By Judi McLeod —— Bio and Archives July 19, 2017
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“Conservative Peter Kent published a scorching op-ed titled, “A Terrorist’s Big Payday, Courtesy of Trudeau,” that helped the story gain traction elsewhere. “The item began with a description of Khadr killing an American army medic, Christopher Speer, when he was 15 years old and fighting alongside al-Qaida in Afghanistan. It explained how Khadr won a court fight in Canada over how he was treated by Canadian intelligence officials while detained at Guantanamo Bay, was repatriated to Canada, released on bail and sued the Canadian government for $20 million for violating his rights. “The Ontario MP criticized the Trudeau government for settling with Khadr, while the victim’s family got nothing. “By Monday afternoon the issue was the No. 1 story on the Fox News website. The Fox News item quotes Kent’s op-ed under the headline: “Gitmo Lottery: Canada makes millionaire out of terrorist who killed U.S. soldier.” “Google searches for Khadr’s name were up more than 700% Monday in the United States from the previous day, according to Google Trends.
“The Fox News panel featuring Herman Cain didn’t delve too deeply into the fine points of the legal case. But one panellist raised the possibility that there was more to the story: “This is obviously a disgusting story,” she said. “But what do you do? Is there any other option under the law?” (Globe and Mail) “Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Khadr issue had not come up in any meetings with U.S. state governors during a conference in Rhode Island. “But after Kent’s newspaper critique, Trudeau aide Gerald Butts tweeted: “A long (Conservative Party of Canada) tradition of airing Canadian disputes in the Wall Street Journal. It’s where Stephen Harper advocated for joining the Iraq War.”To the unnamed Fox panelist who raised the possibility “that there was more to the story”. You can take that suspicion to the bank. And for the question: “What do you do?” Learn from the danger of a Prime Minister who would choose American Independence Day 2017 to announce that he was paying out $10.5 million to a terrorist who killed an American soldier and blinded another.
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Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience in the print media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared on Rush Limbaugh, Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com.