Omar Khadr was front and centre in the news this week as tapes of his interrogation were released and Canada's army of bleeding hearts and ultra-liberals called for him to be returned to Canada immediately in light of the "torture" he was enduring in Guantanamo Bay. In truth, the interrogation footage I've seen is mild. There's no screaming or violence. The interrogators are calm. Khadr is fed and has had access to medical care. I see no torture. All I see is a young extremist being forced to lie in the bed him and his family have made.
I admit, Omar Khadr is young, having been captured in Afghanistan at the young age of 15. However, I do not consider him to be a child soldier. Child soldiers are recruited by brutal regimes around the world, from the Sudan to Burma, and they are usually not 15 year old extremists who are sympathetic to the cause. Child soldiers are young children (note: not teenagers) who are forced to fight. Khadr is and has been a willing participant in his families disgraceful and dangerous association with Osama bin Laden and Muslim extremists. There are videos of Omar Khadr helping construct bomb materials for use on Western forces (including Canadian soldiers) in Afghanistan, and he was captured after an hours-long firefight, which ended when one of the two American medics who were checking for survivors was blown up by a grenade tossed by either Khadr or one of his comrades, killing 28 year old Christopher Speer. Khadr was and is an enemy combatant, an extremist and a terrorist. Yes, he was only 15, but he remains those things nonetheless. 15 is not a child. At 15 years, you know right from wrong, and Khadr knew that he and his family were out to fight the Western world, to fight all those who did not follow Islam.
Omar Khadr undoubtedly was shaped and influenced by his parents, especially his father. But does that excuse his actions? Do we let him go, patting the scamp on the head while chuckling "boys will be boys?" No. We must treat him as the terrorist he is, regardless of how he got to this point. Why his family is allowed to live in Toronto to this day, espousing their hatred and doctrine to others is another story. It is a disgrace that the Khadr family is allowed to live freely in Canada, and is allowed to bleed our health care system of tens of thousands of dollars to pay for their other son, Omar's younger brother Abdulkareem, who was paralyzed during another firefight in the Middle East, this time alongside Papa Khadr.
Omar Khadr's story is a sad one. It is terrible that more was not done to prevent the parents of this twisted family from indoctrinating their children and transforming them from innocent boys to Muslim extremists. However, it is now done. Omar Khadr is now a 21 year old extremist sitting in a detention centre for being involved with the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden. No one in Canada should be held without trial or charges or access to a lawyer. Those are rights we hold dear and if this were to happen to any Canadian anywhere in this great country, it should be stopped immediately. But this is an different circumstance. This is war. This is terrorism. And Omar Khadr should have thought of that before he helped kill troops in Afghanistan. Canada should request that the United States proceed with a trial immediately, as those legal rights are fundamental. But it is the United States' jurisdiction to hold the trial, as it was their national who was killed. Beyond that, Canada should not seek to get Khadr returned, as I doubt he would get the severe treatment that he deserves. I can far too easily imagine the image of young Omar being returned home to his family in Toronto after Canada's backwards legal system set him free and allowed him to return to his family of spies, saboteurs and terrorists. Khadr's lawyers, his family, and the bleeding hearts in this country would like to see Canadians, awash in sympathy and empathy, demand that Omar be brought home. But luckily, there are a few too many Canadians who share opinions like mine for that to happen.
2 comments:
"However, I do not consider him to be a child soldier."
The UN Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (which both Canada and the US have signed), does however view Omar as Child soldier, as he was under the age of 18.
that's great. there is, in fact, plenty that the UN and I disagree about.
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