The Case Of Omar Khadr—Brainwashed Child Soldier Or Teen Fulfilling Family Duty?

Most 15-year-olds are busy with sports, school, or on social media with friends.

In 2002, then-15-year-old Omar Khadr, a Canadian boy and son of Ahmed Khadr, reportedly an associate of late Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, allegedly threw a grenade while in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of American soldier Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer. The incident drew widespread international attention; Khadr, who had been shot, received medical attention from medics on scene and had reportedly asked to be killed at the time. He was not, and Khadr spent the next several years languishing in prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without trial. He ultimately pleaded guilty to throwing the grenade that killed Speer, but later admitted that he did not recall the incident that killed the soldier or saw him injured. The confession, Khadr said, was made because he saw no other way of returning to Canada from Guantanamo Bay. Khadr pleaded guilty to "murder in violation of the laws of war, attempted murder in violation of the laws of war, conspiracy, two counts of providing material support for terrorism and spying."

It's been the contention of Khadr and his legal team that he underwent a range of abuses in prison, and certainly, given he was housed in Guantanamo Bay, this would come as no great surprise. The techniques used to extract information from those suspected of terrorism were nothing short of appalling at the time, and according to the Wikipedia entry on Khadr, he was threatened with rape and was made the victim of various other "techniques," including being told that he was simply not important and appealing to his fear of being further incarcerated.

Now comes news that Khadr is going to receive an apology for the abuses he reportedly suffered in prison and $10.5 million for his troubles.

Canadians are understandably divided about the decision to offer this man money and an apology, of all things, and rightfully so. Khadr has been accused of horrific acts, not the least of which is murder, and there continue to be questions about whether or not a grenade was actually thrown, whether or not Khadr himself threw it, or to what extent he was the victim of his extremist father's "brainwashing."

The media has reported on both sides of the Khadr case since it first came to Canadian consciousness 15 years ago. It will no doubt continue to do so. Speer's family, particularly his widow Tabitha and his children, as well as Layne Morris, a colleague of Speer's who lost his eye the day Speer lost his life, are fighting to receive money from the estate of Omar Khadr's father, Ahmed. Now that the award of $10.5 million to Omar Khadr has been offered, the respective legal teams involved in the case are working to help their clients receive that money.

Khadr maintains that he was a victim, it seems, and whether he was or was not really doesn't matter at this point. Several lives were forever changed the day he was found injured by that Delta Force team of which Speer was a part. Two kids, who were relatively young at the time of their father's death, won't ever know their dad except through whatever stories family and friends tell them. Khadr has claimed for some time that the confession he made was really a result of coercion, which brings into question the legitimacy of the confession. Testimony has been redacted and changed and said so often that it becomes a significant task to even sort out who said what to whom and when.

Yes, Khadr was clearly involved in wrongdoing. What, for instance, is a 15-year-old boy doing in the middle of a firefight where he ends up getting rather seriously wounded? Whether his father brainwashed him, as has been proposed, or the teenaged Khadr decided that he wanted to go and fight on his own doesn't really matter at this point. From a legal standpoint, the decision has been made that wrong was done to Khadr as far as his rights behind bars go. There is no moral judgment behind the decision to award Khadr that sort of money, which he may or may not get by the time the various legal teams still involved in the case are done, because if there were, whether you agree that Khadr was a child soldier or you agree that he was a teen wanting to fight with his father for something he apparently believed in, Khadr shouldn't get any money at any point.

Murder is murder, whether you were "brainwashed" into it or you went into it willingly.

However, there are very few individuals involved in that level of decision making, and such individuals are keeping their eye on the strictest letter of the law, it seems, rather than looking at what Khadr was involved in.

It's a mess, no matter how you look at it.