Video: Romeo Dallaire on Omar Khadr

According to Liberal senator and former general, Romeo Dallaire, the US military lawyer for Omar Khadr was in Ottawa today. Lt. Commander Bill Kuebler was here to press the case of his client, a Canadian interned at Guantanamo Bay, ahead of the visit of U.S. President Barrack Obama to Ottawa, in hopes the Canadian government will make the case for Khadr's repatriation to Canada with Obama.

While Kuebler met with opposition representatives, including Dallaire and Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae, it's not surprising that, according to Dallaire, the Conservatives would not meet with Kuebler.

It's also keeping in line with the response Macleans blogger Aaron Wherry received from the PMO on a Khadr-related query:

“For the sake of clarity, specifically on what statement, aspect or precedent of international law is the Prime Minister basing his judgment that Omar Khadr was not a child soldier?”

Two weeks later, after some further prodding, the Prime Minister’s spokesman sent along a response this afternoon, reprinted as follows, in its entirety.

“I have no comment.”

Maybe they don't care about international law. Or maybe they're just burying their heads in the sand. In the mean time, while Harper ducks, the world is noticing. As Wherry notes, the French foreign affairs minister raised Khadr in his first meeting with the new US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

During their first official meeting, U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Bernard Kouchner had a wide-ranging discussion of the major global challenges, and most particularly, important international issues such as the Mideast, on which they issued a joint call for the opening of crossing points. They also discussed Afghanistan, Iran, certain African subjects such as Darfur, and the closing of Guantanamo.

Mr. Kouchner also drew Ms. Clinton’s attention to the case of Omar Khadr, the Canadian child who, as you know, was enrolled by al-Qaeda as a pre-teen. We wanted to draw the attention of the American and Canadian authorities to his case.

Even CNN is asking whether Khadr is a “teenage terrorist or confused kid” and note Canada's lack of leadership on the issue.

Yes, say Khadr's advocates, including the Canadian Bar Association. Its president wrote a letter last month to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling for the detainee's repatriation, saying the U.S. government has flouted his due process rights.

Harper has not taken a position on the case, and has deferred to the Obama administration.

As Dallaire notes in this interview, at some point Harper and the Conservatives are going to have to do something on the Khadr file before the Americans just drop him off on our border with bus fare and run away. Hiding behind the Americans' shirtails isn't leadership.

Here's the video:

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Conservatives will welcome Gitmo prisoners, just not the Canadian one

I read today that the Conservative point-person for building inroads into Canada's ethnic communities, immigration minister Jason Kenney, is considering accepting several prisoners being held by the U.S. at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp to be resettled in Canada:

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is looking at the possibility of accepting several Chinese Muslims being held at Guantanamo Bay, without setting a precedent for several other detainees at the U.S. military camp who would like to settle in Canada.

Among other things, Kenney is contemplating whether to issue special ministerial permits for three ethnic Uyghurs who have applied to settle in Canada with the backing of Canadian sponsors, Canwest News Service has learned.

The rarely used ``temporary residence permits,'' which are valid for up to three years, would allow the detainees to bypass the backlogged refugee process.

Human-rights activists say Kenney, who meets regularly with members of Canada's Uyghur community, seems to be sympathetic to the 17 who remain imprisoned in Cuba despite being cleared of posing a terrorist threat to the United States.

I think this is a very positive development. I hope the government follows through.

But while he's looking at helping Gitmo prisoners bypass the immigration process and settle in Canada, perhaps Kenney might heed the pleas of folks like Bob Rae and groups like Amnesty International and see what he can do for the CANADIAN CITIZEN, Omar Khadr, who is also stuck in Gitmo and whom the government has shown little interest in helping. Bring him home and let the Canadian justice system deal with the charges against him.

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