Once again Harper proves not up to the task of leadership. Quote Harper; Canada “frankly has no real alternative” to the U.S. legal process.
Excuse me?
We have no alternative but to allow one of our citizens to be tortured, disallowed proper counsel and defense for a charge that seems flimsier by the day, that should have been classed and treated as a child soldier.
Canada was the first to ratify the so-called Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty that requires signatories to give special consideration to captured enemy fighters under the age of 18.
The treaty says they are to be segregated from adult combatants. As well, those who capture children must make every effort to reintegrate them into society.
One thing we do know for sure Canada “frankly has no real alternative” but to boot this poor excuse for a man out of the PM’s office and the sooner the better.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Ottawa knew Khadr was being abused: documents
- Ottawa knew Khadr sleep-deprived for interrogation, report says
- Canada won’t intervene despite latest Khadr developments: Harper
- Canada knew Khadr was abused at Gitmo: report
Funny how it seems we’re the only country on the planet that has “no alternative” here, eh? Britain, Germany, Italy, pretty much every country that has (rather, had in most cases) citizens in Gittmo has (SUCCESSFULLY!) lobbied to get them out of Cuba, and in many cases freed entirely.
If our government is truly so diplomatically impotent, is there a diplomatic equivalent of Viagra we could get them? It’s highly embarrassing to be the only country in the free world that can’t preform in this regard.
Sorry, double post!
Harper is beyond contempt. Khadr has finally become the poster child of gross human rights violations that is Guantanamo. It had been implied that he was treated with little regard to his injuries and possibly physically tortured since his capture. Today, diplomatic papers are released proving that indeed torture was used against him. And Harper responds with a forceful “NO” and some quip that Canada doesn’t have the proper justice mechanisms to deal with Khadr? He is a disgrace.
There are other alternatives beyond the US legal process. Such as taking it into our heads to give the USians the six-month notice on withdrawal from NAFTA (a good thing anyway). Or suddenly finding the border bottlenecked in terms of getting certain resources to our southern not-so-friendly neighbour. Or…
Canada was the first to ratify the so-called Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty that requires signatories to give special consideration to captured enemy fighters under the age of 18.
That was the OLD Canada. You know, back when we could still recognize it.