So when I watched the video of Omar Khadr released today, it was impossible for me not to see my own son sitting there. In fact, ever since the Toronto Star published excerpts of 'Guantanamo's Child' back in March (which have now disappeared from the cache while this photo lives on in my blog and brings me many, many hits), I have had occasion to imagine my own son in that situation. Dragged out of his home by his psycho parents, shot and nearly killed, isolated, sleep deprived and probably worse, raised in a prison...
The very thought of it makes me physically nauseous.
All of which makes me wonder, what the FUCK is wrong with people? Is there some gene missing from your average conservative that makes them incapable of compassion or empathy? Because believe me, I can guarantee that every single person who has posted a blog post or an article comment like this...
Norm
Why are we as a country even responsible for this man? He left this country to fight for a terrorist force that lives to control others. By doing so he turned his back on everything Canadian and everybody that holds those values dear. Let him rot down there and be done with him.
... voted for Stephen Harper in the last election.
Really, is this who you are? Is this what conservatism is all about? Is this what Christian-based values are all about? Spewing venom upon children raised in a poisonous environment and forced to fight for a cause that they neither understand nor have the capacity to object to, incarcerated in an illegal prison roundly condemned by every country on the planet outside of North America?
Please, if there is a single conservative/Conservative who thinks that this is horribly, fundamentally wrong, please raise your hand.
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
You already know I think he's getting what he deserves. Actually I think the experience will be quite good for him. He'll always know now that actions have consequences, some of them very severe.
ReplyDeleteI also feel many people, yourself included, have been victimized by the propaganda of team Khadr. This family milked Canada, milks it still, and has been a huge embarrassment to it. That we raised a home-grown terrorist speaks volumes about our failed multicultural state.
I say we leave them there until the Americans feel he's no longer worth having. When he's released, make him get down on his knees and thank Canada, not God, but Canada, for being an advanced society that would let a known terrorist back into the fold.
So there's your compassion Jennifer.
P.S.: I did not vote for Stephen Harper in 2006. It's a big secret. Shhhhhhh....
ReplyDeleteRA,
ReplyDeleteHow much punishment is enough for Omar Khadr? That he had to experience war as a child? That he was severely wounded in that war? That he has been held in an off shore US prison on dubious charges for six or seven years? That his internment includes violent interrogation?
Where does it end?
RA, may the consequences of your actions forever be pointed out to you.
ReplyDeleteBoris, I don't know where it ends. It would be nice if the Americans would wrap things up soon and either sentence him or release him. But that does not atone for his [secular] sins.
ReplyDeleteGeekwad, I live with the consequences of my actions every single day.
Canada's present version of "conservative" politics isn't about doing the right thing, it's about being right.
ReplyDeleteLong gone are the Progressive Conservatives who kinda/sorta/maybe did care about people and did try to do well by them. Instead they've been replaced with a bunch of people who want to be seen as being correct, people who want to take the moral highground, but don't care about the consequences of their actions, nor do they care about others.
It's too bad. Conservatism used to be about small government, opposition to large corporations, and steering the course as long as the course made sense. Now it's all about tax cuts, outsourcing public safety, and ideology.
The pendulum will eventually swing back to sanity, but I'm worried about what we'll lose in the meantime.