The head of CSIS, Jim Judd, says that veteran CSIS advisor Geoffrey O’Brian was wrong when he told the commons committee on public safety on Tuesday that CSIS will use information obtained under torture. (O'Brian's statements - video HERE )
But the images of the video are HERE , for all of us to see. In ONE of CSIS "visits" to Guantanamo, March 30, 2004, Jim Gould, CSIS officer, was one of the interrogators at Guantanamo, and doesn't look like that he was there to get ""information which can prevent something like the Air India bombing, the Twin Towers" etc...
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Newsweek Magazine published the video on July 15, 2008:
http://video.newsweek.com/#?t=1868992093&l=18465772001
YouTube:
link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJSO4WfCgQU
This was a "visit" to a 16 years old Canadian who had been in US custody since July 2002. (PDF documents are HERE )
Doesn't look possible that something was to be "prevented"...Also, this was not the first "visit", and Jim Gould was not the only "visitor" :
"11. Compared to last year, Umar has physically matured..."
"As you are aware an officer of this division, together with three other officers, visited Camp Delta on the US Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,in order to meet with Umar Ahmad Khadr."
(extracted from reports available at the The University of California Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas - HERE)
Documents also show that in "preparation" for the Canadian Officials "visit", the Canadian citizen was put in the "frequent flyer program: for the three weeks before Mr. Gould's visit, Umar has not been permitted more than three hours in anyone location. At three hours intervals he is moved to another cell block, thus denying him uninterrupted'sleep and a continued change of neighbours. He will soon be placed in isolation for up to three weeks and then he will be interviewed again"(extracetd from the report HERE)
Again, this is one of the cases, one of the "visits" ...The only one that had public disclosure in a video.
All documents available on line at The University of California Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas - click HERE)
Doesn't look like that Geoffrey O'Brian is wrong, except for the "eminent threat", or, as per Mr.O'Brian's explanation on why CSIS believes that information obtained under torture can be useful : "information which can prevent something like the Air India bombing, the Twin Towers"
Omar Khadr, was 15 years old when his ordeal started in July 2002 after being transferred to the US prison at Bagram airbase, where was subjected to chronic abuse. He was severely wounded by then. One of his interrogators at Bagram prison was Sgt. Joshua Claus, who was later charged of various crimes, including assault and “maltreatment of a detainee” in connection with the murder of the two men, and was sentenced to five months in jail in 2006.
And to refresh the memory, there was that case of Jack Hooper, former CSIS deputy director, who contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2003 to tell them that it was not in Canada's interests to demand that the United States return Maher Arar, rather than deporting him to Syria.
In 2007, as part of the investigation into government foreknowledge of the torture, it was revealed that Hooper had sent an earlier memo on October 10, 2002 that included the reference "I think the United States would like to get Arar to Jordan where they can have their way with him".
Looks like that CSIS has been immune from accountability for a long time..Remembering THE HILL TIMES - October 2, 2006 - CSIS didn't want Arar returned to Canada - HERE
And more at "Canadian role in Syria torture" - BBC News, October 24, 2008 - HERE
