Khadr should be returned to Canada: UN official

[CHIMO]

Source: CBC News

The United Nations representative on child soldiers says Omar Khadr should not be imprisoned in the United States but rather returned to Canada to be rehabilitated.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN special representative of the secretary-general for children and armed conflict, said Khadr represents the "classic child soldier narrative: recruited by unscrupulous groups to undertake actions at the bidding of adults to fight battles they barely understand."

She also said the fact that Khadr was abused by his own father exacerbates the harm done to him.

Coomaraswamy's comments are included in a letter obtained by CBC News that is dated Wednesday to the U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/10/27/omar-khadr-united-nations-child-soldier.html

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Wednesday, October 27, 2010 | 6:50 PM ET

[madrchsod]

1. we`ll see how compassionate our leadership is.....

[iverglas]

2. it's interesting how Khadr gets treated like a "Canadian" thing

on the DU boards.

Khadr, a child at the time of his arrest, by human consensus, and entitled to the protections afforded to children by human consensus, domestic laws of civilized nations and international treaties, has been held captive for years by the US, which was an invader when it captured him, in what could be understatedly called inhumane conditions, and is being processed by a US justice system that has no regard for his fundamental rights, as a human being and specifically as a child, and more specifically as a child soldier, that is, a victim of a crime against humanity.

This is about the United States.

The Canadian element, disgusting though it is, is truly secondary to this real story.

I suppose people run short of outrage after a while, but it just doesn't seem to me that there's been much real outrage about this at all in the U.S., the country responsible for all these egregious horrors.

[bergie321]

3. I agree

When I first heard about how we were holding a child in Gitmo, I was outraged. Where is the non-stop media coverage of this? Oh...Lindsay Lohan is going back to rehab...

[Pavulon]

5. When lindsey pops a frag on a medic

wake me up. Do the Canadians want want their shit back?

[iverglas]

6. hey now

Are you a movement progressive, or an action progressive?

Oops, sorry, that was a loaded question, so don't feel obliged to try to answer. It might hurt.

:rofl:

[Pavulon]

7. Realist progressive.

like jfk was. Read history, get back to me. He should have worn a uniform.

[iverglas]

8. wake up

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=190&topic_id=32119&mesg_id=32127

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4591467&mesg_id=4592143

You just haven't followed at all, have you? Does the entire world of decent people want Khadr repatriated? What did you think this fucking thread was ABOUT? I hadn't realized you were so completely ignorant about this. I mean, you sounded like such an expert on the entire case and all ...

[Pavulon]

10. can you link to, ummm like, the CBC where your government says they want this turd

back, linking to your own post in another post is not quite reality.

He has no protection under the GC, he is fucked.

[iverglas]

11. can you read?

The Canadian government at the moment is being run by right-wing scum. The relevant parliamentary committee recommended two years ago that every measure be taken to repatriate Khadr; the Conservative government refused to act on the recommendations. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Khadr's Charter (connstitutional) rights as a citizen were violated by the government refusing to seek his repatriation. The post of mine that I linked to contained excerpts from, and links to, both those sources. That's about as "reality" as it gets, for people with a clue.

Public opinion is about equally divided:
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/38248/omar_khadr_case_still_divides_views_in_canada/
but then almost as many people as those who would leave him in Guantanamo Bay voted for the Conservative government.

It pains me to think you are so uninformed about something you have chosen to burble about on the internet, but here you go: no, the Canadian government has not sought repatriation of Khadr. So?

I have no idea, and probably don't care, what "the GC" is. Khadr is protected by the Constitution of Canada, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and various other bits of international law. None of them are any more subject to the whims of the present government of Canada than they are to yours.

Like the bit that would require the government of Canada to accept delivery of him if the U.S. put him on a plane. Citizenship is fundamental to international law; a citizen of a state belongs to that state, and that state may not force another state to keep its citizens in their territory against its will by refusing them entry. The Canadian government really doesn't have to ask for him politely. The U.S. government can send him postage paid.

So like I was saying: you have a word with your government, and get those travel arrangements made. Then we'll all be happy.

[Pavulon]

12. I see a poll, not a cbc article saying your government wants this turd

back to "rehab" him. Enough Bob Evans and he will drop his jihadi ways and be back to throwing up molson at hockey games before no time..

I think your government does not want this trash, not hearing any formal request.

So, fuck him let his sorry ass rot in jail.

[iverglas]

13. and I can see

one of the saddest, sorriest excuses for ... oh, quite a few things ... I've seen in a while.

I'm amazed that you can't see a CBC article saying the govt of Canada wants Khadr repatriated. (What's with the CBC fixation? The govt of Canada does have its own websites you know.)

I mean, you've been told several times in several ways that the govt of Canada refuses to seek repatriation. But hey, you go google and see whether you can find that elusive CBC web page.

When you're done, tell your own government it has been violating Khadr's fundamental rights as a human being and a child and a child soldier for long enough, and it's long past time to send him home.

[Pavulon]

14. Hey then rock the vote son.

my vote is he gets sharia rules, queen of hearts from some state say the saudi's there problem.

[iverglas]

15. Have you considered taking English lessons?

Presumably you know what your word salads are meant to mean. I surely don't.

I also have no clue why you persist in addressing me as if I were a male person, young or old.

Do copy me with the missives you send to your elected representatives demanding that they expel Khadr back to his country of nationality.

[Pavulon]

16. If your government does not want him, go vote

not my problem they dont want they guy. What are you going to do with him? Get him a job at bob evans or loblaws bagging groceries?

Seriously, think this through. But hey he gets the rest of his life to appeal, in prison. The medic he killed is dead.

To bad he did not wear a uniform then he would get more protection under the GC. We can hold him until the end of the conflict, for starters.

[Solly Mack]

4. k/r

[iverglas]

9. Khadr's lawyers attack psychiatrist's claims

html fixed


http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/10/27/omar-khadr-sentencing-day-two.html

... Testifying earlier in the day, Dr. Michael Welner pointed to factors he said made Khadr's easy reintegration unlikely:

* His total lack of remorse for killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan in 2002.
* His unwillingness to speak to psychologists during his eight-year detention at Guantanamo Bay.
* And his close ties to his family, which continues to support al-Qaeda.

He said Khadr has "been marinating in a radical jihadist community" during his eight-year detention.

"He is devout, he is angry, he identifies with his family who have radical jihadist leanings."

And after 8 years at Guantanamo Bay, who the fuck wouldn't be all those things? Even if Khadr actually were what this psychiatrist, with his third-hand research, is saying.

Talk about yer backfiring ...


As for the family, no question. They are atrocities in their own right, and Khadr should not be permitted to associate with them, to the extent that is possible. It was his family, after all, who abused and exploited him as a child soldier in the first place.

A strange variation on Stockholm Syndrome, I guess. Given a choice between two sets of abusers, the US Government and his family/Al Qaeda, one might expect that a person in his position would see the latter as his defenders against the former.