When the U.S government has the "right" to torture minors
The current U.S government, and any of its sympathisers, should never preach democracy and human rights for as long as the despicable and unjust Guantanamo Bay prison is still in operation. Torturing mere suspects is a severe crime, especially if they are not even allowed a fair trial, regardless of what they are accused of.
For some reason I cannot believe that we are still condemning this and demanding that Gitmo gets shut down. The U.S government doesn’t respect this international outcry and its own laws. And because of that, here we go again:
Omar Khadr is a 21 year old Canadian citizen who was only 15 years old when he was arrested by the U.S military in eastern Afghanistan for supposedly killing a U.S medic. What child would do that? A troubled child who should not be left to rot in a torturous illegal prison. Normally, he should have been regarded as a child combatant, recognized as a victim. This is a young boy who grew up in an extremist family and was caught in urban warfare, which should lead us into thinking that he is in need of serious psychological help due to the trauma that he must have suffered throughout his childhood. Is that the concern of the U.S military? No. Why? He’s not American. The American government should not be left to do what it wishes to citizens of other countries. He should be sent to his native Canada to face Canadian justice. Frankly he is the responsibility of the Canadian government and should be dealt with there and not in the hands of the U.S military.
A video of Khadr’s interrogation has recently been released by his lawyers after a lengthy legal struggle. He was 16 at the time the video was shot.
If any other organization was doing what the U.S government is doing today, people would have declared it a terrorist organization working in what is beyond illegal by international law. But again, there is no equal treament today of such things. If America commits the crimes, they get away with it. Anyone else is a terrorist.
There are many innocent prisoners suffering without them having any form of outside interaction or legal rights, thus the horror stories we hear today of the grave crimes committed by the hypocritical U.S government are just a few of thousands. Remember Sami, Al Jazeera’s Sudanese cameraman, who was abused and imprisoned for 5 years at Guantanamo? I did not hear a public apology, or any activism in America on his behalf, especially considering the fact that he was never charged with anything but being a mere “suspect.” The guy was just doing his job when he was brutally arrested and left to suffer in a disgusting prison cell. For years no one cared. Had this kidnapping and abusive imprisonment been committed by a terrorist organization like Al Qaeda, we would be reminded of it every split second. But it was America who committed this crime, and it was an Arab Muslim who was being abused, so no one cared.
Dear U.S government, do not preach human rights to us, until you take care of your own human rights abuses. Release Omar Khadr from your illegal terrorist operation and allow him to face Canadian law and be allowed a fair trial and sufficient access to him by his lawyers. Otherwise, to us, you will forever be the terrorists that you love to complain about and you will forever inspire extremism against you.
Here at MEY we consistently condemn human rights abuses by our governments or any extremist elements within our society. The U.S government is no exception. A crime is a crime, regardless of your rank or worldwide reputation.
Fix this despicable crime.
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John Walker Lindh, an “enemy combatant”, was allowed due process, even though there exists concrete evidence rather than speculation against him. Why? Because he is an American.
This is very disturbing.
This is a particularly shameful stain on my countries’ reputation, to be sure. He was captured and imprisoned during the height of the paranoid “national security” surge that affected not only the US but Canada as well, and saw several arab Muslims in Canada detained without charge and even illegally extradited to other countries (as in the Mahar Arar case).
When Omar was captured, the Khadr family instantly became national news. This was compounded when the father was killed in a firefight and another Kadr son returned to Canada, wounded and in a wheelchair, with his mother. Unfortunately, the attitude of most Canadians turned decisively against the Khadrs when the mother gave an interview where she revealed that she hated Canada, it’s people and culture, and their family moved away so that the children would not be “infected” with our corrupt infidel ways. Our free medical care, welfare and disability benefits, apparently, were still good enough to return to. This, and the decision of Canada to not participate in the “coalition of the willing” to invade Iraq, thus considerably cooling relations, took the impetus away from diplomatic requests of return to visits by Canadian security staff for the above mentioned interviews.
The weakening and replacement of the Liberal government by a Conservative one, led by Stephen Harper, who had led the fight to join the Iraq war, and the ongoing Canadian participation and soldier’s deaths in Afghanistan, did little to prick the countries conscience concerning Omar Khadr. Issues such as the uncovering of supposed bomb plots in Toronto, financial militant support networks in Montreal and Ottawa, the Ontario Sharia debate, and the cartoon crisis all fuelled the feeling of being under religious assault in Canada, and the Khadr’s remained the capstone on this.
Recently, however, the mood has shifted. The successful settling of the Mahar Arar case in suing the government for his illegal imprisonment (8 million bucks!), sustained critisism of the legally questionable tactics of both the Mounties and CSIS, and most recently the slamming of the handling of this case by Romeo Dallaire (the UN peacekeeping commander during the Rwanda genocide) have all pushed this case back into the forefront.
I have to tell you that this is a much debated issue for Canadians. One the one hand, we have a long history of “disagreements” with the American legal penal system, (not to mention the illegal one), and Canada has refused to deport many an accused criminal who, if convicted, would face the death penalty.
This policy has not particularly endeared us to the US in matters such as these.
Also, Canadians are disgusted with the Gitmo situation and the whole Iraq war.
On the other hand, there has not been, in my memory, a more reviled family in Canada than the Khadrs, who have and continue to use all of our societies benefits and then spit in our faces.
I think that the US would probably release Omar Khadr if enough pressure was applied, since he is now the last foreign national from a Western country in Gitmo, and there is considerable suspicion regarding the nature of his charges. The question is whether the Canadian government finally has the will to do so.
He was captured during a fight with the US Army along with other Al Qaeda elements. He had traveled north with the AQ element as a body.
He does not speak Farsi, Pashtu or Dari only Arabic so could only deal with the AQ crowd, he was not a taliban but an AQ soldier.
He was observed throwing a grenade that killed one soldier and partially blinded another. A very dedicated child.
He made the choice to go to Afghanistan and to fight with the AQ. He made a bad choice.
There are sworn written statements from multiple sources observing him acting as a soldier and fighting, the only contradiction is himself, he didn’t do it. He was in Afghanistan to study religion (from Pashtun speaking Mullah’s?) He accidentally got mixed up with the wrong crowd (uh huh).
JWL is in jail for a minimum of 20 years, I’d have given him 40.
Canadians are fighting in the Kandahar area and doing well at it, they have no problem taking prisoners and killing Taliban.
Canada recently decided to return the 200 or so US awol soldiers, good for Canada.
I do not see how any of what you said justifies his illegal detainment and torture by the abusive U.S military in Guantanamo.
No one here is denying what he did, what we are strongly condemning is the fact that the U.S military is torturing this minor when they have absolutely no right to do so. This is what the UN defines as a form of terrorism.
It is illegal, it is against international law, it is against human rights.
Shame on the current U.S government. Shame on the U.S military staff at Guantanamo. Release this kid and send him back to Canada to be put through a real trial instead of playing with people’s lives!
What torture are you refering too? Sleep depravation?
He is well fed (the average Gitmo prisoner puts on 20 pounds in captivity), He has medical care, religious allowances (halal meals, Qur’an, prayer rugs etc) a library, television.
What would you say/do to garner public sympathy? We allow foreign entities to observe, tour, talk to the captives….he has a lawyer who brought this tape out, he’s not secluded.
He will be tried, he may be released, maybe not, as the evidence against him is lengthy but he is not being ‘tortured’.
He cries for his Mom when he’s being filmed for a reason, to garner sympathy.
If boys want to play with guns they should be prepared to be treated as men. He should have talked to his mother before traveling to and joining AQ.
Capturing combatives on the field of battle is not against the law, neither is putting them in pow camps.
This is a different kind of war, but a war non the less.
As you know quite a few that have been released from Gitmo have been recaptured/killed in Iraq/Afghanistan.
The arrest and send 12 olds in the us to prison and tried as an adult. Had Khadr done this crime in the ME and found guily he would have been killed. I want his mom, who was a Canadian citizen charged under Canadian law for abuse and neglect.
No one mentions that. Khadr was born in Canada and had he done this crime in Canada I doubt to they would have gotten his case to trial either. No fast courts there either. ME prisons are worse in they do not feed or give medical care free. Khadr parents did this him. If his mother was noble she would trade places with him but she never will She is a coward.
Because the post is not about that. It’s not about his background as a child or his familial issues. It’s about the illegal Guantanamo detention camp.
15 year olds, in the US, may be charged as an adult for capitol crimes (murder, rape, kidnapping)it does not happen often but can happen depending upon the crime.
He was not a ‘child’ at 15 but a youth, a young man, and I might add old enough to marry and carry a weapon in the ME.
What would he have grown into as a 15 year old AQ soldier, another suicide bomber perhaps, maybe we saved his young life.
Gitmo is not illegal under US law and is tied to the US thru the Defense dept. UCMJ and thru the Civilian Judiciary. He would not have an assigned lawyer in an illegal operation would he.
What status are you claiming for it’s illegality?
The entire world, including the Supreme Court, considers this disgusting prison to be illegal. Stop justifying terrorism already and read the post clearly. No one is saying he should walk free, but he is not the responsibility of the U.S military to do what they wish to do to this kid, including torture. Innocent people too have been suffering in this camp for as much as 5 years. If it were Americans being imprisoned and tortured, regardless of their crimes, people would be outraged (and probably blaming Islam.) Send him back to Canada and have him face Canadian justice instead of torturing people at your wish! This is getting pathetic. You can bet that we won’t stay silent over this.
I disagree, he was captured on the battlefield and international law supports that.
I was unaware that you speak for “the whole world” and the US Supreme Court, which has not declared the institution ‘illegal’ but defined some of the jurisprudence issues.
Canada, at that time, was not involved in Afghanistan nor was NATO…with what would they charge him, would they have to apply retro charges, is that legal?
p.s.
Actually, Esra’a, US soldiers captured by the AQ/Talib are found buried somewhere, headless or burned beyond recognition and I.D’d by DNA. Our soldiers know this and accept it as part of their ‘load’.
So now the U.S military are victims who have the right to take our their revenge and anger on anyone they feel deserves it? I don’t see you saying anything about Sami and the many others who were in fact, completely innocent but had to endure the disgusting torture in your name. You seem to be proud of that. Are you? This is your war against terrorism? Shameful. I am surprised that this rubbish is justified by Americans and members of the U.S military such as yourself. I expected better from you. I was wrong. I guess when it comes to what you guys want anyone is eligible to suffer in the process, even minors.
The U.S military is involved in terrorist activities and should be condemned – we are lucky right now that there are 2 presidential candidates who are against this filth and plan to shut it down. The current administration is a disgrace to humanity.
“So now the U.S military are victims who have the right to take our their revenge and anger on anyone they feel deserves it?”
I didn’t say nor infer that. To the contrary.
I don’t know ‘Sami’ but have you ever in your life heard someone say they were not ‘innocent’, you choose to believe what you will and I will do the same.
I know they are not being ‘tortured’ in Gitmo and simply disagree with you regarding the now 20 year old young man.
This war on terror and how one handles combatants is new ground for us/everyone and we’re not 100% sure as to how to handle it….are the soldiers, terrs, criminals…do we hold them like POW’s, civil criminals etc. It’s not a black/white situation.
I have a hard time releasing proven enemies while the war is still being waged. Does that make sense?
I’m surprised you haven’t commented upon the men we have released and how some have been killed or recaptured fighting again.
No, Esra’a, I would never condone torture and have never violated a prisoner I’ve taken. I believe soldiers should be punished for doing so.
Neither would I allow present prisoners the opportunity to kill more Americans by simply releasing them.
You’ve not answered my question about the legality of Canada trying this man, I don’t think it would be legal as his actions predate the Canadian involvement and believe this is why Canada is not asking for his release. He would simply be released. If he were released to Canada we’d have to ask for extradition to try him in the US for terrorism. It would equate to the status quo.
I’m not ‘angry’ at this man I just recognize him for who he is.
Guantanamo is a disgrace to the so-called “civilized world”. Innocent people are being held for arbitrarily many years and released without compensation. Guilty people are being held without trial.
Do you realize how much trust the U.S. loses by doing things like this? It’s not the world’s fault that the U.S. is the only remaining superpower. If the U.S. is not trusted in the world, it has to use force to retain it’s status (like dictators do).
I guess amongst the unethical things that the U.S army are taught and forced to swallow is abusing teenagers and eventually killing them, which apparently is not frowned upon but like I said, encouraged and disgustingly justified in what is one of the worst human crimes that this generation has ever seen.
Few things for you:
Shame on the hypocritical and abusive U.S government.
Shame on Canada for its silence and discrimination.
Everyone who respects international law and human rights wants Omar to be sent back to Canada in order to face Canadian justice.
This is terrorism in every sense of the word. Kidnapping people, many of whom are innocent, torturing them, including minors, for YEARS on end without being allowed a fair trial or sufficient access to their lawyers, families, et al, is simply disgusting. Have some shame in yourself and the terrorists you are serving.
A trial for POWs is not the norm, an example would be the US prisoners in North Vietnam. They were released with a treaty at the end of hostilities and some had been held for 8-9 years.
I don’t think the Canadians want him.
He’s been held but not ‘abused’ he looks rather healthy for a guy that was shot twice on the battlefield.
There were 141 released in ’07 and the remainder are predominatley hard core AQ or have substantial evidence as AQ soldiers against them. Seven of the released have been killed, recaptured fighting again.
“I think it’s deplorable that he would say that there’s nothing to be done,” Khadr’s U.S, military lawyer, Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler told CTV Newsnet. “This Canadian prime minister refuses to stand up to the Bush administration and protect the rights of a Canadian citizen…..an assigned lawyer, military or civilian, is only a spokesman for his client, in other words he does not have to tell the truth per se on his clients behalf. Also, why would this sailor say such things if the US military is trained to abuse and kill young boys? You can’t have it both ways.
Sorry to disagree I just believe him to be a bit more than a child and he happens to be responsible for his predicament.
Sorry Es, Patb is right, International Law permits what is going on and this matter can in no wise been viewed as terrorism or even a human rights abuse. Much of your argumentation seems very emotional rather than rooted in reason and actual knowledge of International Law.
Maybe the bigger question should be, is is right that such activity is permitted under international law? I am not sure, we just live in hard times, the issue is that we are living in a world with a new type of “warfare” and the western world has no clue how to tackle it.
Es, I really enjoy reading the posts here but I think that instead of focusing on this rather silly example which is acceptable under International Law the focus should be more on the huge issues that the ME is facing. You simply can not compare the human rights abuses of the western world with what is happening in the ME. For one, Omar is receiving the support and help of thousands of americans and canadians as they live in countries where they can publicly disagree with their government and act to bring about change (exp the video was released and available for the eyes of the world). This type of open society is no where to be seen in the ME (except Israel, where Israelis are permitted and regularly protest the treatment of Palestinians), I personally think that this forum should focus on building these types of open societies which allow for open discussion and critic of the government. Peace, J.
ps PATB, hope to read more of your comments here, you seem to be from the field, what is your background?
This is a disgusting and racially motivated statement, based on nothing but hypocrisy. Crimes by American soldiers or the American government are “silly” even if some of them are 10 times worse than crimes in the Middle East (what a gross generalization by the way) and according to you, should go unpunished, unmentioned, and uncondemned, despite how despicable they may be. Sorry, but I don’t flow that way. A human rights crime is a human rights crime regardless of who you are – I expected to get a comment like yours here so read my conclusion in the post again. I don’t care about your race or rank; if you commit the crime, you get condemned. This is just how it is. Americans are no better. Your bias won’t change my mind that this is a crime against human rights caused by disrespect for international law, which frankly does not allow for this operation to be permissible – and I’m not the only one who feels that way.
Read more.
Read more.
Read more.
I can go on if you want me to.
Of course I would get emotional over this, anyone who doesn’t get emotional over this kind of deliberate abuse must not respect human rights, especially considering the fact that there are children and innocent individuals involved in this mess. I can’t stomach this kind of bullshit any longer.
Well, to weigh in on this again, the main objection to his incarceration, his being a minor at the time of his capture and thus technically a child soldier, will prevent his being charged or tried under Canadian Law. First, Canada does not consider minors to be reponsible for their actions in such situations, and, for those who commit crimes domestically, we have the Young Offenders Act, where , unless extraordinary circumstances compel a judge to order a youth tried as an adult, a youth offenders crimes are erased when they turn 18. This includes jail time.
However, I just heard that the government is considering “special legislation” to allow him to be tried under our version of the “Homeland security” Act.
What a witchhunt! I hope the Supreme Court decides to torpedo this particular Machiavellian bit of sucking up to US interests.
It’s abhorrent that an international treaty that our legislators helped to write is going to be intentionally flouted to appease foreign interests. Then again, this is the same administration that has let the US do it’s dirty work in keeping Omar imprisoned and letting them save money on watching him if he did return.
Whether or not he did what he was accused of, under current Canadian law and under international agreement of which we are signatories, he was a minor at the time and thus is not only not responsible for such actions, but is now in principle no longer even on record for committing such offenses. Our own legislation should compel our leaders to demand his immediate release.
Any potential threat to public safety that he poses is then the purview of the police, and certainly not under any principle of assumed guilt.
To be honest, I find it distasteful that my tax dollars are going to aid and comfort the Khadr family, but principle is more important than a few bucks.
The Canadian government has thrown away more than enough money on worse ideas.
However, the decision comes down to American mercy and respect for international law, so don’t expect much out of THIS administration.
Esra’a,
Presently there are around 250 prisoners in Gitmo and the youngest is our friend Omar.
I’d need a source to debate the comments you pasted. Those ‘comments’ look to be from a magazine article written by a commentator and not a judicial opinion on international law.
Gitmo has been inspected, numerous times, for compliance with red cross/red crecent and Geneva convention accords and found to be in compliance. The food, sanitary conditions, exercise facilities, libraries et al exceed any international standard for a detention facility.
I also wish this situation was not required, I wish we did not need jails at all and that all men/women could be trusted to act appropriately in the international society we have today. Sadly, that is naive, no it is more than naive it is extremely dangerous.
I also agree that the situation with children is very difficult. That most recent youtube video that went around, the one with the 12 year old boy sawing a living mans head off while being cheered on by his Taliban friends. What does one do with children raised to commit violence? If we can reeducate them then lets try but a certain amount of restraint must go along with the reeducation.
Jamal,
Military, mostly ME/Asia since the 70′s. I understand and respect Esra’a position though as I was as emotional as she at that period of my life. There is nothing wrong with feeling that strongly about something as long as it does not cloud your reasoning ability. Things are not just black/white and an individual incident does not color the whole.
I often agree with her on subjects and I know I disapoint her in this.
Just because something is deemed acceptable under international law doesn’t make it right, which I think is part of the point here. Violations of human rights happen everywhere every day – the recourse when these violations occur is what differs among countries.
Patb is right that the US Supreme Court has never once declared Gitmo “illegal” it simply has attacked the ways that some prisoners at Gitmo have been tried, which have been deemed unacceptable under the US constitution. Those members of US forces who use torture methods on prisoners are tried in military courts. And Esra’a, regarding your point that both candidates agree that Gitmo is not ok, I wonder how you formed that opinion – McCain recently voted in the Senate for a bill that declares that waterboarding is not torture and is an acceptable interrogation method.
I agree with some of the other posters, Patb and Jamal included, that international law permits what is going on at Gitmo for one major reason: domestic law supercedes international law. If someone has a human rights complaint against a country, it must first be heard in that country (hence what is going on with the cases regarding Gitmo – they are reaching the US Supreme Court). If the individual continues to appeal, then it would go to a regional court (in this case, the Inter-American court which covers North and South America), which must decide first and foremost if the individual did/did not get a fair trial at the domestic level. Let me reiterate that point: the higher court will not decide whether or not there was a violation of human rights until it decides if the previous courts gave a fair trial.
Nothing gets to the Hague until passing by the regional courts. Of course, this is different when crimes are brought against heads of state (recent Sudanese pres is an example), or in the cases of mass violations (tribunals in Rwanda after the genocide).
I don’t think anyone here is saying that using torture against Omar was OK – the question now becomes what will happen to Omar and to those who tortured him. Omar should be tried for his crimes (as noted by a previous poster, he is 15 – which according to US domestic laws means he can be tried as an adult if the crime is henious enough), and those who tortured him should also be punished. There is accountability here, even if you don’t agree with what forms that accountability takes.
Actually the little prick is lucky to be alive. The Americans are treating him as well as any POW, and he has all his rights and religious needs met. He’s bad ass enough to kill a medic(protected under Geneva Convention, and killing him would be a prosecutable offence if he actually belonged to an army instead of a terrorist cell) so he should be bad ass enough to put up with an imprisonment he so justly deserves. Screw that little whiner.
They said that too about every single innocent prisoner in that sorry excuse for a terrorist center (yes, Gitmo.) So much for human rights in the “great nation.”
A minor American murderer would have never suffered the same fate. But I guess for those backwards Muslims, Arabs and Pakistanis, everything is deserved.
Guantanamo is WAY worse than just any “imprisonment,” especially for all the kids in it, some of which I’m sure are completely innocent.
I really think you misunderstand. If this kid was in an American prison, he’d be some body’s “punk” and soon be wearing high heels and a dress. That is if he didn’t suddenly get dead. The guys we have in jail here kill/do whatever they want, whenever they want, because they have nothing to lose….what are they going to do to them? Those guys make badasses look like sissys. Give them another life sentence? The kid murdered someone. He murdered a soldier, a medic. A highly respected person. Innocent, my ass. He was caught red-handed. Gitmo is the BEST protection the little shit ever had. The US Army is keeping him alive, preventing him from being punked, feeding him “halal”, alowing him much more freedom than he would get in a real prison, and generally, his life is better than the one he had in Afghanistan. Do you think a 13 yr old kid hanging with the taliban wasn’t being punked? Get some reality in your life!
Do us all a favor and take your own advice:
Perhaps the next time you bother writing another comment full of “shit” and “my ass,” you can first work on your reading comprehension skills.
Not a single person here said that this kid is innocent. We are questioning this whole terrorist and racist procedure, the treatment of minors, and the innocent lives that were ruined, like that of Al Jazeera’s cameraman Sami which I have discussed here and linked to. Tell me what this man was accused of and why he was held without charge for 5 years while he was simply trying to do his job. Otherwise, try reading the thread more extensively before you write another comment defending something you don’t even get.
I’ll try next time not to bother with your remarks. But the shallow way you address others is getting quite tedious and is getting more and more annoying to have to swift through.
Esra’a,
I’m not overly familiar with this but…
“One prime allegation is that al-Haj served as a financial courier for Chechen rebels and other armed groups in the Caucuses, delivering large sums of cash from the United Arab Emirates to Azerbaijan on several occasions between 1996 and 2000. Azerbaijan was a known transfer point for arms and materiel in support of Chechen armed groups.
U.S. officials allege that al-Haj made cash deliveries on behalf of his boss at Union Beverages, Abdel Latif al-Umran, to the Baku branch of the Islamic charity Al-Haramain. Al-Umran, son of the company’s listed owner, did not respond to several requests for comment. The elder al-Umran also did not respond to messages from CPJ. Al-Haramain was not on a U.S. terrorist watch list at the time, although it was placed there after the September 11 attacks.
Al-Haj is also accused of meeting with and helping secure a visa for reputed al-Qaeda founder Mamdouh Mahmoud Salim, who was extradited to the United States on conspiracy charges stemming from the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. Salim was convicted in 2004 of maiming a Manhattan corrections officer.
Military officials also say al-Haj falsified Romat International documents as a way to establish a corporation in Azerbaijan. Investigators allege Salim was affiliated with Romat, but provide no details about Salim’s role or the intent of the alleged scheme.
On their face, other accusations appear to be an indictment of al-Haj’s journalistic work. At his 2005 Administrative Review Board hearing, military officials said al-Haj had “interviewed several Taliban officials” and top al-Qaeda figure Abu Hafs al-Mauritani while in Afghanistan.
The U.S. government’s classified file could include other allegations, but such accusations, if any, have not been disclosed to the public, al-Haj, or Stafford Smith.
n a January 2005 report in The Wall Street Journal, U.S. commanders acknowledged that many Guantanamo detainees are not a threat and likely have no valuable intelligence about al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
Stafford Smith said his client did nothing wrong and has no involvement with terror groups. He said al-Haj traveled to Azerbaijan for family and business reasons, delivering money for his boss to Islamic charities on one, or possibly two occasions.
“At the time Sami didn’t know what it was for,” said Stafford Smith, who said his client acted solely on his boss’ instructions. “He thought it was going to charity.” On one occasion, when he was carrying US$220,000 to Azerbaijan, al-Haj declared the cash to customs officials, the lawyer said.
The defense lawyer said his client picked up Salim at an airport on one occasion, and drove his family around Dubai another time, both at his boss’ direction. Stafford Smith said that al-Haj helped secure a visa to the United Arab Emirates, not for Salim, but for Salim’s relatives, again at the behest of his employer”
He had been id’d as a courier in the late 90′s to armed Islamic groups (on an international watch list)and then turns up in Afghanistan and is not allowed into pakistan by the Intel arm of the Govt. for connections to whatever. He had contact with and had taped OBL.
He may just be a dupe for his old boss and totally innocent, I’m just not sure.
Those were the circumstances.
I think the worst part about this whole situation is the Canadian government’s practical abandonment of Khadr. There is a petition to demand the Prime Minister protect his citizens here: http://go.care2.com/15898432
Esra, I think its fair to say that khadr is a prisoner of war. As a result the American Government has the right to arrest him or detain or capture him considering he was captured on a battlefield. The point that I’m making there is… well lets look at the american POW’s in the iraq war, by your definition the American pows should have been handed over to the american government to face the american justice system, not the best example but I think you get the point here, you don’t hand over prisoners of war to their country of citizenship and say prosecute them.
The question out of all this is how he is being treated.
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