National Post Podcast: Should Canada Repatriate Omar Khadr

I'm a huge fan of podcasts, and have had trouble finding good ones in Canada. I'm not sure how I missed this up until now, but the National Post has them.

Here is a good one with Jonathan Kay, Ezra Levant and Daniel Goldbloom arguing whether Canada should make the effort to bring back Omar Khadr. I won't give away too much, but I agree with Ezra. We have a roughly a thousand Canadians trapped in foreign countries, why does this terrorist get priority? Listen here for a lively 20 minutes.

Podcasts are perfect for people looking to hear good debates, or in depth interviews, that go beyond the shallow, 30 second, sound bite barking on cable tv. I love radio as a medium, but I find regular commercial radio virtually unlistenable. Podcasts are the answer, and it's almost entirely commercial free. It's great when you're doing things in and around the house, or if you have an MP3 player, to drive to.

Here's National Post's podcast page

My personal favorites are NPR, CSPAN Book TV and ESPN.

Harper Holds Firm With Khadr

Stephen Harper is keeping his cool and is not in a rush to bring grenade lobber Omar Khadr "home". (story)

Stephen Harper said Friday he rejects the premise that Omar Khadr was a "child soldier" because the young Canadian was not a member of an army when he was accused a lobbing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier.

Far from backing down to mounting pressure to repatriate Mr. Khadr, Mr. Harper said he will not make any decisions until he finds out whether the U.S. is going to drop murder charges.

(...)

"As you know, Mr. Khadr is charged with some serious offences, and we'll have to see what the resolution of that particular issue is, but we have no indication at the moment of any withdrawal of charges."

This is a good point. Khadr was born in Canada, and his father was an Egyptian. He wasn't in an army. And, it's not like he was some innocent kid born and raised in a village in Afghanistan when US soldiers appeared and he had to protect his home.

What's the hurry to get this guy back? He blew up a medic with a grenade. Let's take a breath before we welcome him to Canada.

Arar Case Heating Up Again

Here's an appalling piece of journalism from the Ottawa Citizen. (Listed under "News" not "Opinion", and not credited to an individual writer.) There have always been big questions about the Arar case, but the Citizen does not want us to ask.

The revelation about Mr. Arar emerged during a hearing at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay First, let's get something on the table. Everything that comes out of that gulag is suspect.

A "gulag." Talk about loaded language. Omar Khadr is a well documented prisoner and has confessed to his actions. It's not some secret gulag, because we know all about it. It is not the same as millions and millions of Soviet citizens disappearing at night to be deported to Siberia to spend the rest of their short lives in agony. Shame on them for cheapening the word.

A Canadian citizen of Syrian origin, Maher Arar has always denied any terrorist ties, and has always denied ever having been in Afghanistan. Canadian security officials once thought otherwise. So did U.S. officials, who in 2002 secretly deported Mr. Arar to Syria, where he was tortured.

Funny how The Citizen talks about rules of evidence, when there is no evidence, other than his word, that Arar was tortured. They write it as fact though.

It's odd that now, all these months later, an FBI representative suddenly produces seemingly definitive evidence that perhaps Mr. Arar was not all he pretended to be.

Is is that surprising, since, you know, there is a hearing going on? The US have always maintained that he was guilty.

This is not good enough to convict Mr. Arar in the court of public opinion, or any other court. (Needless to say, even if he had spent time in Afghanistan, that wouldn't have justified his rendition to Syria and torture there.)

It also wouldn't have justified Canada paying him $10.5 million either.

But so far as Maher Arar is concerned, there's never been evidence that he poses, or has posed, a security threat to anyone. If anything, he and his wife Monia Mazigh have embraced their public roles with dignity and humility -- writing books, giving interviews, even (in the case of Ms. Mazigh) running for political office. Surely by now they deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Well, yes there is evidence, and why should we give them the benefit of doubt?

Again, this Western Standard article about the questions from the Arar case is must read.

BC Hippy Hunger Strikes for Khadr

And he speaks to the CBC about it:

My take: I decided to protest against the unfair and illegal treatment and detention of Omar Khadr, who was a young soldier that, regardless of which 'side' he was involved with, should have been granted a minimum of protection from the Canadian authorities.

Nationalism certainly is dead when a "side" is dismissed as an arbitrary thing.

No word yet if he's abstaining from smoking dope.

UPDATE: They link to his Facebook page, check this out:

Contact Info
Office: Cold but sweet VW Van
Location:Whatever one my wheels decide to venture on

No, I didn't make that up.

Leave Omar Khadr in Guantanamo

Of all the things in the world, I can't understand why terrorist, grenade lobber and "Canadian" Omar Khadr is the poster boy for unlawful imprisonment. Damaged goods Senator Romeo Dallaire wants to make a personal appeal to president-elect Obama to set him free, CBC reports.

Dallaire said Obama should put a stay of proceedings on the trials of Guantanamo detainees, then begin talks with the Canadian government to work out a process to return the Toronto-born Khadr home for rehabilitation and re-integration.
...

At a news conference, Dallaire said he has received no help from the Canadian government in his attempts to aid Khadr, and suggested Prime Minister Stephen Harper's lack of action in the case was "unstatesmanlike."

Bring him back to his terrorist family? They are open supporters of terrorism and Al Qaeda! They had personal contacts with bin Laden! Canadian troops are fighting these people!

Daniel Pipes has an extensive chronology of the Khadr family and their support of bin Laden, jihad, Al Qaeda and terrorism. (Full article)

Or watch this 60 Minutes piece about our innocent little child and his openly jihad, and suicide bombing supporting family. (video)

I don't get it. It gives pause that the kid was 15, but I knew making bombs and throwing grenades were wrong at that age. I don't know why we are making such an effort to bring this turd back.

Why is releasing this guy such a popular cause? Is the CBC and other Canadian media so blind with Anti-Americanism that they champion this guy? That's my guess. It's insane.