Omar Khadr only killed one American — SFC Christopher Speer — and to the left, that means he had no business being imprisoned at Guantanamo for all these years. Now President Obama has made terrorist sympathizers the world over very happy by releasing Khadr and returning him to Canada.
The mythology that has been built up around Khadr is worthy of that created for other radical heroes, including Che Guevera, cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, and AIM activist Leonard Peltier who murdered two FBI agents. The truth, however, is a little more prosaic.
Thomas Josceylyn of the Weekly Standard:
Khadr killed Sergeant First Class (SFC) Christopher Speer. Khadr’s advocates said this wasn’t true because Khadr was incapacitated during al Qaeda’s firefight with American troops. But they were wrong. Khadr ultimately admitted that he killed SFC Speer.
While Khadr killed one American medic, his life was saved by others. Khadr would not be alive today if U.S. medics had not saved him from extensive wounds.
Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) considered Khadr a “high intelligence value” detainee because he provided “valuable information” about al Qaeda and the Taliban. Khadr’s father was a top al Qaeda figure. Khadr knew his father’s associates well, and spilled the beans on them.
Khadr served as a translator and a minion to a top al Qaeda operative in Afghanistan.
A videotape recovered in Afghanistan showed Khadr assembling improvised explosive devices (IEDs) for al Qaeda.
[…]
Omar Khadr was not abused during a routine weigh-in session at Guantanamo. Khadr and his lawyers claimed that he was roughed up while being weighed. Unfortunately for the defense, the session was recorded. “The videotape of the accused being weighed…clearly shows the accused was not abused or mistreated in any way by any of the guards,” Judge Parrish found.
[…]
Finally, Omar Khadr was not a “child soldier,” as he has been widely labeled. He worked for al Qaeda – a global terrorist organization. His was a teenager when his life was saved by American medics after an extended firefight. Teenagers are tried as adults in North America regularly. And Khadr clearly did not think of himself as a child when fighting American forces. According to the stipulation of fact agreed upon by both parties during Khadr’s military trial, Khadr refused to flee the firefight even after American soldiers asked for all women and children to evacuate the premises.
Khadr decided to stay and fight that day in Afghanistan. SFC Speer paid the price for Khadr’s choice with his life.
The suspected mastermind of the attack in Benghazi assassinating our ambassador is a former Gitmo detainee. Several high profile attacks in Afghanistan have been carried out by former inmates as well. The recidivism rate for terrorists who end up carrying on with jihad is 27% with at least 161 terrorists rejoining the fight. I guess a one in four chance of releasing a stone cold killer so that he can murder more Americans seems reasonable to our government.
The release of Khadr may score Obama points with those who don’t care what the terrorists did or what they are capable of. But as a practical matter, we have probably released another terrorist who will end up rejoining al-Qaeda and killing Americans.
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