Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Omar Khadr and the Country we Have Become




















Some Canadians look at the case of Omar Khadr and wonder My God what have  we done?

The trial of Omar Khadr has been called a travesty of justice, a violation of the rule of law, a kangaroo court and lots of other things beside. But what it really was, was a show trial.

And now Guantanamo's very first military tribunal has its first guilty verdict, thanks to those methods of coercion first perfected for the Soviet Bloc show trial. My God, what have we done? Somewhere in hell, Joseph Stalin is smiling.

But I look at this story.

The Ipsos Reid survey found that 49 per cent of the population did not want the Toronto-born Khadr, who confessed to the 2002 killing of a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, to serve any part of his sentence in Canada.

More than two-thirds of respondents in the survey or 69 per cent said that "Khadr probably is guilty and this plea bargain is too generous, and that the Canadian government was right not to have offered him any assistance up to this point."

And this story
















"A guy in a Ku Klux Klan uniform, Confederate flag attached to the back, with a hood on, was holding a rope. And on the end of the rope was a guy in blackface, and the rope was really a noose around his neck,"

And wonder what kind of country we are becoming?

Because anyone who thinks all three stories aren't connected by a common strain, is either deluded. Or a racist. Or a Con.

This is what five years of Stephen Harper's morally bankrupt government has done to us

Who are those old, grubby, ignorant, teabaggers?

What happened to my beautiful country?

I don't recognize it anymore...

6 comments:

Beijing York said...

This is not my country. I feel that so much, Simon.

I cannot believe that we let Omar Khadr go through that hell and still applaud ourselves for letting that kangaroo court to go through.

I cannot believe that anyone would dare go with a KKK + lynched black face costumes to a public place and win a prize.

This is not the same society I knew 5-10 years ago. This change is absolutely frightening.

thwap said...

I don't recognize us either.

Anonymous said...

sedum13 here

To my utter amazement, the racist picture actually appeared on the MSM.

However. Online commenters complained that the people who awarded the prize, the Legion, should have known better.

I'm sorry but I've been to Legions and there's invariably an undercurrent of angry, drunken, old, poor, white, racist, homophobic, anti semitic, misogynist methane.

By now our beloved vets who don't have these "qualities" often avoid Legions like the plague.
.

Simon said...

hi Beijing...it is frightening isn't it? I have to admit that all of this has made me very depressed. I barely have the energy to blog, and I realize that this is not what a lot of Canadians want to hear. But it seems to me that the truth will set us free, and unless we speak honestly nothing will ever improve. And I still do believe that it will get better. We just have to find the strength to keep speaking out and fighting for that better Canada, and we WILL get it back. At least that what Sebastien tells me, so I know it must be true... :)

Simon said...

hi thwap...well that makes THREE of us now. So how can we lose? :)

Simon said...

hi sedum 13...I have to believe that what happened at that Legion hall is just ignorance. And I know that most of our vets are better than that. As you know I'm an idealist, and maybe I'm asking too much. But if we don't try to encourage our better angels, we'll end up in a crass and ugly place. So I'd rather be disappointed over and over again, than crawl in the gutter with them. We're all here for such a short time we should try to make it a better place for EVERYONE...