Who’s to blame for the Khadr payout? Stephen Harper, mostly.
Since July 4, Canadians have been embroiled in a debate about the the Canadian government’s $10.5 million payment to settle Omar Khadr’s lawsuit over illegal imprisonment and treatment.
Three points stand out: the abandonment of the rule of law by some public servants and cabinet ministers; the dangers of obfuscating the truth; and the sense that it is unfair for all Canadians to pay so much for the serious errors of a few.
The rule of law is a key legal support for a democracy. Many were shocked when the George W. Bush administration ditched it in order to extract quick revenge for 9/11 by setting aside due process for those captured and sent to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay. Of course, that was precisely the kind of reaction al Qaida wanted in its efforts to undermine U.S. democratic institutions.
When Khadr was 11, his father forced his son to leave Canada to fight for al Qaida in Afghanistan. Khadr did not want to go (what 11-year-old would?) and sometimes hid from his extremist father in Afghanistan.
In 2002, at the age of 15, Khadr ended up in a firefight with American forces. He says he remembers little of what happened. He was found by American soldiers buried under debris, badly wounded. Khadr was the only al Qaida member left alive in the compound — and U.S. medic Christopher Speer had been killed.
As the only al Qaida survivor, Khadr got the blame — despite of the absence of evidence, and in spite of being a child soldier. He should have been separated from adult prisoners and placed in a rehabilitation program, with Canada’s help.
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