Sunday, May 02, 2010

Omar Khadr and Harper's Horror



















Well I see that the tragic case of Omar Khadr is not just shaming our foul Con government, it's also embarrassing the Obama administration. 

The Washington Post reported Saturday that the administration is actively seeking a plea agreement in Khadr’s case, fearful that trying a juvenile will “undermine the validity of military commissions.”

Even though the military commissions are nothing but kangaroo courts.

A U.S. special forces commander testified Saturday that he altered a post-battle report about the firefight where Canadian Omar Khadr was captured to correct his “historical” record, not because he had been pressured to do so.

An early version of Lt. Col. W.’s report stated that the person who had thrown the grenade had been killed, which would rule out Khadr as the suspect.

But in a near-identical report, the commander changed a single line to read that the grenade thrower did not die.

But Lt. Col. W’s testimony conflicts with another March 2004 report written by a commando identified only as OC-1, which states that after the grenade was thrown he shot two fighters – one fatally.

Omar Khadr could not have been the one who threw that grenade.

And this whole shabby case is just an attempt to conceal that the Special Forces soldier was killed by a grenade thrown by one of his own men. Because how else can you explain that Khadr is the only Taliban or Al Qaeda fighter ever charged with murder?

You know I've always wondered how that slight teenager managed to survive his horrifying wounds,the torture, the isolation, the loneliness. It must have been the hope that his own people would rescue him.

So I can only imagine how shattered he must have been when he realized that those callous CSIS agents who interrogated him weren't there to help him.

The day these photos were taken...from the hideous video of his interrogation.















Now I wonder whether he is still resisting the injustice of his situation, by refusing to attend the kangaroo court. Or whether he is finally losing hope, or succumbing to post traumatic depression, after suffering so much.

Or whether the war criminals at Guantanamo are trying to kill him.

Stephen Xenakis, a psychiatrist working with the defence, told reporters he examined Khadr Thursday, and found his condition to include high blood pressure.

``With his history of having the head wounds that he did, shrapnel still in his eyes, the clouding of the lens, a history of surgery - this is a condition that becomes urgent,'' Xenakis said.


And while this unbearable and never ending human rights horror story continues, I also wonder why Stephen Harper isn't capable of doing  the right thing, and bringing this young Canadian home immediately...instead of prolonging his suffering.

Which in turn makes me wonder what is this cold, inhuman man who seems to enjoy the pain of others, is hiding about torture in Afghanistan? What has he done?

Because you know it's got to be MONSTROUS...















One week from now Canada will be on the edge of a constitutional crisis...and maybe even an election.


And this is how I want Canadians to think of him. So we can defeat him like we must.

Because this man is EVIL...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well I see Simple Simon is up to it again.0mar's time to face the music is finally here and the bleeding hearts are getting more shrill.Spare me,please.So far all the evidence given has proven one thing..0mar was having a real good time as a jihadist until he got caught.As fas your comments regarding the PM and detainee documents,don't forget,the previous government had things to hide too.I am wondering what the motivation is behind all of this???

Simon said...

hi anonymous...well all I can say is that I prefer to be simple rather than evil. As I've said many times before this never should have become a partisan issue. Omar Khadr was a child soldier according to the U.N. Protocol on Child Soldiers, that we were the FIRST to sign. Whatever people think of Khadr is irrelevant.
There is only one honourable thing to do, and that is bring him home immediately.
As for the detainee issue...I don't forget what the previous government did, and they must take their share of the blame. But most of it belongs to the Harper regime, and their stonewalling on this issue, is placing a cloud over our armed forces, and shaming us ALL...

Anonymous said...

John Walker Lindh, an American, and David Hicks, an Australian, made decisions, as adults, to convert to a radical brand of Islam, and travelled to Afghanistan under their own steam to fight for the cause.

Hicks was repatriated to Australia and is free. Lindh is in prison but at least he had a regular court trial with legal protections as an American citizen.

Khadr, by contrast, was a 15 year old Canadian, living where his parents chose to live, among people they chose to associate with. He was caught up in a war because of their political beliefs, and those of the adults around him. For two months he did what tens of thousands of other such fighters have done in Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam without being charged with war crimes.

And yet, Khadr has been held for 8 years in an infamous prison that was declared by the US Senate Armed Services Committee, including Senator John McCain, to have instituted a regime of abuse sanctioned at the highest levels. And, that is a war crime, although none will be prosecuted.

Khadr was incarcerated among adult prisoners and interrogated for two years with no legal aid or any access to outside help. He has been in a trial process for six years, a process somewhat revamped from when it was declared illegal by the US Supreme Court, causing the Canadian courts to declare Canada a party to his illegal treatment.

Khadr is charged with a "war crime" which does not exist in the laws of war. Three military judges said that in other cases but the US government has released a manual that, according to a military lawyer in one of those cases, David Frakt, attempts to make it one, just in time for Khadr's trial. The government has said that even if prisoners win their trials they may continue to be held indefinitely anyway.

Officials in the the Obama Administration have signalled they would like Canada to make a move to repatriate Khadr, as all other Western countries have done with their citizens.

A Pakistani teenager, Jawad, was held for years on charges similar to Khadr's. He was repatriated to Pakistan.

The Canadian Parliament has passed a resolution demanding Khadr's repatriation.

Thanks to Harper, pretending nothing has changed since Liberals failed to repatriate Khadr, and dismissing their acknowledgement that they were wrong, Canada stands shamefully alone.