If one needs proof that the government isn’t in a state of panic over what has occurred in Afghanistan regarding the transfer of detainees to Afghan authorities known for their use of torture, one need look no further than the events surrounding the legal battle taking place here at home about the issue.

It began with Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association launching a legal effort to obtain an injunction which would require an immediate discontinuation of the transfer of detainees from Canadian forces to Afghan authorities until a legal case regarding the matter could be heard. The government’s reaction was to call the allegations of torture based on ‘hearsay’ in a 32 page brief written on the subject, thus challenging the validity of the initial story by The Globe’s Graeme Smith who based his piece on interviews with some thirty detainees that had claimed to have be tortured by Afghan authorities after being handed over to them by the Canadian military. The government also claimed in the same brief that Smith’s piece should not be admissible as evidence.

Beyond that, the government also went to lengths to suggest that to discontinue the transfer of prisoners would put Canadians in the field at greater risk, and that those who had been interviewed could have simply fabricated their stories for purposes of propaganda.

And then today, out of nowhere, the government announced that a new deal had been reached with the Afghan government which would allow Canadians access to those detainees transferred to Afghan custody, the timing of which is suspicious to say the least.

Amnesty International’s response to the new agreement was, in my opinion, concise and accurate…

“You don’t prevent torture in a country where it is rampant and systematic, as it is in Afghanistan, by sending in monitors on an occasional basis. It simply doesn’t work,” Alex Neve, spokesman for Amnesty in Canada, told Reuters.”

The suspicious timing of the announcement of the new agreement was also brought up in the House today…

“This agreement was conveniently signed just hours before the start of the federal court proceedings this morning,” said Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh. “Even the judge is said to have remarked on the curious timing on this particular agreement.

“Did the foreign affairs minister push forward the signing of this critical international agreement in order to save this government from a public embarrassment before our courts?”

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay shot back by saying…

“We’ve worked actually very quickly. When the issues came forward we took action to enhance the agreement.”

It’s well known what goes on in Afghan jails, and to feign that the use of such tactics for purposes of gaining intelligence isn’t a known reality is simply ludicrous. That, in the end, is really what all this is about. We just happened to get caught with our hand the coookie jar.