Saturday, September 28, 2013

Should he be a criminal?

In this Vice article, the writer tells us of a story that will make readers cringe. Omar Khadr, an unassuming young man from Canada, was arrested in Afghanistan nearly 11 years ago under the assumption he killed an American solider with a grenade. The arrest was never substantiated until Omar confessed after years in Guantanamo Bay under abhorrent conditions. The circumstances leading to this confession were shaky, at best. He was offered the chance to transfer his prison time to Canada if he confessed to the crime. One can see how terrible this situation is and why there are so many protests to release this man.

While I will not comment on whether or not he's guilty, you can see how this situation reeks of forced confession and false arrest. It's easy for soliders, in the heat of the moment and especially after their comrade just died, to try and bring justice to man who wronged them. This time, justice was not brought. It shows us the possibility that there are many more innocent people in Guantanamo Bay; they are being tortured to confess to crimes they did not commit. While I agree that terrorists who kill Americans should be locked away, situations like Omar's are ridiculous. If we want the world to side with us, especially in the countries that we occupy during conflicts, we need to conduct ourselves better overseas. If not, we only fuel the groups out to destroy us and turn people against us.

Link to article: http://www.vice.com/read/omar-khadr-war-criminal-child-soldier-or-neither

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