The Afghan Detainee Non-Story

The issue of Afghan detainees has been blown all out of proportion, often with the collusion of some reporters who seem to be missing the big picture while investigating emails, notes CASC co-founder Terry Glavin, in his latest broadside.

Quotes from reporter Matthew Fisher, a rare Canadian reporter with extensive experience in Afghanistan and an enthusiasm to help bring some rationality to this story:

"It is preposterous. People trying to compare this to Somalia . . . the cavalier use of the term war crimes. . . we are not even within a million miles of reaching any of these points. It is a tremendous slur to ever invoke words like these. These are words that were used, and with reason, for the holocaust, for the genocide in Cambodia, for the horrible things that happened with tens of thousands of people being slaughtered in Rwanda. . .

"If the International Committee of the Red Cross had complaints, right within the Geneva Conventions it says they must act without delay to prosecute to move forward on these cases. These allegations concern things that happened in 2006 and early 2007. If there is any substance to any of these charges, something would have happened by now. 'Without delay' means a few weeks or a few months. It doesn't mean a few years.

"I've spoken at great length to the Red Cross - I believe I'm the only Canadian journalist who has - in Kabul, with someone who has had a lot to do with this file. He said the Red Cross has no issues with Canada, or any other country for that matter, at this time."