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| Omar Khadr, You'd be smiling too..... |
In fact, I believe that Omar Khadr wasn't a terrorist, but rather a combattant in a war that pitted the United States against Afghani forces of the Taliban or the irregular forces of al Qaeda .
Whether Khadr was 15 years old or 50 years old is hardly the point, he was fighting the Americans and as such was nothing more than an enemy combatant, an enemy combatant that was also a child soldier.
But he certainly wasn't a terrorist as we define one.
"Khadr was accused of murdering U.S. Army Sergeant 1st Class Christopher Speer with a hand grenade during the battle in Afghanistan and making roadside bombs for use against U.S. forces. He was charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiring with al Qaeda, providing material support for terrorism and spying on U.S. forces, and could face life in prison if convicted." LinkThose charges seem laughable, where those you fight can be charged for war crimes just because they are fighting against you. Let us remember that America came to Afghanistan to seek vengeance for the bombing of the World Trade Center and the war they propagated was basically on their hands.
Declaring Khadr a terrorist is a stretch that only America seems capable of making, it doesn't stand up to any reasonable interpretation.
But Kadir was declared a terrorist by the Americans and carted off to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where Canadian law doesn't apply and where come to think of it, American law doesn't apply either.
Guantanamo Bay is by nature a place where enemies can be interned without the pesky rule of law or even the rules of the Geneva Convention. Those interned face an uncertain future where they can be warehoused indefinitely without charges, where unlike prisoners of war, released on cessation of hostilities.
The Supreme Court of Canada found our government complicit in his detention because members of CSIS (our under-impressive Secret service), participated in his interviews whilst he was in custody, and for this the government is now paying the ridiculous sum of $10 million plus an apology.
But let us examine reality, the Americans weren't about to release Khadr from detention had Canada done the right thing and objected, acting in the manner that his defenders say they should have, by claiming him a child soldier, and certainly not a terrorist by any stretch if the imagination.
No amount of protest by Canadian foreign affairs would have mattered a whit, since the Americans were never inclined to entertain such an entreaty with the very proof being his detention in an extra-judicial facility.
That the Americans handled the case shoddily and mistreated Khadr by his long incarceration is in no way the responsibility of Canada or it's taxpayers.
The fact that Stephen Harper and the Conservative government applauded his mistreatment, doesn't change the fact that had Trudeau been Prime Minister at the time and objected to the Americans over Khadr's condition, his outcome would have been the same.
The truth was that Khadr's outcome was not in our hands.
I would agree that Canada should not have participated in his interrogation unless it was to determine if other family members in Canada or acquaintances had like-minded intentions, but his interrogation by CSIS changed his then current condition not a bit.
In fact Khadr should thank his lucky stars for being Canadian, having been transferred to Canada to finish his sentence where he was released after the shortest time that America would accept. Had Khadr remained in American custody, he may well have spent the rest of his life in custody, whether merited or not.
His freedom is thanks to his Canadian citizenship, something he should thank his lucky stars for, instead of suing us.
