I'd like to speak to the motion before us, but I need to preface it by saying that I've been advised that there are two or three other committees probably looking at motions or involved in planning to visit this issue.
I know Mr. Ménard to be an honourable man who only wants the best, not only for his constituents, but for the world in general, and I share that.
My belief systems are based on love and peace, but I do not live in a world that has love and peace; I live in a world where certain people rely on countries like Canada to help them attain the things we have. That's precisely why this country is in Afghanistan. That's precisely why we went to war in Europe and shed our blood on other people's soil, so that they could share the values that we have.
During any conflict, things happen that you're not too happy with. But dealing specifically with Afghanistan, things have been brought to the attention of the Government of Canada, both this and the previous governments. I believe both governments did their best to address those issues.
You mentioned that if we don't treat their prisoners well, they may not treat our people well if they become prisoners of that regime. They're not an army. They're guerillas; they are terrorists. They don't give a rat's patootie about the values we have. They will use them against us in any way, shape, or form.
The principles that are dear to us, I reiterate, are the very reasons we are there. We are trying to reform their prison system, their schools, and the whole country. Their rich people live in what we would consider poor conditions.
Despite what I was going to say, perhaps it's a good thing that a person from a newspaper was brought by the Taliban to talk to other Taliban, and that's why this whole issue blew up and people are seeing political advantage in it.
But I want to keep the politics out of it as much as possible and say this. What disturbs me most about this whole issue is that when our Canadian soldiers arrest these terrorists, even the terrorists say they're well taken care of. I think we surprise them with how well we take care of them before they're turned over. And we are going to address that situation. The assurances are that we are.
Like many members of Parliament, I have many airmen and soldiers in my riding. The bottom line is that this is affecting their ability to do their job in Afghanistan, because they see what's in the press because of the communications we have today. It's not like World War II, when everything was easily filtered. Nothing is filtered from our men and women. When they hear hints from their Parliament that somehow they are war criminals, and their families hear it, how in the world do we expect their morale to be top notch, with these accusations flying about, or hints of them?
This is what gets me very emotional about this whole issue, that the very people who are willing to shed their blood and risk their lives for us—somehow, some way, we have Canadian citizens going into the highest court of our country saying “Judge, tell us that we're war criminals.” That's awful. I get very emotional and perhaps don't stick to the party line.
Quite frankly, all I'm saying is this: perhaps there are committees that should be looking at this, but I don't think this is the proper venue for that.