Daily BrewKhadr just wants to prove he is a ‘better person’ than Harper believes he is
Seen in the eyes of the Canadian government as an enemy combatant, Omar Khadr wants to figure out how to live outside of a jail cell for the first time since he was a child.
Unlike most teens, he’s never taken a bus by himself or done lots of things most teens take for granted. Khadr is a 28-year-old man, but he was a child the last time he was free, 13 years ago.
“I want to start fresh,” he told reporters after his release. “There are too many good things in life that I want to experience.“
Back when he was 15, the teen was under the control of his parents and family – a family to which he now has very controlled exposure. It was a time when Khadr’s life was being steered for him by a family that saw honour in being an enemy fighter that could be killed in battle to become a martyr.
Now, his court-ordered guardians are his lawyer Dennis Edney and his wife Patricia – the closest thing Khadr seems to have to caring family.
Like a mother ready to welcome home a child from university, Mrs Edney was busy in recent days getting a room ready for Khadr. The difference was that Khadr’s homecoming was actually his release on bail this week. That temporary freedom came despite the federal government pulling out all the stops, including an emergency stay of proceedings hearing to try to get his bail quashed.
Khadr is now able to wear everyday clothes – a far cry from the orange jumpsuit he wore when he became the first Canadian to be detained by the United States as a child soldier at Guantanamo Bay. Under those street clothes, he also wears an ankle bracelet to closely monitor his every movement.
The Edney’s say Khadr is no threat. In fact, Dennis Edney told Yahoo Canada News this week that his family has made a personal commitment and a financial investment to win freedom for Khadr. It’s a commitment that has burned up part of his life savings while battling seemingly bottomless federal coffers, a matter that leaves Edney somewhat bitter.
“Taxpayers don’t seem to care that this government is spending multi-millions to fight Khadr, while we’re spending our savings to fight it,” he said during a telephone interview prior to the government’s stay of proceedings hearing in Edmonton.
The lawyer’s wife, Patricia Edney, who has invited Khadr to stay with them in her home, says she believes he is a "remarkable young man.”
In addition to staying with the Edney’s, an Alberta Court of Appeal judge ordered strict bail conditions.
Khadr has to live with the Edney’s.
He has to wear an electronic ankle bracelet
Have limited contact with his mother and family members in Toronto.
He can only have supervised talks with family members by video or telephone in English.
He has a nightly curfew from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Khadr cannot leave Alberta without prior approval, except to visit the Edneys’ cottage in B.C.
He can only visit with members of his family with approval from bail supervisor.
He can only have restricted and supervised access to the Internet.
Patricia Edney says she burst into tears after learning Khadr was being released.
“I was just delighted, I have to confess, I started to cry with the tension of the last few days and all of our hopes and prayers for that moment all cascaded and I started to cry,” she told CTV’s Canada AM Friday morning.
“Our government has promoted the image of him as being the unrepentant jihadist, which is really very, very far from the truth,” she said. “I hope the Canadian public remembers what it was like when they were 15 or when their children were 15. This young man was put in harm’s way and some horrible things happened to him subsequently.”
“Had he committed that crime in Canada, he would be finished his sentence,” she said adding that Khadr was a youth at the time.
Khadr is eager to prove he is not a threat.
“I’d like to thank the Canadian public for trusting me and giving me a chance,” Khadr told reporters outside his new home.
“It may be some time, but I will prove to them I a more than what they thought of me,” Khadr said of the unrelenting campaign by the Harper government to keep him locked up. “I’ll prove to them I’m a good person.”
A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney reminded Canadians on Thursday that Khadr pleaded guilty to "heinous crimes,” including the 2002 murder of U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher Speer.
In a statement, Jeremy Laurin said: “(We) regret that a convicted terrorist has been allowed back into Canadian society without having served his full sentence.”
Khadr has since recanted his confessions, but on Thursday he offered his apologies “for the pain I might have caused for the families of the victims.”
"There’s nothing I can do about the past, but I hope I can do something about the future,” he said.
Asked if he hopes to change Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s mind about him, Khadr replied: "I’m going to have to disappoint him; I’m better than the person he thinks I am.“
#author: Glenn Johnson
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