Khadr does not deserve flood of sympathy
The recent rebuttal to my July 19 letter concerning Omar Khadr piqued my interest on several levels. First, several points were overlooked or unanswered by our first prime minister’s namesake. Omar Khadr, although 15, made a choice to be a Taliban combatant and terrorist. One of his brothers chose not to, so Khadr was executing his free will in being on the battlefield and serving the Taliban cause. His choice.
The remaining arguments I made went unanswered by Mr. McDonald. Interesting. Much sympathy has accrued to Khadr, but the facts do not back up this flood of emotion. The fact is that he pled guilty on the advice of both his American and Canadian lawyers to murder, spying and terrorism. If he and his team thought him innocent why did they not fight to prove it? If they had absolutely conclusive proof of his innocence why did they not present it?
Furthermore, he admitted to a psychologist that he had thrown the grenade and hoped his had not killed the American soldier. This was presented in public court documents.
We may not be sure of all the exact events in that compound in Afghanistan, but his involvement in the military action, with intent to do harm, is indisputable. See Globe and Mail, Sylvia Steed July 3, 2015, and Regina Leader Post Cam Cooper, July 11, 2017. Canadian soldiers were in Afghanistan, 158 of whom died. He fought against them, soldiers of a country he held citizenship of. Those are facts.
As to the charge of “hate mongering” on my part I fear this is just more of the use of language by those who want to silence others. “Racist”, “xenophobe”, “hatemonger”, whatever “phobe” or “monger” you may wish to apply, it doesn’t make it so. In the end it is just an attempt at censorship through intimidation and name calling. If you speculate are you now a “hate monger?” In addition, I doubt whether or not Khadr will be penniless at the end of all this. That, indeed, is pure speculation.
“Political propaganda” is not the thing being “played” here. What is being “played” is the Canadian public, and those with a sense of justice.
Perry Foster
Duncan