statism watch

Flashback: Canada wanted Afghan prisoners tortured: lawyer | Harper grilled over prorogation, Afghan detainee torture documents | MP threatens motion on Afghan documents | PM Harper downplays detainee torture scandal, prorogation | Claims troops mistreated prisoners unfounded: military police | Peter MacKay, Red Cross discussed detainees in 2006 | Canada’s troops investigated for Afghan abuse | Colvin disputes witnesses’ detainee testimony | Tories sabotage Afghan committee meeting | Canada ‘defended’ torturer | Ottawa won’t release Afghan torture documents | Top general’s Afghan detainee reversal hikes pressure for public inquiry | Richard Colvin’s Afghan torture memos reveal government concealed prisoner access issues | Torture claims unreliable, officials say, despite having found evidence of torture | MPs vote public inquiry into Afghan detainees, Tories ignore majority motion | Torture claims weren’t probed, official testified | Harper government changes tune on Afghan prisoner issue | Colvin’s testimony true: former Afghan MP | David Mulroney testifies war confused issue of torture | Hillier says he saw no credible reports of torture | Afghan torture emails reached MacKay’s office | Opposition wants documentation prior to government torture rebuttal, PM cries foul | Canadian officials discussed torture in 2006 | Canada shamed on Afghan prisoner torture | Canada ignored torture warnings: Diplomat | Military lawyer stonewalls on Afghan torture claims | Ottawa was warned Afghan detainees might be tortured | Military commission suspends torture hearings, gags witness | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | Federal court limits Afghan detainee torture probe | Watchdog rejects government bid to delay Afghan detainee inquiry | Ottawa moves to block Afghanistan detainee torture hearings again | Bid to Block Afghan Detainee Inquiry Slammed | What Ottawa doesn’t want you to know: Government was told detainees faced ‘extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and detention without trial’

Murray Brewster, Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
March 7, 2010

OTTAWA–Canadian spies have been interrogating captured Taliban fighters in Afghanistan since 2006.

Officers with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service have been working with Canadian military police intelligence officers, according to heavily censored witness transcripts filed with the Military Police Complaints Commission.

CSIS acknowledged in 2006 that its members gathered intelligence in Afghanistan, but the spy service’s precise role has remained in the shadows until now.

Intelligence expert Wesley Wark says the revelations are disturbing, partly because CSIS would have had no specialized knowledge of how to elicit information from Afghan prisoners at the time.

“I find that stunning,” said Wark, a University of Toronto historian who believes when it came to skill in interrogating prisoners of war, CSIS “lacked it in spades” in 2006.

Maj. Kevin Rowcliffe, former staff adviser to Canada’s overseas operations commander, told investigators with the commission (which handles complaints about the military police) there was debate within the army itself about how much experience its intelligence officers had in grilling prisoners.

“There was a lot of discussion in my headquarters about who was qualified to do interrogations, because we’re not talking the normal police interview, we’re talking interrogations, which (censored) were doing, not (military police),” he says in an edited transcript of an interview on Dec. 6, 2007.

A copy of the transcript was obtained by The Canadian Press.

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Flashback: Conservatives accused of hiding information | Ottawa won’t budge on secrecy laws | McGuinty won’t deny political interference with Freedom of Information requests | Information commissioner quits, Ottawa chided for lacking ‘guts’ | Canadian Parliament Threatens People For Posting Video Of Proceedings Online | Government secrecy ‘grim,’ watchdog says | Watchdog alarmed by Harper’s information clampdown | Listeria files withheld due to ’systemic’ problems with access to information | Public access vs. government secrecy the issue in Supreme Court of Canada case | Radical change needed in privacy protection, Ont. watchdog says | Files tagged as `sensitive’ cause unfair delays, watchdog says | Tentacles of Secrecy Grip Tightly | Parliament losing power, author says | Over 100 complaints about access to govt. info on Afghan mission: report | Information lockdown: How Harper Controls the Spin | Tories kill access to information database | Harper to create government-run media centre: report

Jeff Davis, The Hill Times
February 22, 2010

PMO urged staffers to pare down Access to Information documents before release.

Access to information: Dimitri Soudas, press secretary to the Prime Minister, pictured last month. Mr. Soudas recently told Cabinet staffers that adherence to the Access to Information Act ‘is a condition of continued employment within this government.’

Cabinet ministers’ offices had been under orders to pressure bureaucrats to pare down the amount of information released under the Access to Information Act up until The Canadian Press recently broke the story on how one political staffer killed the release of a document, forcing the Prime Minister’s Office to get involved and to do some damage control, says one Conservative staffer.

“Since we formed government, the PMO has been pressuring us to take a hard line on ATIP requests,” the staffer, who did not want to be identified, told The Hill Times.

The claim of apparent centrally-directed political interference in Canada’s access to information system comes in the wake of a Feb. 7 CP story that reported on how Cabinet staffer Sébastien Togneri ordered the “unrelease” of a sensitive report on the government’s real estate portfolio last July. At the time, he worked for then minister of Public Works Christian Paradis (Mégantic-L’Érable, Que.) and subsequently pressured officials to release only 30 pages of a 137-page document. Public servants, Justice Department lawyers and consultants had agreed there was no legal basis to withhold any of the document, CP reported.

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Flashback: MI5 chief denies cover-up claims over detainees | UK Top judge: Binyam Mohamed case shows MI5 to be devious, dishonest and complicit in torture | Britain reveals details of Binyam Mohamed torture | US magazine claims Guantánamo inmates were killed during questioning | PM Harper downplays detainee torture scandal, prorogation | Ottawa won’t release Afghan torture documents | MPs vote public inquiry into Afghan detainees, Tories ignore majority motion | UK: Rights watchdog reveals Pakistani spies pressed by British to torture detainees | Colvin’s testimony true: former Afghan MP | UK: Move to withhold evidence in MI5/MI6 torture collusion claim | Rendition still happening on Obama’s watch | UK: New evidence in Binyam Mohamed torture case | UK: Secrets of CIA ‘ghost flights’ to be revealed | UK: CIA ‘put pressure on Britain to cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture victim | MI5 faces fresh torture allegations | UK: Government makes ‘unprecedented’ apology for covering up Binyam torture | Obama administration: Guantanamo detainees have ‘no constitutional rights’ | 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 | Confirmed: Mexico drug plane used for CIA ‘rendition’ flights

The Associated Press
February 22, 2010

Human rights groups receive confirmation planes associated with the CIA’s secret detainee program landed in Poland in 2003

In plain English, the article implies the following – that the IMF will be making use of Greece’s sovereign debt crisis as yet another opportunity to seize power by funneling taxpayer’s money through its hands and into the hands of the largest creditors and its own shareholders. Like the Federal Reserve, it’s a massive money laundering operation. And as the continual parade of global conferences has made clear, funneling money into the hands of the IMF is a predetermined outcome of any such negotiation. They don’t give a damn whether its a climate tax, or a direct regional bank tax, or an insurance bill for a sort of global FDIC. Vaclav Klaus, Czech president and euroskeptic, saw this all too clearly. Now here’s an idea – with all the talk around instituting a new global currency (didn’t you get the memo?) wouldn’t it be convenient if both the US dollar and the EU sank right around the same time?

Flashback: Greek workers ‘give their reply’ to proposed austerity plan with national strike | Will Greece set off ‘global debt bomb’? | EU cautions Greece about its deficit | Could Greece drag down Europe? | Greeks shut airports, services to protest economy | Police and farmers clash in Greece, militant group attacks police station | Anarchists battle police in central Athens | Greek Cops Caught on Video Posing as Anarchists | ‘Greek Syndrome’ is catching as youth take to streets in France, Sweden | Greek protesters seek European support | Amnesty: Disproportionate Police Force Used Against Peaceful Greek Demonstrators | Greek Police Battle Mourners, Memories of Dictatorship after Student Shooting

Ian Traynor, Graeme Wearden, The Guardian
February 11, 2010

European leaders pledge ‘determined and co-ordinated’ action, German chancellor warns deal comes with strings attached

A deal has been reached to help Greece tackle its debt crisis, after negotiations between Europe’s leaders in Brussels this morning.

The European Union’s president, Herman Van Rompuy, told reporters that an agreement had been hammered out. The move followed talks involving the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and French president Nicolas Sarkozy. [Ed. Note: All Bilderberger conference attendees, by the way.]

Although no details were given, Van Rompuy said: “Euro area member states will take determined and co-ordinated action if needed to safeguard stability in the euro area as a whole. The Greek government has not requested any financial support.”

But Merkel, under pressure from domestic coalition partners who say that Greece should put its own house in order, warned that the deal would come with strings attached: “Greece won’t be left alone but there are rules and these rules must be adhered to. On this basis we will agree on a statement.”

Later she said that the decision on Greece was underwritten by all 27 EU member states and that the situation would be looked at again next month.

She added that France and Germany believed there should be a “new architecture for markets”, suggesting that Paris and Berlin will use the crisis to pursue their agenda of reform of the world’s financial markets in the wake of the recession.

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This should sound familiar to Canadians and Americans, for the simple fact that the leaders of their respective military and intelligence industries are already highly integrated at the international level. The captains of our respective ships of state in many ways share a similar culture, ideology, and network of policy-generating bodies. Intelligence agencies are an important control module in this system.

Flashback: Britain reveals details of Binyam Mohamed torture | UK: Rights watchdog reveals Pakistani spies pressed by British to torture detainees | UK: Move to withhold evidence in MI5/MI6 torture collusion claim | UK: New evidence in Binyam Mohamed torture case | UK: Secrets of CIA ‘ghost flights’ to be revealed | UK: CIA ‘put pressure on Britain to cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture victim | MI5 faces fresh torture allegations | UK: Government makes ‘unprecedented’ apology for covering up Binyam torture | Obama administration: Guantanamo detainees have ‘no constitutional rights’ | 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’

Richard Norton-Taylor, Ian Cobain, The Guardian
February 10, 2010

Legal defeat plunges Security Service into crisis over torture evidence, and it is revealed that judge removed damning verdict after Foreign Office QC’s plea

MI5 faced an unprecedented and damaging crisis tonight after one of the country’s most senior judges found that the Security Service had failed to respect human rights, deliberately misled parliament, and had a “culture of suppression” that undermined government assurances about its conduct.

The condemnation, by Lord Neuberger, the master of the rolls, was drafted shortly before the foreign secretary, David Miliband, lost his long legal battle to suppress a seven-paragraph court document showing that MI5 officers were involved in the ill-treatment of a British resident, Binyam Mohamed.

Amid mounting calls for an independent inquiry into the affair, three of the country’s most senior judges – Lord Judge, the lord chief justice, Sir Anthony May, president of the Queen’s Bench Division, and Lord Neuberger – disclosed evidence of MI5’s complicity in Mohamed’s torture and unlawful interrogation by the US.

So severe were Neuberger’s criticisms of MI5 that the government’s leading lawyer in the case, Jonathan Sumption QC, privately wrote to the court asking him to reconsider his draft judgment before it was handed down.

The judges agreed but Sumption’s letter, which refers to Neuberger’s original comments, was made public after lawyers for Mohamed and media organisations, including the Guardian, intervened.

They argued that Neuberger had privately agreed with Sumption to remove his fierce criticisms without giving then the chance to contest the move.

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In other words, there’s more to this story than you know, and we’re not going to tell you a damn thing so bugger off plebes. (Tommy Douglas, as a supporter of eugenics in the form of mandatory sterilization of the rabble, was not the pure hearted folk hero we all take him to be either). So let’s be open about these things. There’s a simple will to power in organizations of this sort, and they know full well it’s this lack of openness of information, this need-to-know culture, that keeps people ignorant and unable to make the kinds of decisions CSIS assumes they’re unable to make. In either case, StatismWatch has no such limitations on opening its collected CSIS file to full public scrutiny:

Flashback: Court orders CSIS to hand over secret file | Abdelrazik accuses CSIS, MPs of harassment and interrogation | CSIS bungled second terror case | Incoming CSIS chief to seek biometric data at border | CSIS reviews security certificate cases in wake of criticism. | CSIS forced to ‘reveal’ info on secret source in Harkat case | Government could have planted Couillard bug: former CSIS agent | Judge orders recall of CSIS witnesses in Harkat case for potential perjury, obstruction | CSIS chief backpedals on earlier torture statement, claims long-term official ‘misspoke’ | CSIS won’t rule out tips derived from torture | CSIS invites academic community into the fold | Lawyers slam CSIS on phone recordings | Ex-CSIS Agent, ‘Security Expert’, Paints Pipeline Explosion as “Terror” | CSIS faces review in Khadr case | High court reprimands CSIS policy of destroying secret evidence in security case | Paid CSIS Informant Says Public Not Upset Enough about Toronto ‘Terror’ Plot | CSIS Spying on Natives, Olympic Dissidents | Homegrown intelligence gap | CSIS informant admits cocaine, marijuana use during investigation | CSIS suspected U.S. would deport Arar to be tortured: documents | Canadians lining up to join spy agency | Canadians who trust our secret police should think again

The Canadian Press
February 10, 2010

The RCMP’s file on Tommy Douglas, shown here after re-election in November 1965, contains articles noting Douglas’s concern about rumours of RCMP surveillance of Canadians. (Canadian Press)

Canada’s spy agency is pulling out all the stops to block the release of decades-old intelligence on socialist icon Tommy Douglas.

In an affidavit filed in Federal Court, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service argues that full disclosure of the file on Douglas could endanger the lives of confidential informants and jeopardize the agency’s ability to conduct secret surveillance.

Indeed, CSIS suggests its very raison d’etre would be imperilled by releasing the information compiled on the one-time Saskatchewan premier and federal NDP leader, widely revered as the father of medicare.

“Secrecy is intrinsic to security intelligence matters,” Nicole Jalbert, the agency’s access to information and privacy co-ordinator, says in the affidavit filed late last month.

“The requirement for secrecy with respect to past and current activities of a security intelligence agency is essential; the origin of information, its extent and the methods by which it was obtained must remain a secret.”

Fear of a legal precedent

In an apparent reference to the precedent CSIS fears might be set if the Douglas files were released, Jalbert adds: “The routine, full disclosure of security intelligence information would, in certain circumstances, prevent or severely hamper the service’s ability to discharge its statutory mandate.”

The lawyer for The Canadian Press reporter who initiated the battle over disclosure of the Douglas dossier said CSIS’s argument would essentially mean all intelligence files must remain secret in perpetuity.

“The suggestion that anything that intelligence agencies do must be secret for all time I think is contrary to basic democratic principles,” Paul Champ said in an interview.

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Naturally, the new breed of citizen authoritarian can no longer deny this, so they’ve switched over to either denying Mohamed’s treatment constitutes torture, or in many cases outright support. “So? So what if we torture? It’s the new freedom!” See the most recent  comments under the source article if there’s any doubt as to the extent of the cultural rot.

Flashback: UK: Rights watchdog reveals Pakistani spies pressed by British to torture detainees | UK: Move to withhold evidence in MI5/MI6 torture collusion claim | UK: New evidence in Binyam Mohamed torture case | UK: Secrets of CIA ‘ghost flights’ to be revealed | UK: CIA ‘put pressure on Britain to cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture victim | MI5 faces fresh torture allegations | UK: Government makes ‘unprecedented’ apology for covering up Binyam torture | Obama administration: Guantanamo detainees have ‘no constitutional rights’ | 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’

The Associated Press
February 10, 2010

Britain’s government on Wednesday disclosed once-secret information on the treatment of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who says he was tortured in U.S. custody, losing a long court battle to keep the material classified.

Judges rejected the government’s claim that revealing the information would damage U.S.-British intelligence co-operation.

The information disclosed is a seven-paragraph summary of U.S. intelligence information given to British spies about former detainee Binyam Mohamed’s treatment during interrogations by the Americans in May 2002.

The paragraphs say Mohamed was subjected to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by the United States authorities,” including sleep deprivation, shackling and threats resulting in mental stress and suffering.

They conclude that the paragraphs given to the MI5 intelligence service “made clear to anyone reading them that BM [Mohamed] was being subjected to the treatment that we have described and the effect upon him of that intentional treatment.”

British authorities have repeatedly denied complicity in torture.

“The wider point here is that we stand firmly against torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. We don’t condone, collude in or solicit it,” Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s spokesman, Simon Lewis, told reporters following the decision.

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Flashback: Ottawa won’t budge on secrecy laws | McGuinty won’t deny political interference with Freedom of Information requests | Information commissioner quits, Ottawa chided for lacking ‘guts’ | Canadian Parliament Threatens People For Posting Video Of Proceedings Online | Government secrecy ‘grim,’ watchdog says | Watchdog alarmed by Harper’s information clampdown | Listeria files withheld due to ’systemic’ problems with access to information | Public access vs. government secrecy the issue in Supreme Court of Canada case | Radical change needed in privacy protection, Ont. watchdog says | Files tagged as `sensitive’ cause unfair delays, watchdog says | Tentacles of Secrecy Grip Tightly | Parliament losing power, author says | Over 100 complaints about access to govt. info on Afghan mission: report | Information lockdown: How Harper Controls the Spin | Tories kill access to information database | Harper to create government-run media centre: report

Richard J. Brennan, Bruce Campion-Smith, The Toronto Star
February 9, 2010

OTTAWA—The Prime Minister’s Office has warned senior political staff across government not to interfere in the handling of access to information requests.

The warning comes as opposition MPs are calling for an independent investigation into “all instances of Conservative interference” to foil the release of information.

Guy Giorno, Stephen Harper’s chief of staff, penned a memo on Tuesday to chiefs of staff in federal departments reminding them to “respect” the access to information process, a senior official said.

And they were pointedly warned that it’s an offence to deliberately obstruct access requests.

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Flashback: UK MPs frozen out of super-secret ACTA copyright talks | Reading Between The Still Secret Lines Of The ACTA Negotiations | Beyond ACTA: Proposed EU – Canada Trade Agreement Intellectual Property Chapter Leaks | New Leaks of Secret ACTA Copyright Law Reveal Oppressive ‘Global DMCA’ | MPAA Says Critics of Secret Copyright Treaty Hate Hollywood | ACTA Threatens Made-in-Canada Copyright Policy | More ACTA Details Leak: It’s An Entertainment Industry Wishlist | Six Days Left: Canadian Net Users Caught As Copyright Consultation Nears Conclusion | MP Charlie Angus on copyright: industry lobby pulling for ‘dead business model’ | Ottawa denies altering public’s ECopyright Consultation submissions | Security guards stop MPs, students from distributing fair use flyers at Toronto copyright townhall | Can The Public Be Heard On Copyright Issues? | Copyright Consultation Launches: Time For Canadians To Speak Out | Third stab at copyright law ‘reform’ to kick off with consultations | Time to slay Canadian file-sharing myths | Canadian copyright lobbyists leaned on “independent” researchers to change report on file-sharing | Think tank plagiarizes, pulls report on Canadian piracy | Obama Administration Claims Copyright Treaty Involves State Secrets | Latest Round of Closed-Door ACTA Copyright Negotiations Wrap Up | Digital rights groups sue for access to secret ACTA treaty | Critics waging a cyber offensive to fight copyright changes | Canadian Industry Minister lies about Canadian DMCA on national radio, then hangs up | The Canadian DMCA: Check the Fine Print | Government ready to drop copyright bomb | Transparency needed on ACTA | Revamped copyright law targets electronic devices | New Attempt to Align Canada’s Copyright Act with USA Coming Soon | Canadian DMCA To Be Introduced Tomorrow Morning?

Mike Masnick, Techdirt.com
January 29, 2010

Despite widespread demands from politicians around the globe, combined with promises from the USTR to be more open and transparent (despite unsubstantiated and totally ridiculous claims that countries would leave the negotiations if details were made public) and even entertainment industry lobbyists admitting that the process could be more transparent, ACTA negotiations are continuing in a veil of total secrecy to the public (unless you’re a big industry lobbyist — then it’s open). The latest meetings in Mexico were again held in total secrecy, where public concerns were mocked, but appear to have continued to move the negotiations forward with claims coming out that the document is in “final drafting stages.”

Yes, without any transparency or participation allowed from those who it would impact most: the public.

How is it that any government is willing to participate in such a process? It’s a massive travesty. The details that have been revealed suggest that this is a sneaky way to significantly impact copyright laws around the world, greatly in favor of a few industries that have been unwilling to adapt to a changing marketplace. This is protectionism at its worst. At the same time that US politicians are slamming China for its internet restrictions, ACTA seeks to place the same type of limitations on ISPs around the world that the Chinese government places on its ISPs, all done through a secret process with no public input — even from many elected officials who are greatly concerned about both the content of the agreement as well as the way in which it has been drafted.
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It’s relevant to point out here that the city of Quetta, the seat of the group alleged to be the leadership of the Taliban, is right on the route of the major pipeline planned to go through the middle east, the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline, known as the TAPI pipeline and in the planning since 1995. The ousted Afghani Taliban leadership is said to be living there under the protection of the ISI. (If the leadership was in Quetta, why did the Pakistani military bomb Waziristan instead?) In their book ‘The Forbidden Truth“, two French journalists (also, the BBC) rely on the testimony of Pakistani Foreign Minister Niaz Naik that military threats were made against the Taliban in multilateral meetings held in July, 2001 and so present the real genesis of the war as failed oil negotiations and thus one of pacification, with tribal allegiances played off against each other and multiple insurgencies represented as one monolithic enemy. No one will get the chance to interview him again, unfortunately, as he was found beaten to death last August.

Flashback: Afghanistan conference agrees on exit timetable, Taliban bailout | British and US troops to launch new Afghanistan offensive | General McChrystal indicates talks with Taliban to be discussed | US pours millions into anti-Taliban militias in Afghanistan | Taliban: Blackwater to blame for Pakistan attacks | UK ‘backs Taliban reintegration’ | How the US Funds the Taliban | Ex-diplomat says Afghanistan in ‘civil war,’ calls for US withdrawal | Ethnic hostility is a big, maybe the biggest, part of the Afghan war | Occupiers involved in drug trade: Afghan minister | Afghan leader’s corrupt brother paid by CIA, U.S. officials say | Pakistani Army working with ‘Good Taliban’ | French troops were killed after Italy hushed up ‘bribes’ to Taleban | Afghanistan Drug Raid Snares Border Police Commander | Afghanistan’s Hidden Heroin Addicts | Britain and US prepared to open talks with the Taliban | Pakistani president Asif Zardari admits creating terrorist groups | Western Governments Funding Taliban & Al-Qaeda To Kill U.S. Troops, Destabilize Countries | Taliban flee new U.S. drive in Afghanistan | Whistleblower Who Linked “Taliban” Leader To US Intelligence Is Assassinated | US arms sent to Afghan forces ‘in Taliban hands’ | Canada, allies will never defeat Taliban, PM says | Canadian troops could soon target Afghan drug trade: top soldier | Reports reveal concerns over drug use among Canadian military | NATO to let troops fight Afghan drug lords | Karzai’s kin linked to heroin trafficking | ‘Reconstruction’ efforts in Khandahar not apparent to Afghanis | Delta Force Officer: We Weren’t Allowed to Kill Osama Bin Laden | Afghani Narco-state Continues to Blossom under Puppet President | Report: U.S. Gave Green Light For Taliban Prison Attack | The Lies that Led to War | US Allowed Taliban, Al-Qaeda Airlift Evacuation

Julian Borger, The Guardian
January 29, 2010

Kabul envoy met top commanders in Dubai this month to discuss terms

Taliban commanders held secret exploratory talks with a United Nations special envoy this month to discuss peace terms, it emerged tonight.

Regional commanders on the Taliban’s leadership council, the Quetta Shura, sought a meeting with the UN special representative in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, and it took place in Dubai on 8 January. “They requested a meeting to talk about talks. They want protection, to be able to come out in public. They don’t want to vanish into places like Bagram,” the Reuters news agency quoted a UN official as saying, referring to the Bagram detention centre at a US military base outside Kabul.

The Dubai meeting was confirmed to the Guardian by officials with knowledge of the encounter, but they said they could provide no further details.

It was the first such meeting between the UN and senior members of the Taliban. The fact that it took place suggests that peace talks have revived since exploratory contacts between emissaries of the Kabul government and the Taliban in Saudi Arabia last year broke down.

It also suggests that some Taliban members might be prepared for the first time to put faith in an international organisation to broker a deal to end the nine-year war.

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