Ottawa no friend to young detainee

[Roland99]

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1108075812688&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes

He is also the only Canadian still held at America's Guantanamo Bay prison camp. The U.S. says he fought in Afghanistan against its invading forces. It says he confessed to laying mines and that, in one fierce firefight, he threw a grenade that killed an American soldier.

That may explain why his accounts of how he has been treated at Guantanamo — released by his lawyers this week after being heavily censored by U.S. authorities — are less than rosy.

One day, he says, his jailers tied his hands to a doorframe and made him stand for hours. Another day, he says, they shackled him hand and foot for hours in a so-called stress position, then used him as a human mop after he urinated on the floor. He says they threatened him with rape.

When four men and a woman from the Canadian government came calling in February 2003, young Omar — then 16 — was thrilled. The Canadians, who later wrote up the account of their meeting in a memo now in the hands of Khadr's lawyers, gave him chocolate and asked him about his family. He was happy to talk.



From a friend of mine in Toronto:

"Did you know that the US has been holding a teenage Canadian citizen for the last three years in Cuba as an enemy combatant, without charges? He was 15 when apprehended, and he is now 18. His father was an Al Quieda operative, and he was apprehended in Afghanistan or Pakistan when his father was killed. I don't know all the details, but the Canadian public was made aware of his existence yesterday, and his mother is trying to get him returned to us."

[Say_What]

1. Keeerist... Canadians are as f*ck'd as the US

with the Canadian government groveling at the feet of Uncle Sam. They might as well start flying Old Glory. Pathetic.

From the article:

It asked for the consular access to Khadr that is guaranteed Canadian citizens by treaty. But its officials confided to one another, in memos obtained by Omar's lawyers, that they knew the Americans would refuse — which they did.

[Maple]

2. We'll get him out

but it takes time, and in his case with his background, more time than usual.

[Roland99]

3. I wonder how accurate his confession truly is.

[UL_Approved]

4. I'm just curious

How did he end up in Afghanistan anyway?