To the editor:
Re: Outrage over Khadr $10.5m payout is palpable (letter to the editor, July 12, Kelowna Capital News).
Yes, Yvonne Callihan, the outrage is palpable.
And so is the bile and vitriol expressed by you and so many others.
Also palpable is the extreme level of ignorance in this and similar letters.
Those that are so outraged seem to forget, or more likely are unaware, that international law prohibits the prosecution of child soldiers, as does the United Nations.
Our Supreme Court ruled that “The deprivation of (Khadr’s) right to liberty and security of the person is not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.”
Brought up and indoctrinated by his fanatical family and taken by his father to Afghanistan at an early and very impressionable age, this young boy didn’t have much of an option but to go along with the poisonous brainwashing to which he was subjected.
Illegally imprisoned in Guantanamo, he was brutally tortured and interrogated while still suffering from life-threatening wounds.
Ten years of that sort of treatment should be punishment enough, even in the eyes of the most virulent haters.
Let’s not forget that he may not have thrown the grenade that, sadly, killed one soldier and wounded another.
He confessed under extreme duress. And who wouldn’t in those circumstances?
Clearly, many of those bemoaning the legally required compensation, much of which will go to lawyers and other expenses, are not Christians, or they would be familiar with the words of Jesus in Matt 18:21-22.
It’s about forgiveness. Look it up and try it sometime.
I wish Khadr well and am happy my tax dollars contribute, even in a very minor way, to his life and rehabilitation.
Guy King, Kelowna