Quote from the article above which I think is mean.

 

They didn't even tell the family?

 

What do you think?

 

Quote:

News that their relative was back in Canada caught Khadr’s family in Toronto off guard.

 

“Do we know where he is so we can maybe go see him?” one close relative asked a reporter.

I was surprised to read as well than apparently his family hadn't known that Omar Khadr had been returned. I'm also disturbed that the Canadian government is continuing to demonize Omar Khadr, as in this report, which speaks of the comments of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews:

 

 

I'm quite amazed that a 15 year old child could have been a terriorist, with ties to Al l Qaida, a spy, providing esponage, and all the other crimes he was accused of and so-called 'confessed' to.   

If he is a danger to society now, it must be a result of what he learned in the US torture prison.

 

 

 

On the other hand it's entirely possible for a 15 year old to be a very committed Conservative, New Democrat or Liberal. So it's entirely possible, in other words, for a 15 year old to have a firm ideological and political position. That being the case, I see no reason to simply dismiss the possibility of a 15 year old being a terrorist. Since I don't know Omar Khadr, I'm not really in a position to evaluate his sense of ideology or politics. I just think the procedural issues and abuses in his case are and continue to be very severe.

A 15-year old youth with a group of extremists is attacked by a US military unit, and one member of the US military is killed by a grenade, supposedly thrown by the youth.  The youth spends 10 years in a hell-hole and is sentenced to 8 years of prison for a new created crime.  A veteran US military officer and his subordinates deliberately murder a number of unarmed civilians, and is given a slap on the wrist.  I wonder why a large part of the world has problems with the American, and Canadian government view of events in the world.

His family apparently  has the terrorist ties. It's due to them that he was a child soldier.

I'm very glad he is back in Canada.

May he heal from the last 10 years. I know a friend of a friend in Edmonton had been visiting him and tutoring him in courses. I wouldn't be suprised if he ends up inEdmonton.

Here's a spark of hope for Khadr's future  coming from the University of Edmonton. It also appears he was being educated somewhat at Gitmo by this university. That's great!

 

Thanks for your opinions.

 

Quote:

 

Some students at King's University College in Edmonton are willing to offer convicted terrorist Omar Khadr a second chance now that he's back in Canada. . He was 15 years old at the time and during his widely criticized incarceration at the U.S. military prison he has received some educational training developed by staff at KUC.

 

KUC professor Arlette Zinck, who designed his curriculum, testified on Khadr's behalf during his trial and has said she would support his application as a mature student at KUC once he is released. Khadr has said he would consider attending the Edmonton school once he is released.

 

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2012/09/30/20246031.html

 

Khadr could enrol at Edmonton university after prison sentence ends. official says. Arlette Zinck, an English professor at King’s, visited Khadr at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in April and May as part of an effort to rehabilitate the Canadian, who has been convicted of terrorism offences.

 

Zinck, who met with Khadr for six or seven hours a day for lessons during two visits, began corresponding with him in 2008 when his lawyers were Edmontonians Dennis Edney and Nate Whitling. VanKeeken said Zinck is teaching Khadr on her own time. He said if Khadr applies to King’s after he finishes his prison sentence, he will be treated like any other applicant.

 

Students and professors at King’s became interested in Khadr’s case after Edney addressed a class on legal issues. At a sentencing hearing in 2010, Khadr, now 26, said he would like to attend King’s. He stopped his formal schooling in Grade 8.

 

An informal offer has been made to pay Khadr’s tuition if he studies at the school.

 

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/edmonton/Khadr+could+enrol+Edmonton+...

 

Tabitha

 

Good stuff!

There are a lot of vile hateful comments on the net regarding Khadr. I do hope these university  dreams can come true and that "a name change"  will be in store for him before he is released.

On the other hand, if he is a terrorist, he has a bright future in the US military.

Hopefully he won't be hanging around his mother and sister..apparently they hate Canada and I assume don't enjoy living here. However, as of late they are being a little more circumspect in their comments. 

Hopefully the kid can do something productive with his life; apparently he wants to become a doctor and save lives just like the medic he killed was doing....

 

We're lazy here in Canada -- in many other countries, children learn at least one other language and aren't afraid to 'damage' their kids by teaching them such things as calculus, engineering and such :3

 

If he were to stay at Millhaven, he could enroll in courses at Queens University, paying tuition like any other student (at least that is what the co-ordinator of that program at Queens told me several years ago).

DKS

That's good......and as PKBC says he needs to be independent from his family for his own best interests.

Yes the link I had heard of was with King's University.

Anyhow I'm very glad he is on Candian soil.

What it is for any human being to have no hope and feel no love when talking face to face with a human being from the place ( in this case CAnada) which was supposed to be educated, perceptive, understanding, reliable, strong, and maturely capable of dealing with bullies ( the USA) which is what happened to Omar - is as difficult for us to understand

 

as it will be for Omar to be able to put the shreds of his sanity back together again.   He is young, hopefully, he will be supervised by a team of caring and progressive professionals over the years to come.

I think of a boy of 15 entering a prison

 

I think of him spending the next 11 years there.

 

Very formative years, while he grows from a boy to a man.   And what did he learn there?   Love or hate?  Trust or fear?      If he was a terrorist going in (and I don't think you can label a child who is following his parents teachings and beliefs); is he still a terrorist?  Was he rehibilitated during these formative years - almost half his lifetime?   Or was he hardened?

 

I think we have to repent for our part in the way he was treated, and hope that by some miracle he is able to reenter society.  We owe him all the help we can give. 

 

I am glad he is home....

May his recovery go well and may he soon be welcomed back into our everyday life.

Enough is enough ..... it is well past time to love......

Hugs

Rita

1. We have no idea whether he killed a medic. Battles are normally rather confused affairs. The only information we have was vetted (and sometimes invented) by the US government.

2.A hand grenade is not a high precision weapon. Who knows exactly which hand grenade killed the medic? It could as well have been one thrown by an American.

3.He pleaded guilty as a plea bargain after years of torture and solitary because he knew he would never get out unless he entered the plea.

4. He was convicted by an American court of a crime which was not committed in the US. Since when do US courts have such jurisdiction?

5. Baird called him a convicted terrorist. Baird is a fool or a liar or both. Terrorists target civilians. Khan didn't. In fact, we don't really know that he targetted any.

6. Terrorism is not a crime. If it were, every American president since Washington would have been hanged.

7. The medic was part of an invading army. He wasn't there to help Afghani kiddies. He was there to help American troops engaged in killing Afghan civilians. Save moralizing for moral topics.

8. When an invading army shoots at you, I know of no law saying you cannot shoot back.

9. He was fifteen at the time. That made him a child under international law. (But the US almost totally ignores international law.)

10. If an American army invaded Canada, killing soldiers and civilians, (not all that theoretical since it has happened), and a 15 year old Canadian boy shot back, Would a John Baird say he was dangerous to society, and should be handed over to the US for torture and trial?

Actually, Baird probably would.

But please, let's skip this soppy moralizing about a medic being killed while helping others. We have no solid evidence on who killed the medic. Nor is it possible, even for the most evil-minded, to pick precisely who they will kill with it - or any other weapon.

Afghani terrorists have killed people? Well, almost no American civilians have been killed in Afghanistan. but the lowest estimates put the number of Afghan civilians killed at over 20,000. So which is the biggest terrorist threat - the US military? or a fifteen year old boy?

May Allah be with Khadr and may the angels guide and protect him. His journey   isn't an easy one.

 

A lot of people are interested in Khadr although they aren't  giving opinions. I have 200 views  on the thread already. I do hope there are some well wishers among them sending positive thoughts  out into the universe.

There is a powerful encouragement ot racism and hatred and fear of Moslems coming from our western governments. And, for the greater part, it's working at covering all the gruesome behaviour we have been guilty of.

The newspapers have been handling it better this time than they have in the past. But there are a lot of haters out there.  I don't think we should kid ourselves about that.

graeme

 

Yes, the hate is something hellish, right out of this world when you read various comments on the net.

 

Here's his interrogation tape from Gitmo and another sample of a  different young boy accused of murder showing the results.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=yNCyrFV2G_0

 

 

Nat. Geo:

 

The interrogation of a young boy over the murder of his sister has false and devastating consequences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=WkLHXKHb1Vc&feature=endscreen

On the hopeful side, there is some improvement in the coverage by the major media.

So if he was lead astray by his parents, why isn't his mother charged with crime?   

How will you feel when he sues the Canadian government and wins $10,000,000 of your tax money?

I'll feel ashamed that we have let it come to this.

 

Hi Mely,

 

 

Vindicated.

 

Of course it won't be $10, 000, 000 of mine or yours.  Together we'll chip in a portion and that is the price we have to pay for electing politicians who had the law in their face and they decided to ignore it.

 

Grace and peace to you.

John

I will certainly be cheering for him to win. Of course, I'm well-known as a terrorist, anti-semite and, quite possibly, on the left wing of the conservative party.

 

Because neither of them committed a crime?

 

A parent has legal authority to keep a 15 year old away from the NDP or other political party. LIkewsie khadr had no choice but to do what his parents told him to do. He had to move out of Canada. He than had to obey the law in Afganistan, and he had no choice when he was enlisted/drafted/conscripted

 

Regardless of the procedural issues are, a minor is not legal able to make the choices that he has been accused of.  It is his mother who should have been charged. In Canada a parent can be legally held responsible and be forced to pay for property damage done by minors. If he had burned down a house in Canada  she could be forced to pay damages. As well parents can be forced to pay for part of their keep in prision. 

 

A parent has the legal authority to keep a 15 year old away from anything or to try to influence their children into anything. The fact remains that a 15 year old can have definite political and ideological views regardless. I'm just saying that for those of us who have never met Omar Khadr it's a fool's game to argue that either he is or isn't a terrorist or a sympathizer with terrorists. He may be or he may not be. We don't know because we don't know him. But there are huge problems and abuses with how his case has been handled by both American and Canadian authorities. Whether he's a terrorist or not is totally irrelevant. The protections offered by our system have to be offered to everyone, or they're of value to no one.

Here's what I'm reading about the lawsuit:

 

The case relates to information gathered by a Foreign Affairs official who questioned Khadr in Cuba knowing he’d been subjected to sleep deprivation — a technique used to soften detainees. Court records suggest the information was shared with U.S. officials, possibly for use in the case they were building against him.

 

Initially set at $100,000, the damages were bumped to $10 million in early 2010 after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the government violated Khadr’s charter rights.

 

The damages sought in the Khadr case are identical to what the government paid Maher Arar after Canadian officials shared faulty intelligence with the U.S. that ultimately led to his arrest at a New York airport and subsequent deportation and incarceration in Syria.

 

http://www.thespec.com/opinion/letters/article/810712--sue-u-s-for-compe...

 

Sorry, that's the wrong link I posted  above.  Here is a better article on Khadr and Canadian law:

 

 

 

THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT, THE LAW, AND OMAR KHADR

 

UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD,

 

ratified by Canada in 1991: The document defines “child” as a “human being below the age of eighteen.” Omar Khadr was 15 when he was taken into custody by US forces in Afghanistan in 2002. He has spent the last 10 years of his life in US military detention, most of it at the infamous and illegal Guantánamo Bay Prison in Cuba

 

UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE,

 

signed by Canada in 1975: In 2003, the Canadian government sent CSIS agents to Guantánamo to interrogate Omar Khadr, knowing that US officials had subjected him to prolonged sleep deprivation and isolation. In 2004, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported that interrogation techniques used at Guantánamo are “tantamount to torture.”

 

CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS, 1982:

 

The Canadian Charter guarantees every Canadian the right on arrest to be informed promptly of the reasons for the arrest; the right to legal counsel; and the right to appear before a court of law. None of these conditions were met in the arrest and detention of Omar Khadr.

 

CANADIAN COURTS, 2008-2010:

 

Both the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada have twice ruled that Omar Khadr’s rights under the Charter have been violated. In its 2010 ruling, the Supreme Court concluded that in sending CSIS agents to Guantánamo to interrogate Khadr, the Canadian government had acted “contrary to the principles of fundamental justice.”

 

PLEA BARGAIN, October 25 2010:

 

Omar Khadr entered into a plea bargain, pleading guilty to a killing he may or may not have committed, in return for being returned to Canada after having served one more year in Guantánamo. He has been eligible for transfer to Canada since November 1 2011, but the Harper government is refusing to keep its side of the bargain

 

APPLICATION FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW, June 2012:

 

Omar Khadr’s lawyers filed an application in Federal Court in an attempt to force the federal government to keep its side of the plea bargain. In response, Minister of Public Works Vic Toews asked to review the report of psychiatrist Michael Welner before deciding on the transfer application. Welner has said that he was influenced in his evaluation of Khadr by Danish psychologist Nicolai Sennels, a known anti-Muslim racist who believes Muslims are genetically defective.

 

“[Omar Khadr] was just 15 years old that day and should never have been on that battlefield in the first place. The various adults in his life, including his own father, cajoled, encouraged and allowed him to take part in the fighting, contrary to international standards that prohibit drawing kids into war. But that crucial human-rights reality – Oman Khadr, child soldier – has been ignored at every turn by US and Canadian officials.” – Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International

 

OMAR KHADR IS THE LAST CITIZEN FROM A WESTERN COUNTRY STILL IN GUANTÁNAMO. Recognizing the illegality of Guantánamo from the outset, Australia, Britain, Germany, and Sweden all intervened successfully on behalf of their citizens, leading to their repatriation. Canada, on the other hand, has chosen to collude with the illegal system at Guantánamo.

 

http://makingpeace.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/romeo-dallaire-omar-khadr/

 

There are a great many terrorist sympathizers in North America - and not a few of them in our churches.

A terrorist is a person who kills civilians at random. The US has killed at least a thousand civilians in Afghanistan - and far, far more in Iraq. Then there are the unknown number of civilian casualties of drones....

Mely is a notorious terrorist sympathizer. The test of us is whether we are willing to tread Khadr in a Christian way, and do the same for Mely.

 

I hope he wins a reasonable settlement, and that we are able to use that settlement as one more example of continued failure of the Harper government to exercise prudent financial management of Canada's resources.

 

So who made him into a child soldier then?  When I think of child soldier, I think of little boys in Africa being kidnapped and drugged.  Kadhr wasn't kidnapped.  His whole family were terrorists.  It is the family business, and he was brought up to be a terrorist.   If it is not a crime to do this to a child, then it should be.  

I agree with you about knowing for sure, because we do not know him.  .My point is solely related to the "terrorist" act he was accused of (regardless of the question if it was a terrorist act, or part of a war. And regardless of  the procedures that convicted him.  In my opion he has never had the ability to be a terrorist. And we do not convict or imprision people becasue of what they may or may not believe, They actually have to do something that is illegal, and have the intent to do so, and have the ability to reason as an adult.  

 

As far as Canadian law is concerned, he was taken out of this country when he was 12 (I am not sure) or so. At an age when he had no choice, but to obey his parents. Also when he was 15 he was too young to be charged for any crime under Canadian law  under the young offenders act, let alone as an adult. If he was 16 he would have been charged under the Young offenders act, unless a preliminary trial determined he had the ability to reason as an adult.

 

Thus apart from the idea that being in an army and fighting an army of invaders, is usually a normal part of war, and not terrorisim as we define it under the law.

 

A part from the question of his being convicted of a crime using procedures considered illegal in Canadian law.

 

There is a question of the ability of a 15 year being able to have the freedom, and ability to make decisions, and thus be found quilty .

 

 

One of his brothers rejected   being a terrorist and ran away from the training camps.  

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/khadr/alqaedafamily4.html

So what?

Try to focus, Mely. In the first place, try to understand what the word terrorist means. It means someone who randomly kills civilians in order to inspire terror among them. The leading terrorist nation in the world, then, is the US. And Israel, despite its smaller population, does very well in the terrorism category, too.

Now - The internationL agreement most countries have signed is that a child cannot be treated as an adult in war. I think keeping him a prisoner in solitary and torturing  him for ten years counts as treating him as an adult.

Generally, try to open both eyes.

Besides, you should save your energy for the screaming  you're going to do with the Middle East dissolves into chaos, with terrible consequences both there and here soon.

And try to purge yourself of the perception that the whole world is divided in angels and devils - with the angels being the people who agree with you, and the devils the ones who don't.

Whatever.......this is rather interesting.

 

 

In this interview, Abdurahman Khadr recounts his journey from Osama bin Laden to the CIA.

 

Transcript is drawn from three interviews conducted by correspondent Terence McKenna in January 2004.

 

Recently married, Abdurahman Khadr lives a quiet, ordinary life and works in Toronto.

 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/khadr/interviews/khadr.html#4

 

Terry is good. He and his brother are excellent journalists -an excellence that sometimes gets them into trouble.

Since there is such an interest in this topic, almost 500 hits, I'll post some more.

 

 

P.S. graeme: Terry died in 2000.

 

Letter to his mother:

 

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Omar_Khadr_Letter_to_his_Mother

#2

 

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Omar_Khadr_Letter_to_his_Mother_II

 

Letter to his brother:

 

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Omar_Khadr_Letter_to_his_Brother

More news I didn't know:

 

 

 

News DeskAugust 5, 2011

 

British spy agencies likely agreed to pay former detainees at Guantanamo Bay millions of dollars from their own budget, new accounts show. It is thought that around £12 million (U.S. $19.6 million) is likely to have been paid to the Guantánamo Bay suspects.

 

This is because the agencies have, on average, spent £1.5 million a year on losses and special payments over the past five years. The total compensation figure paid to 16 Britons, who were suing the government, is likely to be about £14 million, and will have been swelled by payments from other departments.

 

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/united-kingdom/11...

 

Gee! For a dead man, Terry looked pretty good last time I saw him; and that was after 2000. And, in fact, he and his brother are still both active journalists. Is the Terence McKenna who interviewed khadr a Canadian? I can't imagine there would be two, prominent Canadian journalists named Terence McKenna.

Sorry graeme...oops....

 

Here's your Mc Kenna:

 

 

http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/personality/terence_mckenna

 

Here's the Mc Kenna I was thinking about:

 

http://deoxy.org/mckenna.htm

Well, I like mine. But yours was undoubtedly the more famous.

I've never been sure Omar Khadr was totally innocent. But whatever guilt he might have had he has surely paid the debt by now, and then some.

In a war, everybody is guilty except their innocent victims. Khadr did not kill hundreds of thousands (some counts are much highter) as Bush and Obama did.

Besides, exactly what is Khadr guilty of. It is not illegal to kill somebody when you are being attacked. If I were visiting friends in the US, and they and I were attacked by an invading army from Uzbekistan and I shot back, would you say that I should be charged with murder?

And would Harper approve sendiing me to Uzbekistan for trial?

Scratch that. Harper probably would.

Good news today: Florida pastor Terry Jones, who inflamed Muslims for once burning the Qur'an, says he has been denied permission to enter Canada to attend a Thursday evening speaking engagement in Toronto.

Jones told CBC News he would appeal, but for the time being, he said he was heading back to Florida.

The Canada Border Services Agency made Jones go through a secondary inspection when he arrived at the the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont., around noon. Secondary inspection involves a search of a person's vehicle and more extensive questioning.

He was held there for a couple of hours before being told he would not be allowed to proceed to Toronto. Jones says the CBSA cited a previous peace bond infraction in the U.S. as well as an incident in Germany to keep him out.

The pastor was on his way to a scheduled speaking engagement on the lawn of the Ontario legislature at 6 p.m. Thursday. The event is titled "Canadians united against terror." It was to include a memorial for U.S. Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer. Canadian Omar Khadr pleaded guilty and was convicted of the murder of Speer, a soldier who died from his wounds during a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002.

A discussion was to follow dealing with the anti-Islamic video Innocence of Muslims. The film sparked protests and outrage throughout the Middle East. Organizers said the video would not be shown at the event. Instead, a panel discussion would broach the issue of whether it should be shown.

 

… but the anti-Islamic hate cell in Canada that hoped to suck up to Jones is a shameful embarassment to this country. 

Any indication of a name for this group? or the name of any person acting for it?

graeme

 

Here's some info. from Google on the group or persons re Mike's post.

 

Jones was invited by a group calling itself Canadians United Against Terror to take part in a debate on “free speech” in Toronto at 6 p.m. Thursday.

 

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1269594--controversial-american-...

 

The Canadian Hindu Advocacy is pleased to announce that a grassroots Canadian organization, Canadians United against Terror, will now be responsible for the screening of the film ‘Innocence of Muslims’ in Toronto. Their spokesperson is Eric Brazau and his contact is listed below.

 

This organization is working with 13 different groups in different cities in Canada and the USA to arrange simultaneous screenings. One of the groups is Pastor Terry Jones and ‘STAND UP AMERICA NOW’.

 

http://www.canhindu.com/CHAPressRelease-FilmScreening.pdf

 

Ron Banerjee, of the Canadian Hindu Advocacy, called Jones an ‘elder statesman’ of the anti-Islamic movement. “He is looked up to by others because he has been around for so long and has so much experience,” Banerjee said on Friday. “He has a lot of experience he can share with others.”