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From the Ottawa Citizen:
Soldiers violating rules of war, major argues
DND insists use of hoods, plastic handcuffs is OK since Afghan mission is a peacekeeping operation
a journalist
The Ottawa Citizen
February 12, 2005
Last January, soldiers from Third Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment Battalion Group, captured suspects from a residential compound in Kabul and put them in plastic handcuffs and covered their faces with hoods. A senior Canadian officer raised the alarm over the treatment.
The Canadian Forces' practice of covering the heads of Afghan prisoners with hoods and using plastic handcuffs is an outdated way to handle captives and could violate the Geneva Convention, a senior military police officer warned last year.
But Department of National Defence officials say since that the Afghan mission is a peacekeeping operation, any prisoners taken by Canadian troops are not subject to the convention.
Maj. J.M. Wilson, commandant of the Canadian Forces Service Prison and Detention Barracks in Edmonton, raised concerns about the way detainees were being handled after he saw television footage last January of Canadian troops with Afghan captives. Sandbag covers had been put over the heads of the prisoners and they had been restrained using plastic ties known as flex-cuffs.
"I thought we had long outgrown this method of handling prisoners, and arguably, such treatment is contrary to the Geneva Convention," the commandant wrote in an e-mail to National Defence headquarters in Ottawa.
"Moreover, the flex-cuffs are known to cut off the circulation, must be checked regularly, and should normally only be used when other more appropriate restraints are unavailable."
Maj. Wilson suggested changes might be in order in the handling of prisoners, noting that soldiers instead should use proper handcuffs, belly chains or ankle restraints.
The response at headquarters to the commandant's concerns, however, was that since the Afghanistan operation was a peacekeeping mission, the detainees "are not subject to the Geneva Convention."
The records detailing the discussions between military officials were obtained by the Citizen under the Access to Information law.
The day before Maj. Wilson wrote his e-mail, paratroopers from the Third Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment Battalion Group, captured detainees from a residential compound in southwest Kabul.
The raid, dubbed Operation Tsunami, took 17 people into custody. According to a Canadian military news release issued at the time, the soldiers assisted Kabul city police in seizing a suspected narcotics distribution site that also may have had connections with the Hezb-i-Islami-Gulbuddin terrorist group.
The use of hoods is one of several techniques that has been singled out by human rights groups who are concerned about abuses among U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and at the American detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
But Capt. Mark Giles, a spokesman for the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal, said the use of hoods and flex-cuffs are options open to troops in handling detainees. While he couldn't specifically speak about international missions, Capt. Giles said in some cases the use of particular devices is based on what equipment is available at the time and the circumstances of a situation.
"The use of that equipment is for everyone's safety and security," he said. "While we have to take proper care of prisoners, we also have to make sure our own troops are safe.
"The Canadian Forces military police and the Canadian Forces in general do subscribe to the Geneva Convention and we do think they are important and that detainees should be treated in accordance with them," he added.
Capt. Giles said he did not believe that the use of hoods or flex-cuffs are against the Geneva Convention and such equipment is not designed to harm detainees. "The use of hoods is there as an option, but it doesn't mean that detainees need to be hooded. The use of handcuffs or flex-cuffs is an option."
He said there have been few cases in the Canadian Forces where detainees have been taken into custody, and fewer in which they have been hooded. Canadian military police are sent on all international operations to provide expertise in the handling and proper treatment of detainees, he added.
The treatment of prisoners by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has been a particularly controversial issue over the last several years. American news agencies, citing leaked memos, reported that in 2002, U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld issued orders allowing harsh interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay, including: Forcing prisoners into "stress positions"; interrogating them for 20 hours at a time; intimidating them with dogs; and forcing them to wear hoods during transportation and interrogation.
Pentagon officials, however, said that order was later rescinded. In April 2003, W. Hays Parks, special assistant to the U.S. army's Judge Advocate General, defended the use of hoods on prisoners, saying it was a method to prevent escape and prevent captives from gathering information. "They obviously can still breathe," he said. "It's not a matter of trying to abuse them in any way, it's a standard security procedure for most militaries, if not all, upon capture."
The Canadian Forces has re-emphasized training in the handling of prisoners in the wake of several high-profile incidents in the 1990s. During the 1993 mission to Somalia, Canadian paratroopers tortured and killed a 16-year-old Somali who was in their custody. There were other allegations of abuse of Somali detainees by soldiers on that operation.
In 1997, the military's National Investigation Service sent a team to Haiti to probe allegations that Canadian peacekeepers verbally abused and intimidated Haitians who had infiltrated the Canadian camp.
Canada expects to expand its presence in Afghanistan in the coming year, Defence Minister Bill Graham said on Thursday.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2005
Soldiers violating rules of war, major argues
DND insists use of hoods, plastic handcuffs is OK since Afghan mission is a peacekeeping operation
a journalist
The Ottawa Citizen
February 12, 2005
Last January, soldiers from Third Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment Battalion Group, captured suspects from a residential compound in Kabul and put them in plastic handcuffs and covered their faces with hoods. A senior Canadian officer raised the alarm over the treatment.
The Canadian Forces' practice of covering the heads of Afghan prisoners with hoods and using plastic handcuffs is an outdated way to handle captives and could violate the Geneva Convention, a senior military police officer warned last year.
But Department of National Defence officials say since that the Afghan mission is a peacekeeping operation, any prisoners taken by Canadian troops are not subject to the convention.
Maj. J.M. Wilson, commandant of the Canadian Forces Service Prison and Detention Barracks in Edmonton, raised concerns about the way detainees were being handled after he saw television footage last January of Canadian troops with Afghan captives. Sandbag covers had been put over the heads of the prisoners and they had been restrained using plastic ties known as flex-cuffs.
"I thought we had long outgrown this method of handling prisoners, and arguably, such treatment is contrary to the Geneva Convention," the commandant wrote in an e-mail to National Defence headquarters in Ottawa.
"Moreover, the flex-cuffs are known to cut off the circulation, must be checked regularly, and should normally only be used when other more appropriate restraints are unavailable."
Maj. Wilson suggested changes might be in order in the handling of prisoners, noting that soldiers instead should use proper handcuffs, belly chains or ankle restraints.
The response at headquarters to the commandant's concerns, however, was that since the Afghanistan operation was a peacekeeping mission, the detainees "are not subject to the Geneva Convention."
The records detailing the discussions between military officials were obtained by the Citizen under the Access to Information law.
The day before Maj. Wilson wrote his e-mail, paratroopers from the Third Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment Battalion Group, captured detainees from a residential compound in southwest Kabul.
The raid, dubbed Operation Tsunami, took 17 people into custody. According to a Canadian military news release issued at the time, the soldiers assisted Kabul city police in seizing a suspected narcotics distribution site that also may have had connections with the Hezb-i-Islami-Gulbuddin terrorist group.
The use of hoods is one of several techniques that has been singled out by human rights groups who are concerned about abuses among U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and at the American detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
But Capt. Mark Giles, a spokesman for the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal, said the use of hoods and flex-cuffs are options open to troops in handling detainees. While he couldn't specifically speak about international missions, Capt. Giles said in some cases the use of particular devices is based on what equipment is available at the time and the circumstances of a situation.
"The use of that equipment is for everyone's safety and security," he said. "While we have to take proper care of prisoners, we also have to make sure our own troops are safe.
"The Canadian Forces military police and the Canadian Forces in general do subscribe to the Geneva Convention and we do think they are important and that detainees should be treated in accordance with them," he added.
Capt. Giles said he did not believe that the use of hoods or flex-cuffs are against the Geneva Convention and such equipment is not designed to harm detainees. "The use of hoods is there as an option, but it doesn't mean that detainees need to be hooded. The use of handcuffs or flex-cuffs is an option."
He said there have been few cases in the Canadian Forces where detainees have been taken into custody, and fewer in which they have been hooded. Canadian military police are sent on all international operations to provide expertise in the handling and proper treatment of detainees, he added.
The treatment of prisoners by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has been a particularly controversial issue over the last several years. American news agencies, citing leaked memos, reported that in 2002, U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld issued orders allowing harsh interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay, including: Forcing prisoners into "stress positions"; interrogating them for 20 hours at a time; intimidating them with dogs; and forcing them to wear hoods during transportation and interrogation.
Pentagon officials, however, said that order was later rescinded. In April 2003, W. Hays Parks, special assistant to the U.S. army's Judge Advocate General, defended the use of hoods on prisoners, saying it was a method to prevent escape and prevent captives from gathering information. "They obviously can still breathe," he said. "It's not a matter of trying to abuse them in any way, it's a standard security procedure for most militaries, if not all, upon capture."
The Canadian Forces has re-emphasized training in the handling of prisoners in the wake of several high-profile incidents in the 1990s. During the 1993 mission to Somalia, Canadian paratroopers tortured and killed a 16-year-old Somali who was in their custody. There were other allegations of abuse of Somali detainees by soldiers on that operation.
In 1997, the military's National Investigation Service sent a team to Haiti to probe allegations that Canadian peacekeepers verbally abused and intimidated Haitians who had infiltrated the Canadian camp.
Canada expects to expand its presence in Afghanistan in the coming year, Defence Minister Bill Graham said on Thursday.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2005
