I have to hand it to Harper and the Conservatives and Hillier - they’re trying at all costs to argue there’s no reason Canada should make sure detainees are treated like they would be if they were detained in a country with respect for human rights and due process, even if it means hiring someone to help with the case - someone who has a rather spotty record, to say the least:
The Canadian government has hired a controversial international academic to argue that Canada’s military has no obligation to accord Afghan detainees Canadian-style legal rights… Greenwood was the author of a 2002 legal opinion commissioned by the British government entitled The Legality of Using Force Against Iraq. He concluded an invasion was justified by a 1990 UN Security Council resolution and by self-defence if Britain could show the threat of an imminent Iraqi attack. His opinion was reported to be at odds with lawyers in Britain’s own Foreign Office and many other international law experts.
We’re paying this fellow 50 000$ to argue that we don’t need to be assuring legal rights to anyone captured in Aghanistan (ie what caused a flap with the detainees scandal). It also appears the government couldn’t find anyone in their own Justice Dept to argue this. This action alone should tell you what Harper thinks about human rights - and probably gives us a clue as to why he wouldn’t lift a voice to Bush about Khadr in Gunatanamo Bay. He clearly shares Bush’s disdain for human and legal rights.
Thanks for this, Scott.