Khadr interrogation footage (in Guantanamo) puts spotlight on CSIS

Source: Globe and Mail

... But this week, CSIS, which has always operated in the shadows, will find itself in an uncomfortable spotlight. After a series of stunning legal decisions, footage of the CSIS interrogation of Mr. (Omar) Khadr is about to be revealed.

Four DVDs – originally marked "Secret/No Foreign" by U.S. agencies that created them – show the Canadian Security Intelligence Service at work, something that has never happened before. This is being done over the objections of CSIS, which is far better known for destroying its own tapes than showing them, and U.S. agencies who will likely be irritated that Canadians courts have ordered up the DVDs that will provide a rare glimpse inside the secret prison camp operating on leased land in Cuba.

A CSIS agent, who travelled to Guantanamo Bay in February, 2003, will be shown grilling Mr. Khadr about six months after his capture, for seven hours over three days. His face obscured to preserve his secret identity, the agent will be seen asking Mr. Khadr questions about the al-Qaeda figures he met while he was raised in Afghanistan by his fundamentalist parents, before being captured as a 15-year-old alleged "enemy combatant."

... Federal government lawyers had argued that the disclosures of U.S. information could cause rifts with American intelligence. Judge Mosley did not dispute this. "It may cause some harm to Canada-U.S. relations," he ruled, but added he expects the damage will be "minimal."

"In any event," he said, "I am satisfied that the public interest in disclosure of this information outweighs the public interest in non-disclosure."

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