By Debbie Menon
October 16, 2008
Omar Khadr is probably the greatest shame on Canada, because two governments, the Liberals under Paul Martin and the Conservatives under Harper have both made the overt decision to leave him in prison. The case against him is insane.
He was a child, aged 15. He was in Afghanistan because his parents took him there. His father and mother are militant Muslims. He was in a building that US commandos suddenly attacked. When people in the building shot back, they bombed the building and blew it to bits. Then they approached the building, and a US soldier got killed by a hand grenade thrown from the ruins of the building. When they entered the ruins Omar was still alive, but, others were too. In a revised report, they made him the only one left alive. He has been charged with murder. He was shot at close range by bullets (plural).
The case is insane for several reasons:
1) He is a child soldier, which means he is a victim of war not a war criminal.
2) Evidence was changed to make him the only person by inference who might have thrown a hand grenade.There is no witness that he did.
3) Soldiers killed while attacking a house in a foreign country cannot be victims of murder. They are casualties of war.
4) People in a house being attacked by foreigners are engaged in self-defense.
The US has made a category that a person is not a soldier and is not a civilian: unlawful enemy combatant. So laws of war and POW treatment do not apply and criminal laws also do not apply.
He has been tortured in Afghanistan and in Guantanamo.
There is not much evidence against him and there is lack of jurisdiction in US Law related to “child soldiers”. The only reason he is still in Guantanamo Bay is because the government is afraid they have turned him into a radical. He is young and can be rehabilitated. Everyone, even the Canadian officials who came to console him, have done nothing and he continues to be persecuted.
I received a plea from a woman Zainab Ali asking: “Who cares for this boy?”
http://cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=25526
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQHFFbD_-Pg
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/khadr/omar-khadr.html
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/346020
http://www.thestar.com/article/512286
It is not that no one cares…Zainab cares… I care… Moazzem Begg cares… there are probably others, even his captors, who may care.
The problem is, none of us who care are in any position or hold any power to do anything for him. We are not even voters in America and do not even have the stilled voice of constituency, or a representative to write to, which would be futile anyway.
The editors we know are not going to be interested because this is not the kind of news which sells time and space in their media.
And, no one else is paid to care!
To even publish this kind of stuff more than once will get an editor the name of a “bleeding heart sympathizer with terrorists” and risk loss of readership, which his corporate bosses who need the sales numbers in order to sell space and time would not appreciate!
Yes, if they released him they would either have a new and dedicated enemy warrior on their hands, or a “Poster Boy” to inspire and recruit many more.
It is more than likely that they simply consider that they have a problem, and the longer they have kept him the more difficult it has become to release him. Think of the “Missing in Action POWs” whom John McCain and his Government left behind in Vietnam. The longer they denied their existence, the harder it became to bring them back in from the cold and, eventually, they had to write them off because it would have been too embarrassing to save them. This is what is happening in Gitmo.
The kid has no chance. Unless some Colonel, General, or someone with sufficient authority, if even for a moment, should step in, risk his neck, and sign a paper which gets the boy free long enough for him to make it back home to cover. This is extremely unlikely!
There must be some reason why this lad did not die from his wounds. A shotgun blast to the back with sufficient force to exit the chest is a pretty fatal event. Perhaps the Power which kept him alive this long will reveal
His purpose in time. Yeah, I know that is even more rhetorical crap, but then, that is my stock in trade!
Wars produce even worse things and casualties. He is one of them.
The current dead, maimed, and homeless count this morning, in Iraq
Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered Since The U.S. Invaded Iraq “1,273,378”
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html
Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’s War On Iraq 4,185
http://icasualties.org/oif/
The War And Occupation Of Iraq Costs
$563,004,340,867
See the cost in your community
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182
1,273,378 Who cares about them? How many American youths have they sent to be killed? 4,180 Who cares about them? It has been 7 years and counting.
Do not expect the Americans to care. Very little, I can assure you!
Prayer may help…I’m not sure.
This young man should be removed from US custody immediately. This should have never happened to him or any other child for that matter.
I am also thinking of the million plus people who are now dead because of the Bush Administration lies and propaganda. I am also thinking of the soldiers who also died because of Bush and his lies.
So why is Bush and his cronies, who manufactured the lies and deceit not being punished for murder, genocide, war crimes, fraud, etc etc etc? I have to ask?
Harper hasn’t done enough to have this young man removed from US custody.
Canadians have been trying to get his attention. He isn’t listening however. Many have been trying from day one. What Bush Administration is doing to this young man, is illegal.
Did You Know 
This is a horrible example of victims of war and I hope there is some just for this young man. I work with Survivor Corp which is a network of individuals from all walks of life that try to get their stories out about surviving personal crisis, such as this. With time and money, we hope our efforts will create more awareness to countries like the US that do not garner enough media attention to stories such as these. My heart goes out to all child soldiers of war because of the forced ideologies others have put into their heads–many times by gunpoint.