Canada’s Disturbing Independence Day Gift to America

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was rooting for Khadr while he was still Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. The prime minister’s brother, documentary film maker Alexandre (Sacha) Trudeau protested Khadr’s Guantanamo imprisonment for more than a decade, claiming that his imprisonment was “racist”. “Trudeau had harsh words in an interview for the Canadian government's handling of the case, saying it has been beset by "confusion, shame, weakness.” (CBC, Oct. 7, 2008 )

“He agreed with another speaker at the rally that a subtle form of racism also played a part. "It's racism being used as a tool to achieve strategic ends, racism being used as a tool to justify our occupation of certain countries, Afghanistan included. Racism is a form of fear.”

Khadr is not the first jihadist Sacha Trudeau wanted saved from the Canadian government. “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s brother has written to a federal cabinet minister on behalf of Ottawa’s Mohamed Harkat, asking the Liberal government to continue its “sunny ways” by allowing the Algerian-born terror suspect to stay in Canada. (National Post, March 1, 2016)

“Alexandre Trudeau, a Montreal-based filmmaker, said he has a policy of not lobbying the Liberal government in any way, but decided to make an exception in the Harkat case because his involvement in the cause predated his older brother’s entry into politics. "In his letter, dated Feb. 27, Trudeau appealed to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to halt the unfair security certificate process and end the government’s attempt to deport Harkat. “I urge you to use your unique position as minister, and the discretion afforded to you under the law, to exempt Mohamed Harkat from deportation and let him stay and live a productive life in Canada,” Alexandre Trudeau wrote, adding: “Make this decision of yours another shining example of your government’s commitment to sunny ways.”The letter marks the first time that Trudeau, 42, has entered the political arena since his brother became prime minister in October. “Harkat, 47, is now fighting deportation, and has enlisted the support of dozens of high-profile Canadians in that effort. "Green Party leader Elizabeth May, former UN ambassador Stephen Lewis, torture victim Maher Arar, and Omar Khadr lawyer Dennis Edney are among those who have petitioned the government to end its ongoing attempt to deport Harkat.”

It’s not as if Alexandre is being kept at arm’s length from his brother the prime minister. He was an advisor to Justin’s 2012 campaign for leader of the Liberal Party. (National Post, Oct. 22. 2012) From the get-go, the Canadian mainstream media presented Khadr, who was taken to Guantanamo and ultimately charged with war crimes by a military commission, as a “child soldier”. Read here how this “child soldier” was raised by a family of terrorist supporters. Thanks to both Justin and Sacha Trudeau, the “child soldier” now has 10 million Canadian taxpayer dollars to live the rest of his life in freedom, while U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer has no life, and Sgt. 1st Class and Special Forces Engineer Layne Morris must spend the rest of his having been left blinded in his right eye. “An official familiar with the deal said Tuesday that Omar Khadr will receive 10.5 million Canadian dollars (US$8 million). The official was not authorized to discuss the deal publicly before the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity. The government and Khadr's lawyers negotiated the deal last month.” AP, July 4, 2017)

“He pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges that included murder and was sentenced to eight years plus the time he had already spent in custody. He returned to Canada two years later to serve the remainder of his sentence and was released in May 2015 pending an appeal of his guilty plea, which he said was made under duress.”

Nor was Sacha the only one in the Trudeau family rooting for Khadr. "Omar Khadr needs to be treated the way we treat Canadians according to the rules that exist, according to the laws and principles that govern," said JustinTrudeau, adding the former teen soldier should be treated like "any Canadian who as been incarcerated outside of the country.” (Toronto Sun, Aug. 30, 2013)

"We need to be fair to the way we treat Canadians, and if people don't like the way the laws are now, well then, they need to change them," Trudeau said. “Trudeau made the remarks in Halifax Friday during a Nova Scotia tour supporting provincial Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil in a yet-to-be-called election. “The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2010 that Canadian intelligence officials obtained evidence from Khadr under "oppressive circumstances," such as sleep deprivation, during interrogations at Guantanamo Bay in 2003, and then shared that evidence with U.S officials.

“Khadr was the youngest and last Western detainee held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Guardian, July 4, 2017

“His lawyers filed a $20 million wrongful imprisonment lawsuit against the Canadian government, arguing the government violated international law by not protecting its own citizen and conspired with the U.S. in its abuse of Khadr. A spokesman for the justice minister and the prime minister's office didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.”

We don’t have to ponder why.

“The widow of Speer and another American soldier blinded by the grenade in Afghanistan filed a wrongful death and injury lawsuit against Khadr in 2014 fearing Khadr might get his hands on money from his $20 million wrongful imprisonment lawsuit. A U.S. judge granted $134.2 million in damages in 2015, but the plaintiffs acknowledged then that there was little chance they would collect any of the money from Khadr because he lives in Canada.” (Guardian) “Khadr's lawyers have long said he was pushed into war by his father, Ahmed Said Khadr, whose family stayed with Osama bin Laden briefly when Omar Khadr was a boy. Khadr's Egyptian-born father was killed in 2003 when a Pakistani military helicopter shelled the house where he was staying with senior al-Qaida operatives." “After his 2015 release from prison in Alberta, Omar Khadr apologized to the families of the victims. He said he rejects violent jihad and wants a fresh start to finish his education and work in health care. He currently resides in an apartment in Edmonton, Alberta.”

Meanwhile, the “sunny ways” Sacha Trudeau ascribes to Canadian Liberals, does not include The New York Times reported Justin Trudeau’s "war room" of "America whisperers" designed in part to find ways to work around Trump.”