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November 09, 2005

Guantanamo sunrise

Omar Khadr won't be executed if he's found guilty:

"He may have been 15 but he was trained to be a terrorist," said Donald Winder, a Utah lawyer who is representing the widow of Sgt. Speer and Sgt. Morris in a civil damage suit against the estate of Mr. Khadr's father. "I don't have a lot of sympathy for the kid."

Nor would I expect him to. But note his choice of words: Khadr was trained. Even the opposing lawyer acknowledges that Khadr didn't sign up. He didn't volunteer. He was born into a piece of shit family and was shipped off as an adolescent to train under Al Qaeda, with no reasonable opportunity to object.

None of this excuses what he did, assuming he did it, but it mitigates his guilt. Had Omar Khadr killed Sgt Speer in civilian circumstances in the United States or Canada it's safe to say that his age alone would have reduced his sentence to a punishment far less severe than he's already served. Needless to say, there are factors in play here beyond his age.

If he's found guilty, I'd like to see him sentenced to time served and sent home just in time to see his worthless mother thrown in jail for child abuse, as she should have been years ago. Let his apparently half-sane brother take care of him, or if necessary the nearest mental hospital. I have nothing but sympathy for the Speer and Morris families, and have no problem with their lawsuit, but by all reasonable standards Omar Khadr has suffered enough for his parents' sins.

Posted by Chris Selley at November 9, 2005 10:40 PM

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Posted by: eric adams at November 20, 2005 11:21 AM