Keeping on the prison subject, I came across this today on Democracy Now!:

In other news, the State Department quietly announced this week it has requested $100 million dollars for Iraqi reconstruction – all of it for prisons. The Bush administration initially promised $20 billion dollars to reconstruct Iraqi infrastructure. But much of the money has been diverted to security. State Department Iraq coordinator James Jeffrey said the $100 million dollar prison project was the lone new reconstruction effort the US government will undertake over the next year.

In fact, according to the Washington Post, “roughly half of the money was eaten away by the insurgency, a buildup of Iraq’s criminal justice system and the investigation and trial of Saddam Hussein”.

So money originally earmarked for the rebuilding of “electrical, education, water, sewage, sanitation and oil networks” in Iraq is now being used to build prisons instead.

I asked Where do Canada’s Prisoners Go? the other day, and alevo suggested I write some letters to find out, so I did.

I wrote to The Honourable Gordon O’Connor, Minister of National Defence; General Rick Hillier, CHIEF OF THE DEFENCE STAFF (the Department of Defence’s website uses all-caps for his title, so I did too – I imagine this is because army folks shout a lot); and Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada (who, among other roles, is Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Forces).

Here is a copy of the letter which I sent out last night:

———

Dear Minister,

Re. Canadian Detainees in Afghanistan

As of February 28, the multi-national forces deployed in Southern Afghanistan, which include 2300 Canadian soldiers, are under the command of Canadian Brigadier-General David Fraser.

Many Canadians, including myself, are ignorant of Canada’s policies regarding people detained during this mission by Canadian forces. I hope you will be able to remedy this.

In particular, I would appreciate answers to the following questions:

1. On September 30, 2005, Bill Graham, at the time Minister of National Defence, said that individuals captured by Canadian forces that are deemed to be of interest are “turned over to either Afghan or American authorities”. Is this still the policy of Canadian forces in Afghanistan?
2. Assuming this is still the policy, what criteria are used to determine whether an individual is handed over to Afghan or American authorities?
3. Does Canada make any stipulations regarding captives after they have left the custody of Canadian forces? If so, what are they?
4. Are any individuals captured by Canadian forces imprisoned at the American detention facility at Bagram? Have any been imprisoned there in the past?
5. Are any individuals captured by Canadian forces imprisoned in Afghanistan’s largest prison, Pul-i-Charkhi, in Kabul? Have any been imprisoned there in the past?
6. What status is given to individuals captured by Canadian forces in Afghanistan that are deemed to be a threat? Are these individuals deemed prisoners of war, suspected criminals, enemy combatants, or something else?
7. Who is responsible for determining the status of individuals captured by Canadian forces?
8. What detention facilities does Canada operate in Afghanistan?

Your attention to these questions is appreciated.

Sincerely, etc.

CC :

Amnesty International,
Canadian Red Cross,
The Hon. Vic Toews, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Office at Geneva

———
Thanks to alevo for his assistance.

I will let you know when I get a reply!

The latest on Emerson in today’s Globe and Mail:

“I actually do think I could probably win an election as a Conservative,” Mr. Emerson said, appearing on CTV Newsnet.

Point: he thinks he could win a election, but won’t support having one.
Logic: rubbing the voters face in it is a good way to make them like you.

“The whole issue of whether a by-election or part of the next general election, of course, is a point of some debate.”

Point: he acknowledges the debate, but won’t engage in it.
Logic: pointing out the obvious is a good way of not emphasizng your own self-interested opinion.

Mr. Emerson said he finds it “a little strange” that there should be specific provisions for his crossing but not for others who have made similar moves in the past.

Point: look people… that was then, this is now…or now is not then, so much as then is not now…or now and then it’s …is now the right time for all this?
Logic: common sense doesn’t live in Ottawa.

“What I’m saying is I will abide by the rules that all parliamentarians agree to abide by.”

Point: look Canada, this isn’t David Emerson’s problem, this is your problem.
Logic: you can have your cake and eat it too.

———
Written by alevo

Canada is increasing its troop levels in Afghanistan to 2,300 next month. And Canada will soon be taking over command of the multinational forces there. Canada will soon be leading the war in Afghanistan.

If that surprises you, you’re not alone. I don’t think many Canadians realize what’s going on there, in large part because our government does not seem to want to talk about it. In fact, although a recent nationwide poll indicated that 62% of Canadians are opposed to sending troops to Afghanistan, and 73% say there should be a vote in Parliament before doing so, the Conservatives have rejected holding such a vote.

There are many unanswered questions about Canada’s participation, and forthcoming leadership, of the war in Afghanistan. The destination of people captured by Canada’s troops is one of them. Where do Canada’s prisoners go?

I looked around on the net to find answers and found little. We do know that Canada has handed over prisoners to the US in the past, and I have not found anything to suggest this practice has stopped. These people most likely end up in Bagram.

Bagram

The detention facility at Bagram, which is an American air base about 80 kilometres north of Kabul, used to be a machine shop. Bagram was the subject of a recent New York Times piece entitled A Growing Afghan Prison Rivals Bleak Guantánamo:

While an international debate rages over the future of the American detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the military has quietly expanded another, less-visible prison in Afghanistan, where it now holds some 500 terror suspects in more primitive conditions, indefinitely and without charges.

But some of the detainees have already been held at Bagram for as long as two or three years. And unlike those at Guantánamo, they have no access to lawyers, no right to hear the allegations against them and only rudimentary reviews of their status as “enemy combatants,” military officials said.

Conditions at Bagram are harsher than Guantanomo. And it operates in total secrecy:

While Guantánamo offers carefully scripted tours for members of Congress and journalists, Bagram has operated in rigorous secrecy since it opened in 2002. It bars outside visitors except for the International Red Cross and refuses to make public the names of those held there. The prison may not be photographed, even from a distance.

From the accounts of former detainees, military officials and soldiers who served there, a picture emerges of a place that is in many ways rougher and more bleak than its counterpart in Cuba. Men are held by the dozen in large wire cages, the detainees and military sources said, sleeping on the floor on foam mats and, until about a year ago, often using plastic buckets for latrines. Before recent renovations, they rarely saw daylight except for brief visits to a small exercise yard.

Any prison that is “far worse” than Guantanomo, in the words of a US Defence Department official, ought to be cause for significant concern, especially after this report from the depths of Guantanomo by a lawyer for prisoners there, entitled American Gulag:

What I have witnessed is a cruel and eerie netherworld of concrete and barbed wire that has become a daily nightmare for the nearly 500 people swept up after 9/11 who have been imprisoned without charges or trial for more than four years. It is truly our American gulag.

The article is mostly about the conditions within Guantanomo and his client’s hunger strike there, but he also writes about the treatment that people endured after being captured:

Every prisoner I’ve interviewed claims to have been badly beaten and subjected to treatment that only could be called torture, by Americans, from the first day of U.S. captivity in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They said they were hung by their wrists and beaten, hung by their ankles and beaten, stripped naked and paraded before female guards, and given electric shocks

Is this what happens to the people Canada hands over to American forces in Afghanistan?

If Canada’s prisoners don’t end up in Bagram, then perhaps they end up in Pul-i-Charkhi, Kabul’s biggest prison, which is currently in the throes of a massive riot.

Police and troops ringed Kabul’s main jail on Monday after hundreds of inmates led by Taliban commanders and a kidnap gang leader took over cell blocks, including one housing women and children.

More than 1,000 prisoners took over parts of the Pul-i-Charkhi prison on Kabul’s eastern outskirts late on Saturday and inmates said that four of their number had been killed and 38 wounded since.

You read that right: women and children. Bizarrely, women prisoners keep their children with them in the jail.

[Nader] Nadery [from the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission], said Taliban suspects, about 200 of whom were being held without trial, were demanding to be tried or freed, and prisoners were also demanding an end to a new rule requiring them to wear uniforms and the removal of cell bars.

“Demanding to be tried or freed”. What a remarkably Western demand. But in America’s war on terror, the people who actually get charged with crimes are the lucky ones.

The Globe and Mail today is featuring a special report today called Should Canada lead the fight in Afghanistan? It features statements from the four major national parties on the issue, and gives readers the opportunity to pose questions to the parties.

I asked the question I’m asking here, so with a bit of luck, maybe we’ll get some answers.

I saw about 4 minutes of Oprah yesterday. The show was about survivors of hurricane Katrina who are still living in appalling conditions in tents, trailers, and temporary housing.

I have to hand it to Oprah. She keeps the spotlight on things that a lot of people wish were invisible: 650 people living on a ferry that used to shuttle people from Maine to Canada. The 12,000 homeless survivors living in hotel rooms that FEMA cut off funding for on February 13. The rubble and debris of trashed communities so thoroughly destroyed they are still unsafe to travel in.

The question that everyone asks, as usual, is why? There are lots of reasons. At the top of the list, I think, is lack of imagination.

The people responsible for helping the survivors of the disaster can’t, or won’t, imagine what they are suffering through. George Bush doesn’t imagine it. The other officials in his administration don’t either. It seems as though there isn’t a single person alive who has both the power to help and an imagination.

Some might argue that the problem is a lack of compassion. “President Bush doesn’t care about black people,” said Kanye West. The real problem is that President Bush can’t imagine being a black person. Or a poor person. Or an Iraqi.

The problem with having no imagination isn’t just that it removes the impetus to act. It also removes the ability to act. If someone cannot imagine a way to deal with a problem, they are reduced to analyzing it, which is a great way to think of reasons why it can’t be done, or why a certain process needs to be followed. This means red tape.

I heard an appalling story today about a woman who divorced her abusive husband and moved into her own place. The terms of their settlement included the continuation of her benefits under his employer’s insurance coverage. Or so she thought.

When she actually tried to claim a prescription under her benefits, the insurance company informed her that they would cover her prescription costs – but that since her ex-husband was listed on the policy, the cheque would be sent to his house.

The insurance company expects her violently abusive partner to helpfully provide the claim cheques they send her. This utterly ridiculous situation is their “policy”, they unhelpfully explained.

This insurer, from the unhelpful customer “support” representatives at the bottom to the crafters of company policy at the top, does not imagine the circumstances of the people they are meant to serve. The real needs of human beings are subjugated to processes.

And so people are reduced to struggling against authoritarian structures instead of getting on with their lives. Structures that shuttle them from one useless conversation with a faceless representative to another. Policies that dictate they spend endless amounts of time on the phone, writing letters, filling out forms, and getting absolutely nowhere.

Robert and David Green lost their mother and a granddaughter to hurricane Katrina. Their mother drowned after falling through a hole in the roof, where they were clinging to try and stay out of the flood waters.

“The last image I had of my mother was [of her] laying on her back with a leaf in her mouth. Dead from the water that went in her lungs,” Robert said.

In the months that followed they kept calling Louisiana authorities to see if they had been able to recover her body. They gave them her exact location. They were told that numerous search parties had looked for her unsuccessfully.

Eventually, they got tired of the process and decided to look for her themselves. They found her in their first five minutes of searching, lying in full view.

When the structures that are supposed to serve us do nothing, they ought to be dismantled.

When those in power can’t imagine the lives of the people they are meant to serve, let alone imagine what needs to be done to serve them, they ought to be dismissed.