Gabriel

Then why doesn't she work for the private sector? That makes no sense whatsoever. A degree in public service management? They give our degrees for that, now? Sounds like a one-year college diploma to me. In other words - a nonsense education. I stand by statement - that the government, on the whole, overpays for entry-level positions with low to medium educational requirements. Getting paid $45-50K WITHOUT a university degree is overpaying with respect to administrative positions. I know students who got paid over $20 via FSWEP working nonsense cultural jobs and useless positions in Heritage Canada or other sinkholes of public money. The other day I looked at provincial and municipal jobs, just for fun, and saw jobs that could be fulfilled by a person with an IQ of 80 paying close to $50K a year, from library employees to line cooks to court clerks. All were extremely simple jobs paying WAYYYYY too much... the lowest common denominator? They're all government jobs.

Think of Saving Private Ryan. The animals just end up on the battlefield the next day. I can't believe they even take prisoners. They had a choice to make and they made it - kill the enemy (that's their job! or at least it should be!) or let the enemy go and let him get another chance (and another chance, and another chance...) to try and kill American soldiers.

Good god, every single post of yours is the same! Why don't you just be honest with your message? You keep saying we need to analyze the causes for war in order to avoid them, then you blame our leaders for failing to learn from these lessons of history. The logical extension is that you blame US for angering THEM and going to war with us. Every single post you make is not-so-subtly blaming the Western democracies (the beacons of freedom and civilization in this dark world) for all the world's conflicts. Of course the most recent conflicts have nothing to do with violent fundamentalist/extremist Islamic terrorist ideology. But even if recent conflicts ARE caused by extremist Muslims, they only became extremist Muslims because of our historical persecution of the Middle East, and of our support for Israel (another beacon of light in a dark corner or earth). Indulge me a little, wyly - Are you 19? Are you an arts student? Are you unemployed? Are you an atheist? Do you vote NDP or Green Party? Are you anti-globalization? Do you hate Wal-Mart? Give us some insight into who you are so that we may better understand the extremists living among us.

Thanks for the links, wulf42. Despite how sickeningly left-wing the two articles were written (both articles supporting the repatriation of this terrorist, and portraying him as a victim, and the second article lying about Omar being mistreated), the bottom line is good news - so far, this animal is one step closer to getting the justice he deserves.

Hey PocketRocket, I really have no interest in scouring the CBC and other Canada websites for the evidence of this case. I must say, though, if you have reservations about this young terrorist's guilt then you've got problem. In my view, the case is closed by way of him simply living among the enemy and being born into a terrorist family. You're being dishonest (or wilfully ignorant, or ridiculously naive) in your attempts to look for possibilities that Omar might not be guilty of supporting our enemies in their murders and attacks of coalition soldiers. Again, in all seriousness, do you think this kid was in Afghanistan on some sort of nature retreat? What makes you think it was against his will - he's been a terrorist since he was conceived - look at his family! lastly, with respect to your attempts to rewrite and misrepresent history, that is a subject I absolutely have no interest in engaging you with online. At least not at this time. To somehow suggest that the Middle East is a product of Western influence is absurd. It is as anti-Western as you can get. Western colonialism did very little (arguably nothing at all) to influence the current state of Middle Eastern culture (repressive, racism, hate-filled, backward, and barbaric). The Middle East would have been much better off today had there been a much stronger integration of Western modernity into the prevailing culture during the West's colonization of the area, i.e. like Algeria or India. What we're seeing today in the Middle East with respect to backwards culture (I'm not afraid to call it like it is!) is entirely a product of what's been there for a very long time. I can assure you that you've got a lot to learn about Middle Eastern history if you're one of those folks that somehow thinks the West is to blame for the ME's current state of affairs. Like I said, the West didn't engage the ME *nearly* enough.

Thanks for the clarification Army Guy. I didn't know privates made 30K a year. Thanks also for informing us that privates generally spend four years at that rank. Please elaborate, though, are you telling me that 50K per year is the next step in salary? It seems strange to me that the entry rank is 30K, and then the next rank is 50K after approximately 4 years. It'd make more sense if there were more stages in between the 30K and 50K salaries, and waiting periods of less than four years between those raises. Perhaps I am misunderstanding you? Also, be careful with your suggestions of what garbage removal persons make. 50K - 100K (adjusted from your $25-$50/hours estimate) is a large range. I can assure you that waste removal workers are on the lower end of that scale. You do bring up an interesting point, though, when comparing the military salaries to other government salaries. It's not uncommon for administrative assistants to pull in about $50K. That being said, in the private sector they probably make about 50% of that salary. The government highly overpays for entry and mid-level positions (unions). But clearly this isn't the case in the military. The angle I come at this from is that government workers are, at least at the entry and mid-level positions, overpayed considering their qualifications (high school education - arts diploma/degree and/or bilingualism), rather than military servicepersons being underpayed. I'd love to hear more about your experienced in the military on other issues. Thanks for the insight.

Here's a link to the CNN preview video. And here's a link to a short article/blog post on the story. It's pretty clear that these soldiers did their jobs - they killed the enemy. Yet the ridiculous "rules" and "laws" of combat have put three American soldiers in jail for forty years. Their crimes? First-degree premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit murder. This is a perfect example of the insanity of this war. Enemies are captured on the battlefield, then released due to "lack of evidence" only to end up on the battlefield killing and injuring more American soldiers! The enemy is also aware of these ridiculous rules and exploit them. Imagine - killing terrorists has now become a crime.

Even though this thread's gone off on a major tangent, IIRC, 95% of the Native population of the Americas (including Canada, obviously) were killed by European diseases that they had no resistance to. Almost a sort of inadvertent extermination (although there is evidence suggesting that European pioneers did learn of this and utilize it to wipe out certain indigenous populations/tribes). Just thought that might be a fact some of you are unaware of. I only learned about it a few years ago after reading Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel".

Nonsense. The West didn't interfere enough. Islamic terrorism is the result of allowing them to operate naturally. The West never suppressed any democratic of freedom movements. The West simply engaged in trade with dictatorships that supplied an indispensable resource - oil. What would you have proposed the West to do - shut down our economies in order not to support dictatorships? Then extremists like yourself would argue that the West was levying collective punishment on the citizens of the Arab/Muslim countries. Why am I even talking to you? Every discussion with you boils down to blaming all of the world's problems on the West/Capitalism/Democracy. Moving on....

So what's your point?

Absolutely correct. It just drives me nuts that this guy lives among us in our country.

These are NOT exclusively internal troubles of other nations. Islamic terrorism is attacking Western interests and our allies around the world and has been for decades. This is hardly a problem reserved to the inner working of Muslim/Arab countries. How can you be this naive?

PcketRocket - Look, you're obviously not a stupid a person. I'm not going to get into a debate about whether or not Khadr is guilty of supporting terrorists. You cannot honestly think that Khadr was in Afghanistan on some sort of summer camp adventure. Beyond that, thee evidence against is MASSIVE. Feel free to look at it for awhile and draw your own conclusion. If you're brain is operational, you'll realize that he was in Afghanistan with the clear intention of supporting our enemies. With respect to his confession of being proud that the grenade he threw killed an American medic (hardly a surprising comment from a terrorist, I'm not sure how anyone can find that hard to believe), I read it somewhere on CBC. Virtually all of my knowledge of this case has come from Canadian internet media. This is an open and shut case - to the same degree as the Major Nidal Hasan mass murder terrorist. If you don't want to believe it, fine. I don't care if you want to be blind. Lastly, with respect to Bush's infamous "with us or with the terrorists" comment - I largely support that statement. Perhaps it wasn't the bet choice of words in order to garner support from certain countries in order to prosecute the war on terror, but let's not be naive and expect that somehow the international community stands in ANY principles. There are only a handful of countries that make difficult choices for the greater good. In all seriousness, if you do not assist in the prosecution of the war on terror in order to pursue terrorists and their organizations in order to reduce the threat they pose, you are complicit in terrorism. Bush was right about that. There's really no middle point or half-way perspective with respect to right and wrong. I know extremist left-winger don't believe in right and wrong, but people with a moral compass understand that we're on the right side of this war. Complacency and apathy is virtually synonymous with complicity, if you ask me.

It's playing right now, and it's featuring lots of video from HBO's special "Terror in Mumbai". This is a truly terrifying episode, where we get an intimate look into the sick minds and demented ideology of these Islamic terrorists. Apparently the Indian intelligence service(s) were lucky or smart enough to sell SIM cards to the terrorists who carried out these attacks, and were able to record and monitor much of their dialogue with their Pakistani handler while they were committing their vicious crimes. It is horrifying to listen to them while they receive instructions from their handler to murder random civilians, and even more horrifying when the Jewish Chabad centre in given the highest priority as a target. Just another reminder in the long list of endless reminders that we ned to annihilate all those who follow these ideologies and all of their supporters. As an aside, Fareed's show is excellent - easily one of the highest quality news and commentary shows on television. His book, (A Post American World", was also very interesting, although not particularly dense or scholarly - it's easily digestible, in other words.

With respect to the discussion about how the government should treat this day, I'm of the same opinion as some others in this thread who seem to be suggesting that you can't FORCE people to honour and respect the service of military persons (past and present). Making it a national holiday doesn't necessarily compel people to take the appropriate perspective of what the day is meant to represent. Consider for example, one of our resident extremists - KeyStone, who puts his despicable perspective on display by suggesting that Remembrance Day glorifies war. People who aren't mentally ill realize that Remembrance Day doesn't come close to glorifying war, if anything, it is entirely the opposite. Talk to a veteran and see how much they "glorify" war. What is glorified is the service and sacrifice of countless people for the greater good. Mandating days off or whatever else cannot get through to lunatics - you can't legislate morality. People will always reserve the right to be despicable and hold reprehensible views of anything and everything. What the government should do is continue doing what it is currently doing, offering memorial ceremonies and opportunities for Canadians to learn about and honour Canada's distinguished military history.

Suggesting that Remembrance Day glorifies war shows how out of touch you are with reality, KeyStone. What a sickening perspective to have of a day for solemn memorial - it's as if you need to be taught how to feel during this day! You describe Remembrance Day as if its a Rambo movie. Ridiculous. I'm being completely honest - it sickens me that people like you live in this country.

Why are you so certain that Khadr will return to Canada? If I was a betting man, I'd bet that he will stay in the USA and face a military commission and be convicted, although I suspect he will not be given the death penalty when convicted (unfortunately).

Hi g_bambino, check this out: EDIT -

Good for you, that's a great business school. Hopefully you're taking something technical like accounting! It's obviously up to you to decide how you want to deal with this, if you want to deal with at all. Personally, I think this professor needs to be held accountable for this absurdity. It is simple UNACCEPTABLE for people to be so disrespectful of these core Canadian values. I will also concede that I suspected he WAS and an Arab/Muslim given his anti-Remembrance Day perspective and that he was a professor in Middle Eastern studies. You confirmed my speculation. York is a very left-wing school, with lots of anti-Israel demonstrations and supporters of terrorists (Hamas, Hezbollah). I'm sure you've already noticed this. It'[s cool for kids who don't know anything about anything to side with the underdog, apparently.

If you haven't already noticed, Israel has a much stronger culture of respect and admiration on the military level than Canada. I would argue that this also extends into a stronger sense of national service among Israelis than Canadians. Clearly in Israel, not serving in the army is likely to cause someone problems in his//her future: particularly with respect to career development. I'm sure you know that military service is often expected to be seen on an applicant's resume when applying for a position. There's a cultural/social expectation that the applicant has done his/her part and not avoided his/her military duties and responsibilities. Military service, not being compulsory in Canada, holds much less weight as a social expectation. I think these realities also overlap into a stronger sense of nationalism and patriotism in Israel than in Canada. I think you're in a unique position to comment on these matters as you're an Israeli. How long did you live in Israel and how long have you been in Canada, if you don't mind my asking? With respect to the article, it's pretty thin and lacking in substance. I think $40K a year for a private is a reasonable salary, especially considering the benefits packages made available to them in addition to the opportunities for advancement. There are also many other costs that are coverd for them - accommodation on base, food, etc. The article seems to suggest that Canada isn't respecting its soldier because it is paying the privates too small aa salary. I disagree completely.

Hi politicslvr - Thanks for the post. It's quite a story! Why don't you send an email to a few people - perhaps the dean responsible for relevant department (political science or social science, or whatever), and maybe a newspaper or two. Out of curiosity, what can you tell us about this professor: his age, ethnic/national/religious background, his political ideologies, etc? As as aside, I went to York for a couple of years, and I remember tons of beautiful girls! I was also lucky enough to have an AMAZING professor when I took introduction to political science as an elective. I can't recall his name, though, but he was an older white man who I think was the head of his department. Lastly, I frequented another political forum website recently and was sickened to read posts from Americans and at least one Canadian expressing open contempt for soldiers and all things military. The most offensive posts suggested that we should defile veterans on this day with eggs and foodstuffs, as in their eyes soldiers represent evil. It was infuriating that these vermin live among us in our country! politicslvr - What are you studying at York?

PoecketRocket - There is no doubt that this man had an unfortunate upbringing. He was obviously born into an extremist/fundamentalist Islamic terrorist family. There is no doubt about that. He is a victim in that regard. This doesn't absolve him of the responsibility for his crimes. I'm certain this is a common story for many of our enemies - raised in a culture of hatred that advocates extreme violence and totalitarianism. At the end of the day, however, he is still a terrorist and he and those like him must be annihilated. Spare me the questioning over whether or not he threw the grenade, he already confessed to throwing it and stated he was proud that it had killed an American soldier. This crime is just the tip of the iceberg, do you think he wasn't giving his full support to the terrorist animals every minute he was living in Afghanistan among them? He was a part of their unit, supporting them in every way he could. Stop making excuses for animals.

Anyone who suggests that fighting alongside the Taliban is a "defender from invaders" who is "perhaps" on the wrong side is a traitor. You are the enemy within. It sickens me that people such as yourself live in this country. Unbelievable. Thankfully, this board seems to not have too many terrorist supporters like yourself who support our enemies.

Can you *not* understand that the only reason a Canadian would leave Canada for Aghanistan (a Muslim Canadian with a record of supporting terrorists) is to support our enemies? What do you think he was doing, going on a humanitarian mission? The entire Khadr family is composed of terrorists and fundamentalist/extremist Islamic ideologues. Yes, I recognize there is an element of victimization here - you don't choose your parents. Too bad. Still, this is an open and shut case with respect to his guilt in murdering an American soldier while fighting alongside our terrorist enemies. Khadr and all like him, all terrorist supporters, must be annihilated. He's lucky he was arrested and allowed to live so long. Unfortunately, I don't think he'll receive the death penalty. Hopefully he'll be placed in some supermax prison where he gets murdered in jail. Actually, Khadr admitted his guilt via confessions. Are you so clueless to think that open and shut cases, especially terrorist trials post 9/11, are started and concluded quickly? How can you be unaware of how slow the justice process is in so many cases? It is an absolute lie to suggest that delays in justice are the result of lack of evidence. Nobody ever claimed is was anyone other than Khadr. You are spewing the lies of Khadr's defense attorneys. And you're right, if he's in Afghanistan, living among the Taliban, he is ABSOLUTELY guilty of MANY THINGS. That being said, there is a mountain of evidence proving his guilt. He'll be convicted, don't doubt that for one second. The more I read from your post, the less inclined I am to reply. You have gone off the deep end, bringing up irrelevant stories about some blind man with canes, to suggesting that somehow Khadr was lying in rubble and unable to throw a grenade... This conversation has degenerated to high-school calibre argumentation in a pathetic and desperate attempt to defend a terrorist. Yes, yes, poor Khadr...