If child soldier Khadr is to be seen as a victim, so should Oberlander

You can’t have one without the other.

If we’re going to see Omar Khadr as just a child soldier — more abused than abuser — then we have to see Helmut Oberlander the same way.

It was announced this week, to raging controversy, that Khadr has been awarded $10.5 million in compensation from the Canadian government, after fighting for al-Qaida in Afghanistan in 2002.

The Canadian-born Khadr was just 15 when he was taken to the war by his father, a supporter of the terrorist group.

Omar was captured by U.S. troops following a firefight in which he was alleged to have thrown a hand grenade that killed American medic Christopher Speer.

He was taken to the detention centre for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. He pleaded guilty to war crimes in 2010, but later said he did so under duress.

He was transferred to Canada and released two years ago.

His compensation is because of Canada’s failure to protect him while detained. The Supreme Court found in 2012 that Ottawa violated his constitutional rights when Canadian agents interrogated him in Guantanamo Bay despite knowing he had been abused beforehand.

But the matter is drenched in other passionately divisive issues.

Liberals say Khadr was wronged and the compensation is appropriate.

But Conservatives are furious. “Canadians know this is wrong,” Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said, adding Khadr should “give every cent” to Speer’s family.

Canadian war veterans, who receive a tiny fraction of what Khadr did, even if they’ve lost limbs or part of their brains, are also upset.

Yet, if you check with the United Nations, Khadr wasn’t responsible for what he did because he was just 15 at that time.

It says anyone below age 18 who is recruited or used by an armed force or group is a child soldier.

“Child soldiers are victims, whose participation in conflict bears serious implications for their physical and emotional well-being. They are commonly subject to abuse and most of them witness death, killing, and sexual violence. Many are forced to commit violent acts and some suffer serious long-term psychological consequences,” says the United Nations.

If we agree that describes Khadr, then it is only logical to see Helmut Oberlander the same way.

Oberlander, a 93-year-old retired Waterloo property developer, was an interpreter in the Einsatzcommando 10a, a Nazi killing unit that murdered 23,000 people, mostly Jews and mostly civilians, during the Second World War.

Oberlander didn’t kill anyone directly, but his participation in that notorious unit has made him one of the most important targets for those who wish to bring the remaining perpetrators of the Holocaust to justice.

He now has survived three attempts by the Canadian government to strip him of his citizenship. His lawyer has said the government must now prove Oberlander was complicit in the war crimes of which he is accused.

But Oberlander didn’t voluntarily join the killing unit. He was conscripted at the age of 17. If you accept that Khadr was a vulnerable child soldier, it’s only logical to accept that Oberlander was, too. How then could he have been truly complicit?