CSIS won’t rule out tips derived from torture
Because it’s just so reliable. And if it’s good enough for Obama, it’s good enough for us.
Flashback: Head of RCMP unit that framed Arar promoted to Assistant Commissioner | CSIS faces review in Khadr case | Canada losing moral standing over treatment of Omar Khadr: Dallaire
Daniel Leblanc, The Globe and Mail
March 31, 2009
OTTAWA – If lives are at stake, Canadian spies will act on information obtained abroad with the use of torture, a senior official said today.
Speaking before a parliamentary committee, Canadian Security Intelligence Service adviser Geoffrey O’Brian said Canada deals with spy agencies in 147 countries, many of which “have human-rights records that are not as glowing as ours.”
He added that CSIS simply cannot rule out the use of information obtained with the use of torture in specific circumstances.
“We only do so if lives are at stake,” Mr. O’Brian told the standing committee of the House on public safety.
“The premise to that is that it happens rarely in the exchanges of information that we have. Second of all, information that may have extracted by methods which are less than the kinds of methods we would like applied to people … the recipient of that information doesn’t know how that information was obtained,” he said.
The comment drew the outrage of Opposition MPs, who said that Canada has obviously failed to learn lessons from the case of Maher Arar, an engineer who was tortured in Syria after Canadian officials exchanged information with Syria.
“How do we know this will not happen again?” Liberal MP Mark Holland asked during committee.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Holland added that CSIS has to change its policy.
“We cannot say to jurisdictions that engage in torture, ‘We will share information with you because, who knows, we might get something worthwhile,’ ” Mr. Holland said. “We can’t say, ‘We condemn torture, but if you get some good information, let us know.’ ”
Source | See Also under Torture: Watchdog rejects government bid to delay Afghan detainee inquiry | Rights groups press for better security oversight | Head of RCMP unit that framed Arar promoted to Assistant Commissioner | Obama administration: Guantanamo detainees have ‘no constitutional rights’ | CIA destroyed 92 interview tapes | Tortured Guantanamo detainee set free | UK agents ‘colluded with torture in Pakistan’ | Obama backs Bush: No rights for Bagram prisoners | U.K. resident held at Gitmo alleges Canadian involvement in torture | Senior judges attack US over ‘torture evidence suppression’ | After Obama praises torture ruling, civil liberties group appalled | Ban stun gun use on young people, Ontario child advocate urges | 24 star Keifer Sutherland opposed to torture, questions role of series in inspiring interrogations | RCMP destroyed evidence, charges dismissed in second torture case for officers | Obama shuts network of CIA ‘ghost prisons’ | Vets Sue CIA Over Mind Control Tests | US police could get ‘pain beam’ weapons | George Bush shoe-thrower ‘too severely beaten’ for court appearance | Conspiracy against Arar reached to highest levels, U.S. court told | Ottawa moves to block Afghanistan detainee torture hearings again | UK Home Secretary orders inquiry into MI5 and CIA torture claims | Tortured trio say report ‘vindicates us’ | Ottawa given evidence of torture, official says | Torture Tactics Endorsed in Secret White House Memos | Tasers being used for pain compliance during interrogation, suit alleges | Lawyers say UK Guantánamo suspect has no hope of fair trial | Defiant military watchdog widens detainee hearings | CSIS faces review in Khadr case | RCMP lays no charges in Maher Arar ‘terrorist’ leaks, declares case closed | Protesters push for Omar Khadr’s release | ‘You don’t care about me,’ Omar Khadr sobs in interview tapes | Chinese Torture Techniques Inspired Interrogations at Guantánamo | US Counterinsurgency Manual Leaked, Calls for False Flag Operations, Suspension of Human Rights | Torture was expected in ‘top-down’ decision to deport Arar: lawyer | Bid to Block Afghan Detainee Inquiry Slammed | CSIS suspected U.S. would deport Arar to be tortured: documents | What Ottawa doesn’t want you to know: Government was told detainees faced ‘extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and detention without trial’
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
[...] Flashback: CSIS won’t rule out tips derived from torture [...]
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April 20th, 2009 at 10:34 am
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October 24th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
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December 21st, 2009 at 3:43 am
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April 19th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
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