Khadr handed 40-year sentence
Wow.
U.S. NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO, Cuba - Omar Khadr has been sentenced to 40 years in prison by a military jury at Guantanamo Bay.
However, under a plea deal with the Pentagon, Khadr will only spend at most another eight years behind bars.
The seven-member jury of military officers handed down the decision Sunday after more than eight hours of deliberations, writing one of the final chapters in the politically charged legal saga of Khadr, a Canadian who's been held in U.S. custody since he was 15.
After announcing the jury's recommended sentence, Col. Patrick Parrish, the presiding judge, told Khadr that after serving another year in U.S. custody, he could apply to be transferred to Canada.
Khadr, now 24, pleaded guilty last week to five war crimes, including the murder of Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer, who died after a firefight between al-Qaeda and U.S. forces in Afghanistan on July 27, 2002.
It's being reported elsewhere that Khadr will spend that year in single-cell, maximum security -- solitary confinement. Unless they decide to interrogate him some more in which case he'll have the occasional visitors.
Khadr To Serve 8 Years
http://www.thestar.com/article/883761--khadr-to-serve-eight-years
"Alexe Neve, Canada's Secretary General of Amnesty International condemned the decision as 'stunningly punitive'. 'Make no mistake the world is watching,' Pentagon Prosecutor Jeffrey Groharing told the uniformed panel Saturday morning. 'Your sentence will send a message.''
which it has...and America keeps repeating it: We can invade, conquer, torture and kill but resistance is a crime...
short sentence for murder
Will It Take A Coalition To Welcome Back Khadr? - by Norman Spector
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/spector-visi...
"Mr. Khadr's prospects for repatriation would be much better off under a coalition government - which Michael Ignatieff says he's prepared to lead after the next election. And which is now in the cards..."
Spector's mischief making with the Khadr case, including the preposterous notion that the media or 'representatives' were for Khadr, is all too obvious..
Have the Liberals or NDP announced yet that they will repatriate Khadr once they win the next election? Now would appear to be the appropriate moment for that. I haven't heard such an announcement. Spector, as NDPP points out, is full of shit.
What did Lt. William Calley get again?
Canada Aware of Khadr Plea Deal: US Memo
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/10/31/us-canada-khadr-deal.html
"A US State Department memorandum shows the Canadian government was aware of Omar Khadr's plea deal with the US government, contradicting repeated denials by the Harper government such a deal had been made..."
[Temporarily shedding atheism]
I pray that the judge and jury someday soon serve the very sentence they have criminally meted out to Khadr.
Judge not, that ye may not be judged.
[/ returning to nonbelief]
Canada Aware of Khadr Plea Deal: US Memo
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/10/31/us-canada-khadr-deal.html
"A US State Department memorandum shows the Canadian government was aware of Omar Khadr's plea deal with the US government, contradicting repeated denials by the Harper government such a deal had been made..."
Otherwise, where would the rumors come from that the plea deal involved Khadr serving one more year in GTMO and the remaining seven in Canada? It takes two to tango.
What did Lt. William Calley get again?
He was given life in a court martial after conviction. Appeal reduced it to 20 years hard labour at Ft Leavenworth. The Secretary of the Army reduced it to 10 years. Nixon made it house arrest and he was released after 3 1/2 years
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/verdicts-in-khadr-is-ottawas-problem-now/article1779878/
"It’s a huge victory for me and my family,” said Tabitha Speer, who cheered and fist-pumped in the air of the heavily-guarded courtroom when the seven senior U.S. officers on the panel – equivalent to a jury – imposed a 40-year-sentence, 15 more than military prosecutors had asked for.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/verdicts-in-khadr-is-ottawas-problem-now/article1779878/
"It’s a huge victory for me and my family,” said Tabitha Speer, who cheered and fist-pumped in the air of the heavily-guarded courtroom when the seven senior U.S. officers on the panel – equivalent to a jury – imposed a 40-year-sentence, 15 more than military prosecutors had asked for.
It's all about the big sound byte.
That's why the Pentagon dragged the weeping war widow to the GTMO court proceedings.
Canada's Role in the Persecution of Child Soldier Omar Khadr
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21713
"But this is by no means an isolated episode. The war on terror has been invoked by Canada's elite to justify weakening or overturning longstanding limits on state power - such as detention without charge and the right of silence - and to revive torture as an instrument of state policy..."
Resistance is illegal.
I don't really understand how jailing him for another 8 years is productive. To me that's the kind of actions that breed hate and subsequently violence. He's what 24 now? The last 9 years of his life are most likely a blurred delirious dream for this guy. Eight years down the road he's going to get out of jail and wonder wtf happened! It seems there was little logic in deciding this man's fate and that will most likely resonate with him and others for the rest of his life.
Both Americans and Taliban/Afghani's (in Afghanistan) are guilty of crimes towards each other, as well as crimes towards innocents. There are some things that are inexcusable, to me at least, like targeted violence towards civilians and their infrastructure, which should not go without severe repercussions. How illegitimate is violence towards proprietors of violence, especially in war? How can a 15 year old boy in a war-zone be charged with homicide? We need to show mercy and compassion towards our enemies, even if they're our enemies or else peace will never be a possibility.
jacki-mo, first and last warning, stay out of this thread.
Cubicalgangster, "our enemies"? Who are you - Iggy? Stevie? Barack?
Perhaps you mean 'official' enemies of the US puppet government in Ottawa? Anyone fighting imperial armies and the war crimes of invasion and forced occupation is no enemy of yours or mine Cubica...
Verdict's In: Khadr is Ottawa's Problem Now
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/verdicts-in-khadr-is-ottawa...
"Dennis Edney, Mr. Khadr's Canadian lawyer, called the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal - created by the Bush administration but retained by President Barack Obama despite his pledge to shutter the prison - a charade.
'Over 1,200 US soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and they picked on a 15 year old,' he said. 'He's not a radical jihadist, he's a victim, adding, that Mr. Khadr is an intelligent and gentle person who 'will be a worthy citizen. This is one final coerced confession from a victimized young man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time because his father placed him there', Mr Edney added."
short sentence for murder
- remind me again? How many American "soldiers" have been charged with murder for dropping bombs on weddings, or shooting kids on bikes, or old men at check points, or sending rockets into buildings where reporters they didn't like were working?
- this whole thing has been right out of Alice since the beginning - the Americans invade a country, killing people all over the place - and when a kid tries to fight back and hurts one of their poor soldiers they take him home and charge him with murder? The inmates are running the asylum, truly ....
Man, this generation is not going to get a good write up in the history books, assuming sanity ever becomes dominant on this planet.
(not that I'm holding my breath ...)
The Wrongful Prosecution of Omar Khadr
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/the-wrongful-per...
"And what role did Canada play? Shamefully, it sent its officials to bully him into giving out incriminating information that it then handed to its prosecutors, an act the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously condemned. the Canadian government then declared, 'Let the process work.' Some process...
A bizarre spectacle: evidence that had been coerced from Mr. Khadr after he was drugged and after surgery at 15, or after he was threatened with gang-rape by an interrogator at around that same age, was permitted to be heard in court, a plea bargain that was coerced with the very real threat of a life sentence hanging over his head..."
It is interesting to see the same media that allowed, even facilitated the sequence of events that occurred, now, after the fact, tells us what we already know - that the process was bogus and unjust.
Canada's Role in the Persecution of Child Soldier Omar Khadr
In the case of the persecution of Omar Khadr, the opposition's role has been equally craven. There has been no attempt to make the case to the Canadian people that his CSIS interrogation is part of a pattern of Canadian complicity in torture. Nor has the opposition sought to expose the sinister implications of the Harper government's defence of the military commissions process.
In Canada, as around the world, the ruling elite, gorged on wealth and fearful for its future, is increasingly indifferent and hostile to democratic rights. The international working class is the only force with the social power to mount a struggle to defend and broaden democratic rights and must make this a vital element of its struggle against capitalist austerity and militarism.
Khadr Will Move to Maximum Security
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/11/01/omar-khadr-plea-deal.html
"Omar Khadr will spend his remaining year in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the highest security section of the detention facility. CBC's Laurie Graham says Toronto born Khadr, 24 has been staying in a section of the prison where inmates tend to be compliant.
'He, as part of this deal, will go to a different camp, which is maximum security,' she told CBC News Network. 'There's been a lot of difficulties there. Some infighting, aggression...And he will be surrounded by more aggressive inmates."
Not to mention Gitmo's murderous gestapo guards...
We know that the Harper government, opposition parties and the MSM for the most part will do little to reverse this miscarriage of justice. Hopefully groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch will ramp up their efforts to demand that Omar stay out of maximum security.
Canada's Role in the Persecution of Child Soldier Omar Khadr
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21713
"But this is by no means an isolated episode. The war on terror has been invoked by Canada's elite to justify weakening or overturning longstanding limits on state power - such as detention without charge and the right of silence - and to revive torture as an instrument of state policy..."
That’s so true …it’s like the whole entire word “terror” was given a new meaning that parallels with …the “against our way of life” slogan. Since when has our way of life been about privacy violation and torture and increased surveillance …voyeurism and police death squads?
Militarly the function of an enemy soldier has been changed to armed combatant....insurgent...enemy of the US...terrorist...for the adult and the function of a child soldier is not even recognized if it's the other side that's doing it....it's a frigging joke. Talk about frustration and paranoia ..they may as well bring out the burning stake and the dunking chair....
So now if you are against going backwards in the human evolutionary scale..You must be against our way of life therefore a terrorist. Now they have created many more terrorists than there were previously, creating more excuses for more regressive laws.
Just remember who brought this upon us ….The Liberal the Republican and the Conservative. To hell with all 3 of them….and God help them when people figure it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkM5eyN8ytI&feature=user
Tories Under Fire Over Khadr Deal
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/11/01/khadr-plea-politics-hill-rea...
"Opposition MPs are accusing the Conservative government of deliberately misleading Canadians on its involvement in a plea deal between Omar Khadr and the US government...
NDP MP Wayne Marsten said the documents show that either Cannon doesn't know what's going on in his own department or was disingenuous in his statements to the House of Commons about the deal.."
The "opposition" never fails to find ways to avoid dealing with the real issues. If there's a side issue they can raise to divert attention they will milk it to death.
What matters is not whether the government was a party to the plea deal, or whether the government lied about being a party to the deal, but what the government is going to do to protect Khadr from this travesty. Will he rot in Guantanamo for 8 years or will they do something?
I understand why Khadr would cop a plea, I just don't think his lawyers understood the Harper government's lack of good faith when his lawyers suggested he accept the "deal" based on "favorable language".
Unless there was an iron-clad contract, written in whatever effluvium runs in Harper's veins, I would expect the ReformCons to renege on any "favorable language" with the defense as they continue to claim there was no agreement. Whether through Harper's new (likely Khadr situation inspired ) anti-transfer legislation or other obstructionist slight of hand, I expect they mean to block his repatriation to Canada.
The "favorable language" of the embassy memo sounds like it could have been pre-arranged between the Harper regime and the US prosecution to lure a guilty plea from Khadr, who hopes to get out of the Gitmo torture chamber into Canada after a year. More to the point, the guilty plea gets the embarrassingly outrageous US kangaroo court out of the world spotlight.
"The government of Canada is inclined to favourably consider Mr. Khadr's application to be transferred to Canada to serve the remainder of his sentence, or such portion of the remainder of his sentence as the National Parole Board determines," the Canadian embassy wrote Oct. 23.
....
"The decision to approve my transfer is ultimately made by the Canadian government," the agreement says.
"This agreement cannot bind Canadian officials to accept my prisoner transfer application."
and:
Yeah, good luck with that.
Hopefully, my above post is wrong (it won't be the first time), as Cannon now says Khadr will be repatriated, still claiming there was no Gov deal.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/ottawa-agre...
Omar Khadr Hammers the Final Nail Into the Coffin of American Justice - by Andy Worthington
http://www.truth-out.org/omar-khadr-jury-hammers-final-nail-into-coffin-...
"As Lt. Col. David Frakt, a law professor and the former military defense attorney, for two Guantanamo prisoners has explained...when it comes to the central charge of 'murder in violation of the law of war,' even if Khadr did throw the grenade, 'there is no evidence that he violated the law of war in doing so.'
This confusion first arose because the Bush administration wanted to find a way to ensure that 'any attempt to fight Americans or coalition forces was a war crime,' and, in 2006 and, disturbingly, last year under Obama, Congress maintained this unjustifiable position by refusing to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate actions during wartime.."
The "opposition" never fails to find ways to avoid dealing with the real issues. If there's a side issue they can raise to divert attention they will milk it to death.
What matters is not whether the government was a party to the plea deal, or whether the government lied about being a party to the deal, but what the government is going to do to protect Khadr from this travesty. Will he rot in Guantanamo for 8 years or will they do something?
All the opposition parties jumped on the same talking points memo: Cannon withheld the truth about the plea agreement.
Why didn't they jump all over Harper when he was given the chance to repatriate Omar Khadr when Obama first got elected? Why didn't they express their outrage with the kangaroo court proceedings? Why did they fail to tie the treatment of Khadr to the issue of torture in Afghanistan? Why didn't they underscore Canada's international obligations regarding child soldiers, illegal detention, use of torture, etc?
Your questions would require a genuine opposition rather than the pretended one of complicitous co-conspirators we currently have in the evil Ottawa talkshop. The whole matter of our continued participation in this US/NATO led imperialist global war of terror should be vigorously put forward. An open, public comprehensive probing of this and all possible breaches of international law, war crimes and war-making practises should be advanced forthwith. Time to move. Time to stand.
Iran Expresses Concern Over Human Rights Situation in US
Headline of the year!!
I just heard a good interview between Carol Off of CBC Radio and a prosecutor for the US military.
The prosecutor at one point said Omar Khadr was guilty of fighting against Americans - apparently there's a new clause in the Geneva Convention.
Another part of his case was the claim that Khadr was given the opportunity to surrender, yet continued to fight.
Nuts to that argument.
So Khadr was supposed to surrender between the arial bombardment and storm trooper invasion? And yes, it all came down to killing an American. Notice how it wasn't important to even bother figuring out who killed the two Afghani soldiers? That case obviously had no merit.
Sick bastards. Their sense of entitlement is so high that they will never even feel an ounce of guilt.
I just heard a good interview between Carol Off of CBC Radio and a prosecutor for the US military.
The prosecutor at one point said Omar Khadr was guilty of fighting against Americans - apparently there's a new clause in the Geneva Convention.
Another part of his case was the claim that Khadr was given the opportunity to surrender, yet continued to fight.
Nuts to that argument.
What really floored me was when the prosecutor (a Colonel, I believe) said repeatedly that Omar Khadr had attacked U.S. soldiers.
Welcome to George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" where "defense" is "attack".
The American soldiers attacked the fort. Omar Khadr defended himself against the onslaught.
The prosecutor tried to make a distinction between the Northern Alliance and Al-Qaeda by making the claim that the Northern Alliance were a militia that were fighting in support of a legitimate army and for a country.
This argument fails because the Afghan war is an illegal war of aggression whose purpose is regime change. The legitimate government was the Taliban whose army was defending Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda insurgents were militias who were "co-belligerants" (term used in WW II by the Americans to describe Italian soldiers, militias and partisans who fought in support of the Allies against the forces of the Italian fascists), that were fighting in support of a legitimate (Taliban) army for Afghanistan.
As I've said before, if one ignores the fact that Omar Khadr was a child soldier, (which the U.S. military tribunal did) then Mr. Khadr's status is no different than non-uniformed American mercenaries, working for example for Blackwater (now Xe Services) or Dyncorp, etc., when such persons are deployed in combat roles.
FS, there are so many laws and principles broken that it's hard to believe they got away with this. Even if an actual criminal case was conducted, which in of itself defies logic, there in no way Omar Khadr would be convicted as being guilty without a doubt based on the evidence offered. But to even try this is a joke and slap in the face of all we agree to as international law.
FS, there are so many laws and principles broken that it's hard to believe they got away with this. Even if an actual criminal case was conducted, which in of itself defies logic, there in no way Omar Khadr would be convicted as being guilty without a doubt based on the evidence offered. But to even try this is a joke and slap in the face of all we agree to as international law.
Indeed.
This is a crystal clear case of American exceptionalism.
The U.S.A. is making this shit (i.e. these "laws" of not laws) up as it goes along to fit its own self-created circumstances.
Carol Off Interview with US Military Spokesperson: As it Happens
http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=1630873982
ROTFL
Khadr Fight was Thrown - by Ezra Levant
http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/ezra_levant/2010/11/01/1591...
"Obama threw justice away. Because prosecuting an al-Qaeda murderer is contrary to the policy of appeasing terrorism. That's what happens when you make a community organizer your commander in chief. Most Americans no longer trust Obama to make decisions for their country. But Cannon is letting Obama make decisions for our country - decisions that could put Canadian families in harm's way.
We have one year to scupper Cannon's midnight deal with Obama before Kadr crosses the border. Cannon thinks your neighbourhood is a better place for Khadr than a US prison. Tell Cannon he's wrong. Tell him Obama can't use our streets as his garbage can. Tell him your vote in the next election turns on it.."
Oh yes, do tell all the others like you NOT to vote Conservative, Ezra Levant...what a plan!
from Rabble.ca Frontpage:
Lawyers Rights Watch Canada: Repatriate Omar Khadr to Canada for Rehabilitation
http://rabble.ca/taxonomy/term/12
"LWRC is deeply concerned about the illegitimacy of the military commission proceedings and the illegality of the Guantanamo Bay sentencing of Khadr..."
The Commons: Agreeing to, but not with Omar Khadr
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/11/01/the-commons-let-us-debate-the-colour-...
"The Scene: The challenge of the day would be this: could the government be compelled to agree to agree that it had agreed to an agreement to which it had officially signaled its agreeability..."
your tax dollars at work
Deciphering the Khadr Diplomatic Dance - by Norman Spector
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/spector-visi...
"It is clear then, that in drafting the notes, the two sides worked closely together to find langauge that would be acceptable to all parties, one would have to include Omar Khadr, who was represented in these discussions by the State Department.."
Can someone explain the basis for Khadar's prosecution?
He was fighting against an American invasion of Afghanistan. He was in a house attacked by American soldiers who killed evryone else in it. He himself was severely wounded and killed an enemy soldier in self-defence.
On this basis every soldier who killed an enemy in a war would be guilty of murder, which is absurd.
I suspect the answer lies in Khadar (and the other Guantanamo prisoners) being labelled "enemy combatants" rather than soldiers but I am still very puzzled over how his prosecution is legally justified.
It's justified by the USA's spending more on weapons than the rest of the world combined, i.e.: the principle of whoever pays the piper calls the tune.
Can someone explain the basis for Khadar's prosecution?...
I suspect the answer lies in Khadar (and the other Guantanamo prisoners) being labelled "enemy combatants" rather than soldiers but I am still very puzzled over how his prosecution is legally justified.
Good question, nicky.
Read Andy Worthington's explanation HERE (the link posted to the same article at #29 above no longer works). In it, Worthington explains how Omar Khadr could not be tried under international law; he had to be tried under United States "law", which throws the fundamental tenets and categories of international war law out the window, and substitutes made-up categories of people and war crimes that would not be recognized as crimes in any other country in the world - certainly not in any country that recognizes and applies the established laws of war and international humanitarian law (such as the convention on child soldiers). Thus, Khadr was not tried as a mere "enemy combatant", but as "an alien unprivileged enemy belligerent, as defined by the Military Commissions Act of 2009" (as he was forced to admit in his so-called Stipulation of Fact).
"Alien unprivileged enemy belligerent" is not a category of person known to international law or the law of any other nation on Earth.
In addition, the Military Commissions Act aforesaid lowers the bar for the prosecution so that hearsay evidence and evidence obtained by torture, duress, or threat of torture, is admissible. Finally, it makes sure that the victim will be tried and sentenced by a jury consisting entirely of US military officers.
Why Harper Did The Right Thing on Khadr - by Norman Spector
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/spector-visi...
"Fox News North is now hinting at splits in cabinet on the issue - splits that the opposition parties may find tempting to try to exploit, judging from Monday's Question Period..
The Obama Administration needed a hand in getting them out of an embarrassing situation. Simply put, a prime minister of Canada, whatever his personal views on an issue, doesn't say no to a US president..."
Canadians Split Over Khadr's Return: Poll
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Entertainment/Canadians+split+over+Khadr+...
"Only 31 per cent said he should have been offered more government assistance because he was probably 'not guilty and was forced into this plea bargain as his only option to be released someday after serving his sentence.."
Khadr Deal: Ottawa's Denial Not Believable
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/884214--khadr-deal-ott...
"Even in the final hours of the American judicial circus, involving Omar Khadr, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government managed to disgrave itself yet again by repeatedly denying that it was playing a supporting role when, in fact, it was."
Travers: Khadr Case Hands Terrorists Unearned Victory
http://www.thestar.com/specialsections/omarkhadr/oped/article/884347--tr...
"By trampling defining legal and human rights, the US and Canada are handing terrorists a victory they could never have won alone...If we are fighting a war on terror then we have just shot ourselves in the foot. Failures by the US to uphold judicial principles and by Canada to safeguard citizens fundamental rights only reinforce the energizing jihadist notion that western democracies are fatally weak and hopelessly corrupt..'
and maybe it's not just an energizing 'jihadist notion' either..
I fear he will not last a year in Gitmo and then we will hear about his tragic death for a sound bite or two. It truly makes me want to cry.
Iran Expresses Concern Over Human Rights Situation in US
Headline of the year!!
They Hate Us for Our Freedoms Superior Torture Methods and Publically Endorsed Kangaroo Courts
Iran Expresses Concern Over Human Rights Situation in US
Headline of the year!!
They Hate Us for Our Freedoms, Superior Torture Methods and Publically Endorsed Kangaroo Courts
Iran Expresses Concern Over Human Rights Situation in US
Headline of the year!!
They Hate Us for Our Freedoms Superior Torture Methods and Publically Endorsed Kangaroo Courts
In May 2009, Human Rights Watch revised upward to 2,574 its estimate of the number of U.S. prisoners serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole for crimes committed when they were under age 18. There are no persons known to be serving life without parole sentences for crimes committed as children anywhere else in the world.
Human Rights Watch also reported that there are 38 million non-citizens living in the United States, of whom approximately 12 million are undocumented. In 2009, the U.S. government took some preliminary positive steps but largely failed to resolve the myriad human rights problems faced by this population.
In the United States, the crime of rape has one of the lowest arrest, prosecution, and conviction rates among serious violent crimes.
Hundreds of thousands of children work on U.S. farms yet are exempt from the legal protections granted to all other working children in the United States.
The United States is one of only a handful of countries that have no guarantee of paid family leave, and pregnancy discrimination claims have risen sharply in recent years.
A March 2009 report by the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics found that the incarcerated population had reached an all-time high of nearly 2.4 million. The United States continues to have both the largest incarcerated population and the highest incarceration rate in the world.
[quote/]
My only question is can someone point me to a 30 year period in its history when America was not engaged in war crimes of one sort or another. To most Americans everyone on the globe is a potential perp for resisting democracy and freedom. Hardly surprising when you see how they allow their government to incarcerate their fellow citizens and neighbours in ever more profitable numbers.
I fear he will not last a year in Gitmo and then we will hear about his tragic death for a sound bite or two. It truly makes me want to cry.
This is what I'm afraid of. Makes me wonder who suggested one more year in Guantanamo? Canada or the US?
I'm sure it was Canada. The US would be happy to get rid of him. Harper demanded another year to lay the basis for dealing with Khadr after his repatriation (if indeed he is to be repatriated).
Watch for Harper to introduce new legislation to deal with Khadr. Like lifetime parole supervision, stripping his civil liberties and rights, making him wear an ankle-bracelet monitor, travel restrictions, etc. Harper wants to make Khadr's life so miserable he will go elsewhere to live.
And watch for the so-called opposition parties to happily vote for the legislation, telling us that it's all in Khadr's own best interests.
I'm sure it was Canada. The US would be happy to get rid of him.
So that must be why fascists created the Military Commissions Act in 2006? It was because they wanted to make it easier for other western countries to repatriate their al-CIA'duh nationals? For some reason, I don't think so.
Ah! I can see what you were leading up to now. The truth is that it was our two stoogeaucratic political parties, the successors to the Libranos and their intellectual equals in the ReformaTory Party who failed Omar Khadr and NOT the effective opposition NDP.
Our Liberal stooges in phony majority government stood up in Canada's Parliament and lied to the NDP that they were taking care of Omar Khadr's rights. It was the Liberals who handed him over to the US Military inquisition and not the effective opposition NDP. Fuck Manley and Martin and Chretien, The Harpers and the rest of those US boot-licking stooges in Ottawa.
We do have an agreement that people incarcerated in one country but from another can serve the majority of their sentence in their home country. We do have that with the U.S. and other countries (remember that woman cook from mexico or that terrorist couple from peru I think).
If so, it wouldnt take any special agreement with the cons for this plea deal, just an agreement to let the application unfold as normal.
Does anyone know if there is a wait time for it? Like say, a year?
The Liberals are just glad they don't have to lie to us all over again about Khadr while in government. They are entirely comfortable with propping up the other wing of the colonial administrativeship in phony minority government.
Mallick: War Crimes Trials - From Tragedy to Farce - by Heather Mallick
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/884864--mallick-...
"The US and its allies, including Canada, have lost this war, merely extending it to Pakistan. But the losers have greater military might, so a shattered widow named Tabitha Speer has been conned into some kind of deluded hurrah that justice has been done. It hasn't.
Khadr's arrest wasn't fair. His torture was Talibanic. His courtroom was a mockery. His parents got away with mental child abuse. His own country, Canada, which doesn't even jail a Canadian soldier for finishing off a wounded Afghan 'illegal combatant' has shown itself to be craven and dishonest when asked to cope with the mistreatment of one of its own citizens.
It's a shameful excuse for a country, that won't take responsibility for its own citizens. It's not a war crime. It's just cowardice.."
- Actually Heather, our involvement in Afghanistan IS a war crime. And as WikiLeaks has now amply demonstrated, torture is far more 'Americanic' than 'Talibanic'.
Khadr Falls to Victor's Justice
http://winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/khadr-falls-to-victors-jus...
"To hypocritically label Khadr's actions in a combat situation to be a war crime not only diminishes the very term, it is also a flagrant abuse of victor's justice..'
"To hypocritically label Khadr's actions in a combat situation to be a war crime not only diminishes the very term, it is also a flagrant abuse of victor's justice..'
I would call it "loser's spite."
Khadr A Bigger Threat Than Williams: Poll
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/11/03/15947596.html
"In a showdown between terrorist Omar Khadr and serial killer Russell Williams, Canadians say Khadr is the bigger threat to the public..."
beam me up Scotty
Take me with you, NDPP.
And that's why there will be no justice for Omar Khadr if and when he sets foot on Canadian soil again.
The Railroading Of Omar Khadr - by Becky Akers
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=1182
"This time, it's not just liberty's lovers excoriating Our Rulers: their persecution of so-called 'child soldier' Omar Khadr has infuriated many..."
Khadr A Bigger Threat Than Williams: Poll
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/11/03/15947596.html
"In a showdown between terrorist Omar Khadr and serial killer Russell Williams, Canadians say Khadr is the bigger threat to the public..."
Shows you what sick countries Canada and the U.S.A. are.
It also shows you how frighteningly effective the repetition of simple moronic slogans - i.e. propaganda by the government, the military and the fawning corporate media (FCM) is. Example: "We Support The Troops." I-401 "Highway of Heroes." Red Shirt Fridays - Do those fascist rallies still occur after the demise of war criminal former Gen. Rick Hillier?
^^^ I saw that too, Frmsldr. Totally vomit inducing.
Khadr allegedly seriously injured a special ops soldier in a firefight vs a trusted member of the communinty who preyed on young girls and women, repeatedly raped and killed women by his own admission. Khadr is a bigger threat? Not to any woman or young girl I know.
Who is David Coletto and Abacus Data? I wonder if he supports the ReformaTory Cons. The effect of his so-called "poll" is one of reversing the damage Williams did to the Canadian Armed Forces' reputation.
I mean, who asks such a sick and depraved "opinion poll" question?
You're right, Frmsldr. The premise of this poll is very suspect.
I'm afraid that soon enough this thread will become an echo chamber. Even on a progressive forum, not enough people care. No wonder The Sun can get away with publishing such rubbish polls.
Major Terror Trial Ruling: Judge Says Evidence Acquired by Coercion is Inadmissable
http://www.alternet.org/rights/148644/major_terror_trial_ruling_--_judge...
"...Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York issued a ruling that rendered coercively procured evidence inadmissable in courts. The ruling was made in relation to the first 'enemy combatant' terrorist trial to be held in US federal courts.."
An 'Unprivileged Combatant' - by Brandon Gray
http://mostlywater.org/unpriviliged_combatant
"It is not often that white people in imperialist countries like Canada get to know the individual names and faces of the people their government kills and maims..Omar Khadr, a 15 year old Canadian citizen of Afghan origin is a rare exception to this rule..."
There is a rather silly error in the above quote.
Omar Khadr is of Palestinian "origin", not Afghan.
I had always heard Palestinian and Egyptian, but thought there might be something to this - which is why I chose the quote. Guess not - thanks for the clarification Frmsldr
Omar's father was born in Egypt; his mother was born in Palestine.
Surely "origin", if it means anything in this context, refers to the place of one's birth. Omar Khadr is a Canadian of Canadian origin.
Not in this brave new world. Of course he is Canadian nothing else.
I hope we don't give up on Omar Khadr. I heard about this ever so briefly in a news bite on CBC Radio but it's a hopeful sign and possible avenue:
Government to compensate ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees
Around a dozen men who accused British security forces of colluding in their transfer overseas are to get millions in compensation from the UK government.
Some of the men, who are all British citizens or residents, were detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba.
At least six of them alleged UK forces were complicit in their torture before they arrived at Guantanamo.
Foreign Secretary William Hague denied the deal was an admission that security agencies colluded in any mistreatment.
In response to questions, he said the settlement reflected the desire to "move on" and be able to conduct an inquiry.
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke told the Commons that the settlement was "significant", but had the cases gone to court, it would have cost taxpayers up to £50m.
The coalition government made clear in the summer that it wanted to avoid a massive court case which would also have put the British secret intelligence services under the spotlight. Prime Minister David Cameron offered to enter settlement talks with six men seeking damages, an offer that has now been accepted...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11762636
I know the plea (railroading) deal has lots of stipulations but does that include not suing Canada or appealing his conviction?
I know the plea (railroading) deal has lots of stipulations but does that include not suing Canada or appealing his conviction?
From what I've heard, it does include Mr. Khadr waiving his right to sue the U.S. government, the Pentagon, the U.S. military and all the American persons at whose hands he suffered however, it is silent concerning his right to sue the Canadian government.
So I say, sue those s.o.b.s' assess off.
Omar's father was born in Egypt; his mother was born in Palestine.
Surely "origin", if it means anything in this context, refers to the place of one's birth. Omar Khadr is a Canadian of Canadian origin.
Indeed.
That is why I pointed out the author's "silly" factual error.
My guess is the reason why the author wrote that is s/he wanted to come up with an explanation/justification/rationalization for the Khadr family being in the Af-Pak region with the fiction that they were of Afghan "origin" (heritage or ethnicity) to put the matter in the most positive light.
The problem with this is that acute detractors of the Khadr case will jump all over such a factual error and attempt to make the claim that because of this slight flaw in the argument, the rest of the argument is fatally flawed.
The best thing to do is for us to get all our facts correct and leave our detractors to make the mistakes.
I know the plea (railroading) deal has lots of stipulations but does that include not suing Canada or appealing his conviction?
If you have a strong stomach, you can read the plea deal HERE.
It does bar any appeal of his conviction. It doesn't expressly bar any legal action against the Canadian government, but the chances of that happening are slim and none.
Canada is not legally bound to agree to Khadr's repatriation; they could always force him to sign a complete release of all claims as a condition of his repatriation.
I wouldn't get too worked up about the Khadrs, Canada's "first family of terrorism." The father was an anti-communist jihadi and pro-Mooj in the 1980s. And Omar's brother admits to having worked for the CIA at Gitmo. It's funny how so many Qaeda agents end up working for the CIA.
I wouldn't get too worked up about the Khadrs, Canada's "first family of terrorism." The father was an anti-communist jihadi and pro-Mooj in the 1980s. And Omar's brother admits to having worked for the CIA at Gitmo. It's funny how so many Qaeda agents end up working for the CIA.
Yeah, no kidding.
The best examples are those Yemeni nationals who were released from GTMO and sent back to Yemen, by way of rehabilitation in Saudi Arabia (funny how they got this and not Omar Khadr). When they return to Yemen, the first thing they do is join Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. They stick with them for a couple of weeks, months or years, then get involved in a skirmish in the north on the border with Arabia. Whereupon they turn themselves in to Saudi soldiers or intelligence agents and sing like canaries to Saudi intelligence, CIA field officers and the Pentagon.
There's a lot more going on here than is aparent on the surface.
Isn't it the truth, Former Soldier. Things are surely not what they appear to be.
And so the paranoid disinformation campaign begins again...
The woo-meisters of the phony left are now trotting out right-wing talking points ("Canada's first family of terrorism", no less!) to prove that Omar Khadr is secretly working for the CIA. Pretty soon they'll be telling us how the whole Bagram/Guantanamo torture-interrogation-trial saga was staged by a fiendishly clever U.S. government just to throw us off the real truth. I don't know what the "real truth" is, but I'm sure we're going to be hearing a lot about it before Khadr comes up for repatriation in a year's time.
By then the self-induced hysteria should be sufficient to ensure that the Canadian left is totally incapable of mounting any serious campaign to support Khadr's release from Guantanamo Bay.
This guy is a low life scum bag terrorist and deserves every second of his 40 years. The notion of him be a so called child soldier is nothing nbut bleeding heart crap from people who will protest a cloudy day if they could. This guy KNEW exactly whay we was doing and confessed to as much . It is about time we treated these scum bag terrorists exactly for what they are , terrorists . 40 years in totaly solitary confinment is too good a punishment for him
See what wonderful, thoughtful. and humane company the phony left is in? You can all join hands and sing Kumbaya at the protest rallies against the repatriation of Omar Khadr next November!
Hi Mr. Impaler. You've stumbled upon the wrong message board. Here's a parting gift of a crucifix and a bushel of garlic.
You cant kill a vampire ... garlic and crucifix's are a joke and don't work :-)
Now, back to the discussion at hand.I stand by what I said . This guy and others like him seem to think that terrorism is a way to solve problems, but instead, people like him only create tham. Catchfire, I had a great priviedge of wearing a uniform and serving my country to ensure that we are free from these terrorist mornons who seem to think they can do anything they wish , and then claim it to be some pathetic cause. The ONLY sympathy that is deserving here is for those who are the innocent victims of these pathetic idiots who have zero ambition to become anything more than puppets for some "leader " who has about as much touch with reality, as I have a chance to pilot the next space shuttle mission. Khadr and his merry band of brainless fundimetalists ( SP ) have no place in a civilized society and I for one hope that he and his merry band of morally deficiant deviants never see the light of day as long as they live.
* adding garlic to my yummy lunch *
True story: I'm reading Dracula right now and there is one weapon that always beats a vampire dead. Better than Jonathan Harker's shovel is Mina's typewriter. So, sorry, Vlad, we won't be giving you anymore of our blood. Ciao.
I can see now why the Canadian forces are being accused of war crimes. With your attitude I am sure it is really easy to torture and murder the "other." You invade someone's country and then vilify the people trying to protect their homeland. But then we must get that oil flowing, right?
And so the paranoid disinformation campaign begins again...
The woo-meisters of the phony left are now trotting out right-wing talking points ("Canada's first family of terrorism", no less!) to prove that Omar Khadr is secretly working for the CIA. Pretty soon they'll be telling us how the whole Bagram/Guantanamo torture-interrogation-trial saga was staged by a fiendishly clever U.S. government just to throw us off the real truth. I don't know what the "real truth" is, but I'm sure we're going to be hearing a lot about it before Khadr comes up for repatriation in a year's time.
By then the self-induced hysteria should be sufficient to ensure that the Canadian left is totally incapable of mounting any serious campaign to support Khadr's release from Guantanamo Bay.
What really happened on 9/11?
What are the real reasons for the Afghan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and Iran(?) wars?
Why is there so much variance over the treatment of current and former GTMO inmates (Omar Khadr versus former Yemeni inmates, for example)?
These persons and events are all just pawns in a "Great Game" the Pentagon is playing.
Dribs and drabs of the truth won't be released about this current (Global) War (on Terror) until we find ourselves in the next Pentagon orchestrated war, whatever that one will be about.
Guantanamo Detainee Acquitted on 284 of 285 Charges
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/nov2010/terr-n19.shtml
"In a blow to the Obama administration's effort to manipulate the civilian justice system to achieve guility verdicts for alleged terrorists, a New York City jury on Wednesday unexpectedly acquitted a Guantanamo detainee, Ahmed Khaifan Ghailani on 284 of 285 charges. The case was related to the 1998 terrorist attack on the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam Tanzania..."
Remember Omar Khadr?
How much do you think the Guantanamo Gestapo is still forcing him to take? Do you not find it as I do macabre that there is so little support for that rarest of things a true Canadian hero/ fighter/ resister/ and survivor?
Exclusive: Controversial Drug Given to All Guantanamo Detainees Akin to ' Pharmacologic Waterboarding'
http://www.truth-out.org/controversial-drug-given-all-guantanamo-detaine...
"The Defense Department forced all 'war on terror' detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison to take a high dosage of a controversial antimalarial durg, mefloquine, an act that an Army public health physician called 'pharmacologic waterboarding'. The US military administered the drug despite Pentagon knowledge that mefloquine caused severe neuropsychiatric side effects, including suicidal thoughts, hallucinations and anxiety.
The drug was used on prisoners whether they had malaria or not...
The dosage is five times higher than the prophylactic dose given to individuals to prevent the disease...
It belongs to a class of drugs known as quinolines, which were part of a CIA sponsored human experiment program to investigate 'toxic cerebral states'.
Our imprisoned fellow citizen was also mentioned recently in wikileaks releases involving CSIS
CSIS Vigorously Harassing Hezbollah
http://www.canadaeast.com/news/article/1329083
these people are supposedly our public servants, paid for with your tax dollars, expressing what they really think about us and baldly revealing what they really stand for and who they really work for now. Do these revealed attitudes not require responsive and corrective actions sooner rather than later? Do you really think that an 'anti-war' opposition party leader can simultaneously continue to support an organization like NATO, suggesting they will seek instead of leaving it, to change its nature? Are you one of those who seriously accept such a contradiction from those you hope will save and deliver you from the kind of monster rule and monster power that Omar Khadr fought, faced and still faces? What if they turn out to have been selling you out and stringing you along all the time?. What then? How much time do you think is left to waste and how much left to begin to get together a resistance large enough and strong enough, aware enough and capable enough to begin to do the necessary political surgery to remove this cancer that attacks us from within and without? It is time to shed political parasites and vampires that suck and drain us promising to save us as many here are only too aware of already I'm sure.
There was NOTHING done to help Omar Khadr by our government and there will be NOTHING done to help you or I or anyone else they decide is a target. At present as far as organizing broad based resistance to their growing and arbitrary force, there appears to be no real plans for very real developing scenarios. This denial can't continue it's a diseased state. I know people are working on pieces but connecting dots in light of very quickly moving agendas of power, would seem imperative, ready or not.
Seasons Greetings and if you have a mind send something good to our brother Omar deep inside the darkest of Guantanamo hell holes. There are many others elsewhere and more slated to be built here and more and more of us could quite possibly fill them at some point in the future, unless things begin to be changed. Send light, solidarity and resistance back to the fighters
Omar Khadr
Camp Delta
PO Box 160
Washington DC 20053
USA
Christmas At Guantanamo
http://andyworthington.co.uk/2010/12/25/christmas-at-guantanamo/
"I thought I'd take this opportunity to remind readers who may be searching the internet because they need a break from eating and drinking, or because they want to get away from families for a while, or because the TV is so relentlessly pointless, or because they don't celebrate Christmas, about some of the 174 men still held in Guantanamo, for whom concern is particularly appropriate right now, as, between them, the Obama administration and Congress seem to have ensured that the majority of them will be spending more Christmases at Guantanamo.."
The government has yet to provide Khadr with any remedy. It could come in the form of challenging the validity of the plea bargain agreement reached between Canada and the U.S. once he is back on Canadian soil, according to constitutional law scholar Errol Mendes.
"His lawyers could say that he should be released immediately since the plea deal was in itself a violation of his rights. The Supreme Court of Canada has already said that the complicity of Canadian officials in his interrogation amounted to a violation of his constitutional rights," said Mendes, a professor of law at the University of Ottawa's common law section and the editor-in-chief of The National Journal of Constitutional Law. "Or Khadr could spend whatever time he has left to fulfill the plea agreement, but sue the hell out of the government for millions of dollars."
Still, in an upcoming article on Khadr (2010) to appear in the Supreme Court Law Review, University of Toronto law professor Audrey Macklin wrote that "Khadr has been dumped in the mother of all legal grey holes, the place of right without remedy. And a legal grey hole is really little more than a black hole decorated with judicial wallpaper."
In an interview, she explained that while not holding Canadian citizenship "can hurt," being a Canadian citizen "doesn't help when somebody is considered a pariah by the government.
"The government's position is that it does not owe Canadian citizens any duty to assist them in any way when their fundamental rights are being violated abroad. The government claims absolute and unfettered discretion to pick and choose which Canadians to protect."
Regardless of one's views of Omar Khadr, this assertion of unaccountable discretion should worry all Canadians who travel outside the country. And so far, the SCC has been unwilling to contradict the government's position, said Macklin.
Nathalie Des Rosiers, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA)'s general counsel, said in an interview that the federal government needs to provide clarity on the criteria it applies to determine whether it will assist a Canadian in distress outside the country, since in recent years the message has been mixed.
Two years ago, a federal government-chartered jet whisked Canadian Brenda Martin away from a Mexican prison back to Canada where she was briefly remanded into custody before being released on parole for time served. Yet Maher Arar endured torture as a suspected terrorist in a tiny Syrian cell before a federal government commission exonerated him of any terrorist ties; a Federal Court last year had to order the government to issue a passport to Abousfian Abdelrazik, who was stuck in Sudan for six years; and in 2009 Suaad Haji Mohamud was stranded for three months and spent eight days in jail in Kenya, where she was charged with identity fraud - on Canada's recommendation - after Kenyan immigration officials claimed her facial features didn't match her Canadian passport (DNA testing later verified her identity). All three people hold Canadian citizenship.
"It looks bad if the government is helping white Canadians, but doesn't help racialized Canadians," said Des Rosiers, who is on leave as a professor in the University of Ottawa's civil law section. "Maybe there are good reasons, but they should be more apparent to the public.
"Mendes believes Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government made the decision that Khadr "wasn't worth fighting for," although he remains subject to a "potentially unlawful detention" under international law.
"The government is making distinctions between different types of Canadian citizens, and some have more rights than others. If it feels someone is not worthy to have the full protection of Canada, it won't lift a finger. In fact, it will actually encourage a foreign state to let you basically rot in whatever condition you find yourself," said Mendes. "Which is why I agree with the opposition that a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian. If we start making a distinction, we're going down a very slippery slope."
Source
"The government's position is that it does not owe Canadian citizens any duty to assist them in any way when their fundamental rights are being violated abroad. The government claims absolute and unfettered discretion to pick and choose which Canadians to protect."
I'd put it this way to Herr Harper:
"Let me see if I have this right. We elect governments to represent us. Even though I (and 63% of those who voted) did not vote for the Conservatives, still the CPC forms the government of Canada and as such, represents ALL Canadians. Are you saying that you do not represent Omar Khadr (a Canadian)?
What is the purpose of Canadian consulates?"
Logically, the argument looks like this:
x represents and has a duty to safeguard the rights of all y.
Where x is the Canadian government.
y is a Canadian citizen.
So, if x is the Canadian government and y is a Canadian citizen,
Omar Khadr is a "y" - a Canadian citizen, the Canadian government had/has a duty to safeguard his rights.
That the federal government has not done this is an insupportable logical, moral and legal contradiction.
an excellent article MS - first they came for the Muslims and ' terrorists'...and the dumbos of the redneckery tribe cheered and shouted 'yes' 'more!' They got it. And here we now are...
"It looks bad if the government is helping white Canadians, but doesn't help racialized Canadians," said Des Rosiers, who is on leave as a professor in the University of Ottawa's civil law section. "Maybe there are good reasons, but they should be more apparent to the public.
"Mendes believes Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government made the decision that Khadr "wasn't worth fighting for," although he remains subject to a "potentially unlawful detention" under international law.
"The government is making distinctions between different types of Canadian citizens, and some have more rights than others. If it feels someone is not worthy to have the full protection of Canada, it won't lift a finger. In fact, it will actually encourage a foreign state to let you basically rot in whatever condition you find yourself," said Mendes. "Which is why I agree with the opposition that a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian. If we start making a distinction, we're going down a very slippery slope."
Source
Without uttering the word "racism", these lawyers are definitely noting that the government in operating on racist beliefs and/or ideology. I'll add that they do so because they feel safe in doing so. They saw how much of the public rallied and gave money to support Brenda Martin. The media gave her story front page coverage. But when it comes to brown Canadians, especially those earmarked Muslim, not so much.
If we leave this prick Harper in power for much longer, he will go after the courts to ensure he has pliant judges. I hope Omar Khadr's lawyers sue the government to the hilt before that happens.