Canadian-born Omar Khadr was captured in 2002 while fighting American soldiers with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and later plead guilty to murdering Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer with a grenade before an American military court in 2010. For his crimes, he was enriched by the Canadian government on Jul. 5 in the form of $10.5 million dollars.
In addition, the Canadian government is going to apologize to Khadr, but both the reasons for the money and for the apology have not been disclosed, according to The Canadian Press. Not only did Khadr, by his own admission, murder an American soldier as well as blind another, but he also helped the Taliban develop weapons with explosive capabilities to be used against American forces.
Khadr served ten-years in the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, and was handed over to the Canadian government in 2012.
Because he was 16 at the time of his capture, and that he served time in the left’s bête noir, Guantanamo Bay, leftists and Muslims claimed that American officials used torture to obtain intelligence information from Khadr; as well as imprisoning the minor in the American prison facility which exclusively houses adult terrorists. Leftists believe the prison sentence to be unlawful, constituting cruel and unusual punishment.
Khadr’s lawyers have long maintained that Khadr’s father influenced his son into fighting alongside terrorists against American forces. The father, Ahmed Said Khadr, spent time with Usama bin Laden, and was killed while residing with upper echelon Al Qaeda terrorists in a house bombed by Pakistani helicopters in 2003.
After news hit of the settlement payment to Khadr and his legal team, Canadian citizens immediately became enraged and are now fighting back. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation claims that they have gathered more than 52,000 signatures in a petition designed to pressure the government to halt payment to Khadr.
According to Aaron Wudrick, who serves as federal director for the CTF, the petition received “over 52,000 names in under 48 hours.”
He adds that “it is clear that this issue has struck a nerve. The notion of giving $10 million in taxpayer money to Khadr is so outrageous that many Canadians are simply beside themselves.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the intended recipient of the petition, which is hosted on Taxpayer.com. It reads that taxpayer money is being given to a “killer,” and Canadians are offended by this:
“Mr. Khadr admitted to killing an American soldier while fighting with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2002. Canadians should not be forced to pay millions of dollars to a killer.”
To the chagrin of taxpayers, the money has already been received and cashed. In a cruel irony, Khadr and his legal team do not have to pay taxes on this money they have ceased from the people.
Khadr’s accumulation of wealth and the apology given to him by the Canadian government does dirt to Speer’s memory. Speer’s widow filed a lawsuit against Khadr designed to deny him pocketing any money from his own $20 million lawsuit, but she was denied by the courts. Equally bad is the strategic message it sends to terrorists; namely, that if the terrorists use minors to kill American soldiers, these “child soldiers” can become rich in the process.
They also denied him treatment so he lost one eye and is partially blind in the other.
Of course we all believe and trust our government whatever they say about the war on terror.
He was 15. Holding him was a war crime. In a combat area, when one of our soldiers shoots them it isn’t murder, but when one of them shoots us it is?
Terror: what they do.
War and collateral damage: what we do.
Canada should have fought for one of its citizens rights, insured he had proper medical treatment, and a fair trial and support.
If we discard the rule of law – as we seem to have done – why are we better than those we label as “Terrorists”?