiddies up north.

Update: Fergot to mention there's an online petition you can sign and it's goin' to Chuck Strahl.

JB

Ag Minister Ritz a No-Show at Rome Food Summit

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, the world's got a food crisis goin' on. Right now, a human being starves to death every 3 or 4 seconds. The UN's worried and they got a bigass conference goin' on over in Rome. There's a buncha heads of state and agriculture ministers and officials from most countries. Canada is represented by only one guy and he was already there in Rome. We sent no one to a conference that aims to relieve the suffering of millions.

Eric Reguly wrote about it in the Globe.

There are dozens of heads of state and government at the United Nations Food Summit in Rome, from Japan's Yasuo Fukuda to Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. There are dozens of agriculture ministers and aid agency leaders.

You would think Canada would be well represented at the most important food conference since the 1970s. Canada is one of the world's biggest producers and exporters of grains. It is routinely touted as one of the few countries with enough spare growing capacity to prevent millions from going hungry.

Yet prime minister Stephen Harper is not here. The bigger surprise: Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz is also absent.

When the food summit was being mapped out a few months ago, Canadian diplomats in Europe and a good number of officials at the three UN food agencies in Rome assumed Canada would be represented by no less than Mr. Ritz. But the man never made a commitment and he bowed out last week. His absence leaves Alex Himelfarb, Canada's ambassador to Italy, as the senior Canadian at the event.

On behalf of Canada, Mr. Himelfarb will be making a statement Wednesday or Thursday on the food crisis, precise topic unknown. Poor guy. He will no doubt get peppered with questions about the agriculture minister's no show.

There was no explanation for Mr. Ritz's no-show status. Apparently, personal reasons, like an emergency root canal, had nothing to do with it. You could assume the prime minister's office made the decision for him. But why?

Egyptian leader Mubarek is up on his hindlegs blamin' it all on biofuel. Canada's a big backer of dumbass agrofuel. Why ain't Ritz there tryin' to defend the indefensible?

We may not have a food crisis here in Canada but we are members of the international community. We should be better represented at such an important meeting. After all, King Steve found time last week to duck pesky reporters by travelin' around Yerp for no other reason than to try to convince them we're serious about GHG's when we ain't. We got a lot more credibility when it comes to producing food and providing aid.

We could be stepping up to the plate and demonstrating compassion, humanity and leadership. But we ain't.

JimBobby

Water is Life - Canada Works Against Water Rights at UN

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I was just over to Jimmy Harris's Green Party blog where he's talkin' about another shameful black mark against Canada's international reputation. My ol' buddy Jim points to this article in the Trawna Star:

Canada foils UN water plan

Advocates devastated at failure of resolution to recognize water as a basic human right

Apr 02, 2008 04:30 AM

Linda Diebel
National Affairs Writer

Canada emerged as the pivotal nation behind recent manoeuvres to block the United Nations Human Rights Council from recognizing water as a basic human right, according to international observers.

The Geneva-based body wrapped up an intense three-week session late Friday without passing a German-Spanish resolution intended to enshrine its importance in a world where more than 2 billion people live in water-stressed regions.

It would have also set up an international watchdog to monitor the actions of individual countries.

After its 46 members accepted a consensus resolution – essentially for more study – Canadian representative Sarah Geh told the council: "Canada does not view this resolution as creating a human right to water under international human rights law."

In his final speech, disappointed German representative Reinhard Schweppe stressed action is urgent. Access to clean water and sanitation, is "a part of human dignity," he said, adding a child dies every 20 seconds due to water-borne diseases.

Advocates for water rights were devastated by the outcome.

From Oxford, Ashfaq Khalfan, co-ordinator of the U.K.-headquartered Right to Water Program, said he believes the resolution to make water a right would have passed without the resolute lobby efforts of the Canadian delegation.

"It's rather unfortunate Canada put itself in that position," he said in an interview.
(There's more...)

Yeow! Maude Barlow figgers the Merkins got their hands in this. Canada's on the UN Human Rights Council but the Merkins ain't so she sez we're just doin' their biddin' like the loyal water-carriers we are.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness - them's rights that are promised to Merkins in their constitution. Since human life is impossible without water, I reckon Merkins could argue they gotta right to clean water. It's the rest of the world who Canada wants to deprive of that right.

The Green Party is the only federal Canadian party calling for the right to clean drinking water to be enshrined in law. Water is life. We shouldn't have to make such laws. We sure as hell shouldn't oughta be workin' against the right to life.

JimBobby

Burying Our Heads in Afghan Sand

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I just left a bigass comment over to the Globe an' Mail on a story about the Afghan detainees. I've ranted more than once about the detainee issue but it's in the news again and I'm rantin' again. I'm recyclin' most of my G&M comment here on my own little boog.

60%-70% of prisoners handed over to Afghan authorities are only held only briefly before they are able to bribe their way out of jail. See: http://www.newsweek.com/id/107576/page/1

Q: Why do we fail to follow up on detainees to make sure they do not pay $20 and go back to the Taliban front lines?

A: We are so afraid of confirming that we are in violation of international law that we look the other way while two crimes are committed: bribery and torture.

Q: Why have we given in to Afghan demands that we resume detainee transfers?

A: Afghan soldiers and police only make $4 a day. They need the bribes to survive. Bribery has been an integral part of the Afghan economy for centuries. If we keep the detainees or follow up on their treatment, Afghan soldiers and police lose the opportunity for much needed extra cash.

Many so-called Taliban who are delivered for bounty to NATO forces are not Taliban at all. Tribal and family rivalries routinely see Afghans kidnapped for ransom or turned over to NATO, then by NATO to Afghans. From there, the age old system of bribery, pay-offs and torture goes into effect.

Before 9/11, the Taliban and the Northern Alliance were in a civil war. Neither Taliban nor Northern Alliance are concerned with human rights. The Taliban was able to seize power precisely because of the abuses of the warlords who we've helped restore to power. We are simply taking the side of one group of thugs over another.

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a warlord-ruled narco state that operates with Sharia Law enshrined in its brand new constitution. No Canadian should have to put his or her life on the line for these tyrants and drug dealers.

JimBobby

Afghan Clerics Support Death Penalty for Journalist

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, the Afghan journalist sentenced to death for humiliating Islam is another step closer to the gallows.

Clerics urge Kabul not to interfere with death sentence

AMIR SHAH

Associated Press

February 7, 2008 at 6:37 AM EST

KABUL — Conservative clerics and elders demanded Thursday that the Afghan government not interfere with a controversial death sentence handed down to a young journalist convicted of insulting Islam for distributing a report questioning polygamy.

Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, 23, was sentenced to death on Jan. 22 by a three-judge panel in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif for handing out a report he printed off the Internet to fellow journalism students at Balkh University.

The article questioned why men can have four wives but women cannot have multiple husbands.

Mr. Kaambakhsh has appealed his conviction.

More than 100 tribal and religious leaders convened Wednesday in Gardez, the capital of the conservative eastern province of Paktia, and demanded that the government support the sentence.

“Kaambakhsh made the Afghan people very upset. It was against the clerics and Islam. He has humiliated Islam,” Khaliq Daad, head of the Islamic council of Paktia, said Thursday. “We want the Afghan president to support the court's decision.”
(Source)

Yep. That's the sorta place to which we're sending our best and bravest to die. Maybe General Hillier get get up on his hind legs and tell us how this is none of our business; Afghanistan is a sovereign state and we should stay out of their internal affairs.

While many other world leaders spoke up early on and condemned this insanity, Canada officially stood silent until passing an NDP motion yesterday.

The wording of Jack Layton's motion:

That this House condemns the proposed execution of the Afghan journalism student, Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, and calls on the Government of Canada to intervene with the government of Afghanistan to have all criminal proceedings against Sayed Pervez Kambaksh immediately abandoned.
(Hansard)

Kudos to NDP leader Layton for showing leadership and getting unanimous consent for this motion.

We can only prop up this draconian regime for so long before the abuses and repression come back and bite us in the ass. If Kaambakhsh/Kambaksh is executed, getting unanimous House consent for abandoning Afghanistan completely will be the next step.

Not in my name!

Change the climate in Parliament.

JimBobby

Hillier, Harper, MacKay and Bernier -- Wimps Compared to the British

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, a few days ago, General Hillier praised Kandahar's governor as doing "a phenomenal job" and brushed aside allegations that Governor Khalid was personally involved in the mistreatment of prisoners. Hillier says that sort of thing is none of our business; Afghanistan is a sovereign state and the governor was appointed legally by the "democratically elected" President Karzai.

Next door to Kandahar is Helmand Province. As was the case in Kandahar, the governor of Helmand was personally appointed by Karzai. In 2006, however, the British got fed up with the corruption and forced the removal of Helmand Governor Sher Muhammad Akhunzada. Karzai was not amused but he did agree and the British were able to exercise control over the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Hillier, Harper, MacKay and Bernier are not even willing to launch an investigation into serious accusations of human rights violations. Wimps.

“There was one part of the country where we suffered after the arrival of the British forces,” Mr Karzai told a group of journalists at the Davos Economic Forum. “Before that we were fully in charge of Helmand. When our governor was there, we were fully in charge. They came and said, ‘Your governor is no good’. I said ‘All right, do we have a replacement for this governor; do you have enough forces?’. Both the American and the British forces guaranteed to me they knew what they were doing and I made the mistake of listening to them. And when they came in, the Taleban came.”

Asked if he was blaming British failure for the return of the Taleban, he added: “I just described the situation of mistakes we made. The mistake was that we removed a local arrangement without having a replacement. We removed the police force. That was not good. The security forces were not in sufficient numbers or information about the province. That is why the Taleban came in. It took us a year and a half to take back Musa Qala. This was not failure but a mistake.”

Britain had no immediate comment to the criticism. But senior military commanders and diplomats in Afghanistan have bemoaned privately the lack of co-operation with the Karzai administration and its controversial appointments of key provincial posts to the police and local government in Helmand. So far they have refrained from public criticism of President Karzai, who remains the West’s only credible figurehead.
...
The Afghan President lambasted Britain for encouraging him to remove Sher Muhammad Akhunzada as Helmand governor in 2006, a move which he claimed undermined the security situation. Mr Akhunzada was a fierce fighter against the Soviet occupation and is seen as staunchly anti-Taleban.

However, he was also accused of being a prominent figure in the drug trade and embroiled in numerous personal vendettas. He was removed after British officials told President Karzai that their troops would struggle to bring peace to Helmand if the governor remained in power, he has retained a strong background influence and is angling to be reinstated.

Mr Akhunzada told The Times this week: “I’m not against the British in Helmand but they should listen to President Karzai on matters of structuring local government.”

Now a senator, he and Mr Karzai are old friends, their relationship cemented during the years of fighting in the mujahideen against the Soviet occupation. The British, however, regard him as such a destabilising influence that Gordon Brown is reported to have tried to exact a promise from Mr Karzai to keep the former governor on the sidelines.
(Source)

The warlord was too crooked to be a governor so Karzai appointed him to the Afghan Senate. That's something Canadian Prime Ministers can relate to.

"A figurehead, Hamid Karzai, was put in power. Real power, however, was held by the Communist-dominated Northern Alliance. Once the Northern Alliance took Kabul, the KhAD, rechristened NDS, was quickly re-established. The old Communist torturers and war criminals went back into business."
(Eric Margolis. Source - Originally published May 6, 2006 in the Toronto Sun)

Yup. That's the guy we're taking orders from. That's the guy who our troops are dying to keep in power.

Human Rights Watch wants Karzai's Vice President Karim Khalili and army chief of staff Abdul Rashid Dostum to face trial for war crimes, and has listed Karzai's senior security adviser Mohammed Qasim Fahim, his Energy Minister Ismail Khan, and former President Burhanuddin Rabbani as among the "worst perpetrators" of war crimes / human rights abuses.
(Source)

And that ain't all...

"The US government and Mr. Karzai mostly rely on Northern Alliance criminal leaders who are as brutal and misogynist as the Taliban."
(Source: RAWA, an independent organization of Afghan women fighting for human rights and for social justice)

And...

"Instead of relying on those people who may have brought the criminal warlords to trial, Karzai appoints these criminals to higher posts. For instance, this year he appointed 13 former commanders with links to drugs smuggling, organized crime and illegal militias to senior positions in the police force."
(Source)

And...

"Izzatullah Wasifi, the government of Afghanistan's anti-corruption chief had a criminal record in the US and was arrested at Caesars Palace on July 15, 1987, for selling 650 grams (23 ounces) of heroin. Prosecutors said the drugs were worth $2 million on the street. Wasifi served three years and eight months in prison."
(Source: Associated Press, Mar.8, 2007)

And...

"The list of those suspected of involvement in the drug trade reaches high into Karzai's government.

Nyamat [a former intelligence agent] and an Afghan trafficker singled out Gen. Mohammed Daoud, a former warlord who is Afghanistan's deputy interior minister in charge of the anti-drug effort.

The Kunduz trafficker said he wasn't worried. He counts Daoud as one of his connections. Late in the summer of 2003, he said, Daoud helped him retrieve heroin worth $200,000 that had been seized at the Salang Tunnel."
(Source: Los Angeles Times, May 29, 2005)

It's a dang good thing there's so much sand in them there Afghan deserts. Western politicians and military commanders have been able to make good use of that sand for burying their own heads.

Not in my name!

Change the climate in Parliament.

JimBobby

Desperate Afghanis Selling Children for Food Money

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, the more news I get from Afghanistan, the worse it looks. I was over to the Mound of Sound's blog this morning where he's got a post on the selling of Afghani children by desperate parents.

Our good friend and faithful ally in Kabul, Hamid Karzai, must be about the most useless president of any country on earth. He can't handle the insurgency that's spreading throughout his country. He can't handle the flourishing opium trade that has left his country strapped to a runaway narco-economy. He can't handle the rampant corruption in his police and security services. He can't prevent torture in his prisons. He can't bring his country's warlords to heel.

He has been able to safeguard his own job and install his friends in high places. He has managed to thwart the UN's efforts to appoint a super-envoy to organize reconstruction and aid efforts lest that somehow diminish Karzai's own standing.

But surely he has time to protect his country's children.
(Read the rest of it)

A bit of news searching turned up this disturbing report.

Parents who had sold their young daughters said they did so because of extreme poverty and their inability to feed them

KABUL, 3 February 2008 (IRIN) - The recent sale of three Afghan girls in separate incidents by parents blaming extreme poverty for their actions has sparked concern about the safety of poor children in Afghanistan and the lack of adequate legal mechanisms to effectively curb such trade.

Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has expressed alarm over the sale of the children, who came from Herat, Kunduz and Takhar provinces.

“We are shocked over these cases,” Hangama Anwary, AIHRC’s commissioner on the rights of children, told IRIN in Kabul. “They pose a serious warning about a possible catastrophe which may affect poor Afghan children.”

In early January, a displaced family in Shaydayee camp in Herat Province, in western Afghanistan, reportedly sold one of their twin four-month-old daughters for 2,000 Afghanis (US$40) due to their inability to feed both babies.

On 27 January, the parents of a nine-month-old girl in northern Afghanistan’s Kunduz Province sold their daughter for US$20, the human rights commission confirmed. In addition to being very poor, both parents suffered from walking disabilities.

In neighbouring Takhar Province, another nine-month-old girl was sold for US$240, local Afghan news agency Pajhwok reported on 28 January quoting the provincial governor.

In all three cases only female children were offered for sale.

Philanthropic assistance

As a result of philanthropic financial contributions and assistance by government officials and local people, all three children have been safely returned to their parents, provincial officials say.

The parents of all the children have received financial assistance and the disabled parents have since been accommodated in a government-run home at the behest of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Legal or illegal?

All the parents denied any wrongdoing but called attention to their inability to feed their children due to extreme poverty.

Those that paid for the children also felt they had done no wrong as they intended to protect the children from hunger and cold.

While over 50 percent of Afghanistan’s 26.6 million people are estimated to be bellow 18 years of age, the country still does not have specific laws related to child abuse and the sale and trafficking of children.

“We are currently working to draft a law which will address various issues related to child abuse,” Anwary of AIHRC said.

However, all forms of child exploitation are prohibited by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Afghanistan is a signatory.

Photo: Abdullah Shaheen/IRIN

Afghanistan's human rights commission is concerned that in the absence of proper legal mechanisms more cases of child sales may occur

According to Article 35 of the convention, the state must make every effort to prevent any form of “abduction of children or sale of or traffic in children”.

The abuse and sale of children is also prohibited by Islamic Sharia law, which is the major source of nearly all laws and regulations in Afghanistan.

Stop further selling

AIHRC is concerned that the publicity derived from the recent cases of girls being sold may provoke other vulnerable parents to sell their children, particularly girls, in a bid to gain sympathy and financial assistance.

“We want the government to tackle the sale and abuse of children by their parents in a systematic, transparent and legal way, and not in an individual sympathetic manner,” said Anwary, adding that the living conditions of poor families must be improved to end the vulnerability of their children.

Plagued by decades of conflict, Afghanistan is the fifth least developed country in the world with over half of its population living below the poverty line on less than US$1 a day, according to the country’s 2007 national human development report.

Since the beginning of the Afghan mission, Canada has been spending $1.3 million dollars a day. By the time we're supposed to be through Feb 2009), we'll have spent nearly $5 Billion. That's a huge investment in Afghanistan by Canadians. What are we getting for our money? What will we have to show for our $5 billion a year from now?

We say we're there for humanitarian reasons. Yet, more than half the population lives on less than $365 per YEAR. People are so desperate that they are selling their children. They see this as a way not only to feed themselves but to ensure the sold children are fed and cared for. But are they? How does anyone know what becomes of those (mostly) little girls?

If we are really there to help, we should be organizing massive food distribution and relief efforts to stem the starvation and desperation. We are told that only 10% of the aid money we earmark for humanitarian purposes and send to Afghanistan is actually getting to the intended recipients. Corruption, graft and mismanagement gobble up 90% of our aid dollars.

A country is judged on how well it looks after its weakest citizens. Poverty stricken parents and bartered children must be the weakest. We are in Afghanistan to help create a stable society; a democracy which operates under the rule of law. Canadians were told were going on a humanitarian mission. We knew there'd be some fighting but we expected we'd at least not be presiding over a famine.

This is a colossal collective failure. NATO, the UN, the US, Canada and Karzai's warlords must share the blame.

Not in my name!

Change the climate in Parliament.

JimBobby

Afghan Detainees Routinely Bribe Their Way Out

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, Newsweek magazine has a bigass story about Afghan detainees. It don't say much about torture. Newsweek's a Merkan magazine, after all, and Merkans are fairly torture-tolerant. Merkans ain't too corruption-tolerant, though. Especially, when that corruption means there's more Talibans takin' shots at NATO.

The Newsweek story's all about how most Afghani detainees bribe their way out of jail.

The whole dang system's rotten. They got Talibans they've captured three times; and three times, the Talibans bribed their way outta jail. After these Talibans bribe their way outta jail, they go back to fightin' NATO. Killin' Canadians.

Corrupt Afghan cops, judges and jailers are sabotaging the war effort in Afghanistan. While no official statistics are publicly available, hundreds of captured militants every year appear to be buying their way out of official custody. NDS spokesman Saeed Ansari denies that the directorate has ever taken payment for releasing prisoners. Nevertheless, sources in the U.S. and Afghan governments and inside the Taliban itself have told NEWSWEEK that in Afghanistan's detention system, freedom is always up for sale. "It's very true," says a U.S. counterterrorism official, declining to be named on such a sensitive issue. "It happens a lot, on a regular basis." The official rattles off the noms de guerre of fighters whose backdoor releases have caught the attention of U.S. authorities: " 'Red Eye' … 'Uncle' … 'Mullah Crazy' ... It's a continuing thing."

And it's everywhere. In southern Afghanistan, Western residents have remarked for years on the relative scarcity of Taliban detainees in local police holding cells, despite the hundreds of insurgents who are arrested there every year. In Ghazni province, Bari boasts that 60 to 70 percent of Taliban fighters detained by the local police are turned loose as soon as payoffs can take place. A senior government official in an- other eastern Afghan province, speaking anonymously because the topic is so sensitive, says Kabul's jails don't seem much better at keeping dangerous men locked up. His forces have captured "a significant number" of Taliban and sent them with "strong evidence" to Kabul. He expected them to be in jail a long time, he says, but thanks to crooked cops and the corrupt judicial apparatus, many detainees have already returned to the insurgents' ranks in his province. "It's a serious issue," he says, adding that the whole system urgently needs a cleanup.

Bari and other Taliban sources say their group has a network of agents across eastern and southern Afghanistan whose job it is to buy freedom for captured insurgents. The size of the bribe—from a few hundred dollars to more than $10,000—depends on various factors: how important the detainee is, what his mission was and what type of weapons he was carrying. The price and the complications rise exponentially with every transfer of a detainee up the official chain of command. If struck by a twinge of conscience, notoriously underpaid local members of the Afghan National Police can tell themselves that if they don't accept a payoff, someone higher on the ladder will. Too often, they're right.
(Source)

Yeow!! Canajuns have been concerned about handin' over POW's to the Afghans. We're worried about Afghani's torturin' detainees and we need to worry about that. But we also need to worry about the Afghani's takin' bribes and lettin' these guys go so's they can kill more Canajuns.

Yesterday, I wrote about how the AIHRC is pushin' to get Canada to resume detainee transfers. They said it was because the locals suspect the Canajuns of torturin' their people. After readin' the Newsweek story, I ain't so sure about that. I wonder how much corruption exists within the AIHRC. Are they callin' for a resumption so's the bribery and payoffs can resume?

Guys like Hillier and Harper and MacKay say that Afghan prisoners are the sole responsibility of the Afghans and we shouldn't be meddling in their sovereign right to treat prisoners as they historically have. We hand over suspected Talibans and the Afghan authorities use them as a revenue source and release them as soon as the sufficient bribes are proffered. Then, General Hillier, they come back and kill your soldiers. Then, Prime Minister Harper, the opium crop you protect provides the money for the bribes. Then, Defence Minister MacKay, the narco-sate you support slips even further into corruption and lawlessness.

We must monitor detainees handed over to Afghan authorities. We cannot trust these so-called allies. We cannot trust them to treat prisoners humanely. We cannot trust them to rebuff bribery and keep these enemy fighters in prison.

One of the biggest reasons we can't trust them is that they are dirt poor and desperate. They are easily bribed. Top Taliban commanders are released for as little as $1100. The cops and army are poor because the central government can't be trusted to pay the cops and army.

We say we're in Afghanistan to rebuild their nation, to help them create a democratic society that respects human rights. Yet, we're turning a blind eye to corruption that pervades every level of the government. We're turning a blind eye to torture. We're turning a blind eye to bribery -- even when that bribery is freeing Talibans to kill Canadians. We're turning a blind eye to the opium economy of the narco-state we've helped create. We're turning a blind eye to the strict enforcement of Sharia law where death sentences are handed down for "humiliating Islam."

We must open our eyes to the reality of the Afghan mission.

Not in my name!

Change the climate in Parliament.

JimBobby

Earth to Hillier: Torture is Everyone's Business

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I'm chewin' nails and fartin' tacks. I seen Field Marshall Hillier on the TV last night sayin' it's none of Canada's business if the Governor of Kandahar is accused of torturing detainees.

Might I remind General Hillier that Canada is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions? Should anyone have to remind Canada's top soldier that we are treaty-bound to pay attention to allegations of abuse?

Canada is in Afghanistan to help create a democratic state that operates under the rule of law. That's the mission. That's why we're there.

We are not there to act as apologists for torturers. We are not there to participate in an illegal and immoral system. We are not there to gloss over evidence of torture. We are not there to perpetuate an inhumane, cruel, despicable regime. We are not there to protect opium dealers like President Karzai's brother Ahmed. We are not there to prop up warlord governors who were personally appointed by Karzai and who personally engage in illegal acts of barbarism. We are not there to uphold Sharia Law. We are not there to support the death penalty for journalists who dare to read about womens' rights. We are not there to trample Canadian values and to kowtow to warlords and war criminals.

If we are there and dying for this regime, we need to be sure the regime is worth dying for. It isn't. With every new revelation of secrets and lies by the Harper government, Canadians are realizing just how wrong our involvement is and how much we've been complicit in criminality. It is our business. It is the business of every human being.

Today's headline says the Governor Khalid is denying allegations of torture. Big surprise. Nearly every convicted criminal in every prison in the world is denying their guilt. Why would a torturing governor admit that they were a war criminal? Did anyone expect Khalid to simply 'fess up?

Big questions of the day:

• Canadian diplomats informed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) of the allegations against Khalid back in Apil. An investigation was to ensue. Was there an investigation?
  
  
• If there was an investigation, what were the findings?
  
  
• Why was Canada not informed of the findings of the ICRC investigation?
  
  
• Why, with no results of a promised investigation, does Canada continue to work closely with Khalid?
  
  
• Why did Peter MacKay keep these allegations secret from the Canadian people?
  
  
• Who sets policy in Afghanistan, Parliament or General Hillier?
  
  
• When do Canadians say, "Enough is enough. Not in my name!!"

Change the climate in Parliament.

JimBobby

Earth to MacKay: The Fox is Guarding the Henhouse

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, it just keeps gettin' worser an' worser. Now, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission(AIHRC) sez we oughta start handin' detainees over to the Afghani authorities again. It ain't that they've figgered out how to stop the torturin'. Hell, even the Governor of Kandahar has been accused of personally torturing prisoners. Those accusations were made by Canada in a report to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

But now, the outfit we've got monitoring detainee conditions and which allowed the torture to go on under its nose is saying we should resume transfers. The optics, they say, are not good. The locals equate Canada with America and America with Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.

The locals think we're keepin' the prisoners so we can torture them.

The AIHRC thinks we should accept that framing and hand over the detainees to the human-rights-abiding Afghanis. I'm sure Governor Khalid agrees and since Khalid and Pete MacKay are on good speaking terms, I'm sure Pete will give the "All clear" soon.

Here's a picture of Potato Pete with the Governor. Peter MacKay complained to this Governor on November 6 about detainee torture. MacKay knew since April that there were serious and credible allegations of torture against the governor himself. Yet, in November when MacKay wants to complain about detainee treatment, he takes his complaint to the one person who can be counted upon to ignore it completely.
So, what you figger they're sayin'?

MacKay: Let me get this straight, Governor. You take hold of their pinky and twist it until it breaks? Like this?

Khalid: Yes, Infidel Lackey, you're gettin' it. Another good interrogation method is to make them interlock their fingers, like this, and then just use the sledge hammer. You can break 7 or 8 fingers at a time.

MacKay: Wow! I bet even Jack Bauer doesn't know that one. That pansyass treehuggin' Governator Schwartzenegger's got nothing on you, Governor Asadullah, old buddy old pal.

Man in red jacket: Okay, so you get them folding their hands... and then... I gotta get this written down. Minister MacKay will want notes on this when we get back to Ottawa.

*********************

Here's a little advice from a country boy to ol' Pete MacKay. PeteFeller, when you got problems in the henhouse, don't call in the fox to fix things up.

If this AIHRC was any sorta legit outfit, they'd inspect the Canadian detention centre and inspect the Governor's secret torture chambers and then report to the public. Instead, they lend credence to the idea that Canadians are torturing Afghani's at Kandahar Air Field. Where'd we find these guys, again?

JimBobby

Death Penalty Upheld for Afghani Student -- Humiliated Islam

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, that Afghan journalism student who got sentenced to death for "humiliating Islam" is one step closer to the chopping block. The Afghan Senate has supported the death sentence given to a 23 year old j-school student who used downloaded documents as a basis for a classroom discussion.

(h/t Bill Doskoch) Bill's got another post on this issue, too. He's noticed that several of our allies have weighed in officially but Canada has been strangely silent.

From the BBC:

The upper house of the Afghan parliament has supported a death sentence issued against a journalist for blasphemy in northern Afghanistan.

Pervez Kambaksh, 23, was convicted last week of downloading and distributing an article insulting Islam. He has denied the charge.

The UN has criticised the sentence and said the journalist did not have legal representation during the case.

The Afghan government has said that the sentence was not final.

A government spokesman said recently that the case would be handled "very carefully".

Now the Afghan Senate has issued a statement on the case - it was not voted on but was signed by its leader, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, an ally of President Hamid Karzai.

It said the upper house approved the death sentence conferred on Mr Kambaksh by a city court in Mazar-e-Sharif.

It also strongly criticised what it called those institutions and foreign sources which, it said, had tried to pressurise the country's government and judiciary as they pursued people like Mr Kambaksh.

How many more Canadians are going to give their lives for this regime?

Here's some more on this with a new angle. The guy they're gonna hang is not really the guy they want. Politics is at play and journalists' lives are the sacrificial pawns.

Afghan Journalist’s Death Sentence “Political”

Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh’s real offence may have been to have a brother whose frank reporting has exposd abuses in northern Afghanistan.

By Hafizullah Gardesh in Kabul (ARR No. 281, 28-Jan-08)

The roar of international protest has increased over the past week since a court in northern Afghanistan handed down the death sentence to Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, a young journalism student convicted of blasphemy.

In Afghanistan, meanwhile, analysts and media rights advocates say the harsh sentence was delivered at the behest of powerful local figures, as an indirect form of retribution against Kaambakhsh’s brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, a reporter who has written extensively on human rights abuses in the north.

Sentence was passed at a summary hearing held by the lower court for Balkh region on January 22, at which Kaambakhsh was offered no chance to speak, and had no legal representation. (More...)

JimBobby

Karzai Government Carries Out Mass Executions

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I ain't done much boogin' fer a spell but I seen somethin' yesterday that got me chewin' nails an' fartin' tacks. Our allies, the Hamid Karzai Warlords, Mullahs and Opium Growers Association, handed out the death penalty to 15 criminals. They shot 'em. They used a firin' squad.

Canada and the rest of the civilized world quit usin' the death penalty years ago. There's still a few totalitarian regimes like BushLand an' Red China where they still have it but mostly it's gone the way of slavery, torture and corporal punishment and other official acts of barbarism.

The warlords say they ain't got any intention of holdin' off on executions just on accounta some namby-pamby human rights advocates. Back in 2004, Karzai did say he was puttin' a moratorium on death sentences. Guess they lifted the moratorium.

One of the crimes they executed somebody for was adultery.

Those executed had been found guilty of crimes such as murder, kidnapping, rape, adultery and armed robbery.

Yeow!!

The executions were in accordance with Afghanistan's constitution and its adoption of Sharia Law.

This week's executions were carried out in accordance with Islamic Sharia law and are a lesson to others who are taking advantage of unrest in the country, AFP cited state broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) as saying.

Karzai wants to bring the Taliban into his gummint. Why bother with formalities? They're already there. And our soldiers are dying for them.

JimBobby

Harper vs. Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I seen somethin' in the news today that set my blood a-boilin'. The Harper gummint's doin' its dangedest to put the kibosh on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. (a tip o' the headress to Shmohawk )

Now, Canada's a member of the UN Human Rights Council. There's 47 member nations on that there council. Canada and Russia are the only ones tryin' to kill the deal. Worse yet, the HarpoonTossers is tryin' to drum up support fer their regressive stand among badass human rights abusers around the world.

Here's the AP story ---

OTTAWA -- Amnesty International is accusing Canada of stalling a United Nations negotiation on the rights of indigenous peoples. The human rights group says Canada has been obstructionist and exploitive in its efforts to block discussion on the issue.

It notes that Canada and Russia were the only two members of the 47-country Human Rights Council to vote against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in June 2006.

Amnesty says that since the Conservative government came to power in January 2006, it has been lobbying the UN General Assembly to vote against the declaration, which the previous Liberal government helped draft.

The group contends Ottawa has been encouraging abusive states in Africa, Asia and Latin America to oppose the declaration.

The Tories fear the declaration could run counter to the Constitution, defence laws and existing land deals.

Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, sent a letter to Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice last month, complaining that Canada's position "seriously undermines indigenous peoples' human rights.''

The federal government claims it is seeking "the broadest possible agreement.'' But Amnesty says that statement flies in the face of 68 states that recently endorsed the declaration and a "growing list'' of experts, prominent leaders and human-rights bodies that support it.

Conservative aboriginal policies have been criticized since the government scrapped the $5-billion Kelowna Accord, reached under the previous Liberal government. The deal was intended to improve native education, housing and economic conditions.

Shmohawk called 'em weasels. I reckon that's generous.

JimBobby

Canadian Blogosphere Victory - 9 Year Old to be Freed

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, yesterday we got some good news. Kevin Yourdkhani is the 9 year old Canajun boy who's been locked up in a badass jailhouse down in Texas fer the past month, or so. There's been a few Canajun boogers who been agitatin' fer Kevin in their boogs. Annamarie's been on it like a dog on a bone (I mean that in a good sense, AnnieGal - not a Peter MacKay sense.) an' AprilReign, Hope an' Onions, Kuri, Skdaddler, liberal catnip an' some others, too.

The boogers was all tellin' boog-readers t' write letters first t' Petey MacKay an' later t' Diane Finley. Lotsa letters was written. I wrote t' both MacKay an' Finley an' I know a lot of other boogers an' boog readers followed the boogin' advice an' wrote, too. I kept my letters short an' I appealed t' their sense o' human decency. So far, I ain't heard back from neither one of 'em but that ain't so important as knowin' that they finally did what we been tellin' 'em t' do in all our letters.

Anyways, gettin' back t' the good news part... Diane Finley's lettin' Kevin an' his Ma an' Pa inta Canada on a temporary basis. This is all we been askin' fer -- get the pore little feller outta them inhumane conditions. I'm happy t' see Diane doin' the right thing but I ain't gonna write her another letter an' tell her until she answers the first one I sent her.

So far, I ain't seen nothin' in the MSM (main street media) that gives any credit t' Canajun boogers fer keepin' this story alive but deep down, I reckon if the boogers hadn't kept boogin' about Kevin, the MSM wouldn't o' started askin' the selfsame questions we been askin' fer weeks now. This is a bigass victory fer the Canajun boogeysphere an' I figger all boogers can feel better knowin' we got a little influence an' if we keep shoutin' long enough, somebuddy'll start listenin'.

JimBobby

Kevin's Health Going Downhill -- Diane Finley Must Act

Whooee! Okay, things is goin' from bad t' worse down in Texas where the Merkans is holdin' a 9 year old Canajun boy in the jailhouse --

(T)he situation in Hutto is poor, and the conditions of detention are the subject of a lawsuit launched this week by the American Civil Liberties Union. 9-year-old Kevin Yourdkhani is suffering from a painful eye infection, eczema and what appears to be either a very bad a cold or flu. He also suffers severe asthma which is complicated by the poor conditions at Hutto.

Annamarie's got the whole press release.

The Merkan gummint is sayin' that the claim the daddy'll be tortured if they send 'em back to Iran is a believable claim --

The Canadian lawyer for 9-Year-old Kevin Yourdkhani — a Canadian citizen currently detained over a month in a Texas immigration jail along with his Iranian-born parents — revealed today that the U.S. Government agrees with the assessment of Amnesty International that the family faces a credible risk of persecution or torture if deported to Iran.

“The Canadian government now has TWO separate assessments, both showing that the history of past torture and persecution in Iran told by the Yourdkhani/Alibegi family is credible, and that return to Iran is not a viable option. One comes from the US government, the other from Amnesty International,” says lawyer Andrew Brouwer, who is retained by the family.

If yer concerned about the fate an' health of Kevin, yer fellow Canajun, write to Diane Finley an' tell her to stand up fer Canajun rights an' fer human decency an' get that little boy outta jail before he gets sicker or worse.

Diane Finley
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Telephone: (613) 996-4974
Fax: (613) 996-9749
EMail: Finley.D@parl.gc.ca
Web Site:* www.dianefinley.ca/
Preferred Language: English

Constituency Offices
70 Queensway West
Simcoe, Ontario
N3Y 2M6
Telephone: (519) 426-3400
Fax: (519) 426-0003

JimBobby

What's MacKay Waiting for? The Decider?

Whooee! Well decent humans, ol' JimBobby's gettin' pissed off. I wrote t' Pete MacKay last week an' I told him t' act in the name o' human decency an' get this here 9 year old Canajun boy outta the Merkan jailhouse. I ain't heard diddly-squat back from the numbnuts but I seen in the mornin's paper he sez he ain't decided what t' do just yet.

WASHINGTON (CP) - Canada hasn't decided yet what to do about a Canadian boy and his Iranian parents who are being held at Texas detention centre for illegal immigrants, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said Friday.

What's he waitin' for? Maybe he can't decide until the Decider tells him what his decision is.



It ain't a tough decision like what should you eat fer lunch. It's an easy decision. Nine year olds don't belong in jail. Canajun kids don't belong in Merkan jails. If you got any human decency, that ain't rocket science.

Annamarie over t' Verbena-19's keepin' MacKay's feet t' the fire an' now the main street media's lookin' inta the situation an' MacKay better get off his ass an' work fer the welfare o' Kevin, the 9 year old Canajun citizen who's in the Texas jailhouse.

Here's a song I done last Sunday on the whole sorry mess -

Nine Year Old Blues

Chewin' nails an' fartin' tacks,
JimBobby