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With the upcoming trial of Omar Kadr, I thought I would mutter a bit about the state of law in the world, and what this could mean for everyone.
The precedent being set in the Omar case is that if you are raised by religious fanatics, and you are caught in the middle of a firefight - against American troops somewhere - you will likely be jailed and tortured. Never mind if you are only 15 - not old enough to drink, vote, or to some people even hold a valid opinion owing to your juvenile brain - if you are perceived as being someone who would lob a grenade at american soldiers - you have no rights.
Mind you - from what I know - Omar had the following things going on to set the stage.
He was raised by intensely religious people. This alone would probably condemn a lot of Americans and Canucks, if it was taken as a good reason to incarcerate indefinitely with a side dish of waterboarding. It seems a bit premature and unfair to jail everyone who went to a religious school, or was homeschooled because their parents were bible humpers.
He was living in a muslim country, which until very recently was rather firm in its views. The country had just been overthrown by foreign powers, and was at the time being overrun by foreign and non muslim troops. Lets look at this from the point of view of the Yanks. If a muslim coalition decided that the Bible belt was a source of weapons of mass destruction (it is) and fanatic rhetoric (it is) that endangers international peace - and invaded the USA and overran the USA and bible belt - sending armed crews to peoples homes and bombing the shit out of them if they didnt come out and line up for an "interview:" and ransacking. Yeah, I bet more than a few American adults and kids would be lobbing grenades in resistance. Hell, they would probably have nuked a few places by then too. And this is the headspace that some of these guys in the Afghan compound were in - government overrun, countryside teeming with unbelievers, etc. etc.
Another point - Omar had a guy with an AK47 next to him through most of the ordeal. What are the odds that he would have been able to leave with the women and children? A kid who they probably know speaks english. A kid who at least is doing the whole Stockholm syndrome, and more likely has had the whole program uploaded into him from an early age. Even if he had at some point thought to himself "fuck this, Im outa here" - he had a guy with a gun standing near him until the very end! Given a choice between lobbing a grenade at some Christian invader, or being disgraced and possibly shot by a fanatic Jihadi who has decided to fight to the death - I think lobbing the grenade might be an easier choice. Assuming he did lob the grenade. It is still unclear if he was any shape to lob anything when the troops arrived. We do know he was shot in the back as he tried to crawl away prior to his capture.
But all of that being what it is - can the USA afford to jail every kid who is religious, proximal to an armed conflict, and residing in a country that has been invaded by the US, One of its client states, or one with a religion that is fundamentally antagonistic towards their own?
If Omar Kadr is "the worst of the worst", and needs to be locked up for life because he is dangerous - infected by the beliefs and attitudes of his parents and peers prior to his incarceration. How many other people are on the list for jail once this minor (pardon the pun) hurdle is crossed? Will they jail everyone who is in Kadrs position, or just the people who throw grenades at people who bust into their compounds?
Its hard to tell the difference between Waco Texas and Afghanistan sometimes. Aside from the fact that the Waco people would have had a lot more rights, representation, and fewer air-strikes against them before they went down in flames.
The precedent being set in the Omar case is that if you are raised by religious fanatics, and you are caught in the middle of a firefight - against American troops somewhere - you will likely be jailed and tortured. Never mind if you are only 15 - not old enough to drink, vote, or to some people even hold a valid opinion owing to your juvenile brain - if you are perceived as being someone who would lob a grenade at american soldiers - you have no rights.
Mind you - from what I know - Omar had the following things going on to set the stage.
He was raised by intensely religious people. This alone would probably condemn a lot of Americans and Canucks, if it was taken as a good reason to incarcerate indefinitely with a side dish of waterboarding. It seems a bit premature and unfair to jail everyone who went to a religious school, or was homeschooled because their parents were bible humpers.
He was living in a muslim country, which until very recently was rather firm in its views. The country had just been overthrown by foreign powers, and was at the time being overrun by foreign and non muslim troops. Lets look at this from the point of view of the Yanks. If a muslim coalition decided that the Bible belt was a source of weapons of mass destruction (it is) and fanatic rhetoric (it is) that endangers international peace - and invaded the USA and overran the USA and bible belt - sending armed crews to peoples homes and bombing the shit out of them if they didnt come out and line up for an "interview:" and ransacking. Yeah, I bet more than a few American adults and kids would be lobbing grenades in resistance. Hell, they would probably have nuked a few places by then too. And this is the headspace that some of these guys in the Afghan compound were in - government overrun, countryside teeming with unbelievers, etc. etc.
Another point - Omar had a guy with an AK47 next to him through most of the ordeal. What are the odds that he would have been able to leave with the women and children? A kid who they probably know speaks english. A kid who at least is doing the whole Stockholm syndrome, and more likely has had the whole program uploaded into him from an early age. Even if he had at some point thought to himself "fuck this, Im outa here" - he had a guy with a gun standing near him until the very end! Given a choice between lobbing a grenade at some Christian invader, or being disgraced and possibly shot by a fanatic Jihadi who has decided to fight to the death - I think lobbing the grenade might be an easier choice. Assuming he did lob the grenade. It is still unclear if he was any shape to lob anything when the troops arrived. We do know he was shot in the back as he tried to crawl away prior to his capture.
But all of that being what it is - can the USA afford to jail every kid who is religious, proximal to an armed conflict, and residing in a country that has been invaded by the US, One of its client states, or one with a religion that is fundamentally antagonistic towards their own?
If Omar Kadr is "the worst of the worst", and needs to be locked up for life because he is dangerous - infected by the beliefs and attitudes of his parents and peers prior to his incarceration. How many other people are on the list for jail once this minor (pardon the pun) hurdle is crossed? Will they jail everyone who is in Kadrs position, or just the people who throw grenades at people who bust into their compounds?
Its hard to tell the difference between Waco Texas and Afghanistan sometimes. Aside from the fact that the Waco people would have had a lot more rights, representation, and fewer air-strikes against them before they went down in flames.