Canada’s government may be having second thoughts about allowing former al-Qaeda child soldier Omar Khadr back into the country.

 

Khadr agreed to a plea with U.S. military officials that required him to provide information on other terrorism suspects. In exchange, Khadr was supposed to be set free from Guantánamo and sent back to his home country of Canada sometime after November 2011.

 

Bureaucratic delays in Canada are reportedly holding up Khadr’s return. In addition, Charlie Savage of The New York Times wrote that Khadr’s family “is unpopular among many in Canada, and the administration of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been ambivalent about his case.”

 

The delay has ramifications for other plea deals the U.S. military is trying to negotiate with detainees. The longer Khadr remains in Guantánamo, the less likely others like him will agree to talk about what they know.

 

Khadr was 15 years old in 2002 when American soldiers captured him in Afghanistan. He was accused of throwing a grenade that killed one soldier, Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer, during a firefight. His case has been a difficult one for the Obama administration because Khadr was not accused of killing a civilian in an act of terrorism, but rather a soldier in a battle, and he was clearly not an adult at the time.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Delays Keep Former Qaeda Child Soldier at Guantánamo, Despite Plea Deal (by Charlie Savage, New York Times)

Child Soldier Cuts Deal with Obama Administration in Murder Case (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)