Thursday October 16, 2008, 11:23 pm
October 16, 2008 "Information Clearinghouse" -- Omar Khadr is probably the greatest shame on Canada, because two governments, the Liberals under Paul Martin and the Conservatives under Harper have both made the overt decision to leave him in prison. The case against him is insane.

He was a child, aged 15. He was in Afghanistan because his parents took him there. His father and mother are militant Muslims. He was in a building that US commandos suddenly attacked. When people in the building shot back, they bombed the building and blew it to bits. Then they approached the building, and a US soldier got killed by a hand grenade thrown from the ruins of the building. When they entered the ruins Omar was still alive, but, others were too. In a revised report, they made him the only one left alive. He has been charged with murder. He was shot at close range by bullets (plural).

The case is insane for several reasons:

1) He is a child soldier, which means he is a victim of war not a war criminal.

2) Evidence was changed to make him the only person by inference who might have thrown a hand grenade.There is no witness that he did.

3) Soldiers killed while attacking a house in a foreign country cannot be victims of murder. They are casualties of war.

4) People in a house being attacked by foreigners are engaged in self-defense.

The US has made a category that a person is not a soldier and is not a civilian: unlawful enemy combatant. So laws of war and POW treatment do not apply and criminal laws also do not apply.

He has been tortured in Afghanistan and in Guantanamo.

There is not much evidence against him and there is lack of jurisdiction in US Law related to "child soldiers". The only reason he is still in Guantanamo Bay is because the government is afraid they have turned him into a radical. He is young and can be rehabilitated. Everyone, even the Canadian officials who came to console him, have done nothing and he continues to be persecuted.

I received a plea from a woman Zainab Ali asking: "Who cares for this boy?"

http://cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=25526

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQHFFbD_-Pg

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/khadr/omar-khadr.html

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/346020

http://www.thestar.com/article/512286

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11128331/follow_omar_khadr_from_an_al_qaeda_childhood_to_a_gitmo_cell

It is not that no one cares…Zainab cares... I care... Moazzem Begg cares... there are probably others, even his captors, who may care.

The problem is, none of us who care are in any position or hold any power to do anything for him. We are not even voters in America and do not even have the stilled voice of constituency, or a representative to write to, which would be futile anyway.

The editors we know are not going to be interested because this is not the kind of news which sells time and space in their media.

And, no one else is paid to care!

To even publish this kind of stuff more than once will get an editor the name of a "bleeding heart sympathizer with terrists" and risk loss of readership, which his corporate bosses who need the sales numbers in order to sell space and time would not appreciate!

Yes, if they released him they would either have a new and dedicated enemy warrior on their hands, or a "Poster Boy" to inspire and recruit many more.
It is more than likely that they simply consider that they have a problem, and the longer they have kept him the more difficult it has become to release him. Think of the "Missing in Action POWs" whom John McCain and his Government left behind in Vietnam. The longer they denied their existence, the harder it became to bring them back in from the cold and, eventually, they had to write them off because it would have been too embarrassing to save them. This is what is happening in Gitmo.

The kid has no chance. Unless some Colonel, General, or someone with sufficient authority, if even for a moment, should step in, risk his neck, and sign a paper which gets the boy free long enough for him to make it back home to cover. This is extremely unlikely!

There must be some reason why this lad did not die from his wounds. A shotgun blast to the back with sufficient force to exit the chest is a pretty fatal event. Perhaps the Power which kept him alive this long will reveal

His purpose in time. Yeah, I know that is even more rhetorical crap, but then, that is my stock in trade!

Wars produce even worse things and casualties. He is one of them.

What is the current dead, maimed, and homeless count this morning

On the ICH (Information Clearing House) website Front Page?

1,273,378 Who cares about them? How many American youths have they sent to be killed? 4,180 Who cares about them? It has been 7 years and counting.

Do not expect the Americans to care. Very little, I can assure you!

Prayer may help...I’m not sure.

Thursday October 16, 2008, 11:24 pm
There is also the posssibility to discuss and comment on thi article.

Sunday October 19, 2008, 3:32 pm
Thank you for sharing Jessie! What can we do to help him? ~

Monday October 20, 2008, 5:22 pm
Is it possible to write to a human right organization and maybe they can do more for this "war-child"?
Thanks for this sad story, Jessie!

Monday October 20, 2008, 5:47 pm
thanks Ma for passing this article on to me...

Thursday November 6, 2008, 12:05 pm
I care, but it is not enough. The US has been running around the world biting everybody. Now they are bombing Pakistan. Those in command do not seem to have concept of humanity, appear to be devoid of moral or ethical ideas. It fills me with despair, that the president elect wants to send more troops into Afghanistan. I hope he will at least stop the torture and empty the secret prisons. This is not the story of just one child.

Thursday November 6, 2008, 12:23 pm
Jessie, I couldn't agree more. As the mother of sons, my heart breaks. I can put their faces on his.

I am so angered by the complicity of both major political parties in Canada in ritualized child abuse disguised as "fighting terrorism".

Friday November 7, 2008, 12:08 pm
Sorry all I am presently away on holiday and just took a look in at an internet point - the only links I have to this are the ones posted in the article - there is also a group on Facebook and I have linked up there with Omar's sister Zaynab/ Yes, unfortunately this is not an isolated case but I watched the video of the so-called interrogation and was horrified. It truly seems as if the Canadian government does not give a damn about this BOY after all he has been through.