More Of That Canadian “Accountability”
Canadian military silent on Afghan civilian deaths: UN investigator
The Canadian military is being criticized by a UN investigator for a lack of accountability for civilian deaths in Afghanistan, where more than 200 civilians have been killed by international military forces this year, a recent report suggests.
The United Nation’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, told CBC News that senior Canadian officers, among those from other NATO countries operating in Afghanistan, have refused to provide him with information about civilian casualties when asked.
“They said, ‘We don’t have the information; we can’t give it to you. We promise you that we look at individual cases and we do it really very conscientiously.’ Good, so give me the results. ‘Well we don’t have them,’” Alston said.
[ link ]
That’s the Canada we all know and love ain’t it?
… I wonder whose flag we’ll be pinning to our back-packs in a few years when we’re traveling abroad?
From the link:
“For its part, the Canadian military has deferred questions on the raids to NATO, Stewart said, which has described Alston’s report as exaggerated and inaccurate.”
Since this is a NATO operation, I would expect answers from NATO, not the participating countries’ military. As the report also states that Alston doesn’t believe any of the Canadian soldiers have acted illegally, I’m not clear what it is, exactly, that he is looking for (above & beyond the determination of legal or illegal).
I would absolutely expect that phrases like “exaggerated and inaccurate” would be used, they get used just about every time there is a cover up in process don’t they? Hussein used them, Mugabe uses them, the Pentagon used them, and so (to name but a few) did the guards at Camp Gitmo.
I do not share your trust in the system simply because they are Canadians Candace, if there is nothing to hide then information should be forth coming to back that up.
Me: “I would expect answers from NATO, not the participating countries’ military.”
If NATO doesn’t cough up the info, the Canadian military SHOULD. Whether they actually will or not remains to be seen (either NATO or Cdn military).
Since when does NATO have to answer to the UN for anything?
As a vet of several UN missions (cluster fucks) I can tell you first hand that they have no moral ground to stand on.