Khadr back in the news

I suspected that he would be back in the news soon enough. President Elect Obama said recently that he would close Gitmo in his first week as president. This is a very wise move on Obama's part as this is a sore thorn in the American identity. However, challenges would arise with such a move.

The issue I am concerned about is where and what will happen to Khadr. I just read about Romeo Dallaire's request to Obama on the CBC. The thing I like about online news sources is that you are able to read other people's opinions on the matter. I am still amazed at how little informed Canadians are in general when it comes to worldly matters. It is bothersome to me, as a Canadian, that our country does not create more global citizens.

I don't know how many times one must inform people of the actual illegality of the case before it sets into their skull. Without taking into consideration the terrible investigation of the US intelligence units (and lets be honest here they have been terrible in recent times), Omar Khadr was a child at the time of his arrest, A CHILD. Under UN Convention laws that pertain to children--child soldiers in particular--this whole case would be considered a farce. You can not charge a child with war crimes or terrorism. You don't do it in Africa, you don't do it in Latin America, you don't do it in Asia so you definitely should not do it in Afghanistan.

All I can say is I hope Obama makes the right choice to send him back to Canada and I hope that Bush is made to apologize for his treatment of the child and I hope that Canada has the audacity to apologize to the family for lack of involvement on this case. This my friends is a shameful thorn in our Identity.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as "every human
being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier." Biologically, a child is anyone in the developmental stage of childhood, between infancy and adulthood.