Khadr Ruling — At Least They Won't Insist...

Finally, some common sense from the Supreme Court. Very little though:

The Supreme Court of Canada has overturned lower-court orders that the federal government must try to repatriate Toronto-born Omar Khadr from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay.

However, the top court agreed Canadian officials violated Khadr's human rights, and that he continues to be threatened by the effect of those violations.

In a unanimous decision released Friday, the court declared that Canadian officials breached Khadr's right to life, liberty and security of the person under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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Wait a minute... Do you think Khadr had any concerns about others' right to life, liberty and security of the person when he became a Taliban combatant? When he threw a grenade at a US soldier - do you think he cared about that soldier's right to life, liberty and security of the person? So why should we care about his rights; especially - his right to liberty? I thought courts were supposed to sentence criminals to jail time, not affirm their Charter right to liberty.

Not to mention that if Khadr and his fellow jihadis ever succeeded in their fight to force Islamic fundamentalist way of life on the entire planet, the very phrase "right to life, liberty and security of the person" would become a myth; passed from the father to the son in deep secrecy and no more believable than a myth of a long-gone golden age. Jihadi combatants don't care about our rights - why should we care about theirs?

The court ruling should have been clear - Khadr is a jihadi combatant and he must stand trial for what he did. The ruling should have mentioned that, by siding with Canada's enemy at wartime, by raising arms against Canadian troops and their allies, Khadr forfeited his right to Canadian citizenship and all the rights and privileges that are associated with it. Thus, if he was ever to be repatriated - that would be to Afghanistan. Where, I bet, he'll have plenty of respect to right to life, liberty and security of the person from his fellow countrymen.

The opposition says that now it's up to the government to take actions - they're right. The amendment to the Citizenship act, that would strip combatants like Khadr off their Canadian passport of convenience, is long overdue. And it is up to the Parliament, not to the courts to close the legal loopholes; so, hopefully, the government does something about that. But at least they are no longer compelled to bring Khadr to Canada. I guess that's the most we can expect from the courts nowadays.