The $10.5-million debate

LETTERS

Re: The debate over awarding Omar Khadr 10.5 million, July 6 On May 25, 2007, at age 25, and a part of the Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team that trained Afghan soldiers, Corp. Matthew McCully- McGrady, then on his second deployment to Afghanistan, stepped on an improvised explosive device near Nalgham village, west of Kandahar, and was killed. Another Canadian soldier and an Afghan translator were also wounded.

Matthew, who was my wife’s nephew, was the 55th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan.

Last Wednesday, in a questionable act that by any measure was a cringeworthy travesty of “political correctness,” the Trudeau government, allegedly as compensation for a breach of his charter rights, paid $10.5 million to Omar Khadr.

Khadr is a confessed and convicted murderer who, in October 2010 at age 24, pleaded guilty to murder and war crimes in Afghanistan where, as an unlawful enemy combatant and active Taliban fighter, he threw a grenade that killed a U.S. Army medic and blinded another soldier.

Khadr is now 30 years old — an age that Corp. Matthew McCully-McGrady never achieved.

This shocking act of the Trudeau government has brought shame on Matthew, on the members of our armed forces and on all Canadians. It is not the kind of “sunny ways” that we were looking forward to. E. Marshall Pollock, Toronto The apology was made by two ministers of the crown while the prime minister was attending meetings and conferences abroad. The cheque was issued and cashed quietly before the apology was made.

The monetary value awarded to Omar Khadr for his human rights violation: $10.5 million. Interestingly, the family of a veteran who has been killed outright or subsequently died due to injuries or exposure to hazardous materials receives $360,000 from a grateful Canadian government. Diana J. Dewar, North Saanich, B. C. It’s troubling to discover that we live in a country where so many people don’t appreciate one of its core values — the rule of law. That’s why just like Howard Anglin they are plainly wrong to insist that Khadr’s settlement is a political choice.

The payout to Khadr is not a reward for his behaviour. Instead, it’s a punishment for the misbehaviour of his country, Canada, towards one of its citizens.

This penalty is a legal victory for law and order and should be acknowledged as such by every citizen because one day this rule of law might be applied to them. It’s not about Khadr — it’s about us. This case law proves that errors can be fixed.

Rest assured. Canada has just been put on notice to protect its own — it’s the rule of law of the land. Tony D’Andrea, Toronto Hopefully, the $10.5-million Khadr award will annoy and inspire Canadians to demand greater transparency regarding our government’s willingness to “tag along” on U. S. military misadventures. Juxtaposing this money with substandard veteran’s care is a weak tactic since the federal government dispenses public funds to other dubious causes like giggling royalty and Bombardier bailouts.

To be clear, the so-called “medic” reported killed by Omar Khadr’s grenade was a fully trained Green Beret commando with a medical specialization and full certainty about the dangers of his mission.

While his death is tragic, it is doubtful that we will ever know the identities of even a fraction of the thousands of Afghan civilians killed during the NATO invasion and occupation of that nation. Beyond that, the Reagan-era warlords who empowered Islamic extremism in the late-1970s – ’ 80s have yet to be held accountable for their myopic policies. Al- Qaida and ISIL did not emerge fully formed from an old lamp. Morgan Duchesney, Ottawa