Categories: Polls

Should Ottawa allow Omar Khadr to serve a prison sentence in Canada?

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by macleans.ca on Friday, October 22, 2010 10:30am - 0 Comments

Tags: Omar Khadr

shrilanka lanka

I am appalled as to the waste of my tax dollars used to support yet another terrorist. The Liberals have turned Canada into a garbage can where all the deviant terrorist of the world are welcomed and treated royally on my dime.
Wake up Canadians and think who you vote for next time…or you will become muslims by force in a few years, thanks to the Liberals.

DerekPearce

Yep, rotting in Guantanamo sure is being treated royally on your dime.

Billy M

more than he deserves and what Chris Speers got.

Diana1976

The Liberal policy on the issue we're discussing was that they expected the US to give Khadr a fair trial, not an unreasonable expectation. When courts began declaring he was not getting a fair trial, Liberals changed their policy. Conservatives fought and ignored the courts. That's the difference. All the parties except the Harper Cons stand for democracy and the rule of law, no matter what personal prejudices people may have. The Harper Cons don't stand for anything except the emotional reactions of their supporters about anything at any time.

sourstud

The Liberals are also responsible for Omar's father being released from jail in Pakistan. Jean Chretien personally saw to it that a known terrorist was unleashed back upon the world, all in the name of scoring a few votes back home. I guess Liberal's believe in democracy as long as they're winning votes, and believe in law, as long as it's Canadian law, and not that of a foreign sovereign nation.

Canada's Liberals – standing up in the name of democracy and law when it's convenient.

Diana1976

The Conservatives have wasted tons of your tax dollars on their ludicrous fight with the courts over this case, and will waste more unless some deal is reached on the civil suit, a lot more. When Canadian intelligence officers did a hand full of interviews at Guantanamo it was the only way anybody could get to see Khadr because no consular visit was allowed. They followed the rules in place at Gtmo at the time, and normally that would have been appropriate. In this case the whole system turned out to be illegal based on subsequent US court systems and the Canadian court referred to those decisions in determining Khadr's treatment illegal. I don't agree with blaming those intelligence officers and the Canadian government was in a difficult position at the time. All their requests for better treatment were turned down. They would have got nowhere with a repatriation request and that was probably true until Obama was elected or maybe a couple of years before. They should have asked anyway to show where they stood, and that's why they admitted they were wrong.

clw

Omar and all of his family should be deported back to their own country as soon as physically possible!! It appears his family does not want to live by Canadian standards and appreciate our country for its values, then show them the door a.s.a.p. Somewhere down the road, he or one of his family will commit another unforgiveable crime against us because of their beliefs/upbringing. Families like this are too brainwashed to appreciate living in a free country like Canada.

DerekPearce

Canada is Omar's country. He was born here and then taken as a young teen to Afghanistan and brainwashed into jihad as a child soldier by his fanatical father. I could see deporting his mother, but he and his siblings get to stay.

sourstud

I agree, Omar should stay in Canada… and be charged with treason and executed when convicted.

Diana1976

PM Stephen Harper said:
"I think the government of Canada, when a Canadian citizen is ill-treated and when the rights of a Canadian citizen need to be defended, I think it's always the obligation of the government of Canada to vocally and publicly stand up for that Canadian citizen. That is what we will continue to do." http://translate.roseville.ca.us/ma/enwiki/en/Hus…

What more proof does he need of "ill-treatment" than when the courts declare a person is being illegally treated by a foreign country, and the fact that all other democracies have responded with calls for repatriation of their Gtmo prisoners? Plus much other info re mistreatment.

Canada should have called for repatriation at the latest when the courts started doing that, or, at least, when the Supreme Court confirmed the illegality and abuse of the Gtmo process with their declaration.

true north

Breaking news…. No Plea Bargain… Khadrs Trial will resume Monday morning at Gitmo,

flipper

Khadr ,if anything,was not given special treatment by the Canadian government.He was treated the same as any other citizen who gets in trouble with the law…He was given consular services and was checked up on regularly by Canadian officials.
We must remember that his ordeal started under the Chretien and Martin governments .Stephen Harper inherited this mess from the Liberals and has just followed their policy of non-intervention.
The truth of Omar Khadr is that he was used by his own family to foster the islamist Jihadist ideology and got CAUGHT! What was a 15 year old Torontonian doing fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan? Why did they send him there?Questions that ,if answered, will not change the outcome at his trial….But at fifteen years of age ,he cannot claim innocence or lack of moral compass,most 5 year olds know that difference between right and wrong…

Diana1976

The Canadian government did what it could after Khadr was captured. They made numerous requests for better treatment and all of them, including consular visits, where turned down at that time. Certainly no repatriation request would have been accepted and probably would have only angered the Bush Admin even more than it was already angry over Iraq. Intelligence officers followed the rules in Gtmo at the time but that whole situation was illegal and maybe they should have known. It's easy to judge looking back in time. Later the Liberal government should have made a request if only to show where Canada stood, and, based on subsequent information, that's why the former PM said later they should have done it and recommended doing it at that time. The best opportunity for a repatriation request came when Obama was elected, and the courts here were ordering repatriation, and all other western countries had taken similar action. Nobody knows why the Conservatives didn't respond because they never explained. I can only assume it's because they feel exactly the same way as posters here who support them.

don

Khadr is a trained jihadist terriorist and more than likely will remain the same for eternity. He has not shown any remorse or asked for forgiveness for what he has done. If had murdered a Canadian soldier would there be any support for him except from his muslim family? It has been written they have the same views as Khadr regarding their position to train and kill allied soldiers including Canadaian soldiers, if given the chance and yet they still remain in Canada.

Has anyone within the Canadian media requested an interview with the family members of Cpl. Speers, to ask what they feel about giving freedom or exoneration to a trained jihadist terriorist? Cpl. Speers was trained to save lives (he was a medic). Throwing grenades at non-combatants is against the rules of warfare, does Khadr family know this.

don

Diana1976

Reporter, Michelle Shephard is the only one I know of who interviewed the family members, and many people on all sides of the whole issue. She said Sgt. Speers risked his life to save two Afghan children shortly before he died. You can read her book. I think she's the only person who wrote one. He was a medic but he was acting as a soldier when he was fatally wounded, with a party of other soldiers looking for fighters who might have survived the US bombing attack, to kill or capture them. See also the report of "OC-1", the soldier who saw the grenade land and a minute later saw Khadr and another man and shot them both.
Diana1976

Reporter, Michelle Shepphard interviewed the family, and a lot of other people on all sides of the issue. You can read her book.

The soldier was acting as a soldier at the time, not a medic although he was one. See report of soldier who was with him, OC-1.

Tony Joanisse

I agree with you completely, James. Not only does the US have the right to try Omar Khadr for killing a US soldier, but the US would also have been allowed to extradict him if, by some miracle, he had managed to escape from Guantanamo and find his way back to Canada. No freedom-loving individual likes the idea of people being held incommunicado indefinitely, like in the Khadr case, but the law is the law.
gary

Why do all you idiots think that, because Khadri was only 15, he didn't know what he was doing?
Jeet

I don't know, have we ever before allowed a traitor walk around. If we do then the message is clear, anyone and everyone can be a Canadian and a traitor and there are no repercussions. Interesting hwo that is gonna wash…
Fay

I think it is about time these people are held accountable for their actions. Don't tell me he didn't know what he was doing and why. He has been brainwashed from day one. Why should we, as Tax payers, have to pay to keep him here in Canada . . . I think he should be sent back to his homeland and let them deal with it.
Eric

Khadr is a terrorist; anyone who believes less is not seeing the real picture; the Americans would have done us a HUGE favor by executing him "in the line of combat"!
maddog

He was the one who threw the grenade….he admitted it..Let him stay in the USA for the rest of his days as far as I am concerned. We have enough criminals that we have to feed and keep warm.
depassage

He has chosen to plead guilty only because there is no way to win the (unfair) trial. Better to get a lesser sentence knowing that it doesn't deserve to take the risk to defend a lost case.
Dave Doslea

While your at it kick out that mouth piece his mother and the rest of his family. If you support this terrorist YOU ARE a terrorist yourself. If he had the chance he would have killed a Canadian soldier as well, and he WILL kill again and the blood of his victims will be on the hands of people who support this murder. Keep this murder out of Canada.
samri

@ Mars who are you to say Muslims should not be allowed?? Canada is not only your country…Do you even have a brain??
maybe you should go to a mental institution so you can think properly!!
or does it give you more right to say that Muslim should not be allowed because your white?
SHAME ON YOU!
I
Curt Winston

Who does the USA think they are? The Global Bully? Grabbing people they accuse of a crime then prosecuting them after many years with secret evidence. Our canadian leaders are spineless and gutless, the lot of them.