Canadian newspapers are full of the official story of the Omar Khadr trial. They seem to be swallowing it and spitting it out whole - CBC, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star. Days and days of it and pages and pages of mostly ignorant comments.
American newspapers, on the other hand, know that the official coverage is a crock. It's very refreshing.
The foaming-at-the-mouth types seem never to have read any real coverage of the firefight and air bombardment and statements of witnesses who were there. They are confused and contradictory, but one thing is for sure. No one saw who threw the grenade that killed Sgt. Speer, who, incidentally, was not wearing his helmet at the time. He died of shrapnel injuries to the brain.
Wikipedia has an excellent, multi-referenced article on Khadr, including a detailed account of the firefight. If all the evidence had been entered into the record at something that even looked like a legitimate hearing or trial, the charges would have been laughed out of court.
From Rabble.ca and You Tube, Lalo Espejo on the trial and the Canadian response to it.
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http://wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/khad-o27.shtml
ReplyDeleteThanks, RZ. That was a good article.
ReplyDeleteI can't really understand the Canadian journalists' response to this travesty other than the fact that they might be excluded from the court and not be able to hear or report on the evidence at all.
Susan Delacourt, who reports for the Toronto Star and two other Canadian journalists were
"expelled" when they reported the name of one of the interrogators. He hid behind a pseudonym in recent months but was clearly indentified before that when he had several interviews with newpapers and broadcast news.
Although the Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that Khadr's rights were violated, the Harper government chose to ignore their ruling as they have several times before.
They are alimighty, after all, and can do what they want. They ignore Canadian law if they find it inconvenient, as they do international treaties.
Depressing.