Let Omar Khadr come home to Canada
August 26, 2009 · By Charles Anthony
I am getting more annoyed by the federal government’s handling of Omar Khadr’s incarceration in Guantanamo Bay and his failed return to Canada. This is completely stupid.
I can not believe the Conservative government is wasting time and money fighting in the Supreme Court. Forget about any compassion for the moment: wasting any more money on legal fees alone is abhorrent.
Not only is this completely stupid but it is neurotically heartless. This anti-terrorist hysteria feeds their Big Bad Evil Conservative image quite nicely and rightly so, in my opinion. If this continues, some opportunistic politician — say, somebody naive like Justin Trudeau, for instance — will capitalize on this nonsense and go down to the States (the way Bill Clinton went to Korea) to plead for Khadr’s release. An election will be called and enough Canadians will turf the Conservatives from power. Heck, that is the strategy I would adopt if I was a Liberal. This would be better than playing with EI reform which is all the Liberals have right now.
The Conservatives are setting themselves up for failure on this file. I wonder who benefits.
Unfortunately, the problem is that the last thing people want is the Lockerbie Bomber effect. They secure Khadr’s release and he gets back to his throng of admirers here who lavish praise and attention on him for surviving his ordeal at the hands of the American imperialists.
Truthfully, freeing Khadr will mark a milestone in the failure of the “war on terrorism”.
I couldn’t disagree more with your view. The last thing I want is to see Khadr brought back “home” where this pissed off Islamic extremist would be free to wander the streets of our cities.
In fact, I wish the Canadian government had the courage to deport his entire family back to where they came from.
Iggy said yesterday that he should be brought back and integrated into our society. What!? No trial?
How long do you think it’d be before he brought suit against the government? he’d certainly have the MSM and all opposition parties on his side.
I think you’ll find that the majority of Canadians don’t really want Khadr anywhere near Canada for a long time.
Who of all the people screeching for this POS to return to Canada would be willing to put up a large financial guarantee that he will be successfully integrated into our society?? Perhaps he could physically live with one of these responsible folks that is willing to put up the guarantee.
Khadr is exactly where he belongs.
I disagree. Khadr is Al Quaeda.
Once he hits Canadian soil he escapes justice and will never have to answer for his part in the murder of Christopher Speer. Whatever its faults, there is a process in place down there and it should be allowed to continue.
That young medic could as easily been from Nova Scotia as America. I wish the CBC would show his picture every time they talk about Khadr.
Maybe Chretien will come out of retirement and go spring this Khadr too.
I’d like too see the government pushing the US to get their trial started because justice is the goal here.
If the Liberals want to ally themselves with the people who fight against our forces and those of our allies, that’s their problem. It’s pretty clear that most Canadians don’t like or want the Khadrs and the Libs, Bloc and NDP can fight over the votes that remain.
The Government is acting responsibly by going through the proper legal channels. Protecting Canadians comes first, the majority of which are peace loving, non-grenade throwing Islamist murderers; which Khadr just happen to have been caught doing in a foreign land against Allied forces. I trust the US has the right to hold him, put him on trial, and pass judgment.
The Conservatives are undoubtedly doing the right thing. Your corny little comparison of trudeau and Clinton is quite laughable. Your claim that this is a game winner for the liberals speaks volumes about how disconnected you are from reality.
Canadians, by a large margin, do not support helping this accused terrorist and murderer.
I think you suffer from “T.O. Journalist Adulation”
Charles, you amaze me.
Expand a bit. Would you have him walk freely or should he be imprisoned in Canada also?
I too see problems with your position.
First off, The United States isn’t anything like North Korea, Omar Khadr is hardly a innocent journalist, and Justin Trudeau is far from anything resembling Bill Clinton (the Obama admin would say, “Justin Who?”)
Also, bringing a terrorist like Khadr to Canada isn’t going to resonate with anyone that would be a potential Conservative voter anyways. Where is the upside to capitulating on this issue?
This would be a minor issue in an election. Domestic issues always trump international/foreign policy issues during the writ period. Voters generally care about domestic fiscal (taxes, etc) and social issues (health, education, etc), not legal wrangling of suspected terrorists in foreign jails.
Khadr should be dealt with by US legal system. He’s not our responsibility.
Greg,
I am not saying that defending Khadr is of the same magnitude as defending a footloose journalist. I just think it is an opportunity upon which a politician can seize public attention. That is all.
You may be right. This probably will not be a vote getter. I still think it is a waste of money.
RD,
Omar Khadr should walk free. I see no point in wasting my taxes on incarcerating him in Canada either.
BlameCrash,
You are right. I am disconnected from reality — the reality where governments feel a God-given right to spend my money as they see fit. I think that reality is wrong and I am making every effort possible to express it.
PrairieDog,
I disagree with you. If the government was acting responsibly, it would give me the option to abstain from subsidizing their legal playground. Until then, I see no reason to consider their actions responsible.
RideNRain,
Do you have any idea what “justice” is? I will give you a hint: there is no universally objective standard by which everybody in the entire planet can agree to what constitutes an act of justice. While we were at it, let me remind you that if every other Canadian happened to agree with my sentiments, you and your belief of Justice(tm) would not be worth a damn.
KellyR,
As far as I am concerned, Omar Khadr was at war and there is obviously a double-standard at play. We do not normally round up all war veterans (from either side) at the end of a battle and try them for murder. You seem to think this double standard is acceptable. That is weird.
AgentSmith,
Thanks for visiting.
RobC,
Thanks for changing the goal posts. Would you be happy if I told you that nobody should give him any money to help him integrate? They should just let him free.
The financial burden of integrating Omar Khadr is neither here nor there. Tons of people come to Canada all of the time and struggle with integration.
NeilD,
Omar Khadr was a child soldier. Your anger is misplaced.
Raph,
I think the war on terror is a crock and I really do not care if he gets a hero’s welcome. I think his incarceration is vile and wrong. As far as I am concerned, there must be something else at play here.
It makes no sense to waste any more money to keeping this kid incarcerated. I do not trust that the motives of our government are to seek justice. Even if it is, I would rather they did not spend any more of my money.
Charles Anthony – It makes no sense to waste any more money to keeping this kid incarcerated. I do not trust that the motives of our government are to seek justice. Even if it is, I would rather they did not spend any more of my money.
Well tough nuts to you Charles, we(citizen taxpayers) don’t get to cherry pick what the government spends our money on…I don’t like the idea of my taxes going to the CBC, but that’s life in the present.
Fighting for the return, or against it shouldn’t come down to nickles and dimes, it should come down to the facts and presentation of them before a US military court, IMHO. Besides, we aren’t paying for him to be incarcerated, he’s on the US dime.
Have a Nice Day.
Rather than allow terrorists Khadr back into Canada where he can terrorize our wives and/or grandchildren, our Prime Minister was correct to take this pathetically moronic decision of these two terrorists sympathizing judges to the Supreme Court. If the Canadian people where to loose there, the Prime Minister then must be willing to invoke Section 33 (1), the “Not Withstanding” clause, with its mandate to check judicial subversion of legislative and executive powers.
How would left wing, terrorist sympathizing politicians, judges and editorial writers like to imagine a freed vicious, unrepentant terrorist Khadar living on the same Canadian street as their very young, very innocent, very vulnerable grandchildren? I wouldn’t want this terrorist living on my daughters’ street. What self-proclaimed compassionate, concerned politician would want to be accountable for permitting a sadistic terrorist to live on his daughters’ street?
The terrorist sympathizing left refuse to acknowledge that Khadr is not a “child soldier” since he never was a soldier and never wore any countries’ uniform. It’s a repulsive insult to legitimate Canadian soldiers who are fighting and dying for freedom and liberty in Afghanistan to label this fanatical terrorist a “soldier” and our PM should not join that crowd of imbeciles.
Surely even our liberal, apparently terrorists sympathizing PM, who likes to promote himself as being tough on crime/terrorism, will oppose any and all pressures to bring this terrorist to Canada. If he was to return to Canada one of our numerous extreme left-wing, liberal judges would formulate an excuse to release him, and would set him free to follow-up on his radical career on someone’s daughters street.
Charles I have to give you credit. You truly go to the church of economics.
Your stance on this kid is principled (when you stop talking about tax payer money) and I admire that fact that you are not playing to the crowd.
I’m not a fan of the kid personally (he was videotaped laying mines and working with bombs), but we do not have a history of prosecuting every enemy combatant in a war. Otherwise, half of our German and Italian immigrants of the 50s would have been in prison.
Bombed by apaches, shot 2 times, half blind, probably tortured and 7 years and counting in guantanamo…
How do we know when the war on terror is over if you don’t know when the next attack will take place? When do these prisoners go home?
Who really cares about Omar Khadr?
The MSM, members of the opposition, a majority of Canadians?
He is being used by some in the opposition, MSM suggesting our government is racist or too right wing?
Omar was captured in 2002 and interviewed by the RCMP/CSIS and left in GITMO for 4 years under the Liberals.
The judgement noted the gathering and transfer of information by our government duing the Liberals was the violation of his rights.
Are the Liberals COMPLICIT in the abuses and violations of Omar Khadr between 2002-2006?
I would gladly pay for that Supreme Court Ruling.
So let’s ask this again and expand the question , who cares about Omar and the Tamil Tigers again?
CanadianSense:
Who cares: Anyone who is not a terrorist sympathizer, as you appear to be.
This debate is silly. The Obama administration has no intention of releasing Omar, until they figure out what to do with him (if they can ever make up their minds). He faces charges. Obama said so.
I saw a news article on CTV which basically stated as fact, that omar was only being held in Cuba because the “Harper government refused to repatriate him.”
Blame Harper for something Obama said. That’s rich!
Sorry i disagree bigtime.Kadr nor his family have showed any type of being proud Canadians.Their family doesnt condemn suicide bombing.They applaud attacks on allied forces.Im quite offended by the notion of them being here in our midst actually.Kadr will face justice from America first before any notion of bringing him back is considered.He needs to understand that there are consequences for his actions.
It makes no difference whether you believe the war on terror is a crock or not.Terrorism,suicide bombing,glorifying killing of civilians no matter who they are is wrong.Apologizing for terrorists and then blaming Western imperialism is quite retarded since im proof that many in the West arent violent blood lusting crackpots.
Curiously wheres the focus on on Burma?Or Darfur?Or Iran?Do we ignore Darfur just because its a Muslim theocracy?Gimme a break.These are way more important issues than some terrorist who hides behind a canadian passport.His family hates this country and everything we stand for.So i have no sympathy for him.Let him face US justice first.
I wouldn’t mind if he were actually tried in court. He’s been there 7 years without this being done. Charge him with something and try him or let him go.
To most of you torture fetishists:
You spew racist and hate-filled bullshit from behind a disingenuous facade of realism and rationality as if torturing fifteen year olds and imprisoning them without charge for years was truly in our long-term national best interest.
You discuss the semantics of what it means to truly torture a person as if you had the faintest inkling of what it means to suffer. Mercy is foreign to you.
You causally wish death on children. You have no concept of justice other than that of the sword, and it fails to penetrate your stunted consciousnesses that it is possible to recognize and preserve the humanity of a criminal while not condoning their actions. It escapes you that we should strive to be better than those we publicly condemn. I have no idea which of you is trolling. I’m not sure I care. The fact that there is casual acceptance anywhere of practices pioneered by the inquisition is a spew of vomit across the honor and dignity of this nation. You praise the casting down of habeas corpus and due process like fanatics cheering the destruction of a false idol. To those of you who look at the case of Omar Khadr and see righteousness in his indefinite imprisonment, or who respond with a world-weary shrug of the shoulders, I say this: I regret your existence.
Not returning Khadr is a fine way of telling the SCOC that they do not run the country and that they should quit ordering the duly elected government to perform duties that only the SCOC wants done.
It also tells the activist left that when this governmeny says no it means NO !
It also tells the activist legal establishment that there are certain limits to what the Canadians will tolerate in the representation of a client.