Dear Editor,

Honestly mistaken

There is a saying that I like to use: When one who is honestly mistaken learns the truth, he or she either stops being mistaken or stops being honest. Remember that line in “A Few Good Men” when Jack Nicholson said, “You can’t handle the truth”? Well, a lot of people don’t want to know the truth. They don’t want to know or possibly want to admit that they were honestly mistaken or even knowingly wrong.

I enjoy learning. As such, I do lots of reading and lots of research. Most of the time we are only given one side of the story and, even then, it is often corrupted by political bias. Hence the necessity to do more research.

I, too, was very upset at the Khadr apology and payout. But, because I had already been given to understand that he had been a non-combatant, a medic just like the man he allegedly killed, I never saw him as a terrorist. I also knew that he had been taken by his father to Afghanistan when he was 10 and, as such, was not necessarily there by choice.

What I was upset about was that he had confessed and that he then had received an apology and $10.5 million for the wrongs that had been done to him. I was also upset about the way our governments, especially under the Harper PCs, handled this case.  Then I came across the following article:

What if Omar Khadr isn’t guilty?

By Sandy Garossino in Opinion, Politics – July 7, 2017 (nationalobserver.com)

 

If you are interested in the truth, you might want to google the above article. If you want to keep your head in the sand, don’t. Apparently, the US Major in charge of the attack exonerated Khadr. Also, Khadr was found mortally wounded and buried under a pile of rubble (see the pictures) thus making it a little hard for him to have thrown the grenade.

 

Let’s also remember that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that the information regarding the sinking of a US naval vessel that was used to convince Congress to have the US declare war on North Vietnam was also false.

Until I learn something different, I now am willing to believe that Khadr deserved the apology and some compensation. However, I would have suggested $100,000, not $10.5 million.

It is obvious that the Supreme Court of Canada, in its decision in favour of Khadr, had more information (including the above) than we had been given, similarly the Trudeau government in its decision to settle out of court. Why was, and has, this information been kept from us? I understand why the PCs keep it hidden but why are the Liberals, NDP, and Greens not letting us know? Is this more of the government’s usual bait and switch crap?

I also believe that Canada should have a law preventing anyone from having dual citizenship. We should also have a law whereby if someone joins a known organization that is in combat with Canadian troops or military advisors, that that person should lose his or her Canadian Citizenship. You either are a Canadian, a Canadian, or a Canadian!

Eugene Eklund

Whitecourt, AB