As we all know by now, Omar Khadr sued
the Canadian government for $20,000,000 as compensation for their
role in not only allowing, but participating in his torture and
prolonged incarceration without a fair trial in Guantanamo Bay. We
all must have heard by now that the Supreme Court looked at the
responsibility in law of Canadian authorities toward citizens
imprisoned abroad and determined that the government of Canada failed
to extend required protection to Khadr. The short conclusion has been
that the current government decided to settle out of court and an
offer of $10,500,000 was agreed upon.
The Conservative opposition seemed
immediately to detect an opportunity: simplify Khadr’s personna as
just-a-terrorist, re-brand the settlement as a reward for terrorism
and the voter base could be easily caught up in a round of righteous
indignation. Andrew
Scheer called it “disgusting,” Michelle
Rempel slammed the settlement on Fox News, and in the Wall
Street Journal, Peter
Kent accused the Canadian government of “falling all over
itself to turn a terrorist into a multimillionaire.”
It worked. Polls showed that the
majority
of Canadians bought into the Conservative line. Home run.
As is so often the case these days,
facts are selected or rejected based on whether or not they support a
viewpoint. Khadr was ten when his doctrinaire father, an Al Qaeda
supporter, took him to Afghanistan to fight on the side of a
resistance movement justifiably called a terrorist insurgency. He was
fifteen when the building he and Al Qaeda operatives were occupying
was bombed by the American military and most of the inhabitants
killed. Khadr survived that bomb attack as well as two bullet wounds
to his chest and may or may not have thrown the grenade that killed Sergeant Christopher Speer as he entered the
bombed-out building to “mop up.”
Khadr was spared; a medic was charged
with keeping him alive so that he could be interrogated and he was
flown to Bagram Airfield where he took three months to recover from
his injuries. He was next flown to Guantanamo where he was tortured
repeatedly until he eventually confessed to throwing the hand
grenade. Canada knew that prisoner torture was rampant in Gitmo and
despite Khadr’s being a Canadian Citizen (born in Toronto), was a
child and could therefor confess little because he knew little,
Canadian intelligence cooperated with the Gitmo apparatus,
interrogating him mercilessly for hours and turning over their meager
yieldings to Khadr’s persecutors.
That a 15 year-old would defend
himself with whatever he could find when knowing that soldiers are
coming to kill him can hardly be justifiably brushed aside. No
American soldiers were tried and convicted for killing the dozens of
insurgents in the building and if that’s because it was a war, then
Khadr’s throwing of the grenade (if he did) would also be an act of
war.
If what we’re hearing today is the
level of discourse that characterizes conservatism in Canada, then
heaven help us. To elect people to office with such a slim
understanding of “how things work . . . actually,” would be
tantamount to making the witch doctor the Minister of Health, the
snake- oil salesman the chief pharmacist. To realize that Scheer,
Rempel and Kent would set out deliberately to twist, over-simplify,
the news in order to enrage and energize voters is an even worse
prospect than the possibility that they are ignorant of the real
story.
It’s happened in the USA . . . very
recently; it could happen here.
As to the amount of the settlement, I
have no informed opinion on what the right amount would be, if any. I
know that even a moderately skilled athlete in professional hockey,
baseball or basketball can earn more in a year than I have in a
lifetime. The logic of the relationship among work, play, celebrity
and commerce and the remuneration they draw has always been
enormously flawed . . . in my opinion. Given the past, Omar Khadr is
bound to have a rough go when he seeks to fit in, find meaningful
work, earn a living. Perhaps $10,500,000 is justified on that ground.
It’s taxpayers’ money, that’s
true. About 29 cents per person.
For a blow-by-blow summary of all the
events pertaining to this case, Click here
for a pretty good start.
