OP/ED: Murderer Omar Khadr sentenced to 40 years by military tribunal

(courtesy of CBC)

It's official: Omar Khadr is a convicted and sentenced murderer. He was sentenced to 40 years, yet I have absolutely no doubt, that Khadr will be either on the streets of Canada - or Afghanistan - within a year or shortly thereafter.

For those not paying attention, Omar Khadr's sentence by a military jury in Guantanamo Bay, was for his role in events that took place in a compound in Afghanistan in 2002, which left a US medic mortally wounded. The 40 years is, however, now a moot point. A plea deal was made between the prosecutors and the US government, in exchange for Khadr's pleading guilty to five charges. Khadr's Canadian civilian lawyer Dennis Edney says that Khadr will serve no more than eight years in prison as part of the plea deal and then be subject to parole board conditions upon his release. Military judge Col. Patrick Parrish accepted Khadr's pleas and told him he will be eligible to apply for transfer to a Canadian prison after serving one year of his sentence in the United States or a U.S. detention facility.

So just who is this Omar Khadr? That depends on who you talk to. To the UN, Amnesty International, (and Uncle Tom Cobley and all) etc etc, plus the opposition political parties within Canada, Omar Khadr - who was 15 years old when he was wounded and captured by US forces after a fierce battle which took the life of US medic Sgt 1st Class Christopher Speer ( see my recent column on Speer here) - was a misguided child who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Again according to his lawyer Edney, Khadr only agreed to plead guilty to the five charges against him because they felt he wouldn't get a fair trial within the military system. Edney says this guilty plea ' is just a piece of paper.'

It is a fact that mere weeks before he finally did plead guilty to charges which included murder and supporting terrorism in Afghanistan, Khadr was still protesting his innocence, and the media was perpetuating a public narrative of this poor gullible child led astray by a family with long ties to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. To see the statement of facts that Khadr agreed on, go here.

I have watched this case closely over the last few years, and there has been a masterful manipulation of public opinion, aided and abetted by the mainstream media, who prefaced every story about Khadr with 'child soldier,' 'who is alleged...' Just this last week, I heard respected Canadian military General Romeo Dallaire(now a Senator,) talking very eloquently about the Geneva Convention that Canada and the US are signatories to, on the definition of child soldier, and saying not only is Khadr a great candidate for rehabilitation, but is also 'one of our own,' meaning Canadian.

Despite the best efforts of all those who have been determined to cast Khadr in the light of innocence, I have always seen him for what he is: a cold-blooded killer who reveled in the planning and killing of American (and other) forces. To my mind, it is but a fluke that Khadr had not thus far managed to kill any of our 'own' Canadian troops.

Let me be clear: I have worked with many children all my adult life, including young adolescent males who have tangled with the justice system. I am a big fan of redemption, and second chances. But, I can also smell a con a mile away. And to me, these past years have shown us a masterful con on Khadr's part. The current US government is complicit, too. I find it all too coincidental that a deal was struck with this government, at this time, to clear the Khadr case if you will. It is just all too convenient that after languishing for years in GITMO, this matter is settled within days of a US election. Conspiracy? We cannot know for sure, but timing IS all.

The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been challenged by the media many times over the last few years as to whether Canada had any hand in first, the ongoing 'torture and mistreatment' of Khadr in GITMO and, in more recent weeks, what role the Canadian government has played in this deal making. Harper has consistently denied any active role, repeating that he believes the Khadr case should be allowed to play out within the US judiciary. Although he has repeatedly come under extreme pressure over the years in our Houses of Parliament to demand/insist Khadr be returned to Canada, Harper has maintained the position that it is an American issue. Much has been made over the years that Khadr has been the youngest, and only, westerner still in GITMO, as every other country has asked for the return of their citizens held in GITMO. I am not a huge fan of Harper's, but on this issue, I have applauded his staunch unwavering stand that Khadr face a US military trial.

So what of these false, carefully crafted narratives that Khadr is either a child soldier, and should be treated with kid gloves, or was just an unwitting victim of an overbearing father, who stood no chance to make autonomous - adult - decisions? I have heard various 'experts' these past weeks, especially buying into that Khadr qualifies as a 'child soldier, according to international law. In 1949, the Geneva Conventions said this:

Article 77.2 of the Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, adopted in 1977:

‘The Parties to the conflict shall take all feasible measures in order that children who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities and, in particular, they shall refrain from recruiting them into their armed forces. In recruiting among those persons who have attained the age of fifteen years but who have not attained the age of eighteen years, the Parties to the conflict shall endeavour to give priority to those who are oldest.’

According to that, once a person has reached the age of 15, he/she cannot be considered to be a ‘child soldier. ' In fact, within Khadr's own family, he was considered an adult by the age of 15....


You know I have much more to say on Omar Khadr, here.