(The following article is from the February 15-28, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial

The infamous Guantanamo Bay concentration camp is finally being closed down, yet Prime Minister Stephen Harper stubbornly refuses to lift a finger for Omar Khadr, the only Canadian remaining in this hellhole. Khadr was simply a 15-year-old child soldier when he was captured by US troops in 2002, and mounting evidence suggests that he did not throw the grenade which allegedly killed a US soldier. Yet he continues to rot in jail.

     One of President Barack Obama's first acts was to put the brakes on the war crimes system created by the Bush administration on occupied Cuban territory at Guantanamo Bay. These trials would be deemed illegal if held in the United States or Canada, so why does our federal government do nothing to secure the release of a Canadian citizen from his cell?

     When one Guantanamo trial finally began in the last days of the Bush regime, a U.S. interrogator testified that Khadr had placed Maher Arar in al-Qaeda locations. That testimony was shot down when the facts showed that Maher Arar was in North America at the time. As if more proof were necessary, this sorry episode proves that "intelligence" gleaned under conditions of torture and psychological abuse is utterly worthless. The Harper Tories, of course, refuse to admit that the U.S. is a torture state, perhaps because Canadian troops have turned many Afghan detainees over to the Karzai government, well known for torturing captives. In other words, Canada is knee-deep in blood, so our Prime Minister prefers to avoid the whole topic. Stephen Harper is indeed a man of "principle" - full support for the murderous so-called "war on terror." He would do well to consider that his conduct could someday land him in the dock for war crimes.