The Khadr Thread

[a_majoor]

More on the psych evaluation. This shoudl be widely disseminated to everyone inclined to sign the petition for his return.

http://o.canada.com/2012/07/20/79175/

Feds demand sealed psych assessment of Omar Khadr before ruling on his return

Tobi Cohen
15 hours ago
Feds demand sealed psych assessment of Omar Khadr before ruling on his return

Courtroom sketch of Omar Khadr.

OTTAWA — It appears the repatriation of convicted child terrorist Omar Khadr has hit a snag, according to a letter sent from Public Safety Minister Vic Toews to U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta this week.

The letter, which was copied to Khadr’s lawyer John Norris, indicates the government wants unredacted copies of videos and interviews psychiatrists Michael Welner and Alan Hopewell conducted with Khadr to determine his mental state before deciding whether Canada will take him back.

“I have been advised that both of these interviews were videotaped and that those video recordings have been sealed,” he wrote.

“These videotapes and the associated reports contain information I believe may be relevant to my determination of Mr. Khadr’s application.”

Toews noted that the information is needed to “ensure that the Correctional Service of Canada and the Parole Board of Canada woudl be able to effectively secure Mr. Khadr and appropriately administer his sentence in Canada.”

Welner interviewed Khadr over two days at Guanatamo Bay and determined he remained “highly dangerous.” He described Khadr as a “rock star” among his terrorist peers and a “hero” to his radical family. He called him manipulative, angry and noted it would be tough for him to reintegrate.

Meanwhile, Khadr’s lawyers argued his testimony should be tossed as he relied on the work of Danish psychologist Nicolai Sennels who called on the West to stop accepting Muslim immigrants.

News of the snag comes a week after Khadr’s lawyers filed an application for judicial review in Federal Court saying the government has had ample time to make a decision and that the delay amounted to “an abuse of process.”

Khadr has been detained in Guantanamo Bay for nearly a decade. In October 2010, he pleaded guilty to war crimes committed when he was 15 years old in Afghanistan — namely, throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier in 2002.

He was sentenced to 40 years in jail but, under a plea deal, he only had to serve eight. After spending one additional year at Guantanamo, he became eligible to serve the remainder of his sentence in Canada last fall.

While Canada played no role in the plea deal, a diplomatic note sent to U.S. authorities indicated the Harper government was “inclined to favourably consider” a request for transfer. Lawrence Cannon, Canada’s former foreign affairs minister, later confirmed in the House of Commons that Canada would make good on the promise but it has yet to happen.

Khadr’s lawyers say they submitted a request for transfer a year ago but Toews’ office only confirmed in April that it was finally in the minister’s hands. That said, this week’s letter indicates his office received the application on May 23.

Government sources have said it takes, on average, nine to 10 months to process a request once an application is “officially” received, depending on the nature of the case.

As his transfer inches closer to being resolved, both supporters and detractors have become more vocal.

More than 20,000 people have signed a petition posted online by Liberal Sen. Romeo Dallaire calling for the government to repatriate Khadr immediately.

Earlier this week, about 200 people gathered in Toronto to protest his return. Should he be returned, they want him charged with treason. They’ve also posted a petition with more than 4,000 signatures raising concerns about his return and calling for the psychiatric interviews to be turned over to Canadian authorities and made public.

Read more Articles from Tobi Cohen
twitter.com/tobicohen © COPYRIGHT - POSTMEDIA NEWS

 

[a_majoor]

Disgust is really the only reasonable response to this, although effective action like cancelling subscriptions and boycotting anyone who advertises in this paper would drive the point home. It is too bad there is no other way to force these sorts of people out of their comfortable positions of influence:

http://bcblue.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/citizen-admits-biased-editorials-on-omar-khadr-started-in-earnest-after-harper-came-to-power/

Citizen admits biased editorials on Omar Khadr started in earnest after Harper came to power
July 24, 2012 — BC Blue

In a refreshing, honest blog post by the Ottawa Citizen’s Kate Heartfield, she comes clean about how the editorial staff gave the Liberal Party a free ride when it came to their 32 editorials on Omar Khadr:

Around 2006 there’s a noticeable shift in tone. In July, 2006, comes our first editorial calling in no uncertain terms for him to be brought back to Canada. And the frequency of editorials gets noticeably higher around that time, too. But I’m gratified to see that our very first editorial, in 2002, called him a child soldier, and we never wavered from that. (see here)

You can almost hear her sigh of relief about the “child soldier” label. Imagine if that was added only after the Conservatives won government.

Now Heartfield needs to get an editorial run based on this anti-Conservative admission

and:

http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2012/07/24/ten-years-of-citizen-editorials-on-omar-khadr/

Ottawa Citizen>Blogs >Opinion>Ed Board Ed Board RSS Feed
Ten years of Citizen editorials on Omar KhadrJuly 24, 2012. 12:16 pm • Section: Ed Board  3 2380

Posted on Jun 22, 2012
Chris Selley of the National Post has written a great column on the way Canada has viewed Omar Khadr since Khadr’s detention, at the age of 15, by American forces. He makes an interesting point that the tide of public – or at least pundit — opinion on Khadr started to shift circa 2006, conveniently letting the Liberals off the hook for their role in the mess.

I got curious, and went into the archive Infomart to see how the Citizen’s editorials have evolved on this subject. The year Khadr was captured, 2002, happened to be the year I started writing editorials on a fairly regular basis for the Citizen, although I wasn’t a full-time member of the board until two years later. I wrote some of our editorials on Khadr over the last 10 years, although not all of them.

Selley’s right: Around 2006 there’s a noticeable shift in tone. In July, 2006, comes our first editorial calling in no uncertain terms for him to be brought back to Canada. And the frequency of editorials gets noticeably higher around that time, too. But I’m gratified to see that our very first editorial, in 2002, called him a child soldier, and we never wavered from that.

[UPDATE: Some on Twitter are interpreting this blog post as an "admission" that the Citizen changed its tone on Khadr because the Tories took office in 2006. Frankly, I'm not sure how anyone could have interpreted this blog post that way, but for extra clarity: As you'll see below, the thrust of our editorials has been consistent since 2002. What did change in 2006 is that the editorials got more frequent, and the prescription changed slightly from "let's make sure Khadr is treated fairly" to "Well, he hasn't been treated fairly, so let's bring him home." What changed around 2006, as well as the Tories taking office, was that that it became clear Khadr's rights had not been respected in U.S. custody.]

Here are some excerpts from the Citizen’s 32 editorials on Khadr over the last 10 years (almost all of those 32 were devoted to the Khadr case, but a few were on larger topics and included references to the Khadr case.) I haven’t excerpted all of them, just a sample.

*

Canada’s child soldier: U.S. should let our diplomats assess a teen held in Afghanistan
The Ottawa Citizen
Thu Sep 12 2002

[...]

According to international custom, where child warriors are concerned the emphasis should be on rehabilitation rather than punishment. In the case of Omar Khadr, rehabilitation would mean detoxifying his mind. But is it already too late?

Consular access might help Canadian authorities answer that question. The U.S. should allow a diplomatic visit. Those who poisoned Omar Khadr’s mind have already had enough of a head start.

*

Child soldier
The Ottawa Citizen
Mon Nov 14 2005

If terrorism dehumanizes, one way to fight it is to humanize. Imagine, then, that you are an al-Qaeda recruit in Afghanistan in 2002. This is a difficult thing to ask of a Citizen reader, but it is worth doing.

So imagine you are a 15-year-old boy raised by hatemongers, including your own father. You have spent your childhood drinking from a poisoned chalice of fanaticism and conspiracy theories. You have been taught to worship a cult of death.

You can hear the enemy getting closer. Your comrades are dead or dying. Perhaps you pick up a grenade, ecstatic that finally you have a chance to win favour not just with the psychopathic men who raised you but with the angry God they taught you to worship. A boy in a firefight, under such circumstances, might be expected to throw that grenade. The question then becomes: How did he end up in the firefight in the first place?

[...]

Young Omar is responsible for his actions, whatever they were. But responsibility is not black and white. For teenagers, in particular, it is decidedly grey. Canadian law recognizes that young offenders are different. That doesn’t mean they get off without punishment. It means they’re different.

*

Khadr is our problem, too
The Ottawa Citizen
Sat Jan 14 2006
As much as we might wish that Omar Khadr didn’t exist, Canada must not abandon him during his trial at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay. For good or bad, he is a Canadian. We are responsible to him and, arguably, for him. [...]

*

Get Omar Khadr back
The Ottawa Citizen
Tue Jul 4 2006
Omar Khadr belongs in Canadian custody, and it’s time for our government to start working to bring him home.

Mr. Khadr, now 19, has been a captive at Guantanamo Bay since he was 15. He’s accused of throwing a grenade that killed an American medic and wounded others in a battle in Afghanistan.

He’s accused under a system the United States Supreme Court overturned last week: the military tribunal that was to hear Mr. Khadr’s case not only violates the Geneva Conventions, according to the court, but U.S. domestic law as well. [...]

*

Prisoner’s dilemma
The Ottawa Citizen
Tue Jan 16 2007

[...] Four and a half years is too long to hold a Canadian teenager who has not been convicted. The U.S. has had ample time to ascertain his status. We hold no brief for the Khadr family — who could? — but the U.S. must either try Mr. Khadr and release him or give him a fair and humane sentence. An even better course would be to transfer him to Canadian custody.

There are many bad people at Guantanamo, but also many who, as previous experience suggests, are not so bad after all. Even if Omar Khadr is among the bad ones, he still deserves a fair hearing.

*

The problem of boy soldiers
The Ottawa Citizen
Tue Jun 5 2007
Page: A12
Section: News – Editorial
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
Ishmael and Omar used to have a lot in common. When Ishmael was 15, he was rounding up rebel sympathizers and shooting them. When Omar was 15, he allegedly threw a grenade that killed a 28-year-old medic in the United States Army.

Two boys, both taught to hate, and to fight, have become two very different men. Ishmael Beah, who was a child soldier in Sierra Leone, was rescued and is now a media darling with a book that’s high on the New York Times bestseller list. Omar Khadr, who was fighting in Afghanistan, was captured and has spent the past five years in Guantanamo Bay.

*

More Khadr questions
The Ottawa Citizen
Mon Mar 17 2008

It’s hard to think of a right that hasn’t been violated in the Omar Khadr case.

Omar Khadr was enlisted as a child to fight on the side of Islamist terrorism. He was wounded in Afghanistan at the age of 15, and detained for six years, before being tried for murder. His age was never taken into account.

Now, there’s reason to suspect that the United States military abused him during its interrogations and altered the evidence against him.

[...]

Ultimately, the question of whether Mr. Khadr did or did not throw the grenade is less important than whether the U.S. military is willing to alter records to suit its own purposes.

Mr. Khadr, whatever he did or didn’t do on the battlefield, was a child soldier. Canada should do everything in its power to bring him home.

*

Returning Omar Khadr
The Ottawa Citizen
Thu Jan 22 2009

The Conservative’s obstinacy could be changing, however. On Wednesday, federal Defence Minister Peter MacKay said his government is reassessing its position on Mr. Khadr in light of the Obama administration’s implied admission this week that all is not well with the Guantanamo model.

Just 15 years old when he was arrested at the scene of an Afghanistan battle for which he was subsequently charged with murdering a U.S. soldier, Mr. Khadr is part of a family whose members have admitted they knew Osama bin Laden when they lived in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It could well be that Mr. Khadr is still sympathetic to jihadist philosophy.

Yet the fact remains that Mr. Khadr was a child soldier and under the influence of his father’s Islamist politics at the time of his capture. The case against him is weak, owing to the interrogation methods he endured. Evidence that he threw a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier has been contradicted. Even if he did throw the grenade, he was in the midst of a battle and, it seems, seriously wounded at the time, which may mitigate a finding of guilt.

Those are all issues for a Canadian court. Mr. Khadr should have been returned home long ago to sort them out. Now Mr. Obama has forced the point. The new president’s vow to close Guantanamo seems finally to raise the question of Omar Khadr’s predicament.

Former general Roméo Dallaire is among those who have pressured the federal government to act. Mr. Dallaire travelled to Washington last week to ask then president-elect Obama to return Mr. Khadr to Canada. “The reason I am here is because I have gotten nowhere in Canada,” the former general said.

Mr. Khadr deserves justice, something that even the Americans are now realizing could never be found at Guantanamo Bay.

*

Avoiding the question
Ottawa Citizen
Tue Nov 2 2010

Omar Khadr’s military trial may be over, but the Canadian government’s problems are not.

There is, of course, the question of his eventual reintegration into Canadian society. But before that chicken comes home to roost, there’s the immediate problem of cabinet ministers who, when confronted with the illogic of the government’s position toward child soldiers, can only respond like gibbering robots.

[...] Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon was asked recently whether Canada believes that 15-year-old child soldiers in Uganda or Sudan should be prosecuted or rehabilitated, Cannon dismissed the question as “hypothetical.” It’s certainly not hypothetical to the teenage recruits of non-state forces such as the Tamil Tigers or the Lord’s Resistance Army.

It also won’t be hypothetical the next time Canadian forces capture a child.

[...]

 

[GAP]

Prosecution nixed Khadr guilty plea two years before conviction
Colin Perkel Toronto — The Canadian Press Thursday, Jul. 26 2012
Article Link

Two years before the plea deal that was supposed to mean his quick exit from Guantanamo Bay, Omar Khadr offered to plead guilty to terrorism charges in Canada in exchange for a relatively lenient sentence and speedy transfer to Canada, documents show.

The offer was one of two proposals Mr. Khadr’s lawyers put to military commission authorities in 2008 in hopes of avoiding a trial. The convening authority rejected both out of hand.

In the first proposal, Mr. Khadr’s Pentagon-appointed lawyer at the time, Lt.-Cmdr. Bill Kuebler, called on Washington to ask Canada to “investigate and charge” his client under the Criminal Code offence of participation in the activity of a terrorist group.

The basis for the charge would have been video showing Mr. Khadr as a young adolescent helping make improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan.

“The defence believes sufficient evidence is currently available ... to initiate charges,” Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler wrote in the proposal dated July 18, 2008.

Under the proposal, Mr. Khadr would then have pleaded guilty in a Canadian court either via videolink or through a lawyer, followed by transfer to Canadian custody within 45 days.

The proposal called for a sentence of between nine and 18 months in custody – including a stint at an “appropriate rehabilitative facility” such as the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

He would also have been subject to a three-year period of probation, including restrictions that he not live with his mother or sister in Toronto.

Now 25, the Toronto-born Mr. Khadr also would have given up appeal rights and waived any damages claims against the U.S. or Canada.

Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler attempted to sell the deal as “advantageous” to the United States, arguing it would avoid a legal fight over the fact that Mr. Khadr was 15 years old when he committed the crimes with which he was charged.

“As a former child soldier, Mr. Khadr has a strong legal challenge to the jurisdiction of the military commission,” Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler wrote.

“It is abundantly clear that Congress did not intend military commissions to exercise jurisdiction over juvenile defendants.”

Prosecuting Mr. Khadr by military commission was also “inconsistent” with American obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the lawyer wrote.

Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler argued the case against Mr. Khadr for throwing a grenade that killed a special forces soldier was “extremely weak.” No one witnessed the throwing, and the on-scene commander wrote after the incident that the person responsible had been killed, the lawyer noted.

Like many others, Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler also questioned the validity of the charge – murder in violation of the law of war – a crime most legal observers outside the commission process don’t recognize.

Commission authorities responded by saying they had no jurisdiction to enter into such a plea agreement.

Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler tried again two months later, with similar results.

In September 2008, he proposed that Mr. Khadr would admit to being “part of a group of al-Qaeda operatives who engaged in U.S. military and coalition personnel with small-arms fire and grenades, killing SFC Christopher Speer, two Afghan militia force members and resulting in numerous injuries to coalition personnel.”

In exchange, Mr. Khadr was to receive a maximum nine-year sentence, minus time served in custody since his capture in Afghanistan in July 2002. Transfer to a Canadian prison would have occurred within 30 days of sentencing.

The convening authority rejected the proposal without giving reasons, but encouraged further negotiations.

In an agreement essentially written by the prosecution, Mr. Khadr finally pleaded guilty in October 2010 to all five charges he faced – including murder in violation of the law of war. In return, he was sentenced to a further eight years in custody, with only one to be served in Guantanamo Bay.

Ottawa’s subsequent delay in allowing his transfer to a Canadian prison to serve out his sentence as per the plea deal has drawn fierce criticism from Mr. Khadr’s supporters and others who argue the government is riding roughshod over his rights as a Canadian citizen.

Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler, who was fired as Mr. Khadr’s lawyer in April 2009, refused to discuss the proposed deals.
end

 

[daftandbarmy]

I had an interesting discussion with a woman from Kentucky last night. Fully educated and normal in most other respects, I might add. However, she was clearly one of those people who Rick Mercer encounters on a regular basis:

Her: "You mean the Queen is still the ruler of Canada?"

Me: "Yes, and she has installed a Governor General in Ottawa and a Lieutenant Governor in each Province to make sure that we do her bidding"

Her: "What's Ottawa... what's a Province?"  :facepalm:

 

[GAP]

I thought it might have improved since the sixties, but apparently not....

I had a lot of fun telling folks in San Diego (parents down to see their Johnnies graduate boot camp) about the indian wars, how we tried that toilet thingy in our igloos, but it didn't work well....but hey the Americans seemed to have got it right....why, the stuff just disappears when you press that little handle.....I wonder where to though..... ;D

 

[The Bread Guy]

FYI, I split off the "Minister's spouses get Media 101 the hard way" posts to their own thread ....
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/106973.0.html
.... because there was good discussion on dealing with the media outside the Khadr fracas.

Milnet.ca Staff

 

[Cloud Cover]

Prosecution nixed Khadr guilty plea two years before conviction
Colin Perkel Toronto — The Canadian Press Thursday, Jul. 26 2012
Article Link

Like many others, Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler also questioned the validity of the charge – murder in violation of the law of war – a crime most legal observers outside the commission process don’t recognize.
end

.... But, didn't Canada convict one if its own for just that crime with respect to a wounded Taliban?

 

[PuckChaser]

.... But, didn't Canada convict one if its own for just that crime with respect to a wounded Taliban?

He was found not guilty of murder, attempted murder and negligently performing a military duty but was convicted of disgraceful conduct.

Try convincing the Hague that murder in violation of the law of war isn't a crime...

 

[GAP]

U.S. set to hand over Omar Khadr videotapes to Canadian government
By: Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press 08/13/2012
Article Link

TORONTO - American authorities are expected to hand videotapes of Omar Khadr to the Canadian government this week now that the head of the military commission has signed off on their release.

Khadr's Canadian defence team, meanwhile, served three affidavits on the government on Monday in support of its Federal Court application to force Public Safety Minister Vic Toews to make a decision on the prisoner's transfer from Guantanamo Bay to Canada.

The government has a month to respond but the lawyers said they were hoping the hearing would be expedited.

Toews has demanded access to the tapes of two mental-health assessments done of Khadr prior to his trial two years ago in Guantanamo Bay.

One assessment was by Dr. Michael Welner, the prosecution's star witness at Khadr's military commission trial in October 2010. Welner concluded Khadr, 25, was an unrepentant and dangerous jihadist.

The other was by a U.S. military psychologist, Maj. Alan Hopewell, who considered Khadr to be defensive and manipulative, but also mentally stable, upbeat, and an independent thinker who sees himself as a Canadian.

Bruce MacDonald, the convening authority for the military commissions, agreed immediately to release the tapes.

"Upon request by the prosecution and the defence counsel, in accordance with the terms of the pretrial agreement, I order the videotapes of the examinations by Dr. Welner and Dr. Hopewell partially unsealed," MacDonald directed.

The tapes could only be released to Canadian officials "involved with making decisions related to Mr. Khadr's transfer and confinement" and to "appropriate" American officials involved in transfer discussions with Canadian authorities, MacDonald said.

The tapes are otherwise to remain sealed.
More on link

 

[GAP]

Canada doesn't want Khadr back: Poll
By David Akin, Parliamentary Bureau Chief
Article Link

OTTAWA - Canadians overwhelmingly agree that convicted terrorist Omar Khadr can stay right where he is, in prison at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Though Canada's chief ally wants to send Khadr back to the home and native land where he was born, six in 10 Canadians don't want him back, a new poll finds.

Khadr, born in Toronto in 1986, pleaded guilty in front of a U.S. military court judge in 2010 to several crimes including the killing of an American soldier and two terrorism-related charges. Though a jury recommended he be sentenced to 40 years in jail, the judge gave him an eight-year sentence as part of a plea agreement in which the U.S. agreed that Khadr could serve his time back in Canada.

But though the U.S. government - Canada's most important ally - as well as groups like Amnesty International and the Canadian Bar Association have been pressing the Harper government to take Khadr back, Ottawa has been dragging its heels.

"Don't judge him based on what happened when he was 13- to 15-years old," Khadr's court-appointed lawyer U.S. Army Col. Jon Jackson told Sun News Network during a recent visit to Ottawa. "Judge him on the actions he's taken since then. I think what you'll find is he's a person of a good heart ... He's a good kid who deserves a chance at a very productive life. I think Canadians are going to see him as someon who is not a threat."

But the poll commissioned by Sun News Network and done by Abacaus Data of Ottawa, shows that a healthy majority of Canadians have not been swayed by that plea.

When asked if they support or oppose Khadr's transfer to Canada, 60% say they strongly or somewhat oppose it while just 24% say they strongly or somewhat support his return.

A majority in all parts of the country oppose the transfer though opposition is strongest in Alberta (69%) and Ontario (65%) and weakest in Quebec were 51% oppose the move.
More on link

 

[The Bread Guy]

.... (a) poll commissioned by Sun News Network and done by Abacaus Data of Ottawa, shows that a healthy majority of Canadians have not been swayed by that plea. 

When asked if they support or oppose Khadr's transfer to Canada, 60% say they strongly or somewhat oppose it while just 24% say they strongly or somewhat support his return.

A majority in all parts of the country oppose the transfer though opposition is strongest in Alberta (69%) and Ontario (65%) and weakest in Quebec were 51% oppose the move ....

Abacus Data news release attached - detailed data table downloadable here.

 

[Journeyman]

"Don't judge him based on what happened when he was 13- to 15-years old," Khadr's court-appointed lawyer U.S. Army Col. Jon Jackson told Sun News Network during a recent visit to Ottawa. "Judge him on the actions he's taken since then. I think what you'll find is he's a person of a good heart ... He's a good kid who deserves a chance at a very productive life. I think Canadians are going to see him as someon who is not a threat."

Jackson is Khadr's lawyer; of course he's going to say things like this. Is he willing to put Khadr up at his home? No. But then, it's easy to espouse opinions when you don't have to deal with the consequences.

 

[Edward Campbell]

All of which is meaningless ... the government and 6 out of 10 Canadians are on the legal and moral wrong side of this issue. The sixty percent are wrong because they have not thought this thing through; the government is wrong because it is appeasing the vocal majority, not doing the right thing in the right way.

 

[Kat Stevens]

How so?  And please understand that I am blissfully ignorant of international law.  By extension, do we bring every low life Canadian born criminal home from all their third world shit hole prisons to serve out their time in air conditioned splendour?  I understand that a deal was struck between an American judge, and an American Prosecutor, to get a criminal captured by Americans for committing his act against Americans to do his time in Canada.  Why is Canada obligated to honour the deal?  And, not to come across as flippant, because I'm really not trying to be, but isn't the definition of democracy, majority rule?

 

[Edward Campbell]

How so?  And please understand that I am blissfully ignorant of international law.  By extension, do we bring every low life Canadian born criminal home from all their third world shit hole prisons to serve out their time in air conditioned splendour?  I understand that a deal was struck between an American judge, and an American Prosecutor, to get a criminal captured by Americans for committing his act against Americans to do his time in Canada.  Why is Canada obligated to honour the deal?  And, not to come across as flippant, because I'm really not trying to be, but isn't the definition of democracy, majority rule?

Basically, yes ... and that's why:

1. Canadians'views, no matter how strongly held, don't matter all that much; and

2. The government is on the wrong side of the issue.

Politically the government is making hay on the issue - even their worst enemies hate Khadr more than they hate Harper, but precedents and laws and agreements all matter, too. In the long run keeping our word, honouring our agreements and obeying our own laws all matter more than our collective distaste for Omar Khadr.

 

[Kat Stevens]

Basically, yes ... and that's why:

1. Canadians'views, no matter how strongly held, don't matter all that much; and

2. The government is on the wrong side of the issue.

Politically the government is making hay on the issue - even their worst enemies hate Khadr more than they hate Harper, but precedents and laws and agreements all matter, too. In the long run keeping our word, honouring our agreements and obeying our own laws all matter more than our collective distaste for Omar Khadr.

Respectfully, I must disagree.  Are we obligated to transport, feed, clothe and shelter someone apprehended, tried, convicted and sentenced for smuggling heroin into Singapore?  Does that not smack of interfering with another countries internal affairs?  Again, ignorance is bliss, I suppose, but to my mind if you break a country's laws, you endure their punishments.

Edited to add:  I'll stay out of the rest, I've already waded out of my depth here.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Respectfully, I must disagree.  Are we obligated to transport, feed, clothe and shelter someone apprehended, tried, convicted and sentenced for smuggling heroin into Singapore?  Does that not smack of interfering with another countries internal affairs?  Again, ignorance is bliss, I suppose, but to my mind if you break a country's laws, you endure their punishments.

Edited to add:  I'll stay out of the rest, I've already waded out of my depth here.

The thing is governed by (a series of) Transfer of Offenders treaties; see here. The government does have some "rights" to refusal and one case, at least, where the government refuses to allow a prisoner in the USA to return home (because the Minister says he is a threat to public safety, even in prison), is being considered by the Supremes right now.

 

[jollyjacktar]

The thing is governed by (a series of) Transfer of Offenders treaties; see here. The government does have some "rights" to refusal and one case, at least, where the government refuses to allow a prisoner in the USA to return home (because the Minister says he is a threat to public safety, even in prison), is being considered by the Supremes right now.

And there's the rub.  Legally we are going to be compelled to bring this oxygen thief home.  I don't have to like it, and I won't.  But I'll have to watch it happen sooner rather than later.  I also don't believe for one moment Jackson's tune on Khadr's sterling character.  I just hope the Feds keep on him like white on rice until he is no longer a viable threat.

 

[KevinB]

Charge him with treason when he sets foot in Canada. 
  Shove him down a well and then pour in the concrete.

 

[Infanteer]

Was it ever decided if he was a either a prisoner of war or a criminal or is he still in some sort of War on Terror in-between?