Laurie Hawn's "gold standard"

On CBC radio's The House this morning, Laurie Hawn, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence and the lead government MP on the Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan, said that his government had fixed the faulty Afghan detainee agreement they had inherited from the Liberals and then made the following statement about the current treatment of Afghan detainees :

"Our detainee arrangement is the new gold standard. Taliban prisoners are treated like gold."

Well so much for the U.S. State Department's 2009 report on Afghan human rights then :

"Human rights organizations report local authorities tortured and abused detainees. Torture and abuse methods included ... beating by stick, scorching bar or iron bar, flogging by cable, battering by rod, electric shock, deprivation of sleep, water and food, abusive language, sexual humiliation and rape."

This is Laurie Hawn's "gold standard".

We should just "move on" he said, backed up by a sound clip from Afghan occupation promoter Terry Glavin, who deemed the parliamentary Afghan committee's attempt to get documents necessary for their work "a kangaroo court".

Hawn also repeated his favorite little chestnut about "some Taliban being hit with a shoe".
Does ex-Canadian Air Force Lieutenant-Colonel Laurie Hawn not realize what a real disservice this statement is to the Canadian troops who have not only documented abuses but refused to hand over prisoners that they were convinced were just going to be killed?

This is why we can't "move on". Despite reports like the 2009 US State Dept report, the Cons are still in denial and refuse to release even independent human rights reports to the parliamentary committee charged with oversight of our "mission" in Afganistan.
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h/t Croghan at Bread and Roses for The House link.
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