Peter MacKay

Media Availability with Secretary Gates and Canadian Minister of Defense Peter MacKay

Department of Defense (Free subscription) | 21/11/2009

News Transcripts document all DoD news briefings and significant interviews.

Canadian reliance on US forces for protection of development (and other) efforts/Dutch update

The Torch (Free subscription) | yesterday

Now and in the future : MacKay in talks with U.S. over 2011 troop pullout HALIFAX - Canadian troops can return home in 2011 assured that U.S. forces will be able to handle security for Canada's continuing diplomatic and development mission in Kandahar, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Friday. Enlarge Photo The Canadian Press Defence Minister Peter MacKay, left, and U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates...

Time for truth about torture | Colin Horgan

The Guardian (Free subscription) | yesterday

After a whistleblower revealed Canadian complicity in the torture of Afghan prisoners, a full public inquiry is vital One man has Canada in an uproar. Former second-in-command at the Canadian embassy in Kabul, Richard Colvin , told a parliamentary committee in Ottawa that all detainees handed over to the Afghanistan government by Canadian soldiers were abused . The opposition parties have called for...

National Post editorial board: Don't waterboard the messenger

Full Comment (Free subscription) | yesterday

The Conservative government is dismissing allegations levelled this week by Richard Colvin, a Canadian diplomat who says he delivered repeated warnings that prisoners handed over to Afghan authorities were being tortured. Mr. Colvin claims his reports were widely distributed. But top military and political figures deny any awareness of their contents. Unless we are to believe they are all lying, it...

salutin: the abu ghraib effect with the imprint of a maple leaf

we move to canada (Free subscription) | yesterday

Bravo Rick Salutin! Our own little Abu Ghraib? The nauseating component in current claims and reactions about Canada's role in turning Afghan detainees over for torture does not lie in the betrayal of some mythic Canadian role as an idealistic actor on the world stage – as opposition questions implied in the House of Commons yesterday. We have always played an ambiguous, often duplicitous, role...

Military And Intelligence News Briefs -- November 21, 2009

War News Updates (Free subscription) | yesterday

Defence Minister Peter MacKay, left, and U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates field questions after a meeting at the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site in Halifax on Nov. 20, 2009. ANDREW VAUGHAN/THE CANADIAN PRESS World's Top Military Leaders To Meet In Nova Scotia -- Digital Journal Canada will play host to the world's most powerful military figures this weekend in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They will...

Yeah, THAT will give the civil service the warm fuzzies.

Canadian Cynic (Free subscription) | yesterday

Someone might want to start looking for a different line of work : Question: Why was this man [Richard Colvin] promoted to an important job in Washington and charged with intelligence if he has no credibility? Hon. Peter MacKay: Look, I can’t answer that question and I suspect that promotion took place or it did take place long before he gave his evidence yesterday. Shorter Peter MacKay: "Nice...

CBC Question of the Day

Creekside (Free subscription) | yesterday

Commenter Stephen Phillips under this CBC poll has a question of his own : "What kind of a question is this? Mr. Colvin is a distinguished career diplomat under attack by a Government that has misled Parliament and the country about prisoner transfers and is now systematically blocking the work of the Military Complaints Tribunal. The real question is this: why is the Government trying to smear...

Colvin's job safe despite Afghan torture testimony

CBC.ca (Free subscription) | yesterday

The Conservatives will not try to remove Richard Colvin from his post in Washington, Defence Minister Peter MacKay says, even though they question the credibility of his testimony on Afghan prisoners.

Canada's Role In Afghanistan

War News Updates (Free subscription) | yesterday

This Israeli-built Heron UAV is similar to ones currently used by the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. Photograph by: Provided, Handout Canadian Mlitary 'Drones' To Remain Unarmed -- Canada.com The Canadian military has decided against putting missiles on the unmanned aerial vehicles it now operates in Afghanistan. Defence Minister Peter MacKay was briefed in March by air force officials on the various...

Gates: U.S. to examine its role in Afghan graft

Military Times - News (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — The United States will do its part to reduce corruption in Afghanistan by examining its own contracts and projects, even as it is demanding the same from the Afghan government, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.He said the U.S. can exert the most leverage when it is signing the checks.“The place for us to start is to deal with corruption that may be associated...

• U.S. to examine its Afghan contracts - Philadelphia Inquirer
• Gates: US to do its part to slow Afghan corruption - Examiner
• See the 4 articles on the same subject

Chris Selley's Full Pundit: Torture? In Afghanistan? For shame!

Full Comment (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009

It's the cover-up that kills In which Canadians yet again prove their infinite capacity to be amazed that Afghanistan is a really horrible place. The Toronto Star ’s editorialists are well scandalized by Richard Colvin’s “bombshell” allegations of torture and cover-ups of torture in Afghanistan. Now, don’t get us wrong — this is big, bad news. But we’re not...

Who do you trust

Russ Campbell's Blog (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009

T he current controversy over who knew what when about prisoner abuse in Afghanistan seems to be boiling down to who you trust most to tell us the truth. “We always had concerns with those handovers, but no smoking gun ever caught my attention.” - Rick Hillier On the one hand we have Canadian diplomat and intelligence officer Richard Colvin and a journalist or two who were in Afghanistan...

Canadian diplomat alleges troops in Afghanistan were complicit in torture

The Guardian (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009

Senior diplomat formerly stationed in Kabul claims troops 'handed over for severe torture a lot of innocent people' The Canadian government was fending off calls for a public inquiry on torture today after allegations from one of its senior diplomats that Canada was complicit in the torture of Afghan detainees. Richard Colvin, who was second in command at Canada's Kabul embassy in 2006 and 2007, said...

The Conservative propaganda machine goes to war

Impolitical (Free subscription) | 20/11/2009

Yesterday was devoted to tearing down Canadian diplomat and intelligence officer Richard Colvin: "Tories work to undermine diplomat who blew whistle on torture." It may be tougher this time, they've gone down this road repeatedly over their tenure now. The various public servants they've steamrolled are being duly noted . Journalists are asking tough questions. For example, if you didn't...