Omar Khadr was 15 years old and his father had
brought him to a village in Afghanistan-- it's not really very clear
from news accounts who he was hanging out with. It wasn't Al Qaeda.
It might have been a local militia: this is the real Chinatown-- it's very
hard to know who is loyal to who. In any case, like any dutiful
15-year-old, Omar did as he was told by his parents.
What there is no
doubt about is that the American soldiers attacking the compound with
grenades and rifles and rockets were invaders.
So the compound in which Omar Khadr was staying
was suddenly surrounded by about 100 U.S. soldiers. There was
shooting. Khadr, like any sane person, defended himself. Or did
he? Witnesses can't even agree on whether he even threw the grenade
that killed Sgt. Christopher Speer.
There is no doubt about one thing:
he was very severely wounded, and then treated by American medics, and then
probably tortured before being shipped to Guantanamo. [The Americans
used to claim that he was treated ahead of some U.S. soldiers. That
story has been discredited.]
So this guy must be
punished. It looks an awful lot as if the Americans simply want to be
vicious to someone who is conveniently available to suffer for the death of
Sgt. Christopher Speer. As a 15-year-old, even if Khadr had
participated in the defense of the compound, he was a child soldier and
cannot be culpable: he was too young to consider anything but an obligation
to defend those who protected and nurtured him: we expect no less of our own
children.
If only he had been in Florida: surely he could have used the
defense of George Zimmerman: he was threatened and had the right to stand
his ground. No charges would be laid.
The family of Sgt. Christopher
Speer had an opportunity denied to millions of soldiers who served in World
War II or the Korean War or Viet Nam: they had in custody an individual who,
through the convoluted labyrinthine perversions of the war on terror, could
be charged. And sued. Yes, Tabitha Speer is suing the estate of
Omar Khadr's father.
Can you imagine a German soldier being put on trial at Nuremburg for
taking a gun and shooting at the invading armies over-running his pillbox?
Maybe you can. Maybe you can imagine 13 million trials for all the
German soldiers who did that. And 13 million lawsuits by all of the
mothers and wives of America.
The prosecution inadvertently leaked testimony that indicated that
the military had lied about the circumstances of Speer's death. Furthermore,
the testimony appears to show that Khadr was shot in the back by a U.S.
soldier while facing away from the fight.
Cut to 2012: an American soldier takes his rifle and goes out one night
and kills 17 civilians including 8 children. Clearly, he wasn't in
Florida. But America is a strange country. The narrative being
developed by the army, the media, and his lawyers, around Staff Sgt. Robert
Bales is remarkable. He was under stress. He is really a very
kind man, a good buddy, a real American. He doesn't remember anything.
He suffered a concussion once. His buddy had recently had his leg
blown off. He was under financial duress. The
groundwork is being laid for a sweetheart deal: I honestly doubt that he
will serve more than five years, if that. There will be a
website. Testimonials. Fund-raising. Patriotism. For
killing 17 people.
Then you have George Zimmerman who followed Trayvon
Martin home from a convenience store and, suspicious, confronted and killed
him with a revolver. All he had to do to convince the police to
release him without charges after a rather blushingly brief hour or so was
tell them that he felt threatened by the boy-- honest, scout's honor-- and
had to defend himself against this terrifying threat to his life.
After all, the boy was carrying skittles and an ice tea.
This, after a
police dispatcher told Zimmerman that a cruiser was on the way and that he
needed Zimmerman to not follow the boy. At this point, Zimmerman has
not been charged with anything.
And today, Rod Blagojevich began serving a 14 year sentence for trying to
sell Obama's old Senate seat to someone. Wow-- 14 years?
Look, I find Blagojevich as annoying as anyone, but 14 years for mere
corruption? For taking money? Blagojevich gets 14 years for
"corruption" while George Zimmerman walks away from murder?
What
Balgojevich did was really no worse than what most congressmen do almost
every day when they meet with lobbyists who ask for specific changes to
legislation and then contribute to their re-election campaigns, or hire the
guy as a lobbyist himself after he loses an election, or take a job with a
defense contractor after sitting on the committee that decides to award it a
huge contract....
