Dion's bringing up Khadr.

[betsy]

So he is agreeable to the implementation of Taliban-rule on a few hapless women in this democratic society, at a time when we are at war with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and now he is bringing up the issue of Khadr. Dion announces meeting with the lad's lawyers.

So, what's with all these seeming bootlicking fascination with fundamentalists?

[AngusThermopyle]

Could you elaborate a little please? I don't have the background info required to fully understand what you are saying.

[old_bold&cold]

Not knowing exactly what he has said, I can only think that Dion is now trying to lock up the ethnic votes by trying to show compassion for a war criminal. He hopes that the ethnic voters will see this as being good. I do not think it will work though, as from what I get from most of the immigrants I have talked to, is that the large majority believe that this boy now a man should be locked up and they would not push for his being brought back to Canada. Only the extremists are the ones pushing for this kind of thing. So it would not be an issue that most would endorse as a good thing to do. I am sure Dion sees it differently then this.

[betsy]

Dion to meet with Omar Khadr's U.S. lawyers

Updated Wed. Sep. 19 2007 10:49 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion is meeting today with American military lawyers representing Omar Khadr -- the only Western prisoner left at Guantanamo Bay.

The son of an alleged al Qaeda financier, Khadr was accused of killing U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher Speer with a grenade during a firefight in Afghanistan on July 27, 2002.

In 2004, a military panel classified him as an "enemy combatant." However, since he wasn't classified as an "unlawful" enemy combatant -- required under rules written by Congress -- a military judge threw the case out last June.

Since then, Khadr's case has been the focus of ongoing legal wrangling while he has remained in prison.

Meanwhile, Dion, widely criticized for failing to win a seat during this week's Quebec byelections, appears to now be taking on the volatile political issue.

Last month, Dion said Prime Minister Stephen Harper was the only Western leader not to pressure the U.S. for the rights of a citizen.

Dion will meet with Khadr's lawyers in Toronto at the Royal York Hotel and is expected to comment afterwards.

U.S. Lieutenant-Commander William Kuebler, who proposed the meeting, told The Globe and Mail that he was "very encouraged" by Dion's interest.

"The political process is finally starting to engage, as Canadians grow frustrated with the treatment of a fellow citizen," he said. "I hope he (Dion) takes away a consequent appreciation of the essentialness of the Canadian government stepping up."

Meanwhile, Khadr's Canadian lawyers say they have been snubbed by their American counterparts, having been left out of the meeting.

"Here we have Canadian politicians choosing to speak to an American military lawyer who is not Omar's chosen lawyer ... and who was appointed by the same U.S. authority that gave us Guantanamo Bay and all its horrors," Dennis Edney, who represents several members of the Khadr family, told The Globe.

Some members of Khadr's family are also planning on going to the hotel.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories

[betsy]

Yes siree. Having this photo op with the rest of the Khadr family in the hotel would surely gladen the hearts and boost up the morale of our boys and girls in Afghanistan!

[AngusThermopyle]

Canadians grow frustrated with the treatment of a fellow citizen

I think part of the problem (if you want to call it that, no problem as far as I'm concerned) is that many Canadians do not regard him as a fellow citizen. Merely a member of a hostile parasitic family who are taking advantage of Canada's lax immigration standards relating to those from "troubled" parts of the world.

I consider him and his family to be openly identified enemies of our country. That they are supported and even encouraged speaks volumes about our current system and the social beliefs fostered by it. At what point do Treasonous hostile actions and attitudes supersede citizenship?

I believe this whole thing being brought up by Dion is no more than a futile "Hail Mary" pass, designed to portray him as a champion of the Canadian people. He needs something to bolster his image after the huge success (sarcasm) he just experienced.

[Army Guy]

AngusThermopyle:

I agree 100%, Instead of going for a release of this parasite,and going after a few votes, he should be be looking at tighting up our immigration policy, so this does not happen in the future again. That would be showing more leadership expected of that party.

Canadians grow frustrated with the treatment of a fellow citizen

I'd be interested in knowing whom is growing frustrated, and why ?

[mikedavid00]

Yes siree. Having this photo op with the rest of the Khadr family in the hotel would surely gladen the hearts and boost up the morale of our boys and girls in Afghanistan!

Oh yes Kadhr.. that's the guy with the big family in Toronto who has tons of kids and sit on welfare and don't work and then preach western hate.

Yes the Kadhrs.

If I was elected PM, I would immediately detain Kadhrs and their relatives, and then Arar and his relatives (more welfare cases from the third world), and then I would expell them from Canada. That goes for all relatives, distant relatives, married in relatives, children, everyone.

All expelled from Canada to clean our name and image as we move forward in a new direction of low taxes, wealth, prosparity, hospitals everywhere, and return of neibourhoods and community with huge homes.

[Shakeyhands]

whats your issue with him doing that?

[Rue]

Yes siree. Having this photo op with the rest of the Khadr family in the hotel would surely gladen the hearts and boost up the morale of our boys and girls in Afghanistan!

I would agree it is crass and inopportune.

[kimmy]

I have no objection to Dion pursuing this. Theoretically, it is a legitimate issue for a Canadian MP to investigate.

However, if he thinks this is an issue that'll reverse his fortunes, he is in for a big disappointment.

Because while it's theoretically a legitimate issue, to many Canadian voters it's also a non-issue. I would anticipate that even among Canadians who philosophically oppose Omar Khadr's continued detention, few have much passion to see him returned to Canadian soil.

If I was elected PM, I would immediately detain Kadhrs and their relatives, and then Arar and his relatives (more welfare cases from the third world), and then I would expell them from Canada. That goes for all relatives, distant relatives, married in relatives, children, everyone.

Maher Arar was not a welfare case. He was a successful engineering consultant, which is why he was travelling to the United States in the first place.

-k

[Wilber]

Because while it's theoretically a legitimate issue, to many Canadian voters it's also a non-issue. I would anticipate that even among Canadians who philosophically oppose Omar Khadr's continued detention, few have much passion to see him returned to Canadian soil.

An accurate statement IMO.

[uOttawaMan]

How about you make a promise to change IRPA, giving us more power to refuse entry and to deport... instead of this bs.

[Keepitsimple]

Much was said about Australia and the UK negotiating a release of their citizens from Gitmo....and Canada supposedly doing nothing. The fact is however, that Khadr was the only one accused of murder. The Australian, David Hicks, was accused of providing material support to the Taliban - he pleaded guilty and was allowed to return to Australia to serve his sentence. Several Brits were accused of being Illegal Combatants.....but Khadr was the only one who was actually accused of killing an American. That makes his case materially different than the others.

Having said that, I agree with other posters - Dion and the Liberals are taking a mis-guided photo-op to try and play their cynical "Champion of Rights" card.

[ScottSA]

I think part of the problem (if you want to call it that, no problem as far as I'm concerned) is that many Canadians do not regard him as a fellow citizen. Merely a member of a hostile parasitic family who are taking advantage of Canada's lax immigration standards relating to those from "troubled" parts of the world.

I consider him and his family to be openly identified enemies of our country. That they are supported and even encouraged speaks volumes about our current system and the social beliefs fostered by it. At what point do Treasonous hostile actions and attitudes supersede citizenship?

I believe this whole thing being brought up by Dion is no more than a futile "Hail Mary" pass, designed to portray him as a champion of the Canadian people. He needs something to bolster his image after the huge success (sarcasm) he just experienced.

That pretty much covers it. I agree that as a "Canadian citizen" (a term subject to ever-looser definition these days), it's legitimate for Dion's political corpse to visit him, but I suspect it's one more nail in the casket of a guy who, beginning with stapling his platform to the ever-diminishing global warming fad, has mis-judged virtually every step since. He's clearly out of touch with the sentiments of Canadians.

[jdobbin]

I don't think the Americans will ever be able to try him.

I think Canada should get a legal opinion about whether we can try him for any crime. If we can't and the U.S. can't, we shouldn't be surprised if somehow this is dumped in our laps anyways.

Best be prepared.

[ScottSA]

I don't think the Americans will ever be able to try him.

I think Canada should get a legal opinion about whether we can try him for any crime. If we can't and the U.S. can't, we shouldn't be surprised if somehow this is dumped in our laps anyways.

Best be prepared.

I suppose that's about the shiniest lipstick you can put on the Liberal pig today alright....

[noahbody]

I don't think the Americans will ever be able to try him.

I think Canada should get a legal opinion about whether we can try him for any crime. If we can't and the U.S. can't, we shouldn't be surprised if somehow this is dumped in our laps anyways.

Best be prepared.

I would think he could be tried for treason up here as Canada was in the war at the time he the medic. I think in Canada that's 20 days, served on weekends.

[mikedavid00]

Maher Arar was not a welfare case. He was a successful engineering consultant, which is why he was travelling to the United States in the first place.

The above statement is simply false.

That statement you made above might fool the casual reader who is new to the forum or glosses over headlines, but that will not fool the well read people here on the forum who throughly investigated the Arar issue.

The Arar family has spent the majority of time here using services and not working. That is a fact. The wife has only recieved hand out jobs in her very short working life.

The husband has NEVER worked a real engineering job and has made his job to extort millions out of our gov't.

You know little about their family and I feel the media has done an injustice by spinning the headlines that he was some sort of engineer and high standing citizen.

He's been in the country this long and can still barely speak English. It's truly sad what has happened.

He needs to be KICKED OUT NOW.

Actually, If I ever see him on the street I swear I will tell him off and I'll do it on behalf of Canadians. Those who are taxpayers and not into self hatred.

(that's probably.. um.. maybe 50 Canadians in total?)

[mikedavid00]

How about you make a promise to change IRPA, giving us more power to refuse entry and to deport... instead of this bs.

I agree.

We've got to stop our open immigration and refugee system.

[mikedavid00]

That pretty much covers it. I agree that as a "Canadian citizen" (a term subject to ever-looser definition these days), it's legitimate for Dion's political corpse to visit him, but I suspect it's one more nail in the casket of a guy who, beginning with stapling his platform to the ever-diminishing global warming fad, has mis-judged virtually every step since. He's clearly out of touch with the sentiments of Canadians.

I completely agree.

Too bad Balinda didn't stick around. I feel that she could have been next PM after helping to remove Dion which would have been inevitable.

Also I feel that the media was really pushing whatever the Liberal party said was law. Dion for a long time was making more headlines than our own PM.

The media had over 10 years of Libearl power and I think they were very used to obeying their orders during that time.

If you listen carefully to the media, you'll notice that they don't necessarily obey the Liberals the way they used to and I think it's taken a while for them to realize that they are no longer in power.

The last Quebec election is evident of that. The tone of Canada is changing and I think the days of 'idealism' based gov't might be over. Depends on how the ontario election plays out... people might start looking at leaders to 'manage and govern' more than 'create visions' because we've learned too many times that idealistic style gov't is bad for Canada and we are now suffering the consequences..

And yeah Tory. He's idealism 101.

[Argus]

This guy doesn't have much in the way of political smarts, does he.

What I'm curious about is why a serving US military officer arranges a meeting with our opposition leader in order to aid the opposition leader in attacking the government. It seems to me the Cnd government has a legitimate complaint here, and might ask the US government to order their military people not to involve themselves in our politics.

[guyser]

This guy doesn't have much in the way of political smarts, does he.

What I'm curious about is why a serving US military officer arranges a meeting with our opposition leader in order to aid the opposition leader in attacking the government. It seems to me the Cnd government has a legitimate complaint here, and might ask the US government to order their military people not to involve themselves in our politics.

Thats a very good point Argus.

If Dion is going as a politico (and I can only assume he is since Khadr is not family to Dion) is he not violating protocol in meeting with a us govt official? (my stretch is if the military officer is a govt official)

One would hope that Dion cleared this with Harpers people , doubtful , and has the full backing to look into this mess , doubly doubtful.

Here is one case where I would support a heavy handed public rebuke of Dion and the placing of a call to Washington asking them to recind the Officers ability to meet w Dion. Like it or not, Harper was elected as our PM and to be our rep on the world stage. Thus , Harper calls the shots.

Dion, sit down and shut up.

Oh, but then again, I just thought of something.Dion and Mr Mil Official do meet , and when asked later by the press "What did Mr Dion have to say?"

Mil Official: " I dunno, couldn't understand a word and no translator was available"

[old_bold&cold]

I think the harper government would give Dion as much clearance as they can in this. It is political suicide to align yourself with a family of admitted extremists and to even hint at getting sympathy for the child of that family who actually trained and fought as a taliban terrorist. So I would not think the issue of clearance to meet the USA is a problem. You would think though that some where in the Liberal party there is a functioning brain that would stop this thing. But I guess not

[jdobbin]

I suppose that's about the shiniest lipstick you can put on the Liberal pig today alright....

I certainly have no love for what troubles the Khadr family have put Canada through in terms of protecting Canadian citizens.

I do think that Dion is right that he should be tried in a civilian court in the U.S. Even the U.S. military lawyers have not been able to find a legal avenue as it is now.

A new President might be compelled to close Guantanamo and if Kadar can't charged in the U.S., we should be looking at what can be done in Canada. If not, we might find Khadr dropped on our doorstep with the expectation that we'll deal with it.

Edited September 19, 2007 by jdobbin