Thank you, generals. Thank you very much for being here. We have the utmost respect for what you do and the sacrifices that Canadians are making.
I'm going to be very brief. I'm going to have two questions, and if there is time, then my colleague can ask questions.
I want to talk to you about the issues about law, the command responsibility. You know that better than anybody else. It requires no actual knowledge of the risk of torture. If the risk of torture is widely known, as it was to the U.S. State Department, UN reports, Afghan Independent Human Rights reports, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, our own human rights reports, their knowledge can be imputed. In fact, ignorance is not a defence either, for want of reports, and you know that better than I do.
Having said those two things, there is then a duty to prevent the transfers. You have outlined in great detail the steps that you took, and I was rather pleased.
I can't ask you any questions about Colvin's testimony since I don't have the benefit of having read any of the reports he sent to anyone, so I will not go there.
I will ask you two questions. One is about the command responsibility. Are you fully satisfied, generals, that we, as Canadians, in terms of the command responsibility, whether the military leadership or even the civilians, including the Prime Minister or the ministers, have not violated any domestic or international law? That's the one question.
The other is with respect to your book, General Hillier. On page 465 and 466 you talk about knowing, sort of: “I believed them, but, sadly, I was the only one in 89,000 men and women in uniform to do so!” You understood the risk and the problems.
You also, in the same area, talk about Guy Laroche. He resisted sending prisoners to Afghan jails because he was worried there wasn't enough infrastructure, and you, at the end, say there was “nuanced...pressure to restart before the changes were made”. I want to know what that nuanced pressure was. I also want to know who was at the PCO meetings that you talk about there, where you said, “I, yet again, got shrieked at during PCO meetings as I backed [Guy Laroche].” I'd like to know who was at those meetings and who shrieked at you.
Thank you.