Under the terms of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which both the United States and Canada are signatories, juvenile prisoners – defined as those accused of a crime that took place when they were under 18 years of age – “require special protection.”

The Optional Protocol specifically recognizes “the special needs of those children who are particularly vulnerable to recruitment or use in hostilities”, and requires its signatories to promote “the physical and psychosocial rehabilitation and social reintegration of children who are victims of armed conflict.”

That’s rehabilitation, not punishment. If Omar Khadr had been over 18 at the time of his capture we could be having different discussions, involving other difficult questions such as: did he actually throw the grenade that killed Sgt. Speer? And if he did, why was he not held as a Prisoner of War under the terms of the Geneva Conventions, and protected from cruel treatment and torture?

He was not over 18, however. He was a child.

Here’s the Optional Protocol:
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/6/protocolchild.htm
Have a read, ask the government to opt out of it, and then get back to me.

As soon as the Gitmo interrogation tape of Omar Khadr hit the Internet, the blogosphere was flooded with demands to repatriate him to Canada. This wave is reminiscent of a Soviet campaign to free Luis Corvalán from the “fascist regime” of Augusto Pinochet thirty five years ago. The scenario is strikingly similar. A “victim” held by “fascist regimes” this time run by Bush and Harper, and a public outcry for justice. Except for the fact that Luis Corvalán didn’t kill anyone and didn’t fight for a terrorist group that wants to impose Sharia.

The “repatriate Khadr” crowd describes him as “a child”, “a kid”, “a boy”, and even “a torture victim”, with no facts to substantiate the torture claims notwithstanding. They complain about Khadr being mistreated, again, without anything to back up their claims. Some of them are outraged about “child abuse.” And they all scream for justice.

They want justice? OK, let’s talk about JUSTICE. What about justice for Sgt. First Class Christopher J. Speer, who was (according to an eyewitness) murdered by this “child”? What about justice for Tabitha Speer, who is a widow because of this “kid”? What about justice for Taryn and Tanner Speer, who are left without a father by this “a boy”? And what about all those Afghani civilians and NATO troops who are a little bit safer because this “torture victim” is behind bars? How many of these “repatriate Khadr” hypocrites concern themselves with justice for real victims? In literally hundreds of posts, we couldn’t find a single one.

One would ask, what is the reason for this idiocy? The answer is simple. Ignorance. Complete and utter ignorance. Let’s forget for a second that Omar Khadr killed Christopher Speer. Let’s forget that Khadr’s father was an al Qaeda financier. Let’s forget that Khadr’s family is known for it being al Qaeda sympathizers. Let’s just remember what this “child” was fighting for in Afghanistan.

This is what Taliban-imposed Sharia looks like in real life: http://muslimsagainstsharia.blogspot.com/2000/07/hypocrisy-of-repatriate-omar-khadr-to.html

Why don’t all of you, bleeding heart demagogues go to Afghanistan and spend a day in a Taliban-controlled territory? And let’s talk about Khadr when you get back. If you get back.

Dear Mr. Worthington,

By a long chain of unplanned internet travels, I ended up with one of your articles on Guantánamo (The Huffington Post), and certainly plan to read the others in due time.

Thank you for covering this shameful piece of internationally accepted, ‘democratic’, human rights abuse.

I just hope that ‘closing down’ Guantánamo, will mean giving ALL its inmates a trial (I dare not use the word ‘fair’) in a reasonably decent court, and not sending them off to their home country, or any other one where human rights abuses and torture are common.

In order to pretend its hands are clean, the Bush administration (I would not risk implying that he himself has enough brains to devise any of this) increasingly sub-contracts torture to less PR-conscious countries. Pontius Pilate would admire the scheme.

But block D in Pul-e Charkhi prison is no solution to a human rights crisis. On the contrary, to survive 6 years in Guantánamo without going stark mad, only to end up in block D, is possibly the most cruel torture of all.

Thank you again and kind regards.

usa to suffering so much for cruel and the torture. now for ameriki economic to punish and suffering and to fight aztec and maya for land. him whitie man now finish and this the punish for it wicked ameriki to tortured it children.

also for punish now ameriki him daughtyer just full slut take LBT (low back tattoo) to sex with every man even it gang member. but ameriki him no even the ashame. and him son the gay homosexual and him wife lesbian never to love cook food for family.

not all it ameriki so the wicked but even him to suffer equal with bad ameriki.