Cut the mouth-foaming: This is the cost of grinding a citizen's life into dust
iPolitics Insights
Khadr’s disputed millions are not a reward for his actions, real and alleged
A lot has been written about the apology and compensation the Trudeau government has given to Omar Khadr – much of it hysterical and inflammatory.
A question: Why do I feel as though we have all been transported back to Salem?
The Khadr commentary has been more foaming at the mouth than fact-driven – the outstanding exception being Michelle Shephard of The Toronto Star.
It has also been shamelessly political, wallowing in the same cesspool of division and hate-mongering that characterized the previous government on a range of issues, including immigration, First Nations and environmentalists.
Former PM Stephen Harper’s hopelessly self-interested critique of what the new government has done in the Khadr case clearly demonstrates one thing: Harper and his party remain frozen in their northern Republican block of ideological ice. That blue, solidly-frozen face beside Harper is Andrew Scheer. He is proving to be about as new as taxes.
To those who are horrified about the amount of money Khadr received, I have another question: Where were you when the Harper government was blowing $5 million of taxpayer money in legal fees to keep from paying Khadr anything? Even though the federal government was dead wrong on the law and morality of this cautionary tale?
This is where the facts come in. Harper spent millions in the fight against compensating Khadr, knowing that he had been a child-soldier pressed into war by his father and captured in Afghanistan at age 15. Fifteen. Think of that 15-year-old of your own playing video games in the basement.
There is a reason that the U.S. Supreme Court and international human rights groups around the world have repeatedly asserted that adolescents differ profoundly, both emotionally and intellectually, from adults. It is for that reason there are unique protocols for dealing with adolescent offenders, including child-soldiers – all of which were ignored in Khadr’s case.
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