In Far-Off Gitmo

In light of Obama's desire to close Guantanamo Bay Detention Center

Far from the White House in far-off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a judge granted Obama's request to suspend the war crimes trial of a young Canadian, Omar Khadr. The judge, Army Col. Patrick Parrish, issued a one-sentence order for the 120-day continuance without so much as a hearing, possibly the beginning of the end for the former administration's system of trials for alleged terrorists. Obama has the intention of closing Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. The inmates at Gitmo are suspected terrorists and should be considered high risk. I have to side with many of my cohorts when I stress that I see no problem of a death penalty being carried out for terrorists. I do not support torture or any other forms of prisoner mistreatment. I do not support the closing of Gitmo, but rather a tighter control of the how prisoners are treated. Even though they are terrorists, the basic necessities of human beings should be maintained. One must remember, though, that these people have elected to play the game without any rules. And therefore, we must also play outside the normal rules of war when dealing with these people.

"I like my son to be brave...I would like my son to be trained to protect himself, to protect his home, to protect his neighbor, to see a young girl innocent, being raped or attacked, to really fight to defend it. I would really love to do that, and I would love my son to grow with this mentality...[a]nd you would you like me to raise my child in Canada and by the time he's 12 or 13 he'll be on drugs or having some homosexual relation or this and that? Is it better? For me, no. I would rather have my son as a strong man who knows right and wrong and stands for it, even if it's against his parents."

Most news stories arising from the documentary stated only that Elsamnah believed that raising her children in Canada would cause them to be homosexual drug addicts, solidifying Canadian public sentiment against the family, but also in this interview, she stated that she was proud to have her son train in bin Laden's camp.







In an interview with the CBC in March, Omar's sister Zaynab said she can't understand why her brother should be vilified for his part in the battle.



"He'd been bombarded for hours. Three of his friends who were with him had been killed. He was the only sole survivor," said Zaynab Khadr.

"What do you expect him to do, come up with his hands in the air? I mean, it's a war. They're shooting at him. Why can't he shoot at you? If you killed three, why can't he kill one? Why is it ... why does nobody say you killed three of his friends? Why does everybody say you killed an American soldier? Big deal."

Zaynab Khadr's arranged wedding at an al Qaeda compound was attended by Osama bin Laden. Her husband is an Egyptian terrorist name Khalid Abdullah - a follower of Ayman al-Zawahiri who is now in hiding from authorities following his reported participation in the bombing of the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan in 1995.

My thoughts... When it comes to people who choose to fight a war without rules, that are continually non-selective about their targets (meaning they do not avoid hospitals, civilians, schools, children, etc) but rather select their targets for how much damage it will cause and how much terror it will envoke... for those who choose to hide behind children, mosques, civilians while the exact their terror... those who use and abuse countries for their benefit, and to hide from responsibility for the actions they chose to take... for those who think they are above and beyond the laws of man... for those who live, breathe and ultimately die for a life of destruction ... for those that are part of groups like al Qaeda and Taliban, what do you do with them? What rights do they have? Our federal prisoner have limited rights. Some prisoners face being moved regularly, denial of some medical, and wrongful imprisonment, and yet I rarely hear anything about it. Such prisoners like Leonard Peltier have been sitting for decades in a pri in cell waiting for justice. Instead of worrying about people like that, you want to scream that people who have chosen to live a life of terror, or an affiliation of terror, a crime against humanity, wouldn't you think that their rights would be cut short? Afterall, when the violence of one violates the rights of another, those rights are forfeited. The CCR applies the rights of US citizens to them, but how can you, since they aren't Americans, and the home countries of most don't want them back? So what do you do? Do you set them free? Would you want them living next to you? Would you sleep comfortably every night knowing their affiliations? Knowing that you have unleashed them unto the world? Unto the children? Unto the women? Unto the innocent and helpless? So what do you do with people like Omar Khadr, someone who has groomed his entire life for a life of terror, and thoroughly enjoys it... ? Would you risk the lives and welfare of your loved ones to risk a rehabilitation program? The money it takes to ehabilitate one of those types of people can be used for the productive lives of U.S. Citizens (because afterall, we end paying for these kinds of things). Then there is the issue of whether or not they CAN be rehabilitated. Can they be reprogrammed? Let's take Khadr as an example, since he is one of the more "known" residents. He was fifteen when he was caught participating in a 4-hour gunfight that ultimately cost the life of Sfc. Charles James Speer. He was groomed by his terrorist father Ahmed Said Khadr. His mother, Maha Elsamnah, willingly participated in his training, and she was so very proud that Omar was "trained in the camp of bin Laden". And while she hides in and lives off the Canadian system, claiming to be distitute, she screams how she would never raise a boy in Canada because he would end up gay and on drugs. His sister, Zaynab Khadr, is proudly married to known Egyptian terrorist Khalid Abdullah. His brother Abdullah Khadr is sitting in jail in Toronto for weapons trafficking for al Qaeda. The other brother, Abdurahman Khadr, is the "problem child" has a wide reputation with the family of bin Laden and al Qaeda. He is known for weapons and munition dealings, forged passports dealing, housing known al Qaeda in Canada, etc. So we can see that Omar Khadr's home environment is not desirable. Canada doesn't want him. Where do you think he would go if he were releaased? Right back to al Qaeda. Some people you cannot help, you cannot rehabilitate. Perhaps we should have obliged the wishes of Omar Khadr back in July 2002, and put a bullet in his head, per his request. Might have saved us all some trouble.