Pulling Daisy Petals

We love him, we love him not. There is nothing particularly cuddly about a man whose father groomed him and his siblings to violent jihad, while taking refuge in a country whose armed forces would be directly involved in battling those jihadists. Canada's first-and-foremost home-grown jihadist family, including the mother who views Canada's society as degraded, but who has no scruples in accepting all the social benefits the country has to offer.

The father, Ahmed Saeed Khadr, arrested in Pakistan as a clearly identified enemy of peace and stability for whom then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien went to bat, convincing then-Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that the man was unjustly accused. "Khadr is not a saint", explained Mohamed Fadil, an Iraqi-Canadian businessman, chairman of the Canadian Relief Foundation, a genuine and registered charity.

Validating the distrustful terror-identifying opinion of Canada's security agencies, in considering Khadr pere, an enemy of the Western world, closely allied with Osama bin Laden. Hauling his family from Canada to Pakistan where his sons would become beneficiaries of the jihadist training camps, he indoctrinated them with the radical ideology of wholesale bloody combat in the name of Islam.

And Mr. Khadr's accuser, quite willing to speak ill of the dead, claims him to have been influential with al-Qaeda's principals, entirely subscribing to the terror group's principles. Mr. Khadr was a dedicated violent jihadist, enthusiastically raised funds for jihad, and, according to Mr. Fadil, conspired to have him killed, viewing him as a threat to his Canadian fundraising schemes for the Islamist cause.

Long dead, Mr. Khadr's son's exploits as a "child" combatant for Islamist ideals have consumed an inordinate amount of news-space in Canada. Held in custody to stand trial for the accusations that have been levelled against him of having participated in jihad against American troops in Afghanistan, news of his treatment in incarceration and empathy for his plight among left-leaning sympathizers goes against the grain of most Canadians.

The Government of Canada's position was that Omar Khadr, no longer a child, who back when he was a teen-ager on the cusp of adulthood, tossed a hand grenade in Khost, Afhanistan, at a U.S. army medic who died of his wounds. And that he should stand trial in the United States and face the judgement due his actions. A video shot by al-Qaeda showing Omar Khadr assembling bombs attested to his training under the aegis of the world's premier terror group.

Other American medics worked tirelessly to save the life of the young combatant, who had two bullet wounds in his back, a broken leg, and a serious eye wound. And then, as Omar Khadr testified at his hearing, a mere two weeks later, he was being savagely interrogated. Sometimes less brutally, but always an excruciating experience for him. Sad, that.

But not sad enough to turn the hard hearts of most Canadians in the direction of exerting the country's resources on his behalf, to 'bring him home'. And, as far as the current Conservative government is concerned, placatory appeals to the United States to allow for gentler treatment, and a return to Canada is simply not on. Whew!

However, it seems that he will be brought home to join his siblings and his mother. He appears to have agreed to a guilty plea in a kind of uneasy bargain that might see an eight-year prison term on top of the eight he has already spent in custody. One year to be spent in the United States, the remainder in Canada.

How pleasant for us.