Canwest: U.S. officials looking for way to send Khadr back to Canada: source

[tuvor]

NEW YORK — Obama administration officials are quietly seeking a way to repatriate Canadian-born terror suspect Omar Khadr, an authority in a position to know has confided.

“They don’t have the stomach to try a child for war crimes,” said the source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of such a U.S. bid.

Khadr’s age of 15 at the time of the alleged offences is playing on the minds of certain administration officials — especially those with backgrounds in the type of activism that has clashed with some of the more controversial U.S. anti-terror efforts, the source signalled.

Samantha Power, Michael Posner and Harold Koh are among administration officials with the strongest backgrounds in human-rights study and activism. For example, Posner, the assistant secretary of state, was founding executive director of Human Rights First, which has advocated Khadr’s repatriation as one alternative to his continued prosecution in the military system established at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But even those seeking to return Khadr to Canada don’t feel the United States can make the first move. They want Ottawa to ask for Khadr back so that the Obama administration has “political cover” to dodge any domestic backlash resulting from the release of an accused terrorist from the U.S. justice system.

“There are political repercussions,” the source said. So administration officials are “looking for a Canadian (out)reach.”

Their determination to explore what “we can do” is nevertheless there, the source added. The U.S. “would like to send him back.”

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http://www.canada.com/news/national/seeks+send+Khadr+back+Canada+source/2652636/story.html

[HeresyLives]

1. Just have Obama call Harp and tell him.

Harp will snap to attention within milliseconds, and then claim to Canadians that was his intent all along.

[Bragi]

2. As well as wrong, this is so embarrassing

I can't believe we have a government that uses ideological criteria to decide whether to represent the best interests of Canadians citizens abroad. What a disgrace.

[edwinmathews]

3. After Jean Chrétien

got Omar's father out of prison in Pakistan he returned to Afghanistan to kill our soldiers and allies and i am concerned Omar will do the exact same thing . I had the misfortune of meeting Omar's sister two years ago and let me assure you she very much hates everything about this country
except its welfare and OHIP .