Omar Khadr is more dangerous than Russell Williams?

Clearly, none of the 991 people who responded to this poll were inside the courtroom for Russell Williams’s sentencing hearing last month. For three days, prosecutors laid out—in gruesome detail—the chilling truth about the ex-colonel’s depraved double life as a sexual predator and serial killer. His first murder victim, Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, begged for her life; instead, Williams placed a piece of duct tape over her nose and videotaped her last breaths. He told his second victim, Jessica Lloyd, that as long as she obeyed his orders, she would live; after 18 hours of rape and torture (again, all caught on video), Williams strangled her and dumped her body in his garage. Lee Burgess, one of the Crown Attorneys, put it best: “Russell Williams is simply one of the worst offenders in Canadian history. He is one of the handful of despicable, heinous, self-centered individuals who terrorize and traumatize victims without a shred of remorse.” And yet somehow, there are still people who believe that Williams is less dangerous than Omar Khadr, a grenade-throwing 15-year-old who, if not for his al Qaeda dad, would have never ended up in Afghanistan—let alone in a firefight with U.S. troops. Abacus Data, an Ottawa-based polling firm, asked Canadians which of the two headline-grabbing defendants is the greater threat to Canada’s public safety. Thirty-four per cent of respondents said Khadr, while 24 per cent said Williams. Even more shocking? Women were more likely than men to choose Khadr as the bigger threat (35 per cent versus 23 per cent). Thankfully, the justice system got it right. Williams will never again walk the streets, while Khadr could be a free man as early as 2013.

Toronto Sun