Championing Omar Khadr

"The challenge with Omar Khadr is, which Omar Khadr are we dealing with?"
"The one who confessed to a bloody terrorist murder? Or the one who claims a childlike innocence while apparently serving willingly with al-Qaeda?"
"The inconsistency of Mr. Khadr's line, even in the context of being fully equipped with lawyers, raises questions about his regard for the truth and his respect for the justice system."
"Was he lying then? Or is he lying now?"
David Harris, director, International and Terrorist Intelligence Program, INSIGNIS Strategic Research, Ottawa

"Under those conditions [admission of guilt forced by 'torture'/interrogation] he was forced to admit throwing the grenade that killed a soldier."
"I can tell you I had a hard time persuading him to take that deal. He didn't want to lead guilty. He didn't want to go back to Canada as a terrorist. I persuaded him to take the deal."
Dennis Edney, Edmonton lawyer for Omar Khadr, convicted jihadist

"There is no record of (Khadr's) publicly repudiating al-Qaeda as civilized Muslims should. Not even a letter composed for him by Dennis Edney."
"When one leaps to the conclusion about Omar Khadr’s future because he is friendly, one might recall that Osama bin Laden has always been described as gentle, likable and charming."
Dr. Michael Welner, psychiatrist

Omar Khadr

Who to believe then, a sympathetic lawyer defending his client against evidence-based allegations of committing to terrorism which a court of law found convincing enough to find a guilty verdict for, or the psychiatrist who interviewed Omar Khadr -- now 28, a child soldier of 15 whom his father, dedicated to al-Qaeda and ensuring that his sons whom he took from their immigrant-home in Toronto to Afghanistan, were adequately schooled in bomb-making and conflict techniques -- finding him firm in his allegiance to jihad.

Dr. Welner emphasized that no evidence exists that Omar Khadr had any intention of distancing himself from virulent Islamist jihad, and stated his professional opinion that the man's claims of innocence had a definite purpose; to advance a public image sympathetic to him as a frightened boy who had no choice but to obey his father, attend jihadist-training camps and taking part in attacks on American military personnel as his personal obligation to defending Muslims against the "Islamophobic" West.

A different story altogether is held dear to the compassionate hearts of those who view Omar Khadr as a victim of circumstances; a controlling, stern father for whom the West characterized all that was wrong with the world that denied the supremacy of Islam, and which faithful Muslims had a religious duty to meet head on, with terrorism. Of course 'terrorism' is the Western descriptive for a Muslim's recognition of a sacred duty to jihad; the preferential term is engaging in the martyrdom of conquest.

But there is Mr. Edney thundering at Carleton University, addressing several hundred students no doubt hugely impressed by the quivering outrage of his presentation denouncing the Government of Canada for its war against an innocent child. "There is no greater betrayal of Canada than for our government to be implicated in the torture of a Canadian citizen. And we have all become complicit by our silence."

His argument centred around his client's dreadful experiences exemplifying "how easily society can fall into lawlessness", when human rights and the rule of law are stifled by governments preferring to erode those virtues and values in the pretense of acting on behalf of the country and its citizens, reacting to deathly threats of mass slaughter, by citing the need for greater security and in the process putting freedom and equality and charter rights at risk.

Wounded and captured in a 2002 gunfight in an Afghan village, the 15-year-old matured in the eleven years he spent at the Guantanamo Bay military prison where his lawyer claims he was subjected to "torture" through months of military interrogation. He admitted throwing the grenade that killed Sgt. Christoper Speer, the U.S. combat medic who had received the Soldier's Medal a mere week earlier for his rescue of two Afghan children trapped in a minefield.

Trapped in a minefield? Improvised explosive devices were some of the deadly devices that Omar Khadr was taught to put together. More NATO troops battling the Taliban and al-Qaeda died as a result of IEDs than from any other cause. And countless Afghan civilians, men, women and children were killed or horribly wounded by those explosive devices. So, Omar Khadr whose comrades along with himself built and set those devices threaten the lives of children.

But as a child soldier we must have compassion for his plight brought on by his devotion to Islamist fanaticism.

In the statement that Omar Khadr agreed to sign to effect his sentence and eventual transfer to a Canadian prison, he effectively said that he "voluntarily of his own free will chose to conspire and agree with various members of al-Qaeda to train and ultimately conduct operations to kill United States and coalition forces"; this was part of the 'torture' meted out to him, obviously. Except that it just also happened to be a truthful rendition of his experience.

He admitted (according to his lawyer, under duress) that he was a loyal al-Qaeda member, that he built and planted improvised explosive devices to kill American and coalition soldiers, and that he was trained in the use of assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. "Khadr could have left the compound if he wanted. He chose to stay behind and fight the Americans" read the statement.

He has only three years left to serve his sentence at a medium-security prison. And then he will be free to join his brothers, his mother and his sister whose hatred for the West and sneering contempt for its values hasn't hampered their residence in Toronto, to take advantage of living conditions, welfare options, universal medicare and the freedom to condemn the very liberal democracy that gives them the liberty to do so.