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Khadr's award instructive for Canadians

As published in the Hill Times: July 12, 2017

Hopefully, the $10 million Khadr award will annoy and inspire Canadians to demand greater transparency regarding our government's willingness to “tagalong” on U.S. military misadventures. Attempts to link this money with substandard veteran’s care is a weak tactic since the federal government dispenses public funds to many dubious causes like giggling royalty and Bombardier bailouts. Like previous award recipient Maher Arar; Kadhr is a Canadian citizen who was sold out by his own government to please the bullies in Washington. Unfortunately, he won’t be the last.

It’s easy to dismiss Omar Khadr as a terrorist and a war criminal if you faithfully subscribe to official history and the simplistic Cold War narrative we’ve been fed since the end of WWII. Since we seem to need an enemy, our former nemesis; Soviet Communism, has been replaced by the bogeyman of global Islamic terror. In fact, that attitude is easier and more comforting than acknowledging Canada’s support role in the United States’ permanent campaign to make the world safe for major corporations like Exxon, Haliburton and Boeing. The case can be made that Canada sent troops to Afghistan and quietly supported the U.S. occupation of Iraq to demonstrate support for American control of petroleum resources in those regions. Talk of democracy was, then as now; empty window-dressing.