In a recent letter to the editor by Bob Zimmer he wrote that calling Omar Khadr a victim is absurd.
Do you, Mr. Zimmer, also believe that Omar saved the money he earned on his paper route to purchase a plane ticket to Afghanistan and join al-Qaeda on his own free will?
If you had bothered to do a little research, you would have found that he was brought there by his father at the age of 14 and given to al-Qaeda fighters to be used as an interpreter.
Did you know, Mr. Zimmer, that recruitment of children under the age of 15 for any purpose related to military conflict is considered a war crime under international law?
Did you also know that under international law, U.S. law, and Canadian law, governments are required to provide special safeguards to child soldiers fitting of juvenile status and treated in a fashion that focuses on rehabilitation and reintegration, none of which Omar received?
Omar qualifies as a child soldier which is described as any combatant under the age of 18, yet our Conservative government has spent something close to a million dollars fighting Omar every step of the way.
This government turned a blind eye to the torture and abuse of a juvenile Canadian citizen.
For a government that claims
to be tough on crime, it seems
to me that it feels that it should only obey the laws that it agrees with.
The only thing that I find absurd is the actions of our federal government on this matter.
Bill Koocher
Prince George
