Justice demands that we now repatriate Omar Khadr

ALLAN ROCK AND JASMINKA KALAJDZIC
January 26, 2009

President Barack Obama extended America's hand to the world last week, affirming his nation's commitment to returning to multilateralism and co-operation. He also spoke of "our common defence" and rejected "as false, the choice between our safety and our ideals." He declared, in a subtle rebuke of George Bush's anti-terrorism policies, that "our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper may wish to consider these words carefully as he ponders the troubling case of Omar Khadr, who is accused of killing an American soldier in Afghanistan. Mr. Obama has clearly signalled that national security imperatives will not justify breaches of international and domestic law. In one of his first executive actions, he obtained a stay of the trials of five Guantanamo Bay detainees, including Mr. Khadr, and, on Thursday, ordered the closing of Guantanamo within a year on the basis that shutting down the facility "would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice."

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Where has Allan Rock been for the last five years? Where has the liberal party been? Tom