I remember, years ago, a friend of mine, from BC (a superb violinist by the way, who once borrowed my hot-rodded Supro amp to play with Mick Jagger, one night) told me that the “provinces” felt very much under-represented …

DW

Moazzam Begg recalls the suffering of Omar Khadr

22.7.08

Omar Khadr I don’t normally cross-post articles from other sites, but I was moved by this article, in which Moazzam Begg, author, former Guantánamo prisoner, and spokesman for the British human rights group Cageprisoners, recalls the time he spent with Omar Khadr in the US prison at Bagram airbase, Afghanistan, in 2002, when Omar, who was severely wounded, had just turned 16. The article first appeared on the Cageprisoners website.

I never really understood why, but our military police guards would always refer to Khadr as “Buckshot Bob” or simply “Buckshot.” His wounds didn’t seem to me as if they had been caused by the blast of a shotgun. They were much more horrific. Chunks of his chest and shoulder had been blown out — or so I’d assumed — and he was unable to see through one of his eyes because of the injuries he’d sustained, allegedly in a firefight with US troops. His chest looked like he’d just had a post mortem operation performed on him — whilst he was still alive.

He was emaciated, fragile and quiet. But the rumour spread around about Khadr claiming that he’d launched a grenade attack on unsuspecting US forces. Consequently, the military police units guarding us all treated Omar Khadr with open contempt and hostility. He was sometimes screamed at all night long; made to stack up crates of water bottles which were thrown down again; a hood placed over his head whilst his wrists were shackled to the ceiling.

But, three years after my release from Guantánamo, and five since I last saw Khadr, I have come to realise the logic behind the name “Buckshot.” Photographs released by the US military this year show Khadr when he was first captured. The missing chunks of flesh were exit wounds from shotgun rounds fired. It is now clear, based on statements by the soldiers who captured him, that Khadr had been shot in the back — at point-blank range.

Khadr and I shared a communal cell where walking, talking, standing or simply looking in the wrong direction would earn us a few hours with our hands chained above our heads to the cage door and a hood placed over our faces. Still, I managed some whispered conversations with Khadr, who, just like me, had begun to comprehend that his ordeal had only just started.

Omar’s treatment varied according to the perception various soldiers and interrogators had of him: most of it bad. But a handful of them, who actually got to know him and speak to him like a human being, told me how bad they felt about having a child like him in custody. I recall the last words Omar Khadr said to me before he was shipped off to Guantánamo: “You’re fortunate, people here care about you. No one cares about me.”

Omar was later accused of causing the death of a US Special Forces operative with a grenade. Yet a report given by the soldier who shot him says that not only was Mr. Khadr alive there, an adult man was also alive at the time he, the US soldier, rushed in shooting. This contradicts the testimony of another solider who said that only Mr. Khadr was alive at the time. Whatever the case may be, Omar is fast approaching the seventh year of his detention in Guantánamo. He is now twenty-one.

http://www.andyworthington.co……mar-khadr/

I appreciate the depth and breadth of your response, kindda figured as much.

Have you any notion as to the percentage of your fellow Canadians (iens?)
who share your perspectives?

Colonel Patrick Parrish’s decision late Friday evening came despite the unusual joint plea to call off the military commission proceedings in the “interests of justice.”

Documents have revealed he was subject to severe abuse, such as sleep deprivation and being held in stress positions.

Another senior Pentagon official, Air Force Colonel Peter Masciola who is acting as the chief commission defence lawyer, called on Ms. Crawford to stop the proceedings and withdraw charges in the 14 cases facing the commission.

“The perception of pervasive torture now saddles the incoming administration and its efforts to set these proceedings on a just course,” Col. Masciola wrote on Friday.

“There is only one way to begin changing that perception, and also the reality, of fundamental injustice: Withdraw the referrals now.”

Lt.-Cmdr. Kuebler said that pressing ahead against Mr. Khadr on Monday with what he called a “failed” experiment made no sense.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com…..wkhadr0117

We have the internet users and the non internet users; same as you do. The average person has no idea of reality because they think they get the truth from MSM.

The fact that we have soldiers in Afghanistan is the source of rage with many of us. Those who don’t know, or care, that are soldiers are dying for a pipeline, are enraged that Harper has taken a surplus of billions and blown it on the war machine. We get rather annoyed up here when our government tries to take away programs that benefit us and use the money for war. Kind of have the idea that our tax money is to be spent on us..’g’.

We are part of SPP. Those of us who know about it, are less than pleased. Most people do not know about it because it is not discussed in the good old MSM. Canadians were shocked at the use of agent provocateurs in Montreal when Bush was there. When exposed, our courts usually put an end to government illegal games. Maher Arar is the best known example of that fact.

Harper bows to Israel and we do have a problem with AIPAC type groups trying to censor freedom of speech in regards to criticizing Israel. We take freedom of speech seriously in Canada. Most of us cannot tolerate Harper or his US inspired attempts at taking any freedom away. We are cool headed up here, but don’t like to be stepped on by our governments. Not at the local, provincial, or Federal level. We fight back; don’t always win, but we try.

Canada needs Harper to go. I can’t figure out why the hell the opposition parties can’t find someone with some charisma. Shit, with most of them we can’t understand what the heck they are saying. Someone with English as their first language would be a good step in the right direction. We so need a leader that will stand up to America. No sign of one on the horizon, yet. Our premier in BC just adores Bush..enough said.

the trouble in Canada is Harper who repeatedly only says: ”there is a legal process in the US and we must respect that legal process.” which is total fucking bullshit but the MCA gives him that cover which he choses to embrace.

Khadr is the only citizen of a western nation still in GitMo.

apparently the case is driven mainly by the anger and ”eye-witness testimony” of one soldier who lost and eye and a comrade in the battle where Khadr was captured. there is other evidence that contradicts this vendetta, accumulating as time goes on.

and the bottom line is it doesn’t matter what these boys have done, EVEN if they are guilty (and they are not), they are child soldiers and subject to treaties requiring compassionate treatment on those grounds alone, everything else not with standing.

instead they are being treated as if they are guilty adults. it’s obscene.

Senator (Retired CDN General) Romeo Dallaire (who led the abandoned UN peacekeeping forces in Rawanda during the genocide years ago) went down to Washington last week to speak with the Obama transition team about child soldiers and Khadr specifically. i sincerely hope he got a decent hearing. he is a hero who has suffered himself.