Poll Reveals Canadians Believe That Harper is Lying About Torture Allegations

Despite the fact that Stephen Harper, his government and their media allies; have been trying to spin this to win in the court of public opinion, Canadians are not that stupid. We know when someone is lying and we know who stands to benefit from those lies.

Mr. Colvin has nothing to gain from putting his career on the line. Harper and MacKay do. The lying MUST STOP NOW!

Tories not believed in Afghan torture case: Poll
Joan Bryden THE CANADIAN PRESS
November 25, 2009

OTTAWA – Canadians aren't buying the Harper government's assertion that there's no credible evidence Afghan detainees were tortured, a new poll suggests.

Indeed, The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey indicates Canadians are twice as likely to believe whistleblower Richard Colvin's claim that all prisoners handed over by Canadian soldiers to Afghan authorities were likely abused and that government officials were well aware of the problem.

The poll findings come just as the government is mounting a major counter-offensive to rebut the explosive testimony of Colvin, the former No. 2 at the Canadian embassy in Kabul and now an intelligence officer at the embassy in Washington.

Rick Hillier, the former chief of defence staff, and several other top military officials are scheduled to testify later today at a Commons committee that is investigating the torture claims.

Hillier has already said there was always concern about the treatment of prisoners transferred to Afghan prisons but that he doesn't remember the kind of "smoking gun" warnings Colvin says he repeatedly issued.

Hillier has his work cut out for him to convince Canadians, the poll suggests. Fifty-one per cent of respondents said they believe Colvin's testimony to the committee last week.

In stark contrast, only 25 per cent said they believe the government's contention that the diplomat's claims are flimsy and not credible.

A majority in all regions – except Alberta where 41 per cent believed Colvin and 35 per cent the government – sided with the whistleblower.

Those who identified themselves as supporters of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives were most inclined to give the government the benefit of the doubt. But even they were almost evenly split, with 40 per cent buying the government's take on the issue and 34 per cent buying Colvin's.

Moreover, fully 70 per cent said it's unacceptable that Canadian forces would hand over prisoners if it's likely they'll be tortured. No less than 60 per cent in any region and even a majority of Conservative supporters subscribed to this view.

Harris-Decima chairman Allan Gregg said the results suggest the government's initial strategy of attacking Colvin's credibility has backfired badly.

"You don't need to be a rocket scientist or a pollster to know that there's something unseemly about taking an allegation that appears to be heartfelt and twisting it around and throwing it back in someone else's face," Gregg said in an interview.

He said the government would've been better advised to take Colvin's allegations "under advisement" rather than vilifying him as "a nutbar or a rogue kind of dupe of the Taliban."

Gregg said Canadians' deep misgivings about the mission in Afghanistan, combined with their underlying belief that Canada is a peaceful country that should never condone torture, likely predisposes them to believe Colvin.

"We recognize that we may never be a military power or an economic power but we like to see ourselves as a moral power. The notion that somehow we might be knowingly giving up detainees for potential torture flies directly in the face of that sensibility."

The government seems to have softened its tone somewhat this week, acknowledging that it has halted prisoner transfers on several occasions and altered its policy on such transfers in 2007, partly based on Colvin's advice.

Harper promised Tuesday to release all "legally available" documents related to the matter. In his first public comments on the controversy, Harper referred to Colvin's allegations as one person's opinion. The government is going all out to rebut Colvin's claims.

In addition to Hillier, the Commons committee was to hear Wednesday from Maj.-Gen. David Fraser, who led troops on the ground in Kandahar, and Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier, who was responsible for overseas deployment in 2006.

David Mulroney, a former senior adviser to Harper on Afghanistan and now Canada's ambassador to China, wants to appear before the committee on Thursday to "set the record straight." He has already denied in writing Colvin's claim that he was told by superiors to stop issuing written reports on possible torture of detainees.

Opposition parties are threatening to delay Mulroney's testimony until they've had a chance to pore over all the relevant documents. They're suspicious that whatever the government releases will be highly censored.