A year-long, multimillion-dollar probe has failed to resolve one of the most heated political questions ever to dog the Harper government: Did Canadian soldiers knowingly hand over Afghan prisoners to torture? The Conservatives had hoped a multi-partisan effort to sift through documents – which concluded Wednesday – would finally put to rest one of the most divisive subjects of their tenure.
The political furor over the treatment of Afghan detainees led the Tories to temporarily shutter Parliament during early 2010; it saw the Conservatives face the risk of a contempt ruling just months later, with the Speaker of the Commons forced to step in and urge a compromise.
But the 4,000 pages of records, released Wednesday from a process agreed to by the Conservatives, Liberals and Bloc Québécois, are still subject to significant censorship.
And there are serious questions around the process that unearthed the documents. For instance, any records that could be considered cabinet confidence or legal opinions – where some of the most vital discussion would have taken place – were excluded.
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Source: Globe & Mail
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