Critics Support Terrorism: Canadian Prime Minister!

["Ken Hanly" <khanly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Critics defending terrorists, PM says


I think Chretien is competing for the most outrageous remarks prize along
with Bush's axis of evil gems.

Cheers, Ken Hanly






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By DANIEL LEBLANC and JEFF SALLOT
>From Thursday's Globe and Mail


Ottawa - A pugnacious Prime Minister Jean Chrétien labelled the Bloc
Québécois - and by extension other government critics - as terrorist
defenders Wednesday for raising questions about the U.S. treatment of
prisoners captured in Afghanistan.

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe was furious over Mr. Chrétien's surprise attack,
especially because the Bloc is asking the same questions as other opposition
parties, groups around the world and numerous Liberal ministers and MPs,
including human-rights lawyer Irwin Cotler.

Mr. Chrétien was making his first comments of the week on the thorny issue
of prisoners of war in Afghanistan, which has brought his government under
heavy criticism.

During Question Period, Mr. Duceppe asked about the deal that allowed
Canadian soldiers to transfer prisoners to U.S. forces last month.

"Was the Prime Minister not imprudent in allowing the handover of prisoners,
without having in advance obtained firm assurances that the Americans would
respect the Geneva Conventions?" Mr. Duceppe asked.

Mr. Chrétien shot back: "It was not imprudent for the government, as part of
the war on terrorism, to side with the people who were attacked, and not to
become defenders of the terrorists, like the Bloc Québécois."

The Prime Minister refused to apologize last night. A spokesman for Mr.
Chrétien said the Prime Minister expressed his frustration that the debate
has focused on the detention conditions of suspected terrorists instead of
the work of the Canadian Forces against terrorism.

Mr. Chrétien made his comment even though Deputy Prime Minister John Manley
has openly questioned whether the United States is respecting all its
obligations under the Geneva Conventions.

Numerous international law experts argue that the United States has to hold
tribunals to determine whether the prisoners deserve the status of prisoner
of war under the terms of the Geneva Conventions - something the United
States has refused to do.

"If the situation is not remedied, and then we continue to hand over
prisoners, I think in that case we would be in violation" of international
law, Mr. Cotler said Wednesday.

Mr. Duceppe is asking the Prime Minister to withdraw his remark.

"I had said at the start of the crisis that the Prime Minister was acting as
a statesman, but he has come back to his natural self: He is petty; he has
no arguments."

During Question Period, Mr. Chrétien went further than some of his ministers
in defending the U.S. position, abandoning calls for a "clarification" from
his allies.

"The Americans have clearly decided to respect the Geneva Conventions," Mr.
Chrétien said.

Still, politicians from all sides were not favourably impressed with his
attack on the Bloc.

New Democrat MP Bill Blaikie said that to suggest asking questions on a
human-rights issue is somehow supporting terrorism is "a form of
parliamentary McCarthyism."

Canadian Alliance defence critic Leon Benoit, who has dismissed the PoW
issue, said Mr. Chrétien's attack on the Bloc "is not the kind of statement
you expect of a Prime Minister" and he should withdraw it.

Government House Leader Ralph Goodale tried to take some of the sting out of
Mr. Chrétien's outburst.

Sometimes things are said in the "fury of debate" in the House that upon
reflection people might want to change, Mr. Goodale told reporters.

One of Mr. Chrétien's problems is that some of his backbenchers and cabinet
ministers have the same concerns about due process and the application of
the Geneva Conventions.

Liberal MP John Godfrey was one of the first Canadian politicians to voice
those concerns publicly at a committee hearing last month on Canadian
participation in Afghan operations.

Wednesday, Mr. Godfrey said that overall, the opposition parties, including
the Bloc, have asked the same questions of the Chrétien government that he
has on the issue of PoWs.

He said government ministers are fuzzy in public about the issue because
they privately try to persuade U.S. officials to convene proper tribunals.

At some point, Canada will have to ask the United States to return the three
prisoners captured by Canadian commandos if the federal government fails to
persuade the U.S. administration, Mr. Godfrey said.

Meanwhile, U.S. forces in Afghanistan were preparing to take possession of
as many as 60 Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners held by Afghan forces, a senior
U.S. official said Wednesday.

The number of prisoners in U.S. custody in Afghanistan has stood at 324 for
more than a week; there are 158 al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners held at the
U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.