The debate over awarding Omar Khadr $10.5 million
WHY WOULD THE PM PAY KHADR BEFORE HAVING A COURT WEIGH IN?
Here’s the rub with this settlement: neither the American nor Canadian legal processes are complete.
What Khadr did and what happened to him in the aftermath of his arrest should be fulsomely tried in a court of law. Canadians have every reason to ask themselves why Trudeau would offer Khadr such a generous payout before these processes had been completed.
Omar Khadr stands c onvicted by t he American government of the murder of American Sgt. Christopher Speer, and of other charges related to terrorist activity. He is appealing his conviction in the United States, arguing that his confession and subsequent guilty plea were obtained via torture, during his detention by the Americans at Guantanamo Bay. In 2014, he also re- launched a civil suit against the Canadian government, alleging that it had violated a number of his Charter rights.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are settling the Canadian suit by offering Khadr a $ 10.5- million payout. Here’s the rub with this settlement: neither the American nor Canadian legal processes are complete. There would have been compelling reasons for allowing them to play out before giving Khadr any money.
For one thing, there’s the issue of the gravity of the issues at stake, and the varying accounts of the parties’ wrongs. As the CBC noted in a 2004 article, Omar’s brother, Abdurahman Khadr, has said that his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was "old friends with al- Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and that ( the) brothers attended terrorist training camps.”
In a 2015 article, the Toronto Star reported that, in 1996, “after briefly ret urning to Canada, t he family moves to Jalalabad in Taliban- controlled eastern Afghanistan, where they live in Osama bin Laden’s compound. The Khadr brothers begin attending weapons training camps affiliated with the Taliban and bin Laden. The family makes annual trips to Canada to raise money and collect supplies.” In 2002, the article continues, “two Afghan government soldiers are killed and several U. S. troops sustain injuries as coalition forces move in on Khadr’s compound. Khadr throws a grenade that kills U. S. Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer. Khadr is i njured in t he melee.”
Conversely, Khadr’s lawsuit claims that, during his detention at Guantanamo Bay, he was subjected to actions that constituted torture and violated his human rights. What Khadr did and what happened to him in the aftermath of his arrest should be fulsomely tried in a court of law. Canadians have every reason to ask themselves why Trudeau would offer Khadr such a generous payout before these processes had been completed.
One writer at the CBC suggested that Trudeau’s decision will save Canadian taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees, because Khadr’s suits are likely to be successful. While this is speculation, and not fact, it’s still difficult to justify the settlement on this basis. Trudeau has, after all, been successful in racking up billions of dollars in debt for any number of spurious projects in under two years. He’s hardly a spendthrift. In the enormity of the universe of Trudeau’s spending, how could he of all people be reluctant to spend a few extra taxpayer dollars to see the legal process through?
Moreover, it’s impossible to say, at this stage, whether the civil suit would have necessarily led to a larger payout. The Liberals could have opposed Khadr’s claims at trial, and if the court ruled in Khadr’s favour, sought advice on whether there were grounds for appeal. If unsuccessful in these court proceedings, Trudeau could have then reasonably explained to the Canadian public why the government was making a payment. Throughout this process, the government could have also monitored how Khadr’s American appeal was progressing, and potentially used that information to inform its case.
The problem for Trudeau is that doing any of the above would have required him to stake out a position on this issue, and to explain it more than once over a long period of time. The irritation in Trudeau’s voice on being asked about this matter during what was supposed to have been a victory lap around Ireland was palpable. Presumably, he’s annoyed because having to take a position on a difficult issue opens him up to criti- cism — which is a lot less fun and much more pedestrian than engaging in colourful sock photo ops.
Trudeau may also have had Elizabeth May’s eloquent comments in mind in making the settlement. In 2015, the Green Party leader proclaimed that Khadr had “more class than the whole f---ing cabinet.” Perhaps Trudeau thought that offering Khadr millions was a sure way to score political points, at least among May and a swath of like-minded voters.
Trudeau may have also wanted to avoid having to manage his caucus on this difficult matter. Unfortunately, though, this left Liberal MP Ken Hardie to fill the vacuum created by Trudeau’s silence. Yesterday, Hardie tweeted: “Well now, the US was invading his country, he was pressed into service at 15, improperly treated medically and legally; Canada was complicit.” As National Post writer Terry Glavin pointed out in subsequent tweets, the “invasion” Hardie was referring to was an “UNSC- ordered, NATO-approved, Liberal government mission supported by Afghanistan’s UN delegation, and Kahdr isn’t an Afghan. He is a Canadian whose parents were Palestinian and Egyptian.”
Trudeau evidently wanted to avoid grappling with these issues.
But the problem he now faces is the visceral reaction of Canadians who are querying why the government would so readily offer up so much money, in advance of the court process reaching its end. Canadians know there’s something wrong with this, and they know they’re paying for it.
Cue the jogging photos.