Reuters
Omar Khadr is seen at left in an undated family handout photo and in the most recent artist rendering from a courtroom.
A one-time teen al-Qaida fighter who was also Guantanamo Bay’s youngest prisoner and last Westerner has been transferred to his native Canada on Saturday, the Canadian government confirmed.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Omar Khadr, 26, was flown from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Saturday on a U.S. government plane and transferred to Millhaven maximum-security prison in Bath, Ontario.
Khadr's case has been controversial both in Canada and abroad given his age when he was captured, the nature of his detention and hearing, and the reluctance of Canadian officials to accept his return.
"I am satisfied the Correctional Service of Canada can administer Omar Khadr’s sentence in a manner which recognizes the serious nature of the crimes that he has committed and ensure the safety of Canadians is protected during incarceration,” Toews said.
A U.S. war crimes tribunal in 2010 sentenced Khadr to 40 years in prison, although he was expected to serve just a few more years under a deal that included his admission he was an al-Qaida conspirator who murdered a U.S. soldier.
Khadr was 15 when he was captured in 2002 in Afghanistan, and has spent a decade at Guantanamo, the U.S. naval base in Cuba.
Khadr admitted planting 10 roadside bombs in Afghanistan as part of an al-Qaida cell and throwing a grenade that killed an American special forces medic, Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer of Albuquerque, N.M.
Over a decade since the war began, TODAY's Lester Holt visits the battlefields outside Kandahar Province and the Horn of Panjwai to see where things stand.
Khadr was the first person since World War II to be prosecuted in a war crimes tribunal for acts committed as a juvenile. He was the youngest prisoner still at Guantanamo, but younger boys were previously held there.
Khadr, born in Toronto, was taken to Afghanistan by his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, himself a senior al-Qaida member and confidant of Osama Bin Laden.
Bin Laden apprenticed the boy to a group of bomb makers who opened fire when U.S. troops came to their compound. Khadr was captured in the firefight, during which he was blinded in one eye and shot twice in the back.
In a written statement, Toews said Canada received Khadr's application for transfer from the United States on April 13. He said U.S. officials assured Canada it would receive a videocopy of an interview with Khadr, but it, along with other videos of interviews and unedited reports, was not sent until this month.
Former Canadian Ambassador Gar Pardy, however, said Canada's Conservative government -- which cultivates an image of being tough on crime -- dragged out the transfer.
"I think the government was mainly very mean-spirited in how it handled the case," Pardy said to CTV News.
Toews said he continues to be concerned that Khadr "idealizes" his father and denies Ahmed Khadr's association with al-Qaida. The Canadian public safety minister said he is also troubled by how "radicalized" Khadr has become from his time in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Guantanamo Bay.
Girls in Afghanistan were not allowed to attend school under Taliban rule, but now millions of girls across the country attend classes. It's a dramatic social change the Taliban is still fighting. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
“From the age of 15 to 26, he has been in some kind of jail, incarcerated. He has had no normal adolescent development at all,” CBC’s Susan Ormiston told CBC News.
Khadr's defense team and human rights groups had argued he was a "child soldier" who should have been sent home long ago for rehabilitation and challenged the notion that a battlefield killing amounted to a war crime.
Khadr was prohibited under the deal from calling witnesses at his sentencing hearing that would support defense claims that he was a "child soldier," forced into fighting the U.S. by a radical father who was an associate of bin Laden.
Khadr's sentence will expire on Oct. 30, 2018.
The U.S. Department of Defense also confirmed Saturday that it transferred Khadr to Canada, leaving 166 detainees at Guantanamo.
In the 2008 presidential election campaign, President Barack Obama promised to close the Guantanamo prison during his term, but that pledge has gone unfulfilled amid security concerns and opposition from Congress, which enacted laws making it more difficult to transfer prisoners from Guantanamo.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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You'd think they would have some way of trying him as a juvy, and letting him out years ago when he turned 21. Boggles my mind why he is still in prison.
@Chirs150 - Did you not read to the end of the article? "Congress... enacted laws making it more difficult to transfer prisoners from Guantanamo." He'd need to be transferred out of military custody to receive a trial by jury.
I don't understand why he is still in jail either. He should have been executed a long time ago.
Chris150- I genuinely understand your viewpoint on this. I've been thinking about what you wrote, and I keep coming back to the thought that this young man had not completed his jihadist assignment. Is he filled with anger from being caught? Is he feeling like he needs to complete his mission? Who knows? Most terrorists do not think like people in a democracy do...and I'm fairly certain there has not been a rehabilitation program going on in Gitmo. It's a place where resentment builds and anger festers. I would worry that this young man has been brainwashed towards jihad. Eleven years would not wash that away.
Had he been a juvy in a US prison system, he might have been rehabilitated to be able to enter society and be a contributor, not a destroyer bent on revenge.
A juvenile trained by terrorists is not anything at all like the average juvenile here in the US. You can't treat them like they are. Somehow we've got this idea that if we show enough compassion and understanding, these terrorists will change. They won't. Their goal is to destroy us by any means necessary. No amount of treating this guy like a juvenile offender will make a difference. Letting this guy go is going to be a big mistake.
This is part of the appeasment PR push after the "workplace violence" in Benghazi. Release Jihadists and Jail the movie guy here for internet parole violations. It is a failed idea we can appease a pyschotic cult but it might keep them calm during the election run.
beth & cupcakes,
Where does the expertise on this sort of thing from both of you come from I have to wonder. To me it sounds like you are just making @!$%# up.
As a Canadian I feel an emotional twinge when he is referred to as a "native Canadian". We are being over-run by "Canadians of convenience" whose affinity is not to Canada rather to their homelands but come here to avail themselves of our freedoms and circumvent our laws wherever possible often aided by domestic lawyers. Our longstanding traditions are being overturned and circumvented by these COC's much to our detriment and will eventually lead to cultural violence but by then our complacency will already have sealed our fate. There are thousands of COC's who have committed crimes here and been ordered deported which is a laugh because the authorities rarely (if at all) follow up on these ruling and when they do the people simply re-appear soon thereafter. Myself and ALL my friends think likewise and are fed up even though we have a Conservative government in power. Who knows how much the condition will worsen when leftists get elected.
If this guy is let go I have no doubt in my mind he will end up killing, or at least trying to kill again. He has been so brainwashed and indoctrinated by his al-Qaeda father that there is no hope of him ever being a peaceful, productive member of society. If he is released he will try and get revenge for his incarceration and against those who he sees as murdering his father. Unfortunately, there is no hope for this guy and the only safe thing to do is either keep him locked up or execute him. Letting him go virtually guarantees more violence being committed by him.
culheath- It's called conversation. Please read my post again very carefully and notice much of it is posed as questions. Nowhere did I claim expertise, but you must be to throw the negative crap you hope sticks.
Not making anything up, culheath. Common sense and a lot of reading on the subject of terrorism led me to the conclusion that you can't compare a juvenile offender in the US with a teenager who was trained to kill Americans and admitted doing so.
He killed an American medic, Chirs150, so if you are confused as to why he's still in jail, you might be a deadhead. 10 years too much for murder? What if it was your family?
So, following your rationale "cupcakes", I guess you would also approve of the US government rounding up and giving life sentences to all children of right-wing, anti-government (sovereign citizen and militia) parents. After all, their "brainwashing" is almost identical in nature: The United States government is your enemy.
All persons who represent the US Government (including US soldiers and National Guardsmen, FBI and other agents, even postal workers) are fair game, as are ALL members of law enforcement. If that is THEIR mindset then, wouldn't you agree that they are "loose cannons" just waiting to go off? If so, why should we wait until another "Oklahoma City" before rounding up all THESE people? Additionally, we don't need to fear them on a foreign battlefield. They are already here, waiting for THEIR moment to strike.
Did he? Any comments to the contrary here will be lost in sensationalism and the "crowd" and hysterical mentality. Anyone who wants to know the history of this case will look themselves. Most of you sound like the days of the KKK.
Uh, JmB, the article states that he admitted throwing a grenade that killed a US medic. Do you have trouble with reading comprehension, are are you simply a troll trying to start a name calling constest with us "hysterical" morons out here in the "crowd"?
I'm not saying he did or didn't do the things he has 'admitted' to doing. But I think it's only fair to point out that even recently, we have been accused of convicting "known terrorists" based on "admissions of guilt" obtained through interrogation tactics that use torture. Any intelligent person knows that information obtained through such tactics can be completely unreliable, as the one being tortured will confess to anything to make the torture stop.
I am not saying this also happened to him. I'm just pointing out that we are doing this! Food for thought here.
This man should have been executed long ago for the murder of Christopher Speer.
He was old enough to know better he chose and he should pay for what he did.
So what Spider? He "admitted" to throwing a grenade while being tortured. Check the history of the case; watch the VIDEO from a soldier's helmet-cam. Omar Khadr had already been shot in the back and buried under a pile of rubble when the grenade was thrown. Explain why else a CHILD would be in Guantanamo for so many years without a trial, while all the others were convicted or returned to other countries. The case is another one of the government's "oops" moments.
Now, do YOU have trouble with reading comprehension, or did you just prove my point? Save your redundant troll accusations for yourself.
Terrorist at any age are NOT soldiers of any country!!!
One man's "terrorist" is another man's "freedom fighter".
If by "one man" you mean a civilized man, & by "another man" you mean a savage, then yes.
Its amazing how people are sympathizing with this worthless piece of pig dung.The bleeding heart liberals need to be the first ones taken out when the jihad is brought to a neighborhood near them.I guess 911 wasnt close enough to home for them to get a reality check
The snag is that bleeding heart activists in Canada will agitate until the worthless POS is released, whereupon he is certain to become a jihadist and murder again. It makes one want to PUKE - the bucken harsole MURDERED a MEDIC!
This is a young man who had no chance. This is not a bleeding heart liberal, its a statement of fact. The Khadr family, with the exception of one brother who has repeatedly renounced his family's activities, all supported and continue to support the goals and aims of the Taliban. Khadr Sr was a major financial backer and close associate of Bin Laden. Although born in Canada, the children were raised between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with minimal time spent in Canada. The children, all now grown, are completely brainwashed. As noted in the article Omar was in training to become a bomber when the camp he was in came under attack by the US. During the attack he participated in the defence of the camp and threw a granade that killed a US soldier. In turn he was shot in the back. In everyway he was an enemy combatant, even if he was a child soldier. Being a child made him no less dangerous and a decade in Gitmo will have done nothing to alter that. I hope to God that he is never freed to walk the streets of Canada or to preach in the mosques of this country. He is no less dangerous now than he was a decade ago.
What I don't get is the murder charge. Since when do soldiers get charged with commiting murder in the middle of a fire fight? Please don't flame. Someone please explain.
As a Canadian, I'm disturbed to see this particular guy coming ''home''. Canada is becoming a home for immigrants at an every increasing pace, and most of these are hard working, industrious folks who are eager to embrace Canada. However, an alarming number of these new 'Canadians' are here to hide out from their crimes, to do their best to divert the Canadian way of life, or to simply take advantage of Canada's social programs and live off country. Don't get me wrong - this isn't a 'racist' statement. As I said, ton's of these folks are great, hardworking, polite, WONDERFUL people.
However, this particular guys is not a ''child'' that should be protected. He's not a ''kid'' that needs our sympathy. He's not a ''soldier'' that killed an opposing soldier in a war. He's not a ''Canadian'' that needs to be rescued for an inhumane prison. He's a murdering terrorist & war criminal - nothing more and nothing less - and he should have stayed in Gitmo till the end of his days.
Because the Taliban are not a recognized government therefore all the people fighting for them are considered irregulars which means they are not considered solders at all.
Thanks Gneisenau!
Is that a new drawing of him or a cell from Planet of the Apes, the Cartoon?
He should have had his head cut off, showing him what being a jihadi is all about. HE'S A MURDERER OR AN ENEMY, TAKE YOUR PICK.
I was thinking Lon Chaney, Jr.'s Wolfman.
Nonetheless, this murdering subhuman terrorist either should be in prison for life or executed.
Losing his head works fine. Otherwise, he'll be blowing up people in Canada or oh so very easily crossing into the U.S. to blow up Americans. On this one, our govt. is just plain stupid and dangerous.
He was old enough to know what he was doing, and murdered several people using destructive devices. He should have been tried as an adult, found guilty, sentenced to death and executed at GITMO years ago. Now, he'll return to Canada, come back to the US when they release him and continue his murderous rampaging jihad. His Islamic religious leaders will give him some jihaist fatwa that mandates mass murder of innocent US citizens and we will have enabled all of it. How utterly ridiculous.
Yes, i am so upset that "He has had no normal adolescent development at all".....i guess time flies when you're planting roadside bombs in the desert....let him serve another 6 years in prison. As a Canadian, i am ashamed of our pandering to this guy.
Child soldier or not he knew what he was doing even if brain washed by his father. He should have been executed as an enemy combatant. When he gets out he will seek revenge.
Enemy combatants, when captured, do not get executed. IDIOT!
He was only following orders and he snapped. Oh wait...
He's not an enemy combatant. He's in no known army. He's simply a murdering terrorist.
He is the enemy, and he was a combatant. Duh, he is an enemy combatant.
I think he should have been released to go live with Eric Holder. You know, the jackass who represented these poor victims while in private practice.
The same moron who wanted to try the 911 murderers in New York.
So that's why obama picked holder!
how about we do something new...
trust our Government
Shouldn't they earn that trust first?
charlie, we did trust in obama. now it turns out everything he said before he was elected was a lie.
rachel, and bush didn't lie, ask the families of the nearly 5,000 Americans sent home in body bags if bush didn't lie, you are conveniently forgetting Iraq. I also seem to remember when asked, bush, replied "I don't know where he is, I don't think about him," meaning Bin Laden, 2005. google it. The Presdient hasn't lied.
rachel:
Please give specific evidence of where and when Obama lied with corresponding links. Otherwise, I would suspect we all know you are full of sh**.
@ Robert B. Haigh. It isn't rachel who is full of it. You, like every other Liberal, have a very select memory where Obama is concerned. Here is a link for you: obamalies.net/listoflies This is pretty comprehensive (but far from complete) list of Obama's lies. There are some lies that are not listed. One missing from this list comes to mind now as Obama is busy campaigning for a SECOND TERM. You should remember what Obama said in February 2009 when talking about the financial crisis, "if I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a ONE-TERM proposition.” I added the all-caps in the quote for emphasis.
No wonder you're named "Skyparrot." All you can do is parrot the same crap! Blah, blah, blah Bush! OBAMA HAS BEEN PRESIDENT FOR ALMOST 4 YEARS.
Rachel. in denial are you, account for the 4,477 Americans sent home in caskets, Iraq wasn't a lie? Where are the WMD's in war mongrel cheney's bunker. And Bush President for 8 and we will never get over the destruction visited upon the American people in a fabricated war. Grow up and get over your hatred.
And all you do is regurgitate the same old crap from the limbaugh's of the right, blah blah, yap, yap, yap.
Obama 2012
More droppings from the Parrot? I think he'd be ashamed!
Over Twice as Many U.S. Soldiers Have Died in Afghanistan Under Obama In 3 1/2 Years Than Did Under Bush in 8 Years
More U.S. soldiers have been killed and wounded during President Barack Obama’s first term in office than former President George W. Bush’s two terms. And the anti-war mainstream media that regularly counted the number of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan under Bush, for the most part, has been silent on the number of deaths and casualties that have resulted under Obama.
Under former President George W. Bush, 575 American soldiers died and fewer than 3,000 were wounded in Afghanistan. This means under Obama, at least 1,405 soldiers have died and nearly 15,000 additional soldiers have been wounded, which means 70% of the deaths and nearly 80% of the injuries in Afghanistan have occurred under Obama’s watch.
In 2010, Obama sent 33,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan as part of the “surge,” and Americans have been received with more hostility with each passing day. In June, Obama announced he would accelerate the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and America would transfer security duties to the Afghans in 2014.
Because Obama is a Democrat, the media has been reluctant to shine more of a light on Afghanistan's destabilization under Obama. Perhaps the media is afraid that such reports would make Americans question whether Obama has mismanaged the Afghanistan war like he has the economy. Or maybe the media does not want to report on anything that would make Democrats seem weak on national security, as was the case when Bill Clinton was president.
For whatever reason, the mainstream media is not reporting the striking increase in deaths and casualties in Afghanistan under Obama, again helping Obama through their omissions.
@Badger1 - It has never been easy to win a war. This has nothing whatsoever to do with partisan politics or some hidden secret agenda from some Area 51 shadow government run by the Illuminati or whoever else you want to pull out of your conspiracy paranoia hat.
We garrisoned Japan for years afterwards. We garrisoned Germany for years too, and then stayed there and are still there over 65 years later. It took us years to de-Nazify Germany. Iraq and Afghanistan are far worse than Nazi Germany ever was and have an entrenched ideology that wants to take over the entire planet with a patriarcic misogynistic religion of rape, murder and pedophilia that is over 1400 years old.
It may take decades of wars and military action before there is any change to that ideology and it may take military actions that the US finds highly distasteful. Islam has been waging a violent and relentless ideological war against the west for 1400 years and it shows no sign of abating. It's either we have some resolve and end their jihad for the total destruction of western civilizations or western civilizations better start planning on how they are going to live under sharia law with mullahs and ayotollahs running everything.
Khadr admitted planting 10 roadside bombs in Afghanistan as part of an al-Qaida cell and throwing a grenade that killed an American special forces medic, Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer of Albuquerque, N.M.
Death by hanging or firing squad. His choice. Period!
Khadr is a worthless POS. Bleeding hearts will agitate for an early release blind to the certainty that Khadr will murder again to 'honor his prophet' and earn his own special place in paradise. Sooner or later he will burn in Hell . . . about the only justice he will not be able to escape or worm his way out of.
He will get better healthcare in Canada, that is what is important.
He should be fed beef from XL meats....
Hanging or Firing Squad. He should have been given a dirt nap in Afghanistan. In the not to distant future he will be out of prison and hailed as a hero.
was he found guilty at the military court...?
Oh great, he'll be let loose in a couple of years to continue his killing.. Should of been hanged or shot. What do you think, you put him in jail for a couple of years and hell be a model citizen?
At least Congress got one thing right during Obama's time in office. I can't imagine how we could let any of these people out of custody no matter what the circumstance. Guantanamo is well spent money by our government. We probably need a few more of them, to house these terrorists before their execution.
Tip them all [Guantanamo inmates] into the loading end of a cement kiln. Since these things end in a ball mill, their cremated remains will be indistinguishable from the cement. BUT this is the cement we should use to make the concrete to top out the new World Trade center in New York. We will all then be able to joyously feel these fumb duckers under our feet whenever we visit the top floor. A fitting end for any false martyr.
Oh great...yes lets just emulate Hitler. THAT will help!
After 9/11 the government of the US drafted legislation which allowed the US to become the Tyrant of the world. If we are actually at war then those who are captured and held are soldiers. As soldiers the should be treated according to the Geneva Convention.
I doubt the framers of the constitution are very proud of the country they founded over 200 years ago.
Terrorists are not soldiers, they are terrorists. Besides, our Constitution only applies inside our borders. Prisoners at GITMO are not entitled to the rights established by our Constitution.
@Peter17 - In addition to being dangerously ignorant, you are flat-out wrong: the Constitution applies to all territory under U.S. jurisdiction, including Gitmo. This was explicitly confirmed in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Boumediene v. Bush on June 12, 2008. Look it up.
Peter17:
"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."
Regardless of what actions Khadr took, IN HIS MIND he was doing what he was taught to be right. You, unfortunately, can only see this through an American lense (because we're never wrong).
More importantly, the beliefs you spout would have most definitely been anti-Revolutionary and would have condemned those who fought against ENGLISH domination of early America during the Revolutionary War.
And when the people of these countries see English followed by Soviet followed by American domination for hundreds of years, what do you think they are seeing? The same old bullsh** under a different invader.
If you throw a grenade that kills one US "invader", you are a terrorist, but if you drop tens of thousands of bombs from fighter jets killing HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO COME HOME AND BE HAILED AS A HERO?? Let me guess: In your mind, US soldiers and fighter pilots were following orders. But wasn't Khadr doing the same?
"If you throw a grenade that kills one US "invader","
2 things wrong with your theory.. First, the US did not invade Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance invited NATO in.. Second, Omar is NOT AN AFGHAN, so in essence he is not just a terrorist but a mecenary.
As a Canadian, I see what his family here does. They celebrate the deaths of westerners, they believe that Sharia Law should be the law of the land, his brother is in a wheelchair because he was injured fighting for al-Queda... need I go on or will you just use Google?
And even though he was born here, he only spent 2 years in Canada. The rest of the time he was in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And 15 is only a juvenile here, over there he is considered an adult.
Very true!! It's sad and to our own detriment that in our haste to be judge, jury and executioner, we've forgotten the devastation that blow back can cause:( While forgetting that a little more understanding, compassion and education, especially for the children, as that is who this article addresses, has the potential to yield opposite results. Will we never learn?
I'm a Canadian and we don't want him here. He's a terrorist, one who is pissed off that he's been in jail for 10 years, and now he'll come back to Canada and most likely just get paroled, because even if the Conservative government likes to pretend they're tough on crime in reality criminals in this country get ridiculously short jail sentences. There are a bunch of "poor him" people here who think he should be treated kindly because he was a teenager when he committed his crimes, and they'll do anything to help him get out of jail. So he will be out, pissed off, supported financially by people who think he's just a poor messed up kid, and highly devoted still to his terrorist father and all that he was taught as child. Where do you think that will lead? The next article about him will be about how he has blown something up or shot a bunch of people.
Jax, I'm American and I don't blame you one d*mn bit. That's why I said give him a choice of hanging or firing squad. And I don't care how old he is or how old he was when he committed MURDER. There were KIDS in Vietnam a LOT younger than him killing US soldiers during the Vietnam war. One that comes to mind was 12 years old. She was caught with a full belt of live grenades under her dress. I didn't read that in the news. My ex-husband saw it with his own eyes. People don't understand that those kids are brainwashed starting in the cradle and do nothing but continue forward with it; brainwashed killing machines.
RR
Now that's a chastity belt. Ouch!
He & his entire family are pure evil. Hopefully he won't be segregated in prison, at least then there's a chance one of his fellow inmates will cut his guts out.
@Ian in Calgary. I hope he's segregated so that he doesn't have a chance to indoctrinate any of his fellow inmates.
Like I said....some XL meat should do the trick...problem solved....
Yes he followed his father foot steps and he will follow them when he get out of jail., A 15 year old know what death is and made a choice and he chose to kill. We can hope he has changed but that is just hope.
WTF How stupid are Canadians that they cannot pronounce Divisive? You do not Divid you Divide, De-vI-sive. That idiot will be back committing terrorist acts in less than five years inder the supervision of such a stupid country.
Probably take a look at your post before you start calling Canada stupid, there are more then a few pretty blatant errors there.
Well, maybe you're not the best judge, Mr "De-vi-sive". Anyway, both are acceptable pronunciations according to my Canadian Oxford Dictionary. And you oughtn't judge an entire country based on something like that anyway, have you read some of the near-illiterate ramblings from some people on these boards?
But, as Jax said, it's true we're far too soft on crime in Canada.
Pugiron: YOU use the acronym 'WTF' and then call others stupid?
in less than five years inder the supervision of such a stupid country.
Please explain to me what 'inder' is, STUPID!
My apologies to the Canadians here that have tolerate such igorant Americans. I assure you, not all of us are in-bred.
Signed:
An American Citizen! ;-)
Pugiron, have you ever been to Canada?
My husband is a British national who left GB and emigrated here to the U.S. when we married nine years ago.
If you want to talk about a country that is SOFT on terrorists, terrorist cells, future jihadists spewing propaganda publicly right in their own streets, then the WEAKEST, SPINELESS country you only need to look at is GREAT BRITAIN.
Their open door policy on immigration which started with Tony Blair has created a maelstrom of societal discord on the working class of decent, law-abiding British citizens. Muslims from Africa and Asia have overrun this SMALL country and being housed in tenements using their tax-funded socialist services. Violent street crime is running rampant. You just don't READ about it unless you know about it from British relatives or read REAL British newspapers.
Great Britain is our strongest ally? How? By sending bonny Prince Harry over to play his little boy war games and get AMERICANS killed?
We get very little cooperation from the Brits in stopping their Muslim zealots and converts because they are SOFT. Their entire criminal system is soft to begin with.
My husband is so damn glad he left Great Britain behind nine years ago and it is turning into a cesspool for the **working class** British citizen.
P.S. And Canada is just as bad as far as being soft. I live on the the Canadian border and lived in Canada when married to my first husband. Our daughter is a dual citizen and lives there now with her dad for her schooling. So I do have a lot of knowledge about Canada.
redrose,
Pugiron may be ignorant. But on your part, it's not very becoming to be slagging your own country.
Ian: I wasn't slagging my own country! Pugiron doesn't exactly add up to the entire country, that was my point.
RR
So they are going to let him out in a few years?? What I just do not understand is why we as Americans, and this cuts across almost all divides, feel it correct to spend years and untold amounts of money to try Criminals, and then sentence them to some long prison term that is never, ever, carried out. He got 40 years? He will do a fraction of that. Is Sgt. 1st class Christopher Speer of Albuquerque, N.M. any less dead? Does Sgt. Speer get a reprieve and a do over because we now somehow feel better about this whole event? Ask his Family?
Why have we become so phobic about actually making a decision and then letting that decision stand.
What is the point? Do we somehow feel we have satisfied the crimes punishment by an appropriate or most times a ....from a comparative world view....lienient sentence ....and then just feel the need to better our conscience somehow by reversing that decison? Who will speak for the dead? the victims? all seemingly forgotten in our we have an app for that, mindless, attention deficient now...me...government take care of me Society. It somehow all tends to turn my stomach.
Both your government and my government should be ashamed. A terrorist, who is not even an Afghan citizen, kills a Coalition soldier and does not get shot for it. Why? The deal that the US and Canadian governments reached is disgusting. He would have spent more time in jail if he sold a quarter ounce of pot. *BANG* problem solved.
He got shot twice, in the back.
Only in the States, not in Canada.
Seems that this young man and people like him have declared war on this country, if memory serves me right. And if memory serves me right, we are still at war. Have you forgotten Libya so soon, now that its been reported that zealots like this young man were responsible.
His zealot comrades have taught this Zealot to murder anyone in the name of God, but his religion also teaches that God's punishment for murder is death. Terrorist isn't war, its murder, and that's the lesson we've been taught by the terrorists and can not we afford to forget this lesson.
Anything less than reaping their God's punishment on these Zealot is a shame on this Country.
send him to work for Holder
Probably received a letter of congratulations from Obama for killing Americans and an invitation to tour the embassy in Libya. Maybe a job offer to join the Muslim Brotherhood security at the Cairo embassy.
i dont understand why he's back here, back here in jail, and why he still alive. Why was he not executed now we have to pay for his upkeep and his stay in out luxury corrupt prison and justice system until the time he can travel at will back to his HOMELAND
How is it murder for a person to kill a foreign soldier who has invaded his country?
Sgt Speer did not invade Canada, which is where Omar the Terrorist was born. He also did not invade Afghanistan. NATO was invited into Afghanistan. And Omar is NOT an Afghan. Try again?
Why is he back here, why is still alive he should have been hanged and now he back in our luxury prison and under are corrupt justice system and soon he will be out so he can freely fly away baack to his HOMELAND and terminate someone else
I'm sure I'm in the minority here, or as one poster called, a "poor him" advocate. That said, having never been incarcerated, I don't feel that I'm qualified to decide how long is a long enough prison sentence. I've also never been brainwashed from birth to learn to hate and want to kill another person because of that person's nationality. So I'm not qualified to speak about how I would act if that were me.
Here's my question...why is it that we only seek to punish these child soldiers/terrorists, whatever label you want to slap on them? Why is it that we don't feel it in our best interest as a country, and as human beings, to try and reach these kids?? We have unlimited resources at our disposal to do this. We have the best in psychiatric therapy to get inside of these brain washed children and try and undo the damage that has been done to them. Are they not to be considered victims in this war too? Just because they were not born on American soil nor raised as we would raise our own children, but rather they were brainwashed from birth to hate and to kill, that makes them nothing more than a criminal in our minds deserving of death? Where is our understanding and our compassion for the shoes of those mentally most likely physically abused children whom we refuse to walk in?
Yes, this boy killed one possibly more of ours. How many of ours did he witness as a child kill his people? War is ugly. Very ugly but especially so on the innocent. So we kill him or lock him up for life. (I'm speaking to those specifically advocating on here to just do away with this young man) Does this bring back those he killed? Does this bring back those we killed? And what happens when he IS released having received NO attempt at rehabilitation. No kindness, no compassion, etc. How do you try an undo a lifetime of hate and mental abuse without showing the opposite, love?
Maybe, just maybe if we showed this young man the opposite of all he's ever known, there just might be hope for him...and for us. I was raised in a very abusive environment. I suffered both physical, sexual an psychological abuse beginning at age 3. Were it not for my own courage to leave home at the same age as this young man was captured and going to live with my grandmother, I never would have been given the chance to see the other side, the opposite side of the pain and abuse I had suffered. I was given that second chance to reach my fullest potential of good. Don't we owe it to ourselves to at least try and reach this young man and other kids like him. If we can't, it would be a real shame. Not only for him, but for us as leaders and promoters of this "free" world. Btw...I have a son and a brother who are in the military. I'm so thankful that my son had the chance to know what real LOVE feels like. I'm so thankful that HE was given the chance to know the difference. We are so quick to judge, and yet so slow to understand and to see the bigger picture. Very sad:(
"How many of ours did he witness as a child kill his people?"
He was born and raised in Toronto. How many NATO troops have killed Canadians in Toronto?
Perhaps some of the bleeding heart idiots who think this poor, abused child should be given a chance at rehabilitation would take him into their homes and let him live with them and their own children (until he slit their throats while they slept). At 15, he was perfectly capable of knowing about terrorism, explosives, and the finality of death. He knew exactly what he was doing, and it was his choice to do so. There comes a time when the heinous acts of an individual supersede that individual's rights within society, and necessitate his/her removal from society as a preventative measure. This person is such an individual. He should be executed as a war criminal - after all, he can then go and claim his 40 virgins as a jihad martyr, so society and he would both benefit by his death.
Many valid points, however where and when does it stop? At what point do we as human beings figure out that violence only begets more violence, often further down the road and where and when we least expect it, example, 9/11.
These child soldiers are the one chance we have in trying to reach these brain washed people. That is my point. A child is still capable of learning truth. The mind of a 15 year old is still growing and changing. It's why most states in this country do not consider and child an adult until he or she reaches the age of 18. We understand that the decisions of a 15 year old are different than those made by an 18 year old. I am living proof of this. From the age of 15, placed in the right type of environment, I was able to learn what REAL love was and respond to it. I was able to learn that it didn't have to come with strings attached.
My point being, what if we could take this young man and get him to see what America truly stands for? What if we could get him to understand and FEEL our true values and the very core of what we are? What if this young man could then be an advocate to those of his own country and help just maybe one more or even 10 of his own family and friends to see that we are not the "great Satan" these children have been taught to believe that we are?
Every wave begins with a ripple. Call me an idealist, but we all know that the definition of insanity is continuing to keep doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. We've done this, and nothing has changed. Isn't it time we wake up and try something different?
It may sound cleshe' but hate has shown us what it can do, shouldn't love be given a fair chance? Especially where the children are concerned? For better or for worse, they ARE our future! Regardless of how or where they are raised.
Thought Obama was closing Gitmo? Oh yeh he was going to reduce the debt by half. Gitmo is open because nobady wants these guys. Imagine this guy running around Canada pi$$ed off. And contary to popluar belief Guns can easily be obtained in Canada.
He did sign an Executive Order to close Gitmo, right after he was sworn in. But Congress stopped it with their not wanting to try the prisoners in the US. Obama did his part, he can't do much more.
Very True!! All too often in this country, the office of our president is seen as that of a king or a dictator. When in fact it is the exact opposite! We have a balance of powers in this country for a reason. Unfortunately, the good must come with the bad in that this system of government limits our president and his powers. He can only do so much. He is more of an advocate for the people but still must abide by the decisions of congress. Many are ignorant to this fact and unfortunately come election time...he is the one left holding the bag.
If congress was given the same attention that the president is given, on our 24/7 news coverage, for EVERYTHING he does or does not do, I can assure you, things would be much different in this country;)
These days, 15 is the new 30. A 15 year old is more than capable of being a terrorist. I don't feel sorry for him one little bit.
disabled Veteran:
I agree 100%. Thank you for serving and for the sacrifices made by you and your family to protect our country, and the freedoms of myself and my family.
With sincerest regards,
The proud daughter of a WWII and Korean war 'Gunny.'
Semper Fi
all due respect..you are mistaken. If that were true, than 15 would be the new adult age in this country. It is not. It is 18, and for good reason. Also, a 15 year old raised/brainwashed from birth, is not the same as an informed and correctly educated 15 year old. We have a name for this when an ADULT is kidnapped and brainwashed. It's called Stockholm syndrome. Do we really expect a CHILD to be incapable of this happening to them? By your post we should have no need of both a juvenile penal system and an adult penal system. Is that what you're saying?
My apologies. I didn't see your handle, only what you posted. I too thank you for your service. I can not begin to see the world through your eyes. Nor would I have the audacity to claim to. You have seen and done things that I have not. I can only give my own opinion based on my own experience and how I feel about what I have seen and the results of the things we do and have done.
You are correct. But a 15 year old is still a 15 year old. My point being is that just because the geography and culture or as you pointed out, economy, is different, does not mean that the brain's development of a 15 year old is also different.
As for what I think about how this now young man feels about his medical treatment? I do not know, nor do I presume to know as I wasn't there, I didn't see how he was treated and I've never met nor talked to him. So I can't answer that question. I would hope that our soldiers upheld the the rules of the Geneva convention. if for no other reason, than for the chance to show him an example of who and what we stand for.
Lady, with all due respect, you are full of sh!t. This is not some "good" boy. He is a hate filled, rage filled "good" boy. No one will ever turn him into a decent human being. He would just as soon kill you as look at you. You mean nothing to him. You are an infidel to him. As far as the medical treatment he received, he probably would have rather died and be a martyr to his cause than be in jail. Life in prison or death should be his only choices.
In the end, Omar Khadr killed Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer. Why, how, is irrelevant. He should never be allowed out of prison, he should never have been allowed back to Canada, and I have no pity for him, nor sympathy. I hold sympathy and condolence for Sgt Speer, and for his family that was left behind. Omar's family were all tied to a terrorist organization, with his father being tied in with the events for 911. He has never sworn away any and all allegiance to al-Qaida, nor will he. May he rot in prison for as long as our lax Canadian laws will allow.
Just shocking that people would fight back when foreign invaders attack.
At least our brave soldiers had the courage and decency to shoot a child in the back at least 3 times.