Omar Khadr, the convicted killer, wants the freedom to travel to Saudi Arabia, and he wants to be able to freely and privately communicate with his terrorist-supporting family. He’s making the formal request to an Edmonton court this week.
Every time we give this guy an inch, he takes a mile.
First, the feds generously agreed to repatriate Khadr from Guantanamo Bay to a high-security prison in Canada.
Then, we allowed him to be released on bail and put in the custody of his activist lawyer.
And slowly, step by step, he has regained more and more freedoms in Canada.
As if watching Khadr be let free in Canada wasn’t bad enough, the Trudeau government secretly gave Khadr a $10.5 million cash payment along with an official apology on behalf of all Canadians in the summer of 2017.
The Trudeau government pretended it was a court-ordered payment. The truth, however, is that the court ruling said nothing about compensation or an apology.
Trudeau and company changed their tune, and said they paid Khadr to save taxpayers money; Khadr was suing the feds and it was cheaper to settle than to fight him in court.
Instead of putting up a fight and sending a strong message to any Canadian citizen who picks up arms to fight alongside a jihadist terror group, Canada caved and conceded to Khadr’s unreasonable demands.
After being released from prison, Khadr asked Canadians not to judge him for his storied past, but instead to look at the man he is today. But it’s impossible to divorce the two.
Canada has apologized to Khadr, but Khadr has never apologized for some of his egregious actions as a member of al Qaeda and the Taliban.
He’s never condemned his terrorist family nor has he clearly disavowed radical Islam and the jihadist ideology.
Khadr once admitted to his deadly crimes, including throwing the grenade that ended the life of 28-year-old U.S. army medic and father of two Christopher Speer and maimed soldier Layne Morris. In 2010, he apologized to the Speer family.
But, as Anthony Furey points out in a recent column, Khadr is now appealing his conviction and claiming his murder confession came under duress. In other words, he no longer accepts blame for the actions he once took responsibility and apologized for.
Khadr can try denying being the one who threw the grenade that killed Speer, but he can’t deny building and laying bombs — the type that killed 97 Canadians in Afghanistan.
There is video footage of Khadr laughing and joking while he built and planted deadly explosive devices in Afghanistan.
Some Canadians take an overly generous view about Khadr. They see him as a victim, brainwashed and manipulated by a zealous father and an evil family.
But far from disavowing his radical family, Khadr now admits he wants to spend more time with them — away from the watch of Canada’s security officials.
Our Prime Minister seems to share the sympathetic view of Khadr, which is perhaps why he unwisely agreed to the secret midnight payout. Trudeau didn’t want to bother fighting Khadr in court, so he paid Khadr to go away.
But Khadr isn’t going anywhere. He’s going to keep pushing the limits of our generosity.
Instead of sending a strong message about Canada’s seriousness in the fight against global jihad, Canada has allowed Khadr to become a role model for every aspiring terrorist out there.
Candice Malcolm is the Founder of the True North
