When top White House aide Scooter Libby was indicted for perjury, George W. Bush was quick to point out that “(i)n our system, each individual is presumed innocent and entitled to due process and a fair trial.”

It’s reassuring that the president is aware of perhaps the most basic principle in western law: the presumption of innocence and the right to due process.

But it’s disturbing — to say the least — that he only applies it selectively.

In the name of fighting the “war on terror,” the White House has played fast and loose with the principles underpinning western democracy and the rule of law.

Among other things, it has put terror suspects — including Toronto teen Omar Khadr — beyond the reach of international legal safeguards set out in the Geneva Conventions.

Khadr, charged with murder by the U.S. military in connection with a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan, has been consistently denied legal protections while being held under horrific conditions for three years at the notorious U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay.

Since Khadr was only 15 at the time of his arrest, he’s entitled to additional legal protections for children — set out in a U.N. protocol — but ignored by the United States. Canada has done almost nothing for Khadr, beyond asking Washington to avoid the death penalty.

Canadian security agents even took advantage of Khadr’s captivity by questioning him in Guantanamo.

Ottawa has failed to protest the arbitrary military trial that Khadr faces — where the prosecutors are also the judges — even though this is clearly at odds with Canada’s support for the right to a fair trial.

Ottawa’s inaction is no doubt linked to its reluctance to irritate the Bush administration, which clearly relishes a free hand in dealing with terror suspects.

U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney is even championing the administration’s right to engage in the ultimate human rights violation: torture.

So it would take political courage for Ottawa to insist that the rule of law be applied to a Canadian detainee, who stands accused of killing an American soldier.

It’s been easy for Ottawa to avoid action, largely because of the unpopularity in Canada of the Khadr family, which reportedly has ties to Al Qaeda.

But unpopular cases are exactly the ones which most cry out for the protection of the rule of law.

The Canadian government could latch onto the coattails of the U.S. Supreme Court, which has held that even terror suspects are entitled to due process.

Last year, the court ruled that Guantanamo detainees can challenge their detentions in U.S. courts, and last week it announced it will consider the constitutionality of the military commissions, like the one the young Khadr must appear before.

If a body as conservative and pro-Bush as the American Supreme Court has insisted on legal rights for terror suspects, surely the Canadian government can summon up the courage to do the same — on behalf of a Canadian, indeed a Canadian child.

Linda McQuaig

Journalist and best-selling author Linda McQuaig has developed a reputation for challenging the establishment. As a reporter for The Globe and Mail, she won a National Newspaper Award in 1989...