Omar Khadr and Canada's Shame

  Did he in fact throw the hand grenade that killed Christopher Speer? Reports at time were contradictory. There was a report stating that the perpetrator had been killed during the action. We may never know for certain.
   Omar Khadr pleaded guilty to "murder, attempted murder, supporting terrorism, conspiracy" and just to top it off "spying". Yes he was supposedly a 15 year old spy.
    As his Canadian lawyer stated : " We may choose to believe that through this plea Omar finally came clean and accepted his involvement in a firefight when he was 15 years of age, or that this was one final coerced confession from a victimized young man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time ..... The fact that the trial of a child soldier, Omar Khadr,  has ended with a guilty plea in exchange for his eventual release to Canada does not change the fact that fundamental principles of law and due process  were long since abandoned in Omar's case". (Ottawa Sun)
   On June 4, 2007, the presiding officer on the Guantanamo military commissions, Peter Brownback dismissed all charges against Khadr. Brownback stated that he had been previously classified as an "enemy combatant" by the Combatant Status Review Tribunal in 2004. The Military Commissions Act only allowed him to rule over "Unlawful enemy combatants".
   On September 9, 2007, charges were reinstated after the Court of
Military Commission Review overturned Brownback saying that the
tribunal could determine the legality of a detainee's status.
   It is only due to the American invented fiction variously called "Unprivileged Belligerent" or "Unlawful Enemy Combatant" and the establishment of extra-legal detention at Bagram and Guantanimo that someone captured in a war zone subsequent to a fire fight could be accused of war crimes. Had Khadr been wearing a nice uniform, had he swooped in on a helicopter he, apparently, would be a legal/lawful player in the game.
   This is not to condone the killing of another human being but Sgt. Christopher Speer was killed in action, during a firefight,  not on an airplane, not even by an IED.  He was a medic but it must be noted that he was Special Forces. Described as a "super stud" he was not there to dispense candy.
    The torture and mistreatment of Omar Khadr at American hands is a list too long to include here.  SEE " Omar Khadr: The Continuing Scandal of Illegal Detention and Torture" (http://www.lrwc.org/pub1.php)
Though not a party to it, it is fairly certain Canada was aware of it through the offices CSIS. He was interrogated by Canadians on 6 occasions. When he told them he had been tortured they called him a liar.
    In the end Omar Khadr was the only foreign national left at Gitmo.  Canada refused to repatriate him even though urged by Amnesty International, UNICEF and other groups ...even the Canadian Bar Association.
    There  was even an order from a lower court to repatriate him but this was overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada who nonetheless found that :
"Canadian officials violated Khadr's human rights, and that he continues to be threatened by the effect of those violations.
In a unanimous decision released Friday, the court declared that Canadian officials breached Khadr's right to life, liberty and security of the person under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, it concluded that ordering the government to ask the U.S. for Khadr's repatriation to stop the continuing violation of his rights would interfere with the government's jurisdiction over foreign relations. Therefore, it chose not to issue the order, even though it had the authority to do so." (CBC)
   Even in the light of the plea deal which sees Omar Kahdr coming back to Canada after one (more) year in the U.S. Canada may renege. After all it only agreed to "consider favourably" his return while under the deal Khadr has no right of appeal.
   Who is Khadr?
To the widow he will forever be a murderer. A psychologist paid by the prosecution called Khadr "al-Qaida royalty" and stated that he was at a "high risk" of returning to his jihadi ways.
   Ezra Levant (consider the source) for example said  "Omar Khadr is a psychopath like Paul Bernardo".  (Just to show the kind of rhetoric going around).
  The press made much of statements to the effect that Omar Khadr was a "superstar" at Gitmo.
 
 In the case of the psychologist the defense pointed out that:
   
     1) The assessment was not peer reviewed

     2) That he had based the assessment, in part on the works
          of Nicolai Sennels who believes that inbreeding has
          damaged the Muslim gene pool and that the Koran is
          a "criminal book"

"....reports, obtained by The Globe and Mail, say the U.S. soldiers guarding him believe the 21-year-old is a "good kid."
The soldiers say Khadr is "salvageable" and runs the risk of becoming a radical if he continues to remain in Guantanamo Bay.
The reports, which also describe Khadr as a "likeable, funny and intelligent young man," were written by Foreign Affairs officials who visited him last March and April". (CTV)
     The fact remains that Omar Khadr was a "child soldier" and that Canada is a signatory to the U.N. convention. The U.S., while a signatory, has never ratified it. Canada's actions (inactions?) are shameful and counter to Canadian law..
If Canada had repatriated the child Khadr then the man Khadr might have a chance at life. He may well have become radicalized in the interim. Under the present circumstances his stated dreams of going to university, becoming a doctor and exploring the "wonders of life" are probably just that ... dreams.