The Omar Khadr repatriation thread - Part 1
October 5, 2011 - 5:43pm
The last we heard, Omar Khadr was serving the first year of his 8-year sentence in the highest security section of Guantanamo Bay, after which, in November 2011, he would be allowed to apply to the U.S. and Canadian governments for transfer to Canada, to serve out his remaining sentence here.
For background on Khadr and his persecution, check these links:
CBC documentary, October 2010: The U.S. vs Omar Khadr.
Series of articles and collection of links at WL [WikiLeaks] Central on Omar Khadr, starting HERE.
And just a backgrounder on the family themselves
The Kahdr Family: Working for the CIA 2004
Omar must have the worst lawyers in the world and been handed over to the American inquisition by one of the most corrupt stoogeaucracies in the world there in Ottawa at the time. It's either that or Guantanamo is a nest of al-Qa'eda spies working for the U.S. Military dictatorship for x-rated number of years through today.
A timely post, Spector, as it so happens a
new documentary on Khadr interrogation released in UK on Friday:
YOU DON’T LIKE THE TRUTH - 4 days inside Guantánamo is a documentary based on security camera footage from the Guantánamo Bay prison.
http://www.youdontlikethetruth.com/?lang=En&page=Home
The Guardian
Guantánamo film shows plight of Canadian national detained at 15
Filmed interrogation raises ethical questions over treatment of Omar Khadr, arrested in Afghanistan in 2002 and still in custody
The film, Four Days Inside Guantánamo, is released in the UK on Friday. It even casts doubt on the Pentagon's claims that Khadr was responsible for killing a US solder, the incident for which he was tried.
Dennis Edney, a prominent Canadian human rights lawyer who represented Khadr until earlier this year, says he remains dismayed by the attitude of both the US government and that of Canada, which has repeatedly refused to agitate on Khadr's behalf.
"When governments won't stand up to this prosecution of a child soldier, who will stand up to it?" he said. "If you can't protect the most vulnerable in society – which are children – then what is it that you do stand for?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/05/guantanamo-film-rights-child-soldier?CMP=twt_gu
“I Lost My Eyes” – Omar Khadr Interrogations at Guantanamo Bay
John Glaser, October 05, 2011
....Watching this, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the fact that at least 92 Gitmo interrogation tapes were destroyed by the CIA. For the obvious reason of covering up the vastly more extreme torture and abuse that other detainees suffered.
There are too many examples to pick from, but just because it is fresh in my mind from recent readings, we can be sure we won’t see any video of the two innocent Afghans who were detained and ‘deadlegged’ by their interrogators until their legs were “pulpified” (as the autopsy report put it) and both were murdered. This was in 2002. What killed one of them was “blunt force injuries to the lower extremities” which created pulmonary embolisms – blot clots – that traveled up from their legs to their hearts....
http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2011/10/05/i-lost-my-eyes-omar-khadr-interrogations-at-guantanamo-bay/
Yes, this is the same doc that was on the CBC last year, showing Khadr's interrogation by Canadian agents. I'm glad it's now getting a wider distribution in the world.
And the elder Khadr fought for the CIA in 1980s Afghanistan, and this is how the family is rewarded in the 2000s by our then Libranos Government of Canada. It's almost like belonging to the mafia.
And we know what Abdurahman Omar's brother was up to in Gitmo while working for the U.S. Military dictatorship.
It never ceases to amaze us troofers just how many Qa'eda recruits end up on the CIA's payroll. We've lost count actually. It's hard to keep up with the revolving door goings on between Al CIA'duh and their masters in the CIA, ISI, MI6 etc. It's like they've been playing hippity hop at the barber shop, and the rules change all the time. Compensation packages are very good, but retirement is never an option.
The U.S. Military Inquisition and their obedient capos in Ottawa: Teacherous bastards they are can't trust one another. There simply isn't any loyalty these days. No rhyme or reason to it all when working for Murder Inc.
Khadr applies for repatriation
Corrections officials have received the request for transfer and now have to determine if Khadr is eligible to return to Canada to finish out his sentence.
Once Canadian officials determine that, they send an official request to American officials. If U.S. officials agree, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has the final say. He has the option of refusing the transfer if he decides Khadr is a risk to public safety.
The process is expected to take about 18 months.
18 fucking months?? They made him languish in maximum security in the Guantanamo gulag for a whole year before allowing him to apply for repatriation, and now he has to wait another year and a half to hear Vic Toews deny his application?
According to Michelle Sheppard of the Toronto Star, Vic Toews's office is denying they have any obligation to honour the gun-to-the-head "plea bargain" Khadr was forced to sign last year:
“I don’t know what’s in the plea deal but it wouldn’t matter because the minister is not a signatory.”
Of course Vic Toews is well aware of what is in the plea deal, even if his idiot "spokesman" isn't.
A year ago when Gilles Duceppe asked, "Yes or no, will the Prime Minister authorize the transfer of Omar Khadr once he has served his one year?” the answer from Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon was, "We will implement the agreement that was reached between Mr. Khadr and the government of the United States." This was accepted at the time as meaning the government would allow Khadr's repatriation, but in fact that's not what Cannon promised, since the plea agreement doesn't oblige Canada to do anything..
I'm sure the ndp will be all over this - surely? There's a question for the candidates...
I'm sure the ndp will be all over this - surely? There's a question for the candidates...
Yes, yes, the Liberals stood up in the House and lied to Canada's Parliament and the NDP who demanded that the then colonial administrativeship see to it personally that the vast stoogeaucracy in Ottawa would ensure Omar's rights were not violated.
And the Liberals said Yes! Yes we are on it yesterday. No need to worry, because we won't see one more member of Al-CIA'duh's rights violated by the inquisition. And I think they meant not one but many.
I still think they could have cleared up this confusion with issuing 2-4-1 secret club membership rings at the embassies for fasttracking their Qaeda agents(mujahideen) from Riyadh, Islamabad and Cairo throught the gates at Ottawa and Washington. It wouldve saved them a lot of hassle over the years. I wonder what the deal is now, eye/hand scanners?
A timely post, Spector, as it so happens a new documentary on Khadr interrogation released in UK on Friday
Excerpts from reviews of the Omar Khadr documentary in The Guardian:
Peter Bradshaw
His unseen interrogator here is a Canadian intelligence officer, evidently the lead officer in a team, permitted by the Americans to question the prisoner on the understanding that a friendly seeming fellow countryman might cause Khadr to open up and give the US valuable intelligence. So far from being a respite from torture, this insincere friendly chat is a hideous refinement of cruelty: a horrifying turn of the screw. Khadr realises the man is not here to bring him home, but to get him to talk and condemn himself. Dying in prison is a real possibility, and this friendly guy is here to make it happen....
Watching waterboarding would be less horrible than this. A gut-wrenching film. [4 out of 5 stars]
Philip French
Another review
Most repulsive are the interviews with Damien Corsetti (AKA 'The King of Torture'), who provides an insight into the monstrous acts both he and the US forces have committed during 'The War on Terror'. There are also many scenes showing, not only the conditions inmates of Guantánamo and Bagram suffered, but also photos of the results of physical and mental torture.
Perhaps the most gut-wrenching and emotive moment is during the second day of interviews, when Khadr has realised that the interrogators are not there to help him; in this moment he breaks down, crying out repeatedly for his mother.
[5 out of 5 stars]
Update: The DVD was released in the UK on November 7. Review [5 out of 5 stars]
thx for the links
Yes, this is the same doc that was on the CBC last year, showing Khadr's interrogation by Canadian agents. I'm glad it's now getting a wider distribution in the world.
Right, thanks, I missed that this documentary had previous release venues.
According to Michelle Sheppard of the Toronto Star, Vic Toews's office is denying they have any obligation to honour the gun-to-the-head "plea bargain" Khadr was forced to sign last year....
I had doubts at the time that the Cons would honour the agreed on deal extorted at the kangaroo military tribunal from within the Gitmo torture chambre.
The extra-judicial nature of these tribunals is partly summarized here:
Unlike civilian courts, only two-thirds of the jury needs to agree in order to convict someone under the military commission rules. This includes charges such as supporting terrorism, attempted murder, and murder.[4]
The accused are not allowed access to all the evidence against them. The Presiding Officers are authorized to consider secret evidence the accused have no opportunity to refute.[5]
It may be possible for the commission to consider evidence that was extracted through coercive interrogation techniques before the enactment of the Detainee Treatment Act.[6] However, legally the commission is restricted from considering any evidence extracted by torture, as defined by the Department of Defense.[7]
The proceedings may be closed at the discretion of the Presiding Officer, so that secret information may be discussed by the commission.[8]
The accused are not permitted a free choice of attorneys, as they can only use military lawyers or those civilian attorneys eligible for the Secret security clearance.[9]
Because the accused are charged as unlawful combatants, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated that an acquittal on all charges by the commission is no guarantee of a release.[10]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_military_commission
The US/Canada Governments and their corporate press basked in the coerced "guilty" plea as if it signified due process.
The show-trial "guilty plea" produced what the US wanted (and might have had a hard time getting without further gitmo torture techniques): that is, a "confession" from the (at the time of the alleged crime) 15 year old.
Additionally, the US thought they would unload one of their more embarrassing Gitmo victims. (Wikileaks revealed the US problems with repatriation of Gitmo victims)
In my opinion, only if there is sufficient public and international pressure (and probably more to the point, pressure from the US itself), will the extorted guilty plea deal be honoured and Khadr repatriated.
Otherwise, expect that further pseudo-legal "lawfare" outrages will be perpertrated on Khadr by our Con sado-fascists.
Another excellent subject for questions to the NDP leadership contenders...
It's not just procedural differences. The "military commissions" apply a unique set of laws that are at variance with anything known to international law. Read what Lt. Col. Frakt says in this piece by Andy Worthington.
The Conservatives believe that child means an innocent. They have taken the same approach with our juvenile court system. To them any child capable of committing a violent crime is an adult because they have lost their innocence.
This case shows the child soldier conventions to be simply propaganda. American Exceptionalism allows them to be the exception to any international law or convention they want.
Khadr Asks to Return to Canada from Guantanamo
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/canada-in-afghanistan/Khadr+asks+retur...
"Toronto-born Omar Khadr, the youngest detainee ever held at the US 'war on terror' prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has officially asked to return home to Canada, one of his lawyers said Tuesday..."
I don't know why this is suddenly news to the Ottawa Citizen. It happened over three weeks ago, as I reported at #5 above.
The Conservatives believe that child means an innocent. They have taken the same approach with our juvenile court system. To them any child capable of committing a violent crime is an adult because they have lost their innocence.
This case shows the child soldier conventions to be simply propaganda. American Exceptionalism allows them to be the exception to any international law or convention they want.
The whole thing is a propaganda campaign meant to drive people into thinking "al-Qa'eda" is a real enemy.
Elvis bin Laden was a myth, and his invisible army of darkness does not actually exist.
It's all a pack of lies, I'm afraid. Omar Khadr's elder brother is al-CIA'duh according to CBC reports of several years ago. And some people are actually surprised by how many Qaeda end up on the CIA's payroll.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Tuesday he will decide in good time if and when Toronto-born Khadr can return home to finish his sentence for murdering a U.S. Army medic in Afghanistan.
“I put the safety of Canadians first,” he said. “A decision will be made on this file, as on all applications, in due course.”
[I refuse to link to the Toronto Sun. It makes the baby Jesus cry.]
Why did the U.S. Military bother picking up youngster Omar Khadr near Tora Bora? It makes no sense whatsoever. Where is their proof that this kid had anything to do with the invisible army of darkness which does not exist? It would be laughable if it wasn;t so sad.
No End to the Shameful Treatment of Omar Khadr - by Andy Worthington
http://www.fff.org/comment/com1111a.asp
"It was deeply disturbing that the US government was willing to suggest to the world that those who raise arms against US forces in wartime, and in a country where the United States is engaged in a war, can actually be defined as war criminals, even if their only targets are members of the US military.
Khadr, I believe, should be freed on his return to Canada, as a gesture of support from a government that shamefully abandoned him for the best part of a decade..."
Omar Khadr's elder brother is al-CIA'duh according to CBC reports of several years ago.
Fortunately, the courts don't always rely on the kind of unattributed and unproven allegations that the corporate MSM treat as "news".
Canada's top court on Thursday upheld a lower court decision to halt the extradition to the United States of an alleged Al-Qaeda arms supplier, by refusing to hear the case.
An Ontario Superior Court judge had previously justified stopping the extradition proceedings and releasing Abdullah Khadr, the older brother of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp's youngest detainee Omar Khadr, citing US human rights abuses tied to his capture in Pakistan.
Both men are Canadians.
Canada's attorney general appealed the earlier decision on behalf of the US government, arguing that the lower court failed to balance society's interests in proceeding with "an extradition involving significant terrorist activity."
The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, providing as usual no reason for not hearing the case. It effectively brings the case to a close.
...the Ontario court suggested that releasing Khadr to the United States would be tantamount to complicity in his alleged torture..... Justice Christopher Speyer said Khadr had suffered "shocking and unjustifiable" human rights violations, including being physically mistreated and abused.
According to court documents, the United States paid Pakistani intelligence services $500,000 to abduct Abdullah Khadr in Islamabad in 2004.
He was held in detention for 14 months, until the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) had exhausted Khadr as a source of anti-terrorism intelligence.
Khadr admitted under interrogation that he had purchased arms for Al-Qaeda. But he later claimed he had been tortured during his detention.
— AFP
Omar Khadr's elder brother is al-CIA'duh according to CBC reports of several years ago.
Fortunately, the courts don't always rely on the kind of unattributed and unproven allegations that the corporate MSM treat as "news".
The Khadr family member I was referring to confessed to a CBC Newz reporter and not under duress of torture, unlike all those other non Al-CIA'duhs abducted off the streets of Algiers, Morocco, Kabul, Baghdad, Cairo etc have done after actually being tortured into giving false information since 2001. It's best we keep it straight who has confessed to what and under what circumstances. The American inquisition prefers that we be confused about these issues, but some of us are keeping track of what has been a parade of US Military dictatorship lies, deception, and half-truths concocted to conceal much larger lies.
The intent of actual torture is never to discover truth. I repeat, use of actual torture is never intended to discover truth. Inquisitions then or now have no regard for truth whatsoever as a general rule.
OTOH, no one is saying that torture has no purpose - it does. And apparently that purpose is much more insidious than some of us have imagined it to be.
I was talking about Abdurahman Khadr not Abdullah. CIA paid me to spy: Abdurahman Khadr. The father, Ahmed Khadr, and similar to a number of alleged 9/11 hijackers and schemers, was also a rabid anticommunist who fought for the CIA in 1980s-90s Afghanistan. Anticommunist jihadi-mercenaries, trained by the US Military, CIA, SAS etc, have been coming and going from USA and UK since the late 1980s as if a game of hippity-hop at the barber shop. Canada's RCMP have been instructed to enforce a hands off policy on Uncle Sam's Al-CIA'duh agents before. Our corrupt stooges just do as their told. Trust and obey is the only way as far as they are concerned.
It's hard to keep up with how many CIA'duh agents are on the US Military Government payroll these days, we know.
This is colder war baloney. These people are probably on a level with the "Nicaraguan" contras. Them and their's have been mercenaries for hire for the CIA for a long time. Scum of the earth? More than likely. Believe nothing the lapdog newz media, our lead lap poodles in Ottawa, or their imperial masters in Warshington have been saying. All the world's a stage. There is no damn way I can have any sympathy for these mofos. They played with the gladio mafia, and now they pay. Or do they pay? Perhaps it's the other way around. They will likely sue Canadian taxpayers for being so damned naive, then use the proceeds to fund another CIA'duh gladio op somewhere in the world. Crooks and liars and crooked-liars are like that.
Everyone who thinks the US Military dictatorship gives two shits about a US Army Sargent killed by a grenade in Afghanistan should say so. Let's see a show of virtual hands, please. The Khadrs are more than likely voluntary/involuntary bogeymen for the colder war inquisition. They are trotted out like exhibits a and b and used to scare hell out of Americans and Canadian into believing this is a genuine globo war on terror - it's not.
All I'm saying is, let's not worry about Omar so much. His family made career choices. And he will likely be a millionaire by the time he's 30. He's prolly a made member of the gladio mafia. In the mean time we are not being told a helluva lot. Yes, we are doing what we are supposed to be doing now, which is to continue being appalled by this charade. How could they do this to a 15 year-old? We are discussing this case, and it all boils down to his family's relationship to the former king of terror, Elvis bin Laden. Plenty more fake Al-CIa'da ringleaders lined-up to take his place. That's what we are supposed to know and nothing more.
The glasnost is half full.
YOU DON’T LIKE THE TRUTH - 4 days inside Guantánamo is a documentary based on security camera footage from the Guantánamo Bay prison.
http://www.youdontlikethetruth.com/?lang=En&page=Home
Babblers in Ontario can see this film on TV Ontario on Wednesday, November 23 at 9 pm EST.
You can download a free (.pdf & .zip) copy of Michelle Sheppard's book, Guantanamo's Child, at this location (click on Free Download and wait for the clock to count down).
The file is called G0470841176.zip
Alright-alright, I've downloaded the package.
She can say that again. I say, she can say that again. We know it's the hallmark of any democracy for a string of military governments to keep a shitload of secrets from the people paying their salaries. It goes without saying.
mission in painful detail.
This is beginning to sound really good, like a Hollywood movie plot even. Somalia an Al-Qa'eda haven? Hmmm? Interestingly enough, Somalia also happens to be a long-time coveted Pandora's box of naturally occurring treasures. What a coincidence! It seems that crafty old British empire strategists and their modern day cousins in the U.S. have a lot in common these days, except for the Al-Qa'eda bit, of course.
U.S. must "certify" Canada before Khadr can return
Canada must first be certified as a fit place to send a convicted terrorist, a nation not likely to permit him to attack the United States, and one that has control of its prisons.
That certification must be delivered to Congress signed by U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta with “the concurrence of” U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton....
The “certification” step requires the Obama administration to satisfy itself, among other things, that Canada has “taken such steps as the Secretary determines are necessary to ensure that the individual cannot engage or re-engage in any terrorist activity.”
I thought the Steve Harper Government of... Canada was rubberstamped after their most recent visit to Washington? God don't they get anything done after standing in line all that time with the rest of the corporate lobbyists?
Khadr Still in Limbo 10 Years After Opening of Guantanamo
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2010/11/10/f-omar-khadr-returns-faq....
"...Khadr's lawyers submitted an application for prisoner transfer in the spring of 2011 but have yet to receive a response, Lawyer Brydie Bethell confirmed on January 11. Protests organized by Amnesty International and others are taking place in several Canadian cities this week, demanding the US close Guantanamo and release Khadr..."
Controversial Author Wants Omar Khadr Barred from Canada
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Controversial+author+wants+Omar+Khadr+b...
"Convicted al-Qaida terrorist Omar Khadr is due to be returned to Canada any time now - something Ezra Levant is working to scotch. Ezra Levant wants Canada's National Parole Board to hold an open hearing into Khadr's case, and for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews to intervene to prevent the plea deal with the Americans from ever being acted upon...
Insists Levant: 'Letting in Omar Khadr is a full face-slap in the face to the Conservative base in Canada."
I've no idea why HuffPo allows the likes of Peter Worthington to appear on its pages, but I guess they'll take anybody these days.
Nevertheless, he did have something useful to say a while back about Omar Khadr:
Which entirely misses the point, because of course those "several Canadians" he refers to were not put on trial for trumped-up "war crimes" charges.
That wasn't the useful part i was talking about. This is:
It should be remembered that he had gone to Afghanistan and was trained and serving with al Qaida and the Taliban before 9/11 happened, and before American troops invaded. What Khadr was doing when the Americans troops attacked the position he occupied, was fighting off an invading army. He was doing what any soldier or fighter would do when invaded by an outside, alien force.
To have charged Khadr with murder for fighting back against an invader seems an obvious abuse of law and power. As an enemy combatant, I see no problem in keeping him in custody, or out of circulation, until the war is over.
Wait a minute...did Worthington just refer to himself as an "enemy combatant"?
I've always considered him that. Most MSM are...
America's great moral disconnect
How can it be that there is such widespread empathy in America for the old and the sick and such revulsion at the idea of restraining them (even for their own good), and yet when it comes to actually torturing people considered to be “terrorists” — even before these people have had a trial — or people who have been jailed, even for non-violent crimes, many of the same people are happy to see them water-boarded, hung by the wrists from the ceiling with only their toes on the ground, placed for hours in stress positions, slammed against the wall, deprived of sleep for days on end, or in the case of common prisoners, placed in solitary, sometimes for months at a stretch, and shackled like slaves when removed from their cells?
It’s the same kind of moral disconnect that has people weeping and becoming outraged over the abuse of animals — for example the case of the Arizona pound that killed a badly injured cat brought in by a homeless man for treatment when it got caught in barbed wire — but then shrugging it off when they hear that another man in Arizona, picked up on a drunk driving charge, was placed in solitary and then left there, without trial or even access to a lawyer, for a year, or when they hear that a number of the so-called “terrorists” held at Guantanamo, sometimes for years, were captured and stolen away from their families in Afghanistan when they were just boys as young as 14!`
One of those boys, Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen who was 15 when captured, has not only been held at Guantanamo for for over a decade now, but was tortured repeatedly as a child by his US military captors, and ultimately was forced, after a sham military “tribunal,” to choose between endless captivity at Guantanamo or an admission of “guilt” and an additional sentence of 8 years with one more served at Guantanamo and seven more in his native Canada (he chose the latter). His “crime”? He allegedly tossed a grenade at US troops who were entering a Taliban compound which they had already called in an airstrike on. As the US soldiers were checking out the bodies of the victims of that airstrike, and by some accounts, finishing off the wounded, boy-soldier Khadr, badly wounded himself, is alleged to have tossed a grenade that killed one US soldier. Note that had an American soldier done exactly the same thing under those circumstances he would almost certainly have won at least a Silver Star, and maybe a Medal of Honor, but because this boy was fighting with the Taliban, he was instead charged with murder.
- the racist animus towards Omar Khadr in this country has been malevolent and horrifying. He has been virtually abandoned.
With the current people in government, who pooh-pooh the power of the Judiciary (up to and including the Supreme Court of Canada), Khadr has little chance of being repatriated. In fact, he might be safer in a US prison, because if he does manage to return to Canada Harper's people might just strip him of his citizenship and deport him to Afghanistan or Pakistan...
In fact, he might be safer in a US prison, because if he does manage to return to Canada Harper's people might just strip him of his citizenship and deport him to Afghanistan or Pakistan...
That might be hard to do, seeing as he was born in Canada.
Indeed. My latest egregious mistake.
Is Omar Khadr Headed to Canada's 'Guantanamo North'?
http://www.thestar.com/specialsections/omarkhadr/article/1138757--is-oma...
"A report this week in Montreal's La Presse stated that the 25-year-old-Toronto-born Khadr will be imprisoned at the vacant Millhaven immigration centre, derisively dubbed 'Guantanamo North'..."
So nice to know Human Rights Watch is keeping a watchful eye on things. They're not happy with the Guantanamo prosecutors making plea deals with the likes of Omar Khadr in order to move things along:
In an interview with Fox News Andrea Prasow of Human Rights Watch said, "I don't think anyone thinks it's a great idea that we're prosecuting people who have been held for ten years, the evidence gets stale, witnesses are no longer available. So there's strong incentive to move these cases forward, wherever they are."
She further explained, "But it doesn't mean that it's the right outcome. If these people have committed serious crimes, they should get a sentence that's appropriate."
Faux News
“(C)ertainly no decision has been made on whether he might be transferred to Canada,” Michael Patton wrote in an email to the Star.
- from that Star link NDPP posted
Saw this on the TorStar FB page just now: "A report in Montreal’s LaPresse stated that the 25-year-old Toronto-born Omar Khadr will be imprisoned at the vacant Millhaven immigration centre, derisively dubbed “Guantanamo North.”.. Link
Saw this on the TorStar FB page just now: "A report in Montreal’s LaPresse stated that the 25-year-old Toronto-born Omar Khadr will be imprisoned at the vacant Millhaven immigration centre, derisively dubbed “Guantanamo North.”.. Link
look up, look way up...#41
oops!
U.S. presses for Omar Khadr’s long-delayed transfer to Canada
March 27, 2012
Some U.S. officials have been hinting for months that stalling by the Canadian government was holding up the transfer....
Mr. Khadr “continues to be held in limbo even though he has lived up to his part of the deal,” John Norris, his lawyer said Tuesday.... “Canada and the United States have had since October, 2010, to make the necessary arrangements.”...
“Your country doesn’t want him back,” an American official familiar with the case said months ago....
Under Canadian law, Mr. Khadr will be eligible for parole in July, 2013. By then he will have spent more than 40 per cent of his life in prison....
Mr. Panetta said sending Mr. Khadr back to Canada will be “an important step” because it will serve an example to other detainees. “We’ve got others there obviously we’d like to be able to move as well.”
Panetta didn't explain why the U.S. can't proceed to repatriate other Guantanamo detainees until after Khadr is sent home.
Khadr donated 40% of his life to being a bogeyman for the sake of upholding a myth.
Yet another issue upon which to judge the performance of one's government, its loyal opposition and Canadian civil society. Dismal failures all in my view.
Toews' office is disputing a New York Times report that pointed the finger at Ottawa over delays in Khadr's return.
The New York Times reported Saturday that Khadr's "limbo status is the result of bureaucratic delays in processing his application to transfer, especially within the Canadian government."
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta cannot sign the papers to transfer Khadr home to Canada, the Times reported, until Toews formally asks for his return, which he has not done.
"Khadr has applied to the Americans for transfer. The Americans have yet to approve that transfer," said Toews' spokesman, Michael Patton.
Patton said the transfer process begins on the Americans' side: Khadr applies to American authorities and, once his application is approved in the U.S., it is forwarded to the Correctional Service of Canada, which provides Toews with an "assessment." On the basis of that assessment, Toews approves or denies the application.
"The report that the U.S. is waiting for Canada to ask for Khadr's return is incorrect," he said. "He has applied to return. That application has not been approved by the Americans and no decision on bringing him back to serve the remainder of his sentence has been made."
During a visit to Ottawa on Tuesday, Panetta said negotiations are "continuing" and that he will sign the transfer papers when they cross his desk.
"I don't have a specific timeline for signing it," Panetta said. "But once those arrangements have been made, obviously we will approve the transfer to Canada."...
Once the Americans give approval for the transfer, Patton said, it will be up to Toews to exercise his ministerial discretion and decide whether Canada will let Khadr return to Canada.
So far, Patton said, Toews has never reviewed Khadr's file.
"There are no negotiations between Canada and the U.S. on this at this point," Patton said.
Each side is passing the buck to the other.
The NDP told them to negotiate Khadr's return, like all those other democratic western countries did for their nationals held at Gitmo.
Like the NDP told them in Ottawa to defend Maher Arar who was wrongly accused of being Al-CIA'da.
What did you want the NDP to do at the time besides stand on their heads?
That was then, this is now..
US, Canada Poised To OK Omar Khadr Transfer
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/03/28/omar-khadr-transf...
"A 'frustrated' Omar Khadr could be back in Canada by the end of May, with both Ottawa and Washington poised to approve his transfer from Guantanamo Bay...A source familiar with the file said US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta was expected to sign off on the transfer within a week. 'It's on his desk, it's ready,' the source said Wednesday. 'The US has no concerns about Khadr.'
Khadr has been caught up in a bureaucratic 'Catch-22' since becoming eligible to leave the American prison on Cuba last October under terms of a plea agreement struck a year earlier..."
That CBC report is bullshit. It's only the US that is "poised" to approve the transfer; Canada is nowhere near ready to approve it, if at all. Vic Toews hasn't even looked at the file, and continues to talk as if the transfer is purely hypothetical.
And Panetta clearly says he's waiting for Ottawa to agree to the transfer before he signs off, and says negotiations are continuing.
In other words, absolutely nothing has changed.
It's national news in any case of the CBC's mendacity - let us see if and when the Tom Mulcair NDP sees fit to mention the issue...
Omar Khadr Transfer Request in Ottawa's Hands
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/04/18/pol-omar-khadr-transfer-r...
"Public Safety Minister Vic Toews's office said it has receieved a completed application from Khadr to transfer to Canada from the US military detention centre in Cuba, and a decision will be made 'in accordance with Canadian law.'..
The Toronto-born Khadr pleaded guilty in 2010 to five charges brought before a controversial U.S. military tribunal, including killing Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer in Afghanistan in July 2002.
No mention in the on-line story or the CBC radio report I heard about the minor detail of his having been tortured prior to the confession. Strange too how the fact that he was a child soldier becomes an upbringing that adds to the complexity of the case.
The state media in Canada acts just like any other. About as unbiased as Press TV.
Al Qaeda is a given according to lapdog newz media. Qaeda is the terror instrument of "militant Islam" which threatens Western civilization and our western Judeo-Christian moral values.
No one dares question "the American Inquisition" not even a few "investigative" news journalists still on corporate payrolls and with families and pensions to protect.
Everyone must comply including lapdog newz media, or the entire modern day Anglo-American inquisition and it's lies surrounding "Al-Qa'eda" would be toppled by the truth. Their lies and the state's lies are one and the same.
It is inconceivable to me that this government will accept Khadr's request.
I fervently hope I'm wrong. But with no one giving a shit any more (no party in the Commons, at any rate), what do they have to gain vs. the potential loss to their fascist reputation?
But maybe the NDP, the Liberals, the Bloc, and the Green are still busy putting the finishing touches on their eloquent demands for justice for Omar Khadr?
Some other people are already on it:
http://jdlcanada.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/please-sign-the-petition-stop-...
The Canadian Government's Treatment of Omar Khadr Has Been A Disgrace
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/1164702--the-canadian-...
"...As the legal machinery to repatriate Khadr creaked into motion this week, Ottawa obtusely continued to express no burning desire to get him home where he will serve out his sentence for killing a US soldier. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews will do the Americans a favour by considering transferring Khadr back here, was the official line. Such is the shabby close to an infamous case in which Ottawa refused to go to bat for one of our own..."
and neither did 'our own'.
Wait a minute wait a minute? Was it the Harper Government of Canada that sent Khadr to Gitmo? No, it was not. The Harpers are only the most recent vicious toadies to Uncle Sam's phony war on terror.
Khadr is Not A Traitor - by Peter Worthington
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/04/27/khadr-is-not-a-traitor
"The Americans want Khadr transferred to Canada, where a spokesman for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has said the possibility of criminal charges against Khadr 'rests with police and provincial Crown attorneys' This is an odd reaction - but not as odd as the Conservative Party's view that 'Any Canadian citizen who commits treason by taking up arms against the Canadian Forces (or allies)...automatically invalidates his or her Canadian citizenship.'
The suggestion is that Khadr should be charged with high treason for 'assisting an enemy at war with Canada' or (assisting) those against whom the Canadian Forces are engaged in hostilities..."
No mention of Canada's criminality in participating in this illegal war of course..
Typical of this was a poll conducted last week on CBC News’s “Your Community Blog,” which asked the question, “Should Omar Khadr be allowed to return to Canada?” as though there was a legal option to prevent his return, when there is not. Fortunately, 53 percent of those who voted said yes, compared to 43 percent who said no, although that is still an alarmingly large minority of Canadian citizens who don’t understand what nationality and citizenship mean, and who also don’t seem to believe that a prison sentence — and any notion of punishment — should be finite.
These voices include journalist and Sun TV host Ezra Levant, who has written an entire hate-filled book about the alleged threat posed by Khadr, but whose approach is “so obsessional that it sometimes seems like a manifestation of clinical mental illness,” as another journalist, Jonathan Kay, recently explained.
Moreover, last Thursday, as the Toronto Sun explained in a news report, Vic Toews conceded that the government would not block Khadr’s return. Some commentators had speculated that the government “was considering using a clause in the International Transfer of Offenders Act to keep … Khadr out of Canada on national security grounds.”
Toews explained, “Under the International Transfer of Offenders Act, he is a Canadian citizen. He is also a Canadian citizen under the Charter which entitles him to come back to Canada, eventually.” He added, “The issue is when does he come back to Canada? That’s a determination I have to make and I haven’t made any decision in that respect yet.”...
In defense of Khadr — and providing some necessary humility — the Toronto Star ran an editorial last Thursday, pointing out that “the abuse he has suffered with the complicity of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government and that of its Liberal predecessors has shamed Canada,” adding, “His expected return from Guantánamo Bay, while welcome, does us no great credit either.”
Seeing through the official line about Canada doing the US a favour, the Star noted, “Such is the shabby close to an infamous case in which Ottawa refused to go to bat for one of our own,” and delivered the following verdict on Khadr’s US ordeal:
The Star also reminded readers that Khadr “was pushed to fight in Afghanistan by his al-Qaida-linked father,” and that US officials “threatened him with gang rape, denied him counsel, deprived him of sleep, and set a precedent by charging him with war crimes as a juvenile.” Also noting that he had “spent far more time behind bars than he would have in Canada, had he been convicted here in a credible court of murder as a young offender,” the Star concluded its pertinent editorial by stating:
It is rare, at Guantánamo, for another government to have behaved as appallingly as the US, but in Khadr’s case it has long been clear, to anyone capable of viewing it objectively, that the Canadian government has matched America’s abuse towards Khadr every step of the way, and it is time for this disgraceful situation to be brought to an end.
The fascist vigilantes are already starting to organize
...and trying to associate Khadr with 9/11...
"We are trying to warn people that Khadr is dangerous and is being relocated in the community," said Scarborough resident, Shobie Kapoor, who also started an anti-Khadr online petition. "We are trying to create public awareness."
Kapoor and others will be handing out flyers next Wednesday in downtown Toronto. They were also there last week passing out information.
"We don't want this terrorist in the country," she said. "We are trying to get the word out to all Canadians."
Almost 3,000 Canadians have signed an internet petition that calls for Khadr not to be returned to Canada.
Meyer Weinstein, of the Jewish Defense League, said efforts will be made this week to place an ad on the TTC.
"This is a serious situation that is not to be taken lightly," Weinstein said. "We don't want any terrorist here." (sic)
Ron Banerjee, of the Canadian Hindu Advocacy, said posters will be displayed in areas of Scarborough calling for Khadr to be kept out.
"We will be putting up posters with the same message," Banerjee said. "The community has to know there is a convicted terrorist moving in beside them."
He said members are "outraged that Khadr, a convicted Islamic al-Qaida terrorist, is being returned to Canada."
"Our organization has long lobbied to identify and deport large numbers of Islamic radicals linked to fundamentalist groups from Canada," Banerjee said.
The groups also plan to distribute hundreds of flyers in Khadr's old Scarborough neighbourhood.
"We will also be doing door-to-door canvassing to ensure people know about the impending arrival of a convicted Islamic terrorist to the area," Banerjee said.
Hmm lets see, Cdn citizen, never had that stripped from him. Hmm Im guessing fuck you bigots, you can't keep him out
You don't think so? These bigots have friends in the federal cabinet.
The fascist vigilantes are already starting to organize
...and trying to associate Khadr with 9/11...
He said members are "outraged that Khadr, a convicted Islamic al-Qaida terrorist, is being returned to Canada. "
For years the US Gov't and CIA referred to them as mujahideen "freedom fighters". Khadr's father, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Karzais etc all fought for the CIA in 1980s-90s Afghanistan and were provided unrestricted travel in and out of America for years.
Charade they are.
There's no evidence that Ahmed Khadr was ever involved with the CIA or ever fought with the mujahideen in Afghanistan.
Your spreading these lies about him only helps to further promote hatred against Omar Khadr's family and plays into the hands of the fascist thugs who want to keep Omar in Guantanamo.
Nice work, Fidel.
There's no evidence that Ahmed Khadr was ever involved with the CIA or ever fought with the mujahideen in Afghanistan.
Why would he move his family to 1980s Afghanistan if he had no real ties to that country? The senior Khadr was born in Egypt, like Egyptian-born US Army Sargent Ali Mohamed, Al-CIA'duh's hijacking specialist allowed by the RCMP and FBI to come and go to and from Afghanistan at will from the 1980's forward. And the current head of Al-CIA'duh was able to obtain special U.S. visa privileges that few legitimate immigrants to the US ever hope to receive.
Nice work, Fidel.
I think you're missing the point. There is at least one established tie between the Khadr family and the CIA.
CIA paid me to spy: Abdurahman Khadr
It's partly why truth seekers refer to them as Al-CIA'da. It's amazing how many "Al-Qa'eda" end up working for the American CIA.
There is no such thing as al-Qaeda. It's warmed-up cold war baloney.
The mujahideen are real and some of who are referred to offhand as "Al-Qaeda" now and again for colder war purposes. What they are are the CIA's expendable jihadi assets ever since the CIA began funding the most ruthless of warlords and drug barons in 1980s Afghanistan. They are mercenaries and soldiers of fortune from more than 40 countries and on the CIA's payroll long time. But there is no such thing as Al-Qaeda. The Khadrs, Karzais, bin Ladens, KSM, Ali Mohamed etcetera etc are all rabid anticommunists just like their CIA, Pakistani and Saudi financiers. I find it difficult to empathize with any of them or their sponsors.
I'm not missing the point at all. You are joining the Harpocons and the JDL in slandering the Khadr family and helping to keep Omar Khadr in Guantanamo. Your treachery knows no bounds.
I'm not missing the point at all. You are joining the Harpocons and the JDL in slandering the Khadr family and helping to keep Omar Khadr in Guantanamo. Your treachery knows no bounds.
Maybe he's being paid to spy on innocent people held illegally at Gitmo, like Omar's brother Abdurahman did happily for the American CIA.
Maybe Khadr will sue Canadian taxpayers and use the proceeds to fund another CIA sponsored anti-Russian/Chinese jihad somewhere else in Asia just like his mercenary-for-hire father before him and whom Omar said encouraged him to become a child soldier. Ever think of that?
Don't you think Omar's parents should have been reported to children's aid for endangering their child, or something? Or are you all ready to agree to sharia law and Taliban rule in Afghanistan at some point after the CIA and Saudis negotiate a power sharing deal with their former proxies in Kabul who are only now mildly opposing them in this phony-baloney war on terrror?
The only ones keeping Omar at Gitmo are the Harpocons years after the Chretien Liberals handed him over to the American inquisition after being instructed to do so by their imperialist masters in Warshington.
NAFTA? Aye-aye! Phony war on terror? Aye-aye, Uncle Sam, on the double-double!
Fidel, your conspiracy theories are becoming more ludicrous by the day. How much of this twaddle are you prepared to spew before you're cut off?
Fidel, your conspiracy theories are becoming more ludicrous by the day. How much of this twaddle are you prepared to spew before you're cut off?
What is it about the Khadr family's connections to the American CIA and Afghanistan are not clear?
Are you doubting the CBC's journalistic integrity?
I've supported Omar Khadr's rights before in plenty of threads, and so has the NDP.
The only ones conspiring against Omar Khadr's basic rights have been our vicious toadies in government since Chretien and one very secretive U.S. Military inquisition there at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo. And today they don't even want him anymore for whatever reasons people might not wish to discuss here in a discussion forum. I can't imagine why that would be the case. But for the record it's our corrupt stooges of the day who are currently conspiring to deny Omar Khadr's basic human rights.
And as far as conspiracy theories go regarding the ultimate reason for the long and protracted phony-baloney war on terror, there needs to be a legitimate investigation and rights to fair trials carried through on. That hasn't happened yet, and it is a real conspiracy. 9/11 is an ongoing investigation according to the American FBI and U.S. Government themselves. The truth about 9/11 is still unknown to the public. Of course people are going to speculate. It's what human beings do.
Majority of Canadians Oppose Khadr's Return: Poll
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2012/05/24/19796191.html
"The Abacus Data survey into public opinion on Khadr, who pleaded guilty in 2010 to war crimes committed in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old, suggests 53% of Canadians view him as a security threat and shouldn't be allowed back into the country..."