What did the Liberals know about torture from 2002 to 2005?

I seem to recall an ill advised early January statement by former Liberal Minister of Defense John McCallum that government officials were aware of torture allegations in Afghan prisons prior to the drafting of the 2005 prisoner transfer agreement. If that was the case, why wasn't any monitoring mechanism set up to ensure that innocent people were not tortured in Afghan custody? We know the Martin administration was desperate to stop transferring prisoners into American custody, because we all know that any POW would prefer a cold, dark, Afghan dungeon to a tropical beach.

It is an interesting moral question to ask why if they knew about it, why wouldn't they address it in the treaty? Either they were grossly incompetent at their jobs, or they recognized that there was a high probability that POWs could be tortured. To include monitors when there is a high probability of torture would increase the probability that the monitors witness acts of torture and report them. This would then be bad publicity that the failing Martin administration could not afford politically.

Colvin claimed that the torture was widespread when he arrived shortly after the Conservative election victory in 2006. He also declared in his testimony that the structure of the 2005 transfer agreement deliberately prevented the Red Cross from monitoring. He states that the agreement:

"Had no provision for our own officials to follow up on what happened to our detainees after they were handed to the Afghan intelligence service, the NDS, or National Directorate of Security.

In other words, in the critical days after a detainee was first transferred to the Afghan intelligence service, nobody was able to monitor them. Canada had decided that Canadians would not monitor. The AIHRC could not do so, because they had very weak capacity and were not allowed into NDS jails. The Red Cross in practice could not do so either, because we did not inform them until days, weeks, or months after we had handed over the detainee."

Now this Atteran guy is alleging that Canadian officials were deliberately flagging prisoners specifically to be tortured by Afghan officials, which coincidentally coincides with the release of the story that CSIS officials did indeed question prisoners before transferring them into Afghan custody. Did this "interrogation process" begin only after the Conservatives were elected, or was it taking place under the watchful eyes of John McCallum and Bill Graham? Attaran is refusing to show people his evidence because it is "too sensitive", and thus we need to take his word for it. Aren't the Liberals demanding that all these "sensitive documents" be released fully to the public with no omissions?

Here is some background info into what the Liberals were doing in Afghanistan prior to the Conservative victory in 2006.

2003–2005 Operation Athena

In August 2003, the Canadian Forces moved to the northern city of Kabul where it became the commanding nation of the newly formed International Security Assistance Force. Canada dubbed this Operation Athena and a 1,900-strong Canadian task force provided assistance to civilian infrastructure such as well-digging and repair of local buildings.

In March 2004, Canada committed $250 million in aid to Afghanistan, and $5 million to support the 2004 Afghan election.

On 13 February 2005, Defence Minister Bill Graham announced Canada was doubling the number of troops in Afghanistan by the coming summer, from 600 troops in Kabul to 1200.

In spring 2005 it was announced that the Canadian Forces would move back to the volatile Kandahar Province as the U.S. forces handed command to the Canadians in the region. Operation Athena ended in December 2005 and the fulfillment of the stated aim of "rebuilding the democratic process" in Afghanistan.