So Omar Khadr, the Canadian who confessed to throwing the grenade that killed an American soldier, is to receive more than $10 million in compensation from our federal government.
The payment makes a mockery of our judicial process, as does the apology that will accompany the cash.
In the surreal world of the fight against terrorism, there are often no clear answers, no clear sense of what is right and what is wrong. A mention of the Khadr name brings strong emotions from both sides — his supporters, who say he is not to blame, and those who believe that he is, in effect, getting away with murder.
This case is without precedent. Khadr, who is now 30, pleaded guilty to five war crimes alleged to have occurred in 2002 in Afghanistan, when he was just 15 years old. Among other things, he confessed to throwing the grenade that killed Sgt. Christopher Speer, a special-forces soldier in the U.S. army.
Khadr was arrested after a firefight at an al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan. He admitted his guilt, but later he said he had done so only to get out of the American prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In 2004, Khadr sued the Canadian government, saying it had violated international law by not protecting him from the Americans. Later, he said that Canada had conspired with the U.S. in abusing him. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2010 that evidence had been obtained from Khadr using oppressive methods.
Canadian officials visited Khadr three times while he was in Guantanamo. Khadr has said they did not do enough to help protect him — and we have to pay.
Khadr was returned to Canada in 2012 and placed in a maximum-security prison. He was released on bail in Edmonton in May 2015 pending an appeal of his conviction, but his legal troubles might never end. Also in 2015, a Utah court ruled that he must pay $134.2 million US in damages for his terrorist acts.
Khadr has the support of Amnesty International. “In Afghanistan, at Guantanamo Bay and in Canadian prisons, Omar Khadr’s rights were consistently violated and ignored,” Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty in Canada, said in a statement Tuesday.
Yes, conditions at Guantanamo were harsh; there has been plenty of evidence of that. But al-Qaida would like to see those of us in the West live in fear, if not killed outright. Khadr joined the fight against the West. He rejected our way of life.
Yes, he has recanted his confession. Every federal penitentiary in Canada is filled with people who will tell you that they did not do it.
Yes, Khadr’s supporters are many. Still, in our view, giving millions of dollars to a Canadian who fought for al-Qaida is indefensible.
Under former prime minister Stephen Harper, the Conservatives refused to consider compensation. With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in power, the government has changed its tune — but the money the federal government is giving Khadr will do nothing to stop the debate over his fate.
Here’s an idea: Perhaps our federal government could sue al-Qaida the next time a Canadian is killed in a terrorist act. But then, for most of us, financial compensation would not solve anything.
Khadr wants money. He is not like Tabitha Speer, the widow of the man killed by Khadr’s grenade.
Consider her words: “Surviving every day without Christopher has been utter hell. I would trade any amount of money to have him back. Every day I think about Christopher and imagine how our life would have been.”
Apologizing is a very Canadian thing to do, but by apologizing and compensating Khadr, we send the wrong message to our allies and to the terrorists we are fighting.
