Canadian generosity to Khadr sends dangerous message
The public outrage over the very generous monetary offer and apology to convicted terrorist Omar Khadr is fully justified.
No doubt, Canada is one of the most welcoming, generous and inclusive countries in the world. However, our generosity in dealing with someone like Khadr is taking it too far. He got involved in terrorism at age 15 of his own free will and continued in this process until he was captured and imprisoned. He can’t blame anyone but himself.
People like Khadr don’t deserve any sympathy, let alone a generous financial offer and an apology by the Canadian government. This kind of generosity sends a very wrong message to others. The Canadian government should rescind its decision about the apology and the financial compensation immediately.
Balwant Sanghera, Richmond
Canada must pay
Why should taxpayers pay Omar Khadr for the former federal governments’ blunder?
Former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his caucus condoned mistreatment of a teenage Canadian citizen by his foreign captors in Guantanamo prison. Now they should pay Khadr some compensation from their impressive salaries.
It would have been a lot cheaper to respect this teen’s rights by at least trying to bring him back home long ago.
Jerzy Rudowski, Langley
Sue U.S. for more cash
So Omar Khadr wins a $10.5-million settlement, but has a $134.2-million judgment against him in the U.S.
As a wounded Canadian soldier, he should keep $360,000, like other wounded Canadian soldiers get, pay his lawyers $500 per billable hour and forward the balance to Tabitha Speer, the widow of U.S. Delta Force soldier Sgt. Christopher Speer, who Khadr killed, and retired special forces soldier Layne Morris, who he injured, to settle his U.S. court judgment.
If Khadr wants more, then he should sue the U.S. government.
Bob Loeppky, Revelstoke
Rules of war different
I agree with National Post columnist Christie Blatchford that Omar Khadr shouldn’t be compensated for his participation, as a 15-year-old, in Islamic Jihad against the West. Together with his father, a leader of al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Khadr killed an American medic working to save lives.
We’ve been at war with radical Islam since 9/11 and human rights laws of peace time must be superseded by the laws of war applied to war combatants. Not to do so will, as Blatchford says, be “a brilliant victory for the Taliban, al-Qaida, ISIL and all other extremists” and a tear in our own social fabric.
Jiti Khanna, Vancouver
School trustees a waste
Even though school boards incessantly complain about the lack of funds for educational purposes, scores of trustees attended the annual Canadian School Boards Association Congress at a posh hotel in Whistler for four days ending on Saturday.
Funded by the fed-up taxpayer, they’ll return home with absolutely nothing tangible for their schools, classrooms or students.
With elected, anachronistic school boards becoming increasingly irrelevant, and provincial governments justifiably shrinking board influence, it’s time to rethink and modernize our public school system.
Consider today’s high-tech communication tools, where everything is done in ‘real time.’ Then ask; What is it that these distant elected trustees do that — if given the monies — parents, teachers, principals and support personnel couldn’t do for their own schools?
We must rid the system of these unnecessary intermediaries and give schools a greater say in decision-making to ensure those closest to the student are at the centre of the public education network.
Chris Eustace, Montreal