U.S. soldier blasts Obama for Khadr transfer
TORONTO The transfer of Omar Khadr to Canada from Guantanamo Bay has infuriated a former American soldier partly blinded in the firefight in which the badly wounded Canadian teenager was captured.
The move has also prompted hundreds of Canadians to open their wallets on behalf of the family of the U.S. soldier Khadr pleaded guilty to killing during the July 2002 battle in Afghanistan.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, former sergeant Layne Morris denounced Khadr, 26, as a “horrific security risk,” and blasted the American government.
“My frustration is with the Obama administration and their continued refusal to accept the will of the American people: that these most dangerous of the most dangerous detainees be kept in Guantanamo Bay,” Morris said.
“I don’t think (Khadr) is done with radical Islam. I don’t think he’s done with the jihad.”
Morris, 50, was hit by shrapnel and lost the sight in one eye during the attack on the compound in which Khadr, then 15 years old, was found near death in the rubble and Delta Force soldier, Sgt. Chris Speer, was left mortally wounded. Morris’s anger is palpable. “This is a young man that, despite 10 years in Guantanamo and every attempt and opportunity to educate himself and prepare himself for life in a western society, has done nothing,” said Morris, who found out from a Canadian reporter the transfer had taken place.
“He went in with an eight-grade education, he’s come out with an eighthgrade education. Other than memorize the Qu’ran and be regarded as the ‘rock star’ of Guantanamo by the other inmates, all he’s done is prepare himself for further jihad.”