Afghanistan committee  It is a tough question, because you really have to know the circumstances. I certainly have not heard of any accusations of war criminal behaviour of anybody, and the calling of bad faith, by members of the House. I will tell you, though, that, frankly, the Internet being what

Afghanistan committee  Very quickly, I don't know about that, but I can tell you one thing I was impressed by when I was Minister of National Defence was the quality of legal services within the ministry. There are hundreds and hundreds of lawyers there who actually go out there. As one of the former

Afghanistan committee  No, I wouldn't have accepted that view. You're suggesting, in other words, that because one is capacity building, one could go and make a transfer in the face of total knowledge that in fact this was going to result in torture. No, I wouldn't accept that. Obviously that's not a

Afghanistan committee  Yes, but that responsibility is not absolute.

Afghanistan committee  You'd have to get some international lawyers to help you with that, but the transfer, having taken place in good faith, with the full understanding that the responsibility of the Afghan authorities would be properly exercised.... If something is subsequently done, the Canadian au

Afghanistan committee  Mr. Chairman, the honourable member—and I don't want to get into a legal argument with him—has totally jumbled up the difference that international lawyers make between the law of war and the law in war. There's personal responsibility, under the Geneva Conventions, for individ

Afghanistan committee  Okay.

Afghanistan committee  Well—

Afghanistan committee  Yes; as long as we understand that opinions in international law tend to be many and varied.

Afghanistan committee  No, I honestly was not. I have to say that I have great respect for Human Rights Watch--they do extraordinary work--so I wouldn't dispute what they would have said. But they were not reports that had been brought to my attention about Afghanistan, either when I was foreign minist

Afghanistan committee  I honestly don't know how to respond to it. You probably could make a case that, in general, the United States authorities probably had a better capacity to deal with prisoners than anybody else. They had more personnel, more experience. But the problem was that we were dealing w

Afghanistan committee  No, I didn't say that.

Afghanistan committee  No, no, I wouldn't say that. That would be a very unfair characterization. No, I certainly would not say that, sir.

Afghanistan committee  The principal advice I would have gotten would have been from the then Judge Advocate General himself, General Pitzul. He had two colonels with him, one of whom I was told had a doctorate in international law and was an experienced international lawyer. But obviously, as Genera

Afghanistan committee  No, I couldn't recall that.