April Reign

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omar khadr

Khadr Video Shames Canada

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Omar Khadr
Omar Khadr

CBC today carries the story and video the CSIS interview with Omar Khadr. Although the video quality is poor it is obvious that this is an anguished young teen. He tries to tell the integrators of his need for medical care and is met with a smug superior attitude and a complete lack of empathy. He is then told that his breakdown is a “strategy”. I’d like to see the CSIS agent endure half of what this boy did and see what his “strategy” would be.

“We Canadians stand for compassion, we stand for the rule of law. And what you are seeing there is the abuse of the rule of law as Canadian courts have indicated about Canadians and Canada’s involvement in Guantanamo Bay,” lawyer Dennis Edney told CBC News.

Omar Khadr getting battlefield first aid.
Image via Wikipedia

Edney said Canadian officials should have asked Khadr about potential torture, but instead went into the interview without any help for the then teenage boy.

“We don’t do that in Canada and that shouldn’t have happened to this young, most vulnerable boy in Guantanamo,” the lawyer said.

He also said Khadr suffers from several injuries, including the loss of sight in one eye and difficulty with the other, as well as shrapnel and bullet wounds. [ ..CBC ]

Presumably the CSIS agent saw this picture of Khadr as he lay nearly dead on the battlefield. Not an adult soldier but a child brought into war. But Harper doesn’t care for children. He is already trying to put more Canadian youth in prison. Why should he care about one that he can easily get his lunatic fringe to smear? One even went so far on the CBC site as to say that even if Khadr were 6 years old we should kill him. And this person is walking free.

Harper continues to use following LIberal precedent as an excuse for not doing  the Canadian thing, the right thing, the humane thing, the just thing. He refuses to bring Khadr home because he says the Liberals didn’t. Well since when does Harper follow the Liberal play book? In Nuremburg “following orders” was not accepted as an excuse to commit crimes against humanity. How much less successful would following a political foes precedent be?

Khadr is the only western prisoner not claimed by their country. His continued presence there, and this video shames all Canadians.  Harper must either bring Khadr home or step down as Prime Minister. A leader who refuses to protect his own people has committed treason against them.

You can see the tape here — Link opens Video in New Window

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Judge Rules U.S. Violated Human Rights

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The treatment a U.S. official said Omar Khadr received at Guantanamo Bay to prepare him for an interview by a member of foreign affairs was a violation of international human rights, a Canadian federal court judge ruled on Wednesday.

It is no great surprise that human rights violations are going on in Guantanamo, it is damning however that two governments of countries who pride themselves on rights and freedoms allowed the torture of a child. In Canada Khadr if charged with a crime would be protected under the Youth Act. And yet Canadian officials raised no alarm when they found out he was being subjected to torture.

Canadian and American governments bear an enormous responsibility not only in setting back human rights but also in ensuring there will continue to be terrorist incidents. Some of course find the torture of a child perfectly fine. The comments at both CTV and CBC are disgusting and as one commenter said “makes me less and less proud to be Canadian”

Scene of the Firefight in which w:Omar Khadr was capturedImage via WikipediaSome have argued that he was responsible for the death of a soldier. To which I wonder is that not the risk our governments are willing to take when they send troops to war? Is the new war rich countries sending troops to rob poor countries of their resources and the people of those poor countries rather than protect themselves are supposed to say OH HAI! and serve tea/beer/crumpets?

How does one murder a combatant in the heat of battle? In any case the original details of the incident were shown to be wrong. Khadr was not the only person who could have thrown the grenade and likely wasn’t.

It is time our government showed some respect for human rights, the Geneva Convention and basic decency. Bring Khadr home. As commenter carlbailey said to another commenter with the mindset of the conservatives;

quote mr.calgary:
“I knew what was right and wrong when I was 15.”

so, how old were you when you forgot the difference?
or did you just decide to ignore it altogether in favour of blind ignorant hatred.

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