Good evening, General.
I was listening closely to your arguments with regard to the Sarposa prison. Numerous observers feel that this is a monumental failure for intelligence services. You seem to be saying that they were lucky, to some extent, but it seems to me that we did not help ourselves. I am having difficulty understanding, because there was a massive assault on the prison. Not only was there a truck, but approximately 50 insurgents took part in the operation. It seems almost inexplicable that there were no warning signs. I would question the idea that you cannot predict everything, that we cannot ensure that there are no attacks against us. Instead, I agree with observers who said that this was a failure.
I would like to hear your comments regarding the fact that when people from Corrections Canada went there last year, the first thing they said was that the prison perimeter had to be secured. That was a year ago, and this was not done. Does this not prove that the various departments are working a little too much in isolation? Were the recommendations of Corrections Canada given to the Canadian armed forces? Did you provide your support to the Afghans in order to secure the perimeter?
Securing perimeters is a Canadian armed forces specialty. I am having trouble following you when you say that it was just random and that it could not have been avoided. I think that intelligence services failed to do their job. You should simply admit it and say that those flaws will now be fixed. Did the people from Corrections Canada tell the Canadian armed forces that the security perimeter absolutely had to be consolidated?