Dudley Do-Wrong

Protest Bush Canada

Activists protest former President Bush's visit to Canada

Last week former President George W. Bush visited British Columbia, Canada, to give a speech at the Surrey Regional Economic Summit. He was reportedly paid $150,000 for his appearance.

Setting aside the fact that the Bush administration had much the same effect on America’s economy that the iceberg had on the Titanic, there is another good reason why President Bush was a very poor choice of speaker.

As President of the United States, George Bush ordered the torture of detainees in US custody.

In his memoir, Decision Points, the former President states categorically that as Commander-in-Chief he gave approval for the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques on detainees.

By his own admission the techniques he authorized included waterboarding – a practice prosecuted as a war crime by the United States at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal.

The applicable law is pretty black and white on this issue. Canada has an obligation under the Convention Against Torture to investigate allegations of torture made against any individual that falls under its jurisdiction.

The Canadian government received notice of multiple complaints against President Bush relating to the torture of detainees held as part of the ‘Global War on Terror’.

Amnesty International, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Canadian Center for International Justice were among the groups that submitted detailed legal dossiers on alleged abuses committed at President Bush’s direction. You can read a copy of Amnesty’s submission by clicking on this link.

With President Bush on Canadian soil and Canadian nationals like Maher Arar and Omar Khadr among those allegedly affected, Canada had more than sufficient jurisdiction to take action.

Yet the Canadian government chose instead to turn a blind eye to President Bush’s visit and, rather than enforcing the law, Canadian police ensured that he was not inconvenienced by the protests that greeted his visit.

Canadian government ministers have simply refused to engage on the issue. Minister of Justice Robert Nicholson ignored repeated formal requests to open an investigation. The Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, dismissed calls for President Bush’s arrest as a “stunt.”

This is the same Jason Kenney who earlier this year told reporters that anyone who had committed or been an accomplice to war crimes should be “rounded up and kicked out of Canada.” It seems hypocrisy is a universal political value.

What it so depressing about the present attitude of the Canadian authorities, is that in the past decade Canada has been in the forefront of nations pressing to end impunity for human rights abuses. Prominent Canadians like Lousie Arbour and General Roméo Dalliare have been powerful voices on the world stage calling for greater accountability.

In the past decade, Canada has arrested individuals associated with war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of torture committed in countries as diverse as Honduras, Guatemala, Pakistan, Rwanda, Peru, Congo, and Nazi Germany. It has supported the foundation of the International Criminal Court and the operation of the UN ad hoc tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

Indeed, earlier this year the Canadian government announced a (not entirely unproblematic) crackdown on suspected human rights abusers believed to be living in Canada and publicly identified 30 foreign nationals actively being sought by the Canadian authorities.

At the time, the Minister for Public Safety, Vic Toews, told the media:

“Those who have been involved in war crimes or crimes against humanity will find no haven on our shores; they will be located, and they will face the consequences.”

Fine words indeed, but since Mr. Toews made this statement both George Bush and his former Vice-President Dick Cheney have visited Canada unmolested. It seems that Dudley Do-Right’s enthusiasm for justice does not extend to the rich and powerful.

Sadly, last week the Mounties did not get their man, and Canada’s reputation as a global champion of human rights has been greatly diminished as a result.

AIUSA welcomes a lively and courteous discussion that follow our Community Guidelines. Comments are not pre-screened before they post but AIUSA reserves the right to remove any comments violating our guidelines.

26 thoughts on “Dudley Do-Wrong

  1. The above blog contains false implications that should be corrected.

    Maher Arar was completely innocent and was in deed viciously tortured nearly to death with torture techniques straight out of the Spanish Inquisition that make water boarding look like a trip to Disneyland.

    But this was done by Jordanian and Syrian torturers, not American, and Arar was delivered into the hands of the vicious Jordanian and Syrian secret police with the full complicity of the Canadian Government, which is why Arar has already been given a well deserved 10 million dollars compensation, a formal apology personally delivered by the Prime Minister and a statement attesting to his complete innocence from any connection to terrorism by the Canadian government.

    So it would be more than a little bizarre for Canada to arrest GWB for Arar's torture when the Canadian government already admits they themselves were to blame for this.

    And how dare you associate Omar Khadr's name with Maher Arar's. Don't people get it yet ? Can you really not differentiate in your mind between Arar and Khadr?

    My god what the heck is wrong with you?

    Arar was a totally totally innocent decent father and loyal Canadian citizen who was betrayed by Canada into unspeakable full blown torture of the worst kind the human mind can conceive of.

    Khadr is an unrepentant Al Qeda supporter to this very day. He self admittedly was fully trained in Al Qeda camps of all forms of terrorist bombing and murdering techniques and participated in numerous attacks, and is a hard core combat veteran and killer. He was not tortured or water-boarded in any way and Khadr has never made any such claim. All Khadr ever claimed in his court case was that an interrogator once yelled at him some mean words and he was once forced to clean his prison cell after he urinated in it. Well boo-hoo. I think I hear the sound of the world's tiniest violin playing for him.

    Omar Khadr, whose own dear sweet mother admitted on a Canadian television interview that she was happy about seeing all the Americans killed on 9-11, and she admitted to sending Omar to Afghanistan to train with Osama Bin Laden as it was a better environment for her son in her opinion than the decadence of Toronto because there were too many homosexuals in Canada.

    So for this horrible evil Khadr person Canada should arrest GWB?

    I think Canada will need a slightly better justification and will have to pass on arresting GWB at this time.

    But thanks heaps for the suggestion though.

  2. Dear Judonimh,

    Always nice to hear from you. The crux of your argument seems to be that some people deserve to be tortured and others don't. It is not clear quite how the authorities are supposed to divine who falls into which category. The US has gone down this road already and, as you point out, Maher Arar knows all too well where it ends.

    The attitude, background and indeed actual criminal culpability of any individual subjected to torture is immaterial. Torture is an international crime subject to universal jurisdiction. In a just and moral society each act is treated on its own terms and one wrong does not excuse another.

    We mention the fact that both Maher Arar and Omar Khadr have alleged that they were tortured at the behest of US authorities and the fact that they are both Canadian citizens because these are important factors for establishing Canadian jurisdiction to act in this matter and there is nothing false about that.

  3. The above blog contains false implications that should be corrected.

    Maher Arar was completely innocent and was in deed viciously tortured nearly to death with torture techniques straight out of the Spanish Inquisition that make water boarding look like a trip to Disneyland.

    But this was done by Jordanian and Syrian torturers, not American, and Arar was delivered into the hands of the vicious Jordanian and Syrian secret police with the full complicity of the Canadian Government, which is why Arar has already been given a well deserved 10 million dollars compensation, a formal apology personally delivered by the Prime Minister and a statement attesting to his complete innocence from any connection to terrorism by the Canadian government.

    So it would be more than a little bizarre for Canada to arrest GWB for Arar’s torture when the Canadian government already admits they themselves were to blame for this.

    And how dare you associate Omar Khadr’s name with Maher Arar’s. Don’t people get it yet ? Can you really not differentiate in your mind between Arar and Khadr?

    My god what the heck is wrong with you?

    Arar was a totally totally innocent decent father and loyal Canadian citizen who was betrayed by Canada into unspeakable full blown torture of the worst kind the human mind can conceive of.

    Khadr is an unrepentant Al Qeda supporter to this very day. He self admittedly was fully trained in Al Qeda camps of all forms of terrorist bombing and murdering techniques and participated in numerous attacks, and is a hard core combat veteran and killer. He was not tortured or water-boarded in any way and Khadr has never made any such claim. All Khadr ever claimed in his court case was that an interrogator once yelled at him some mean words and he was once forced to clean his prison cell after he urinated in it. Well boo-hoo. I think I hear the sound of the world’s tiniest violin playing for him.

    Omar Khadr, whose own dear sweet mother admitted on a Canadian television interview that she was happy about seeing all the Americans killed on 9-11, and she admitted to sending Omar to Afghanistan to train with Osama Bin Laden as it was a better environment for her son in her opinion than the decadence of Toronto because there were too many homosexuals in Canada.

    So for this horrible evil Khadr person Canada should arrest GWB?

    I think Canada will need a slightly better justification and will have to pass on arresting GWB at this time.

    But thanks heaps for the suggestion though.

  4. Dear Judonimh,

    Always nice to hear from you. The crux of your argument seems to be that some people deserve to be tortured and others don’t. It is not clear quite how the authorities are supposed to divine who falls into which category. The US has gone down this road already and, as you point out, Maher Arar knows all too well where it ends.

    The attitude, background and indeed actual criminal culpability of any individual subjected to torture is immaterial. Torture is an international crime subject to universal jurisdiction. In a just and moral society each act is treated on its own terms and one wrong does not excuse another.

    We mention the fact that both Maher Arar and Omar Khadr have alleged that they were tortured at the behest of US authorities and the fact that they are both Canadian citizens because these are important factors for establishing Canadian jurisdiction to act in this matter and there is nothing false about that.

  5. I do not think anyone deserves to be tortured, especially the innocent but also the guilty.

    Arar was handed over at the behest of the Canadian Security Service, a fact formally admitted to by the Prime Minister of Canada the day he handed Arar his 10 million dollars yet no Canadian has ever been charged with any crime over this matter. So why prosecute a foreigner like GWB?

    And Khadr has never claimed to be tortured or water-boarded ever. At his trial the worst he complained about was some light mistreatment such as an interrogator yelling at him on one occasion which was so terrible we are expected to believe supposedly that this made this battle hardened trained Al Qeda killer cry supposedly.

    Even if what Khadr claims to have happened is true this was not "torture" by any definition, and you are just committing an injustice towards the true victims of actual real torture in this world and there are lots of them, Maher Arar being just one, by pretending that the treatment Khadr complained about was torture, just in order to make some fabricated Canadian case against GWB.

  6. I do not think anyone deserves to be tortured, especially the innocent but also the guilty.

    Arar was handed over at the behest of the Canadian Security Service, a fact formally admitted to by the Prime Minister of Canada the day he handed Arar his 10 million dollars yet no Canadian has ever been charged with any crime over this matter. So why prosecute a foreigner like GWB?

    And Khadr has never claimed to be tortured or water-boarded ever. At his trial the worst he complained about was some light mistreatment such as an interrogator yelling at him on one occasion which was so terrible we are expected to believe supposedly that this made this battle hardened trained Al Qeda killer cry supposedly.

    Even if what Khadr claims to have happened is true this was not “torture” by any definition, and you are just committing an injustice towards the true victims of actual real torture in this world and there are lots of them, Maher Arar being just one, by pretending that the treatment Khadr complained about was torture, just in order to make some fabricated Canadian case against GWB.

  7. Because of Bush, War on Terror, state terrorism destroying the minorities.
    In sri lanka over 50,000 Tamils were killed in 2009 alone.

    It is often said that the war in Sri Lanka was a ‘war without witnesses’. It is true in a sense, as all the local and international media and the UN and other agencies were expelled from the region by the Sri Lankan government in October 2008.

    When the Israeli forces attacked Gaza the UN agencies did not leave, but in Sri Lanka they left from the Tamil region which is the ‘Gaza of South Asia’.

    Nevertheless, this is also untrue, because every diplomat in Colombo knew what was going on.

    They had satellite evidence and their own sources of information. The UN very clearly knew the gravity of the situation, but did not want to release the scale and the figures of the massacres.

    What should we conclude? Every major power, especially the Western powers, allowed the genocidal massacre to happen and justified it in the name of the sovereignty of the Sri Lankan state.

    Why do the UN, the American and British governments want to talk about war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka (two years after end of the war) by releasing the UN report on human rights situation in the country?

    First of all they want to hide their complicity in the massacre of the Tamils and their responsibility in destroying the 2002 CFA/MOU.

    Secondly, the accusation is coming mainly from the US/UK axis as China seems to have outweighed this axis in Sri Lanka by 2011.

    Thirdly, these powers depict the Tamils as ‘helpless victims’ and expect these victims to depend on them to look for solutions like in the case of South Sudan and Kosovo. http://www.theweekendleader.com/Causes/774/Stooge

  8. Judonimh's version of Arar's rendition is COMPLETELY DISTORTED.

    First, Judonimh never mentions it was the US which sent Arar to Syria. His story expunges any reference to the US from his version of Arar's deportation , apparently to lay the onus on Canada alone.

    Judonimh lays the full stress on Canada . He says the deporting was done "at the behest" of the Canadian Secret Service "with the full complicity of the Canadian Government", which helps him smoothly conclude : " So it would be …bizarre for Canada to arrest GWB for Arar's torture when the Canadian Government already admits they were themselves to blame for this."

    The distortion in the above pasage, first, is to show the demanded arrest ONLY IN REFERENCE TO Arar's torture, so Judonimh can make the arrest demand seem "bizarre".

    Again , after a reference to Arar's case ONLY, Judonimh asks innocently, "So why prosecute a foreigner like GWB ?"

    Again the hint that the issue's a CANADIAN AFFAIR ONLY, GWB'S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

    The real truths about Arar's deportation BY THE US TO SYRIA include the following.

    Canadian police informed US officials Arar was a suspected al Qaeda – linked terrorist.

    The US didn't ask Canada to VERIFY THE INFORMATION.

    No checking, no investigation.

    Not only this.

    A Canadian Commission inquiry which concluded in Sept 2006 found the following.

    That DAYS BEFORE the US deported Arar to Syria, the Canadian police told the FBI they had NO DEFINITIVE EVIDENCE against Arar.

    Yet the US PROCEEDED with Arar's deportation to Syria.

    The US LET Arar languish in solitary confinement & be tortured at its OWN BEHEST for nearly a YEAR.

    The Sept 2006 Canadian Commission report on Arar concluded Canadian officials were NOT informed by the US of THE US DECISION TO SEND ARAR TO SYRIA.

    The Commision found NO EVIDENCE that Canadian officials PARTICIPATED IN OR AGREED TO the US DECISION to send Arar to Syria.

    The whole thing was a UNILATERAL, ONE – SIDED US enterprise against a prejudged & precondemned man.

  9. Because of Bush, War on Terror, state terrorism destroying the minorities.
    In sri lanka over 50,000 Tamils were killed in 2009 alone.

    It is often said that the war in Sri Lanka was a ‘war without witnesses’. It is true in a sense, as all the local and international media and the UN and other agencies were expelled from the region by the Sri Lankan government in October 2008.

    When the Israeli forces attacked Gaza the UN agencies did not leave, but in Sri Lanka they left from the Tamil region which is the ‘Gaza of South Asia’.

    Nevertheless, this is also untrue, because every diplomat in Colombo knew what was going on.

    They had satellite evidence and their own sources of information. The UN very clearly knew the gravity of the situation, but did not want to release the scale and the figures of the massacres.

    What should we conclude? Every major power, especially the Western powers, allowed the genocidal massacre to happen and justified it in the name of the sovereignty of the Sri Lankan state.

    Why do the UN, the American and British governments want to talk about war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka (two years after end of the war) by releasing the UN report on human rights situation in the country?

    First of all they want to hide their complicity in the massacre of the Tamils and their responsibility in destroying the 2002 CFA/MOU.

    Secondly, the accusation is coming mainly from the US/UK axis as China seems to have outweighed this axis in Sri Lanka by 2011.

    Thirdly, these powers depict the Tamils as ‘helpless victims’ and expect these victims to depend on them to look for solutions like in the case of South Sudan and Kosovo. http://www.theweekendleader.com/Causes/774/Stooge

  10. Because of Bush, War on Terror, state terrorism destroying the minorities.
    In sri lanka over 50,000 Tamils were killed in 2009 alone.

    It is often said that the war in Sri Lanka was a ‘war without witnesses’. It is true in a sense, as all the local and international media and the UN and other agencies were expelled from the region by the Sri Lankan government in October 2008.

    When the Israeli forces attacked Gaza the UN agencies did not leave, but in Sri Lanka they left from the Tamil region which is the ‘Gaza of South Asia’.

    Nevertheless, this is also untrue, because every diplomat in Colombo knew what was going on.

    They had satellite evidence and their own sources of information. The UN very clearly knew the gravity of the situation, but did not want to release the scale and the figures of the massacres.

    What should we conclude? Every major power, especially the Western powers, allowed the genocidal massacre to happen and justified it in the name of the sovereignty of the Sri Lankan state.

    Why do the UN, the American and British governments want to talk about war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka (two years after end of the war) by releasing the UN report on human rights situation in the country?

    First of all they want to hide their complicity in the massacre of the Tamils and their responsibility in destroying the 2002 CFA/MOU.

    Secondly, the accusation is coming mainly from the US/UK axis as China seems to have outweighed this axis in Sri Lanka by 2011.

    Thirdly, these powers depict the Tamils as ‘helpless victims’ and expect these victims to depend on them to look for solutions like in the case of South Sudan and Kosovo. http://www.theweekendleader.com/Causes/774/Stooge

  11. Mr Parker mentions Arar & Omar as examples only.

    But Judonimh speaks of these 2 cases as if they're in isolation … which is not Mr Parker's point at all.

    Judonimh hides the truths of Omar's case & torture — that his particular prosecution & torture constitute war crimes committed by the US.

    In fact Judonimh's treatment of Omar is, wittingly or not, a part of the US' successful effort to keep secret its own war on children as part of its world war OF terror.

    THOUSANDS of children were IMPRISONED, TORTURED, & OTHERWISE DENIED THEIR RIGHTS under the Geneva Conventions & other internationlal agreements by Bush & his war criminal machine in his war.

    In 2001, in the invasion of Afghanistan by Bush, the Kabul children's hospital was bombed, all its little patients murdered.

    In spring 2004, in the US attack on Fallujah, some 300 children, including peaceful demonstrators, were slaughtered by the US military, their corpses filmed live on al – Jazeera.

    In 2008, the US reported it imprisoned 2, 400 children in Iraq & 100 in Afghanistan.

    Another source revealed this Afghan figure as higher — 800 boys aged 10 – 15 were imprisoned.

    Of them, 64 were sent to Guantanamo, 21 of whom were still there in May 2008, when the Committee on the Righst of the Child denounced the US for CHARGING MINORS WITH WAR CRIMES INSTEAD OF TREATING UNDERAGE PERSONS AS VICTIMS OF WAR.

    Khalid Sheikh Mohammad's 2 children, aged 7 & 9, were separately imprisoned to make him confess.

    In prison, children were brutalized & tortured.

    In Abu Ghraib, as male prisoners raped boys, US guards just videotaped it all …. & did nothing to stop it.

    We hear of a 12/ 13 yr old girl screaming to her brother for help as she's stripped & beaten,

    15 yr old boy made to carry heavy cans of water in Abu Ghraib, beaten whenever he stops . When he collapses, guards strip him & pour cold water on him. A hooded man comes in, the hood is taken off. It's his father, apparently brought in to show him his son's condition … to make him confess.

    When General Hamid Zabar is interrogated, his frail 16 yr old son is arrested to force the father to confess. The boy's stripped, mud & water poured on him, he's put on the back of a truck & driven around exposed to the cold January night. Then he's brought to his father, shivering from hypothermia.

    At least 25 cases of war crimes by the US involve children. The crimes include deporting the children to other lands, their parents never being told if they were alive.

    When the parents are informed where they are, they're not allowed to contact them or write them.

    Ahmed Bashir disappears for 2 years inside a secret prison.

    Those who abused the children have been PROTECTED FROM PROSECUTION by the US authorities.

    No programs have ever been set up to prevent the abuses or to treat the children for traumatic stress.

    They were denied lawyers or even a statement of the reason for their imprisonment when they came to Guantanamo.

    They were denied the "speedy trial" requirements under the Geneva Conventions.

    They were forced to make confessions & denied exculpatory evidence, including witnesses.

    Omar Khadr's case is widely seen as part of this system of child abuse.

    Judonimh wrongly presents him as never claiming to have been tortured.

    He has appeared on tv around the world speaking of the torture & abuse he endured.

    Judonimh dismisses the things done to Omar as " light mistreatment".

    You judge.

    Omar is interrogated while hooded, as dogs are barking near him.

    During interrogation he's shackled to the floor in stress positions til he soils himself.

    His bound body is used as a mop to wipe off his urine with pine oil, after which they don't let him shower … or change his clothes.

    During his hunger fast he is brutally beaten.

    Despite his ghastly wounds he is made to do heavy labor, which re – opens the wounds.

    He is also denied pain medication.

    He's threatened with rape.

    All of these constitute "some light mistreatment" in Judonimh's system.

    But Judonimh here champions & excuses & echoes PRECISELY WHAT the Committee on the Rights of the Child condemns the US for — charging minors with war crimes instead of treating underage persons as victims of war.

    This is what Bush presided over — in double terms.

    This is the karma he left as legacy — which the US keeps on repeating.

    One of the surest way to stop this cycle is to arrest Bush.

    To investigate the full depths of what he & those he protected with his illegally acquired & executed powers have done.

    Otherwise his regime's history will keep on repeating itself.

    Without ANY closure for the world or for America.

  12. Judonimh’s version of Arar’s rendition is COMPLETELY DISTORTED.

    First, Judonimh never mentions it was the US which sent Arar to Syria. His story expunges any reference to the US from his version of Arar’s deportation , apparently to lay the onus on Canada alone.

    Judonimh lays the full stress on Canada . He says the deporting was done “at the behest” of the Canadian Secret Service “with the full complicity of the Canadian Government”, which helps him smoothly conclude : ” So it would be …bizarre for Canada to arrest GWB for Arar’s torture when the Canadian Government already admits they were themselves to blame for this.”

    The distortion in the above pasage, first, is to show the demanded arrest ONLY IN REFERENCE TO Arar’s torture, so Judonimh can make the arrest demand seem “bizarre”.

    Again , after a reference to Arar’s case ONLY, Judonimh asks innocently, “So why prosecute a foreigner like GWB ?”

    Again the hint that the issue’s a CANADIAN AFFAIR ONLY, GWB’S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

    The real truths about Arar’s deportation BY THE US TO SYRIA include the following.

    Canadian police informed US officials Arar was a suspected al Qaeda – linked terrorist.

    The US didn’t ask Canada to VERIFY THE INFORMATION.

    No checking, no investigation.

    Not only this.

    A Canadian Commission inquiry which concluded in Sept 2006 found the following.

    That DAYS BEFORE the US deported Arar to Syria, the Canadian police told the FBI they had NO DEFINITIVE EVIDENCE against Arar.

    Yet the US PROCEEDED with Arar’s deportation to Syria.

    The US LET Arar languish in solitary confinement & be tortured at its OWN BEHEST for nearly a YEAR.

    The Sept 2006 Canadian Commission report on Arar concluded Canadian officials were NOT informed by the US of THE US DECISION TO SEND ARAR TO SYRIA.

    The Commision found NO EVIDENCE that Canadian officials PARTICIPATED IN OR AGREED TO the US DECISION to send Arar to Syria.

    The whole thing was a UNILATERAL, ONE – SIDED US enterprise against a prejudged & precondemned man.

  13. Because of Bush, War on Terror, state terrorism destroying the minorities.
    In sri lanka over 50,000 Tamils were killed in 2009 alone.

    It is often said that the war in Sri Lanka was a ‘war without witnesses’. It is true in a sense, as all the local and international media and the UN and other agencies were expelled from the region by the Sri Lankan government in October 2008.

    When the Israeli forces attacked Gaza the UN agencies did not leave, but in Sri Lanka they left from the Tamil region which is the ‘Gaza of South Asia’.

    Nevertheless, this is also untrue, because every diplomat in Colombo knew what was going on.

    They had satellite evidence and their own sources of information. The UN very clearly knew the gravity of the situation, but did not want to release the scale and the figures of the massacres.

    What should we conclude? Every major power, especially the Western powers, allowed the genocidal massacre to happen and justified it in the name of the sovereignty of the Sri Lankan state.

    Why do the UN, the American and British governments want to talk about war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka (two years after end of the war) by releasing the UN report on human rights situation in the country?

    First of all they want to hide their complicity in the massacre of the Tamils and their responsibility in destroying the 2002 CFA/MOU.

    Secondly, the accusation is coming mainly from the US/UK axis as China seems to have outweighed this axis in Sri Lanka by 2011.

    Thirdly, these powers depict the Tamils as ‘helpless victims’ and expect these victims to depend on them to look for solutions like in the case of South Sudan and Kosovo.
    http://www.theweekendleader.com/Causes/774/Stooge-of-superpowers.html

  14. Mr Parker mentions Arar & Omar as examples only.

    But Judonimh speaks of these 2 cases as if they’re in isolation … which is not Mr Parker’s point at all.

    Judonimh hides the truths of Omar’s case & torture — that his particular prosecution & torture constitute war crimes committed by the US.

    In fact Judonimh’s treatment of Omar is, wittingly or not, a part of the US’ successful effort to keep secret its own war on children as part of its world war OF terror.

    THOUSANDS of children were IMPRISONED, TORTURED, & OTHERWISE DENIED THEIR RIGHTS under the Geneva Conventions & other internationlal agreements by Bush & his war criminal machine in his war.

    In 2001, in the invasion of Afghanistan by Bush, the Kabul children’s hospital was bombed, all its little patients murdered.

    In spring 2004, in the US attack on Fallujah, some 300 children, including peaceful demonstrators, were slaughtered by the US military, their corpses filmed live on al – Jazeera.

    In 2008, the US reported it imprisoned 2, 400 children in Iraq & 100 in Afghanistan.

    Another source revealed this Afghan figure as higher — 800 boys aged 10 – 15 were imprisoned.

    Of them, 64 were sent to Guantanamo, 21 of whom were still there in May 2008, when the Committee on the Righst of the Child denounced the US for CHARGING MINORS WITH WAR CRIMES INSTEAD OF TREATING UNDERAGE PERSONS AS VICTIMS OF WAR.

    Khalid Sheikh Mohammad’s 2 children, aged 7 & 9, were separately imprisoned to make him confess.

    In prison, children were brutalized & tortured.

    In Abu Ghraib, as male prisoners raped boys, US guards just videotaped it all …. & did nothing to stop it.

    We hear of a 12/ 13 yr old girl screaming to her brother for help as she’s stripped & beaten,

    15 yr old boy made to carry heavy cans of water in Abu Ghraib, beaten whenever he stops . When he collapses, guards strip him & pour cold water on him. A hooded man comes in, the hood is taken off. It’s his father, apparently brought in to show him his son’s condition … to make him confess.

    When General Hamid Zabar is interrogated, his frail 16 yr old son is arrested to force the father to confess. The boy’s stripped, mud & water poured on him, he’s put on the back of a truck & driven around exposed to the cold January night. Then he’s brought to his father, shivering from hypothermia.

    At least 25 cases of war crimes by the US involve children. The crimes include deporting the children to other lands, their parents never being told if they were alive.

    When the parents are informed where they are, they’re not allowed to contact them or write them.

    Ahmed Bashir disappears for 2 years inside a secret prison.

    Those who abused the children have been PROTECTED FROM PROSECUTION by the US authorities.

    No programs have ever been set up to prevent the abuses or to treat the children for traumatic stress.

    They were denied lawyers or even a statement of the reason for their imprisonment when they came to Guantanamo.

    They were denied the “speedy trial” requirements under the Geneva Conventions.

    They were forced to make confessions & denied exculpatory evidence, including witnesses.

    Omar Khadr’s case is widely seen as part of this system of child abuse.

    Judonimh wrongly presents him as never claiming to have been tortured.

    He has appeared on tv around the world speaking of the torture & abuse he endured.

    Judonimh dismisses the things done to Omar as ” light mistreatment”.

    You judge.

    Omar is interrogated while hooded, as dogs are barking near him.

    During interrogation he’s shackled to the floor in stress positions til he soils himself.

    His bound body is used as a mop to wipe off his urine with pine oil, after which they don’t let him shower … or change his clothes.

    During his hunger fast he is brutally beaten.

    Despite his ghastly wounds he is made to do heavy labor, which re – opens the wounds.

    He is also denied pain medication.

    He’s threatened with rape.

    All of these constitute “some light mistreatment” in Judonimh’s system.

    But Judonimh here champions & excuses & echoes PRECISELY WHAT the Committee on the Rights of the Child condemns the US for — charging minors with war crimes instead of treating underage persons as victims of war.

    This is what Bush presided over — in double terms.

    This is the karma he left as legacy — which the US keeps on repeating.

    One of the surest way to stop this cycle is to arrest Bush.

    To investigate the full depths of what he & those he protected with his illegally acquired & executed powers have done.

    Otherwise his regime’s history will keep on repeating itself.

    Without ANY closure for the world or for America.

  15. What I don't understand is why Obama and Clinton are not charged as war criminals also. The insanity runs too deep and infects too many of the people in power to even attempt to try to understand what the truth is in all these situations and all these horrible wars. The only truth that I know for sure is that there is something TERRIBLY wrong with the way the world is being run and if we continue to argue about our differences, it allows 'them' to keep committing genocide all over the Middle East The US is complicit in killing millions of innocent people and Canada's Harper is just one of the many US bum boys and sooner rather than later, 'they' will bring that same 'justice' home.

    What we need is a total reset. 'They' all need to go and the sooner the bloody better!

  16. What I don’t understand is why Obama and Clinton are not charged as war criminals also. The insanity runs too deep and infects too many of the people in power to even attempt to try to understand what the truth is in all these situations and all these horrible wars. The only truth that I know for sure is that there is something TERRIBLY wrong with the way the world is being run and if we continue to argue about our differences, it allows ‘them’ to keep committing genocide all over the Middle East The US is complicit in killing millions of innocent people and Canada’s Harper is just one of the many US bum boys and sooner rather than later, ‘they’ will bring that same ‘justice’ home.

    What we need is a total reset. ‘They’ all need to go and the sooner the bloody better!

  17. Dear Sandra,

    Completely, completely , completely agree.

    With each & EVERYTHING you say.

    Clinton, Obama, too should be prosecuted .

    So, why Bush ?

    Long BEFORE him there was what you accurately term as "genocide" in the Middle East committed & / or enabled by the US.

    So , why Bush ? ?

    Because he's the GLOBALIZER of that hitherto — regional genocide.

    He's the ACTIVE WORLD CONNECTOR of all the national genocides.

    What was HIDDEN war before him became OPEN war thru him.

    He's also the PRECEDENT for a Prosecution.

    If HE falls, it'll weaken the rest for THEIR overthrow.

    They ALL must go.

  18. Dear Sandra,

    Completely, completely , completely agree.

    With each & EVERYTHING you say.

    Clinton, Obama, too should be prosecuted .

    So, why Bush ?

    Long BEFORE him there was what you accurately term as “genocide” in the Middle East committed & / or enabled by the US.

    So , why Bush ? ?

    Because he’s the GLOBALIZER of that hitherto — regional genocide.

    He’s the ACTIVE WORLD CONNECTOR of all the national genocides.

    What was HIDDEN war before him became OPEN war thru him.

    He’s also the PRECEDENT for a Prosecution.

    If HE falls, it’ll weaken the rest for THEIR overthrow.

    They ALL must go.

  19. Just to clarify, it was not the right wing Harper government that helped send innocent Canadian citizen Maher Arar to Jordan and Syria to be nearly tortured to death. It was actually the previous Canadian government of left wing liberals that did this to that poor guy.

    The Harper government is the one that held a commission of inquiry into Arar's treatment, Prime Minister Harper personally met with Arar and apologized to him face to face, awarded Arar 10 million dollars compensation, officially declared him innocent of all suspicion and has repeatedly demanded of the US to remove Arar from it's suspected terrorism list.

  20. Just to clarify, it was not the right wing Harper government that helped send innocent Canadian citizen Maher Arar to Jordan and Syria to be nearly tortured to death. It was actually the previous Canadian government of left wing liberals that did this to that poor guy.

    The Harper government is the one that held a commission of inquiry into Arar’s treatment, Prime Minister Harper personally met with Arar and apologized to him face to face, awarded Arar 10 million dollars compensation, officially declared him innocent of all suspicion and has repeatedly demanded of the US to remove Arar from it’s suspected terrorism list.

  21. "Left"wing government, Rightwing government ?

    What's the point in making this spurious "distinction", when NO ACTUAL DISTINCTION EXISTS at the TOP of Empire's pyramid.

    NO DISTINCTION between "liberal " & "conservative", or, as in the US, between Democrats & Republicans, between Obama & Bush.

    BOTH WINGS ARE WINGS OF THE SAME EMPIRE.

    REAL BIPARTISANSHIP !!

    Rightist Harper as the one with the clean record vis a vis the "leftwing" government ?

    Under Harper, torture is both GOVERNMENT POLICY & individual officer's prerogative !

    Heard of "Graceland" ?

    That's a secret torture facility in Kandahar run by the CIA & Canada's elite JTF – 2 commandos.

    Then there's Canada's collaboration w with & SUPPORT FOR Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid, who is widely accused of PERSONALLY TORTURING prisoners.

    Khalid was able to keep his position due to INTERVENTION on HIS BEHALF by TOP CANADIAN MILITARY OFFICERS.

    Prisoner transfer a a la Maher Arar ?

    That's not only what Harper's doing, but he's added his own signature ( literally ) to it !

    Canadian troops in Afghanistan have, of course,been transfering prisoners to the notorious Afghan security forces.

    Then the Defense Minister lies & tells the House of Commons that the Red Cross is "monitoring" these transfers.

    Over 175 professors of political science came out & condemned Harper for having "violated the trust of Parliament & the Canadian people", as Harper defied calls by Parliament to release the full uncensored versions of Canadian government documents relating to torture & Canada's direct role in it.

    These documents came from Canada's Kabul Emabassy.

    Let's look more closely into this.

    Regarding prisoner transfers to the Afghan security forces, the Dutch & British forces DIRECTLY inform the Red Cross in Kabul, so the RC can monitor them WITHOUT DELAY.

    The Canadian forces in Afghanistan, ON THE CONTRARY, not only DON'T do this — they report INSTEAD to OTTAWA !!

    Then OTTAWA informs the Canadian EMBASSY in GENEVA !!

    Then the Canadian Embassy in Geneva tellS the Red Cross IN GENEVA.

    THEN the Red Cross in Geneva informs the Red Cross in KABUL.

    Why does Canada use such a DEVIOUS DETOUR ??

    Because this lengthy paper wark DISABLES TIMELY Red Cross supervision of the prisoners, so the Afghan security forces can "work" on them UNHINDERED.

    The Canadian military DELIBERATELY BLOCKS Red Cross & ISAF monitoring of the transfers.

    In fact, Harper DIRECTLY INVOLVED HIMSELF in this issue in 2007.

    A former senior NATO public affairs officer said NATO's denials of torture in Kabul — " at a time when it was … generally acknowledged in our office that the chances of good treatment at the hands of Afghan security forces WERE ALMOST ZERO" — were actually SCRIPTED BY HARPER & HIS OFFICE IN OTTAWA.

    Says the NATO officer : " I was told this was a TITANIC ISSUE FOR PRIME MINISTER HARPER & that EVERY STATEMENT THAT WENT OUT NEEDED TO BE CLEARED BY HIM PERSONALLY… The lines were, "WE HAVE NO EVIDENCE" OF COERCIVE TREATMENT being used against detainees handed over to the Afghans…. [ It ] was made clear to us that this was coming FROM THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE." ( Emphases mine. )

    Harper refused to release the uncensored versions of these documents.

    Said law professor Amir Attaran in 2010 :

    "If these documents were released [ in full ] , what they will show is that CANADA PARTNERED DELIBERATELY WITH THE TORTURERS IN AFGHANISTAN for the interrogation of detainees … There would be A QUESTION OF RENDITION & A QUESTION OF WAR CRIMES ON THE PART OF CERTAIN CANADIAN OFFICIALS. That's what is in these documents & that's why THE GOVERNMENT IS COVERING UP AS HARD AS IT CAN."

    EMPHASES MINE.

  22. “Left”wing government, Rightwing government ?

    What’s the point in making this spurious “distinction”, when NO ACTUAL DISTINCTION EXISTS at the TOP of Empire’s pyramid.

    NO DISTINCTION between “liberal ” & “conservative”, or, as in the US, between Democrats & Republicans, between Obama & Bush.

    BOTH WINGS ARE WINGS OF THE SAME EMPIRE.

    REAL BIPARTISANSHIP !!

    Rightist Harper as the one with the clean record vis a vis the “leftwing” government ?

    Under Harper, torture is both GOVERNMENT POLICY & individual officer’s prerogative !

    Heard of “Graceland” ?

    That’s a secret torture facility in Kandahar run by the CIA & Canada’s elite JTF – 2 commandos.

    Then there’s Canada’s collaboration w with & SUPPORT FOR Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid, who is widely accused of PERSONALLY TORTURING prisoners.

    Khalid was able to keep his position due to INTERVENTION on HIS BEHALF by TOP CANADIAN MILITARY OFFICERS.

    Prisoner transfer a a la Maher Arar ?

    That’s not only what Harper’s doing, but he’s added his own signature ( literally ) to it !

    Canadian troops in Afghanistan have, of course,been transfering prisoners to the notorious Afghan security forces.

    Then the Defense Minister lies & tells the House of Commons that the Red Cross is “monitoring” these transfers.

    Over 175 professors of political science came out & condemned Harper for having “violated the trust of Parliament & the Canadian people”, as Harper defied calls by Parliament to release the full uncensored versions of Canadian government documents relating to torture & Canada’s direct role in it.

    These documents came from Canada’s Kabul Emabassy.

    Let’s look more closely into this.

    Regarding prisoner transfers to the Afghan security forces, the Dutch & British forces DIRECTLY inform the Red Cross in Kabul, so the RC can monitor them WITHOUT DELAY.

    The Canadian forces in Afghanistan, ON THE CONTRARY, not only DON’T do this — they report INSTEAD to OTTAWA !!

    Then OTTAWA informs the Canadian EMBASSY in GENEVA !!

    Then the Canadian Embassy in Geneva tellS the Red Cross IN GENEVA.

    THEN the Red Cross in Geneva informs the Red Cross in KABUL.

    Why does Canada use such a DEVIOUS DETOUR ??

    Because this lengthy paper wark DISABLES TIMELY Red Cross supervision of the prisoners, so the Afghan security forces can “work” on them UNHINDERED.

    The Canadian military DELIBERATELY BLOCKS Red Cross & ISAF monitoring of the transfers.

    In fact, Harper DIRECTLY INVOLVED HIMSELF in this issue in 2007.

    A former senior NATO public affairs officer said NATO’s denials of torture in Kabul — ” at a time when it was … generally acknowledged in our office that the chances of good treatment at the hands of Afghan security forces WERE ALMOST ZERO” — were actually SCRIPTED BY HARPER & HIS OFFICE IN OTTAWA.

    Says the NATO officer : ” I was told this was a TITANIC ISSUE FOR PRIME MINISTER HARPER & that EVERY STATEMENT THAT WENT OUT NEEDED TO BE CLEARED BY HIM PERSONALLY… The lines were, “WE HAVE NO EVIDENCE” OF COERCIVE TREATMENT being used against detainees handed over to the Afghans…. [ It ] was made clear to us that this was coming FROM THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE.” ( Emphases mine. )

    Harper refused to release the uncensored versions of these documents.

    Said law professor Amir Attaran in 2010 :

    “If these documents were released [ in full ] , what they will show is that CANADA PARTNERED DELIBERATELY WITH THE TORTURERS IN AFGHANISTAN for the interrogation of detainees … There would be A QUESTION OF RENDITION & A QUESTION OF WAR CRIMES ON THE PART OF CERTAIN CANADIAN OFFICIALS. That’s what is in these documents & that’s why THE GOVERNMENT IS COVERING UP AS HARD AS IT CAN.”

    EMPHASES MINE.